The Druids

[Music] by the end of 50 bc gaius julius caesar was at a crossroads his ambitious campaign to subjugate the peoples of gaul was finally coming to an end just as his relationship with his rival pompe and the senate of rome was beginning to deteriorate with the end of his governorship looming his enemies seem poised to confiscate both his military command and newfound wealth it was amongst the backdrop of this escalating conflict that caesar wrote a series of commentaries on his military campaigns in gaul hoping to bypass the senate and secure popular support for his actions at some point in this drafting process he chose to include a survey of the local customs of the regions he had conquered and it was within this survey that he provided a description of the religious class of gaul that would become iconic in describing this class he deliberately avoided using the term he had used in previous sections for priests instead he used a gaelic word druid or druidi this same name was used by authors both before and after caesar but it was his account of this class that would endure long past this group's destruction we are to believe him then the druids comprise the paramount group of gaelic society a class of men empowered to judge both religious and civil affairs [Music] to their disciples they preach the infallibility of the soul and urge them to honour the gods to abstain from wrongdoing and to practice courage in addition to these practices caesar claimed that they held great knowledge of both cosmology and the natural world their most sacred duty was the conducting of sacrifices to the gods sacrifices that often took the form of huge wooden effigies in which animals and men alike would be trapped and richly burned alive both caesar and later authors would claim that the romans put a stop to such practices even so the druids seemed to have found sanctuary overseas where they would persist for another five centuries only to fall to the rising tide of christianity even then their memory would endure if we believe the claims of revivalists then their ancient teachings are still practiced to this day in the form of the great celtic festivals and modern neo-druidic groups in recent decades both ancient texts and the archaeological record have been increasingly scrutinized to reconstruct a more accurate image but still seems we are far from answering the fundamental question [Music] who were the druids for the last five centuries the druids have been a subject of fascination amongst the peoples and scholars of france britain and ireland in this period they have been presented in almost every form imaginable their earliest portrayals emerged in the 16th century a time when the nations of western europe were rediscovering the classics of the ancient greeks and romans in these accounts the druids are presented as honoured ancestors strain of pre-roman sophistication amongst their respective peoples in time this image would evolve with less sympathetic authors presenting them as a sign of pre-christian barbarity devoted to idol worship and human sacrifice by the 18th century this interest had become something of a mania and soon the image of the druid would be embellished by all manner of romantic ideals in this line of thinking they were portrayed as simple yet noble philosophers an image that was increasingly mixed up by a strain of what stuart pigott termed irrational mysticism the burgeoning field of archaeology only added to this confusion of objects that we now know to date from wildly different periods being added to the stereotypical image of the druids this image was distorted further by their identification with the great megalithic sites of france and britain and their association with places such as stonehenge persist in the popular consciousness to this day these ideas about the druids endured well into the modern period and it was not until the arrival of 20th century archaeology that their stereotypical image was put to rest we now know that sites such as stonehenge date from many thousands of years before the first accounts of the druids and that there is far from definitive archaeological evidence that they existed at all even so their impact on popular culture has remained today many thousands of self-described druids gather to celebrate solstices at stonehenge and other monuments across britain and france and neo-druidic organizations only continue to grow in membership across both europe and north america so who were the druids did they really exist in britain and gaul and did they resemble the descriptions given to us by authors such as caesar if so what were their teachings and can we detect any glimpse of their beliefs in more modern druidic organizations well if we are to try and answer any of these questions we must examine four major sources of evidence each of which carries their own set of caveats the first is the accounts of classical writers dating roughly from the 8th century bc to the end of the 4th century a.d secondly we must examine the archaeological record of iron age societies across britain and gaul and see what they can tell us of native religious practices thirdly we must examine the tales of the irish mythological cycles these accounts ostensibly portray a pre-christian island where the druid's feature as key players acting as the magicians and advisors of the pagan kings of munster connacht leenster ulster and tara finally we must examine the practices of contemporary groups operating under the title of druid and examine their claims of continuity with their ancient forerunners ahead of us lies a journey through nearly 3 000 years of history one that begins along the fringes of the mediterranean that takes us through the world of iron age britain gaul and ireland before finally ending in modern europe and north america let us begin in this video we'll examine the first two of these sources both of which pertain to the iron age druids of britain and goal we'll start by examining the earliest accounts of western europe which come to us from an era when greek colonies were thriving along the shores of gaul and hispania from there we'll examine the accounts of the druids from the era of roman expansion nor for the alps through to the time of roman domination of both gaul and britain we'll examine the christian accounts of the late roman empire by which point the druids seem to have largely disappeared from their original territories we'll then move to examine the known archaeological record of the modern constituent countries of gaul and britain and determine whether any correlations can be drawn between known iron age religious practices and the writings of contemporary authors before we can dive into these accounts however we must first mention a handicap that has blighted the attempts of scholars to form a coherent picture of the druids you see prior to their takeover by rome the societies of both iron age gaul and britain were illiterate and as a result no known native written account has come down to us detailing their religious practices moreover there are good reasons to suspect that there was a prescription amongst the druids against writing their teachings down instead we are forced to rely on the observations of