druids

druids , priests of ancient Celtic Britain, Ireland, and Gaul and probably of all ancient Celtic peoples, known to have existed at least since the 3d cent. BC. Information about them is derived almost exclusively from the testimony of Roman authors, notably Julius Caesar, and from Old Irish sagas, supplemented to some extent by archaeological evidence. The druids constituted a priestly upper class in command of a highly ritualistic religion, which apparently centered on the worship of a pantheon of nature deities. Druids were also responsible for the education of the young and generally for the intellectual life of the community; although apparently literate, they taught by oral transmission, and their courses are said to have lasted as long as 20 years. The druids believed in immortality of the soul in a nonjudgmental world of the dead. Their religious ceremonies seem to have been performed chiefly in tree groves (the oak and the mistletoe that grows on the oak were held sacred) and at river sources and lakes. The druids performed animal and human sacrifices and practiced divination and other forms of magic. Tacitus mentions a Celtic tribe, the Bructeri, that was led by a prophetess, and Irish legend confirms that there were women druids, although their precise role is not known. According to Caesar, the druids in Gaul were organized into a federation or brotherhood that extended across tribal divisions and was headed by an archdruid; they met once a year, probably on the site of Chartres, to arbitrate private and intertribal disputes. They thus wielded great political power and were an important cohesive force among the Celtic tribes. The druids in Gaul were the core of the rebellions against Rome. Their power, although broken by the Romans, finally yielded only to Christianity. In the late 18th and 19th cent., interest in the druids was spurred by archaeological discoveries and by the romantic movement. The megalithic monuments of France and Great Britain, notably those at Carnac and Stonehenge, were once ascribed to them, but these are now known to predate Celtic culture.

Bibliography: See S. Piggott, The Druids (1968, repr. 1985); A. Ross, Druids, Gods, and Heroes (1986); W. Rutherford, The Druids: Magicians of the West (1986).

druids. A priestly caste in British tribal society. The druids acquired a reputation from several Roman writers for inhuman practices perpetrated in the name of their religion. The Greek geographer Strabo accused them of mass human sacrifice, and Diodorus Sicula and Tacitus both claimed that the druids used human entrails cut from sacrificial victims to consult the gods and predict the future. Although they are not specifically identified as the instigators of the slaughter which accompanied the capture of Camulodunum (Colchester) by Boudicca's rebels, there can be little doubt that both Tacitus and Dio Cassius held them responsible for the atrocities they reported. These included hanging, burning, crucifixion, and impaling alive. Tacitus and Dio Cassius both emphasize the particular importance of sacred groves as places of worship for the druids. Dio mentions such a grove in the vicinity of Colchester, dedicated to Andate, the goddess of Victory, whilst Tacitus refers to many of them on the Isle of Mona (Anglesey), suggesting that both the druids and their groves were spread the breadth of Britain. Pliny confirms the important role of sacred groves in druidic religion, particularly those of oak trees. He was also responsible for linking the druids to mistletoe, white robes, golden sickles, and herbal medicines, all of which are part of the popular perception of druidism today. What is not clear from the ancient authors is the extent to which druids wielded political influence in Britain at the time of the invasion.

Keith Branigan

druids Pre-Christian Celtic religious leaders in ancient Britain, Ireland, and Gaul. Little is known of them, but they appear to have been judges and teachers as well as priests. In Britain and Gaul, the Romans suppressed druidism, but it survived in Ireland until the 5th century.