foreign authors many of whom are less than complementary in their presentation of druidic teachings even then our selection is limited if we tally up all the known references to druids amongst the peoples of greece and rome we arrive at a total of around 20 accounts with their authors being dispersed widely across the mediterranean many of these accounts have come down to us as fragments surviving only as references in the works of authors writing many centuries later in a few extreme cases the presence of these earlier authors can only be attested to through passages found in the works of these later writers whilst in one case the credited author was likely a false one in length these passages are slim as the historian ronald hutton notes in his book blood and mistletoe the combined text we have available to us on the druids is perhaps enough to fill a dozen pages providing they are written in a fairly large print yet despite their brevity the highly summarized nature of many of these accounts still allows them to provide substantial descriptions of supposed druidic activities in gall and britain along with wider information on the iron age societies within each of these regions these works are characterized by general agreement on the druids role acting as both the philosophical and religious class in british and gaulish society when we stop to examine their fine details however we discover an increasing number of contradictions in some accounts the druids are presented as a unified organization that gathered in a single location and that served a single leader in others they appear as only the most prominent of several groups of religious functionaries within golic society in order to reconcile the contradictions of these accounts modern scholars have sought to place them into three broad categories the first of these the writings of greek explorers active in western europe during the third and the fourth centuries bc these accounts are by far the most obscure existing mostly as excerpts and quotations in the works of later authors the second school of writers consists of accounts of the druids beginning with the initial roman expansion into gaul continuing until their apparent disappearance during the second century a.d of all the classical accounts these are easily the most expensive being somewhat contemporary in both time and proximity to the societies of the ported druids of gaul and britain finally we have the least well-examined accounts of the druids those are the christian writers the cities of alexandria and antioch in the third and the fourth centuries a.d we'll examine the accounts of each of these three groups shortly but first if we want to understand the political context behind them we must familiarize ourselves with the political situation of western europe during the closing centuries of the first millennium bc at the end of the 9th century bc the people of greece were emerging from a dark age that had lasted some 400 years this resurgence was marked by the reappearance of developed city-states and the seeding of greek colonies throughout the western mediterranean by the mid-8th century bc greek cities were being established in italy sicily and on the islands of corsica and sardinia around the beginning of the 6th century bc further colonies began to appear along the shores of gold and hispania including the settlements of masalotis impuri agata road and ikala it is from this era of exploration that the initial accounts of atlantic europe emerge the earliest known of these is the account of hecateus of mellitus a 6th century bc greek writer compiled one of the earliest known geographical treaties around 500 bc this work titled the journey around the earth is known to us only in fragments one of these fragments provides the first recorded use of the term kel toy or celts to describe a group of people living near the greek colony of macelotis in southern gaul this account is further echoed by a late 5th century bc writer herodotus in his text the histories he provides a similar description of the western reaches of the mediterranean claiming that the celts were amongst the westernmost peoples of europe and that they dwelled beyond the pillars of hercules now known as the straits of gibraltar whilst these accounts give us our first glimpse at the peoples of western europe they contain no substantial descriptions of these societies and no information can be gleaned from them regarding the presence of any religious elite to the best of our knowledge it would take another century for such an account to emerge this work a treat is known as on the hyperboreans was penned around the end of the fourth century bc by a scholar also named hecateus this time hailing from the city of abdera in frace whilst this account is also lost an excerpt from it can still be found in the work of the 1st century bc greek author the odorous of sicily in this fragment hecateus details an island supposedly found beyond the lands of the celts inhabited by a people known as the hyperboreans this island which he claimed lay beyond the point by the north wind blows was said to have had a temperate climate and to be home to a spherical temple to a god hecateus acquainted with the greek deity apollo he goes on to describe this temple as being adorned with a large number of votive offerings and states that the locals would worship their god with the recital of praise hymns and liar playing the inhabitants of hyperborea are further said to operate on a 19-year cycle supposedly based on the period it took the stars to return to the same place in the heavens [Music] the end of this period would be marked by the appearance of their god within his temple an event that they would celebrate with more liar playing and ritual dancing this fragment marks the first mention of any form of priesthood or temple attributed to atlantic europe along with any description of celestial worship intriguing as this account is the exact location it refers to cannot be determined from the text and as we will soon discuss there are good reasons to doubt its accuracy for a more certain reference to religious practices amongst these peoples you must turn instead to the accounts of three other authors the first is that of the fourth century bc philosopher pater whose work survives as a fragment in the account of the late second century id author athenaeus in his account so peter relates that it is the custom of the celts to sacrifice prisoners captured in battle to their gods implying that this takes the form of ritual burning the second account is that of the early third century bc author timaeus in an excerpt from his lost works related to us by he states that the celtic peoples living on the shores of the mediterranean venerated the twin gods known as the discord i and held the ancient tradition that these gods came to them from the ocean our third account is that of the otherwise obscure udocious of roads in the late 3rd century bc who states that the gauls would respond to invasions of their land by swarms of locusts by offering prayers and sacrifices which would in turn attract flocks of birds to destroy the locusts udocious also tells us that the punishment for any man who captured one of these birds had to be deaf or else the birds would not respond if called upon once again [Music] as intriguing as these accounts of ritual practices are they do not contain any direct mention of the druids instead we must turn to two later texts both of which unambiguously refer to the druids as a religious class amongst the peoples of western europe as with many others the original accounts have been lost existing only as two brief references in the work of the later greek author diogenes larettas in his life of eminent philosophers he refers briefly to the work of the 2nd century bc greek author sotien of alexandria along with a book of magic that the time was widely attributed to aristotle here our first mention of the druids can be found with them being described simply as the holy men and the philosophers of the celts featuring alongside those of the persians the babylonians and the indians compared with these other groups their references are slim but we do have one important passage that gives us our first glimpse of their teachings quote as to the gymnosophists and druids we are told that they uttered their philosophy and riddles bidding men to reverence the gods to abstain from wrongdoing and to practice courage finally we have an account by an obscure 2nd century bc poet naikander of colophon preserved in a later work by the third century author tertullian this poet alludes to religious practices amongst the celts who he claims would commune with the dead to predict the future in order to achieve this they would spend all night alongside the graves of the deceased hoping to gain enlightenment from their dreams so what can we learn from this handful of references in hecateus of abdura's account it is tempting to say that we have an early glimpse of religious practices in atlantic europe one that involved both solar and lunar worship along with the deposit of votive offerings this line of thinking has proven a popular one ever since interest in the druids was first rekindled john toland an early antiquarian of the 17th century attempted to equate the temple in this account with the stone circle of callanish on the western coast of lewis island in the outer hebrides more recently the archaeologist audrey burl has attempted to equate the 19-year cycle of the hyperboreans with the 18.6 year cycle of lunar standstills observed in the north an argument married by fellow archaeologist barry conley cunliffe has further theorized this account of the hyperboreans was taken from the work of the 4th century bc explorer betheas whose work would have been contemporary to hecateus of abdarah to back up this theory he points to measures of latitude preserved by later astronomer hipparchus of nicaea who quotes sun measurements made by pepheus as his one of these reported measures is 58 degrees 13 minutes latitude that does indeed cross lewis island this theory is certainly an interesting one but it should be noted that there are significant concerns with the accuracy of the account it draws upon the most egregious of these is that the claimed location of hyperborea varies wildly between different ancient authors with successive authors placing its location further and further north as understanding of european geography improved in the pseudo-historical accounts of hesiod and homer hyperboria is located north of frays in areas of water now romania and bulgaria hecateus of militis also places it along the coast of the black sea an area whose geography was more widely understood by the time hecateus of abdurah relocated the hyperboreans to an island off the coast of gaul by the time of the second century a.d author tommy who composed his maps when accounts of britain were more widely known the location of the hyperboreans had changed again this time to a location in the north sea above ireland this repeated change in location has led many authors to consider the hyperboreans more mythical than historical this other worldliness is even hinted at by the 5th century bc greek poet pindell in the following lines of his pithia node quote of the fairest glories that mortals may attain to him is given to sail to the furthest bound yet neither ship nor marching feet may find the wondrous way to the gatherings of the hyperborean people it should also be noted that the main author to preserve hecateus's account is diadorous of sicily who also provided separate descriptions of the peoples of britain in his biblioteca historica these descriptions which likely originate with porphyus himself contain no mention of the hyperboreans and employ a distinctly separate set of terminology based on these arguments it seems unlikely that hecateus's passages on the hyperboreans originate from profess though it remains possible that he did indeed visit lewis island so putting aside this account what can we glean about the druid from these remaining authors well we can be reasonably certain that a group of gaelic holy men with this title was known of in the areas around the greek colonies of southern gaul from the 2nd century bc the majority of these accounts present this group in either a neutral or a positive light equating them in passing with the respected philosophers of other cultures from eudocious we learn that the communities they belong to used animal sacrifices as a way of invoking the natural world a practice similar to that of the greeks and romans of this period already we see the equation of local gods with those of the greek pantheon specifically the divine twins of castor and pollocks we also see hints the darker element of religious worship in so peter's account of ritual sacrifice by the celts of their defeated foes however his account of human sacrifices never directly references the druids and so peter's account is limited to discussing actions committed during warfare for the moment then we are still unable to directly connect the druids and these ritual sacrifices in order to form a more complete view of the druid's role within society we must now turn to the accounts of later roman and greek authors who provide descriptions of native religious practices on the cusp of roman involvement in western europe by the midpoint of the second century bc the rivalry between the western mediterranean powers of carthage and rome was reaching its climax since the midpoint of the third century bc the two had been locked in an escalating cycle of political and military conflicts including two major wars of their respective territories in sicily corsica and sardinia the second of these punic wars would end in 201 bc with a decisive victory by rome after which carthage was forced to give up its european territories as a result of this victory rome found itself in possession of vast waves of eastern and southern iberia much of which had until recently been controlled by its indigenous people over the next 80 years rome would struggle to subjugate this territory and soon a new overland trade route formed across southern goal to allow both armies and goods to reach iberia these trade caravans would quickly prove a tempting target for the local ligurian tribes and after repeated raids throughout the first half of the 2nd century bc a ligurian group by the name of the saluvi began to pose a serious threat to the roman allied city of masalotis in 125 bc repeated appeals for aid from the massage led to a roman military intervention in the region two years later a roman army led by general quintus optimus destroyed the seluvian capital at ontramont and over the following years roman armies would penetrate deep into goal the decisive victory came in 121 bc when a roman army inflicted a crushing defeat on a combined gaelic force led by the arverni and the elebrogers this victory ended any immediate threat to roman trade routes and brought the lands of the ligurians and the alabrogi's under roman control in the process rome also received a small strip of coastal land from macelotis on which they constructed a road named the via domitia to link italy and hispania over the next few decades this collective territory came to form the new roman province of transalpine gaul putting roman citizens in direct contact with its native peoples it was amongst this backdrop of increasing roman control that a syrian-born philosopher by the name of posidonius made a journey throughout southern goal considered the leading polymath of his day poseidonius was a highly acclaimed stoic philosopher who also compiled a vast number of works on subjects such as geography mathematics history physics and astronomy after taking up residence in rhodes around the beginning of the 1st century bc he made a series of journeys around the roman world one of which include travel through the developing province of transalpina after returning to rhodes he wrote a full geographic and cultural treatise on the peoples of these regions one that is unfortunately lost luckily for modern scholars however posidonius's preeminence as an author meant that many later roman writers quoted his work in their own histories both with and without credit this was the case with both strabo and ioderus of sicily and it is also likely that sections of caesar's account were inspired by possadonius for this reason scholars sometimes refer to these free authors as belonging to the poseidonian school of discussion on the druids on one hand these authors betray the druids as the undisputed religious elite of the peoples of gaul and britain as the holders of a vast body of teachings on cosmology and herbal medicine and as the judges of gaelic society conversely they are also presented in line with so pater's account as the overseers of human sacrifice a practice that contemporary roman society would have considered barbaric we will examine what survives of posidonius's writings in due course but first let us start with the most authoritative account of the druids to survive from this group of authors that's of julius caesar writing 50 years after posidonius the goal that caesar would have been familiar with was one radically changed from only half a century earlier in that time concern had only risen within roman society regarding the gallic terror the encroaching threat of northern gaulic tribes on italy these fears were further exacerbated by the migration of new groups of germanic peoples through goal including the simbri the ambrones and the jew tones each of which would launch raids on roman territory during the last decade of the second century bc these invaders were eventually defeated in 101 bc when roman forces led by caesar's uncle gaius marius all but wiped out the chew tones and the simbri despite these victories the independent peoples of northern gaul remained a source of anxiety for the roman world one that caesar would exploit in launching his conquest of the region from 58 bc onwards it is at the conclusion of this campaign some eight years later that he wrote and published an account of his time in goal in addition to the straightforward description of his military exploits caesar included descriptions of gallic society in which the druids were betrayed prominently if we follow his account then the druids were one of two elite groups within gallic society with the other being referred to as either the knights or the warriors here their duties included religious matters private sacrifices and divination as well as acting as the judges of any crimes or disputes in times of war these druids were also exempt from combat or taxation and it was this exemption that guaranteed them many students according to caesar it took 20 years of teaching to become a druid and many who sought their instruction would travel to britain in the course of their teachings as it is here that he claims druidic thought originated of their religious beliefs he writes that the druid's cardinal teaching was that the soul did not perish upon death but instead passed to another body a teaching that aided them in encouraging fearlessness amongst their warriors caesar also writes that their disciples were educated on an extensive range of topics including astronomy the order of the natural world and the power of the immortal gods however they also placed a prescription on writing down these teachings firstly to prevent transition of their secrets and second to improve their skills of memorization most interestingly he also describes the druids of gaul as serving a single leader who was elected by his fellows though his position could also be claimed by armed conflict if the succession was contested caesar goes on to state that the druids would gather annually in the lands of the khanus where they would pronounce judgment on disputes gathered from the whole of gol it is at this point that a darker element begins to creep into caesar's account giving a brief overview of the role of the knights within gallic society he suddenly shifts into a description of human sacrifices amongst the goals at which he states the druids acted as the chief ministers here we can find perhaps the most iconic descriptions of druidic practices after stating that goals afflicted with illnesses or facing battle would conduct human sacrifices to avoid angering the gods he elaborates that in some places these sacrifices were conducted by building enormous wooden figures which would then be filled with sacrificial victims and set alight often the victims consigned to these wicker men consisted of thieves or other criminals but innocents were sometimes used if the supply of the condemned ran low caesar finishes by outlining the gallic pantheon one that he equates directly to specific roman gods if we are to believe him then the chief gowick deity was mercury who was said to be the inventor of all arts the patron of travellers and the god of money and trade in addition he also lists apollo mars jupiter and minerva as being revved amongst the gauls with them placing special reverence on mars the god of war he relates that prior to going into battle the gauls would dedicate the spoils to mars and in the event of a victory they would sacrifice any captives in his honor then deposit the spoils in a sacred location caesar concludes by stating that the druids taught that the gauls were descended from the god of the underworld and that as such they would measure time by the passing of knights rather than days it is tempting to accept caesar's account as verbatim given the extent of his first-hand knowledge of goal in britain and indeed we must concede that much of his description of gallic society is likely to be accurate there are good reasons however to doubt at least some elements of his description for example there are contradictory details to be found in caesar's account such as his claim that the powers of the druids were enhanced in emergencies but that they also held aloof from war indeed this second claim clashes with a contemporary roman account which dates from roughly a decade prior it can be found in the writings of cicero a prominent roman statesman and political rival of caesar who would later be executed on the instruction of his successors marc anthony an octavian in a passage of his work on divination he informs us that he can attest to the presence of such practices amongst the druids having met one himself in rome this druid who was known as divisiakas is described as using augury a practice wherein the movement of birds was interpreted to predict the future along with all other forms of natural phenomena this same division would appear in caesar's account this time listed not as a druid but as a leading aristocrat and ally of rome if this is correct then cicero's account jars with caesar's description of the druids as a class that held aloof from warfare and suggests a degree of crossover between their duties and those of the resident nobility it should be noted though that cicero's writings match other details of caesar's account such as the presence of human sacrifice amongst the goals finally we should also remember that caesar was a highly ambitious individual one who would have known only too well how to play to his roman audience the picture he paints of the peoples he successfully subjugated including those of gaul and coastal britain is often that of a near civilized people containing elements familiar to roman society such as an organized priesthood and noble class roman deities are presented as familiar to the people of gaul as was the conducting of proper animal sacrifice an important element of roman religion but in the case of peoples that remain beyond his rule he instead portrays society far beyond the normality of roman society the best example of this is with the people of germany with whom he was involved in military conflicts along the border of belgium goal here he lists his opponents as unrestrained barbarians unfamiliar with the roman gods or proper forms of worship and lacking the druids of their western neighbours he even portrays them as being ignorant of agriculture claim he extends to the people of the interior of britain and one that is known from the archaeological record to be false as a result it has been suggested by a number of modern scholars such as sean dunham bernard mayer and ronald hutton that these distortions are a deliberate tactic on caesar's behalf by portraying gallic society as at least semi-civilized with a resident set of priests and organized nobility he was able to justify the inclusion of its people into an enlarged roman republic conversely by portraying the germans and the british's ungovernable savages caesar draws a useful line between them and the peoples he had been able to subjugate one that provides ample explanation for his failure to extend roman rule to these regions this tendency for manipulation was indeed well known to caesar's contemporaries including the historian gaius ascenius polio who stated that caesar was too quick to believe others accounts of their actions and to give a false account of his own actions either on purpose or through forgetfulness moving beyond caesar's account we must jump forward a few decades to find our next mention of the druids in this time the structure of the roman world had changed dramatically in the wake of caesar's assassination in 44 bc an alliance had emerged between his political heir octavian and the roman generals mark anthony and marcus emilius lepidus this alliance dubbed the second triumvirate would govern the roman state until 33 bc when relations between octavian and anthony broke down the resulting war ended with octavian's decisive victory at the battle of actium after which anthony committed suicide now the undisputed master of the roman world octavian would formalize his position through the acquisition of ever greater senatorial powers whilst keeping the outer facade of the republic intact in 27 bc he and the senate formulated what would be known as the first settlement bestowing upon octavian the title of augustus the illustrious one along with the title by which he and his regime would come to be known princeps the first citizen for all intents and purposes the roman empire had begun [Music] it is amongst the backdrop of this shift from republic to empire that our next accounts of the druids emerge those of the greek authors strabo and diodus of sicily both men resided in parts of the mediterranean under roman control and their accounts are clearly influenced by that of caesar before them whilst they agree with the general picture painted by caesar of the druids they also introduce a number of contradictory details it has been suggested that these new details originate from poseidonius who strabo references in his account though not in passages related to the druids of the two it is diodorus that provides the most in-depth description of the jewish religious practices in his biblioteca historica he begins by echoing caesar describing votive deposits of gold made by the gauls to honor their gods he then adds a detail not mentioned by caesar stating that the gallic teaching that souls pass to another body upon death is derived from that of pythagoras a greek philosopher that founded a school in southern italy sometime in the late 6th century bc so much did this belief prevail amongst the gauls that according to dioderas they would cast letters onto the pires of their deceased kinsmen so that the dead would be able to read these letters this identification of druidic teachings with that of pythagoras has posed difficulties for modern scholars almost all contemporary accounts of his life and teachings are now lost and what accounts do remain are largely satirical in nature both xenophones and heraclitus writing in the early 5th century bc mock pythagoras for believing in reincarnation with xenophones relating that pythagoras once intervened to prevent a dog from being beaten as he believed he had heard the voice of a deceased friend in its howls a brief mention of pythagoras is repeated half a century later by herodotus who again mentions him in relation to freisen beliefs on immortality by the time of dioderas however his score had become associated with a wide range of teachings on lifestyle mathematics and metaphysics many of which are now known to be contradictory one consistent thread of thought associated with pythagoras however is the belief in transmutation the idea that upon death a person's soul would be reborn in a new body this idea would have been considered a highly unusual one amongst mainstream greek and roman fort amongst which it was commonly held that the dead departed to the underworld dioduas resulting equation of pythagorean teachings with those of the druids is likely due to it being the most recognizable example of teachings on immortality in the roman and greek world of the period rather than there being any genuine link between the peoples of gaul and pythagoras teachings moving on from pythagoras dioduas has another detail also not found in caesar's account stating that the gauls would preserve the heads of their most distinguished enemies in cedar oil for display this account is also found in strabo's work the geographia where he states poseidonius as having observed practice firsthand to his evident disgust both authors relate this headhunting activity as part of the boastful nature of gowick society a trait that would have been considered a sign of pomposity and barbarism to the mediterranean world dioduas then goes on to contradict caesar by detailing the presence of three separate groups within gallic society this threefold division which emits caesar's knights completely is also described by strabo who summarizes these accounts as the bards the vates and the druids [Music] whilst the bards are described as the poets and singers of gallic society it is the division between the vates and the druids that is the most interesting in caesar's account the druids are presented as the conductors of proper sacrifice with caesar claiming that they were also responsible for divination here they are instead consigned by strabo to the role of philosophers with the responsibility of conducting and interpreting sacrifices now being the chief responsibility of the vapes [Music] however some overlap between these two roles is hinted at by both authors who state that no proper sacrifice could be conducted without a philosopher present it also seems that the druids retained their importance during warfare as both authors claim that they had the power to prevent any conflict going as far as to step between two armies as they approached for battle finally both diodorus and strabo agree with caesar on the existence of human sacrifice amongst the druids though they also introduced new ways in which the goals supposedly disposed of their victims in addition to the wooden effigies described by caesar both outline a process wherein captives and convicted criminals would be executed by being impaled on long poles within their temples followed once more by ritual burning in addition to these methods both authors state that diviners would plunge a dagger or a sword into the body of a victim then attempt to predict the future through their death motions and through the pooling of their blood these accounts broadly agree with caesar on the nature of the druids we can already see contradictions emerging in addition to the threefold separation of gallic society described by deodorance and strabo neither account refers to the goal-wide organization of druids described by caesar nor do they refer to them as serving a single leader or attending an annual gathering to resolve disputes similarly neither author refers to druids as being active in britain despite caesar's claim of their practices and instruction originating from them we therefore have two possibilities in how we consider these accounts either that the organization of the religious elite of goal had changed remarkably in the years between their accounts or that the depiction presented by one or more of these authors is incorrect on the first point it is not unreasonable to assume that religious worship in gaul would have changed after decades of roman rule with roman religious structures being increasingly imposed on native religious structures [Music] this can perhaps be best seen in the first appearance of the vates or the seers within both strabo and ioderus's accounts in their description this group combines elements of two known roman groups the first of these are the aforementioned orgas who would interpret the will of the gods by examining the flight and cries of birds the second of these groups was the harospecs who would perform the same interpretation but by using the entrails of sacrifice sheep with particular focus being placed on the appearance of the liver it is possible then that a hybrid class of the two was now emerging amongst the druids as roman ideas were gradually imposed onto the gowick belief system conversely it is equally possible that such practices were common within gallic society long before the arrival of rome as shown by cicero's earlier attribution of augury to the druid divisiakas it is equally possible that this dichotomy was a simple case of confusion by foreign authors as the term vates was widely used in ancient rome as a generic term meaning prophet or poet finally it should be kept in mind that both diodus and strabo were almost certainly working from the writings of posidonias as such any information gleaned from them may well be referring to the societies he encountered during the initial roman settlement of transalpina rather than to the societies caesar encountered during his conquest of northern goal as a result this division between the bards the vates and the druids may well predate caesar's account and might have disappeared by the time of his conquest or may simply never have been present outside of southern coal moving on from these three authors we find our next reference to the druid in the writings of the geographer pomponius mello who provides a brief description of the druid and his work that they see to orbis libri whilst his account is mostly a repeat of information provided by caesar he relates the first time a new element of druidic instruction quote they teach the most noble of the nation many things privately and for a long time even for 20 years in a cave or in accessible woods this association of the druids with wooded places becomes increasingly common amongst authors of the first and second centuries a.d in his epic poem the farselya the roman poet lucan again associates the druids with wooded groves whilst also providing the first recognizable gowick names for gods worshipped by the druids quote cruel teutates pleased by dreadful blood horidesis with his barbaric altars and taranis more cruel than scythian diana who druids now that the war is over you return to your barbaric rites and sinister ways you alone know the ways of the gods and powers of heaven or perhaps you don't know at all you who dwell in dark and remote forest groves you say that the dead do not seek the silent realm of erebus or the pale kingdom of pluto but that the same soul lives again in another world and death your songs are true is but the middle of a long life in addition to his passages on druids he also provides a description of a forest grove encountered by caesar during his siege of the greek city of maceloti's during his war with pompeii quote there stood a grove which from the earliest time no hand of man had dared to violate hidden from the sun its chill recesses mattered boughs entwined prisoned the air within no silver nymphs here found a home nor pan but savage rights and barbarous worship out as horrible on massive stones appeared sacred with blood of men was every tree if faith be given to ancient myth no foul has ever dared to rest upon those branches and no beast has made his lair beneath no tempest falls nor lightnings flash upon it from the cloud staging into the air and moving yet the leaves filled with mysterious trembling dripped the streams from cold black fountains effigies of gods rude scarcely fashioned from some fallen trunk held the mid-space and powered with decay their rotting shapes struck terror thus do men dread most the god unknown it is the next author however that provides the most enduring association with forests and plants and who also provides much of the iconic imagery associated with the druids today it belongs to plenty of the elder who provides a detailed description of druidic herbology and medical practices in his book on natural history in it he outlines a ritual practiced by the druids for the harvesting of mistletoe from oak trees which he asserts were held in a special reverence by the gauls here he claims that the druid would only harvest this sacred plant on the sixth day of the moon's cycle and that its collection was marked by the holding of sacred meals and the sacrifice of two white bulls it is also here that we see the first mention of the iconic white robes and golden sickle that would so shape modern depictions of the druids these items are mentioned only in passing comprising the ritual attire and implements of the druid trusted with harvesting the mistletoe pliny then goes on to claim that the druids would use this plant to create a special drink asserting a mocking fashion that they believed it would cure infertility in livestock same white robes make one more appearance as the attire worn during the harvesting of another plant salago which is described as only being gathered using a person's right hand which must first be passed through the robes left sleeve as if the plant was being stolen according to pliny the druids held that salago could be used to ward off all dangers and that its smoke could be used for the treatment of eye disease pliny's account stands out perhaps more than any other amongst these roman authors unlike caesar strabo or diodorus it is not concerned with wider gallic society nor does it mention the vates or the baths so unique is its description of druidic practices that we can only guess as to its source perhaps due to its unusual nature and the authority of its author it ranks alongside that of caesar as the account of the druids most commonly presented its influence is seen most keenly in 18th and 19th century depictions of the druid few of which could be found without either the white robes golden sickle or mistletoe then just as suddenly as these items appear they disappear once more going unmentioned in the accounts of any other author even stranger is the next section of pliny's account after wrapping up his description of druidic practices by describing their use of the marsh plant samolus to treat cattle diseases he quickly moves to a description of a peculiar object held in veneration by the gauls quote in the summer months a vast number of snakes will gather themselves together in a ball which is held together by their saliva and a secretion from their bodies the druids say they produce this egg-like object called an anguinum which the hissing snakes throw up into the air it must be caught so they say in a cloak before it hits the ground pliny goes on to state that this object could only be gathered during a specific phase of the moon and even claims to have seen one of these eggs himself which he describes as a small apple-sized ball with a hard surface full of indentations if we are to believe his account these objects were held in veneration by the druids who claimed it would aid in lawsuits and in gaining the good will of a leader pliny goes on to mock this assertion by relating the account of a man of the gaulish for conti tribe who hid one in his cloak during his trial before the roman emperor claudius only to be executed when it was discovered no other author mentions these eggs leaving us at a loss as to pliny's source in addition to these associations with woodland and remote places the accounts of first and second century a.d authors are also marked by an increased hostility towards the druids it is in these accounts that we see details of repressive measures being brought against their order by the romans both pliny and lucan provide denouncements of druidic practices in their respective works with plenty stating that their barbaric rights were found within gaul even during his lifetime he goes on to say that the continuing existence of these led the roman emperor of the time tiberius to pass a decree outlawing the druids along with what is termed these types of diviners and physicians he closes by stating the following quote but at least we can be glad that the romans have wiped out the murderous cults of the druids who fought human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism with the greatest kind of piety this outlawing is corroborated in the work of the early 2nd century ad author suetonius in his biographies of the first 12 roman emperors he claims that membership amongst the druids had initially been forbidden to roman citizens by the emperor augustus though in direct contradiction of pliny he places the final responsibility for their destruction on the emperor claudius who he claims destroyed the horrible and inhuman religion of the gallis druids between them these laser authors paint a picture of an organization in terminal decline from mellor and lucan we first hear of the association of druidic practices with remote locations on the edge of society such as caves and hidden groves if we believe pliny and suetonius then by the early 2nd century the druidic order had been firmly rooted out by the roman authorities and may well have ceased to exist entirely but there are uncertainties about the claims given in these works for example both plunie and sutonius write as if the druids had been destroyed yet pliny also writes as if many of the rituals he described was still in common use it should also be noted that neither of these authors are considered wholly reliable sources in the case of pliny it is widely agreed that he provides accurate information in much of his account of the mediterranean world but when it comes to more distant regions his reports often descend into fantasy when discussing the peoples of africa he reports such things as cyclops and men with the heads of dogs in india he reports the existence of a one-legged people known as the monocholi who he describes as using their single enlarged foot as a sun shade whilst lying on their backs he further reports known falsehoods within his own society claiming that the smell of a lamp being put out could induce miscarriage in women and provides all manner of misinformation as to the dangers of menstrual blood considering this it is hard to say whether his account of the druids is based in reality or if it is just another piece of hearsay mistakenly presented as fact suetonius himself is also considered far from a reliable source and was known for both inserting gossip into his account and for presenting his own opinions as objective facts there are similarly good reasons to be dubious of lucan's account to many authors his inclusion of recognizable names of gaelic deities lends a level of credibility to his writings on the druids but his account of the sacred grove encountered by caesar's men is considered more suspect whilst his account does appear to corroborate earlier accounts of human sacrifice being practiced amongst the peoples of gaul it should be kept in mind that this grove was more likely a greek holy place than a druidic one being located in a part of gaul that had been under greek or roman rule for the last five centuries moreover lucan never directly names the druids in connection with this grove leaving his intentions unclear despite these uncertainties it remains likely that native religious practices had largely been repressed within gallic society by the beginning of the second century a.d by this time goal had been under roman control for over 150 years and any resistance to their practices would likely become limited to isolated pockets indeed there is little evidence of druidic involvement in later gowick rebellions against roman rule perhaps the most telling sign of their decline is that after suetonius we have only one substantial roman account of druidic activity remaining and it is chiefly concerned with their activities in britain after the conquest of gall by the romans in the mid first century bc britain had remained independent for another century throughout this period its southern tribes had slowly become more and more romanised both through a steady trade with their continental neighbours and through the exchange and return of british hostages in 40 a.d the roman emperor caligula had supposedly failed in an attempt to invade britain though primary sources disagree as to exactly how this failure occurred instead it was left to his successor claudius to complete this conquest which took place in roughly two phases the first came between 43 and 60 bc which saw the conquest of much of southern england after a decade low a second set of conquests took place between 70 and 80 bc and saw the subjugation of wales northern england and southern areas of scotland it is at the end of this first phase that our remaining account of druids is set it belongs to the orthotacitus who compiled several works on roman history between the late 2nd century and the early 1st century a.d in his annals he provides a description of the invasion of the welsh island of anglesey by the roman general suetonius polynus in 60 bc here he describes a native army as being accompanied by druids along with a horde of black-clad women far from holding aloof from warfare these druids seem to have actively participated in the defense of the island supporting their warriors with all manner of incantations quote all around the druids lifting up their hands to heaven and pouring forth dreadful imprecations scared our soldiers by the unfamiliar sight so that as if their limbs were paralyzed they stood motionless and exposed to wounds according to tacitus the romans rallied from their initial fear to inflict a crushing defeat on the british many of whom were taken captive with their enemies overwhelmed he tells us that the romans proceeded to destroy the island's sacred groves along with native altars he claims were stained with human blood and entrails unfortunately for the romans this conquest was not to be according to tacitus the same year was marked by a major uprising amongst the british led by the queen of the icini boudicca this rebellion forced the romans to withdraw from anglesey the island would remain unconquered for the better part of two decades finally in 77 bc the conquest would be completed by forces under the command of general gaius julius agricola who had himself served under suetonius pollinas at the time of the first invasion on the face of it tasita's description of druidic involvement tangles carries a great deal of authority in the same year as the second conquest he had married agriculture's daughter julia as such it is likely that he draws upon the first-hand experiences of participants in the description of the druidic groves anglesey if not those of agricola however there are still reasons to be cautious about his claims for example the written version of this account didn't appear until several decades after the events in question we have no way of knowing whether its events were embellished by these witnesses in later life we should also beware of embellishment by tacitus himself whilst the druids feature prominently in his description of the first invasion of anglesey in the annals they are completely absent from the account of this invasion given in his earlier biography of agricola there are also no references to the druids to be found in his description of the second invasion of anglesey nor are they to be found in his description of agriculture's invasion of northern england and scotland between 80 to 84 bc we can also point to a contemporary account of this invasion that of cassius dio who makes no mention of the druids being present on anglesey in addition whilst his account is commonly used as evidence that anglesey was a druidic stronghold tacitus never claimed such in his account instead listing it as a population center and a haven for british refugees despite this we can still infer that anglesey may have held some significance for the druids given tacitus's description of the sacred groves on the island there is also one of a reference to the druids to be found amongst tacitus's writings in his histories he relates to us that a fire on the roman capital during the reign of the emperor vespasian was seen as an omen by the druids of gaul one that foretold the roman empire's imminent destruction this statement runs contrary to plenty and suetonius's statement that the druids had been annihilated completely in goal at this time though it should be noted that the year it refers to 70 a.d narrowly predates both of their accounts as we move on from tacitus we find ourselves with only a handful of remaining references to the druids amongst the authors of the roman period indeed we receive no further window into druidic activities in britain though we can presume that roman prohibitions extended their newest province instead our remaining references come to us from gaul with three of them being found in the same body of work the historia augusta this text which likely dates from the 4th century a.d includes accounts of the lives of roman emperors from the 3rd to the 4th centuries a.d here three separate emperors alexander severus aurelian and diocletian are each described as encountering a gaulish druidess whose prophecies for their futures inevitably come true these references have received little serious attention by scholars as the historia augusta is now widely accepted to be highly unreliable being either a work of satire or a wholesale fraud but whilst the historia augusta is considered highly dubious from a historical perspective it does open the door to an idea that's worth examining that of female druids [Music] whilst there are no other clear accounts of druidesses amongst greek and roman authors they do give examples of female religious officials amongst the societies of both gaul and britain in their writings in addition to the black-clad women of tacitus's account who seem to have acted as cheerleaders for the british forces we also have a curious example of gaelic priestesses related to us by strabo citing pocidonius he tells us of a group of women from a samnitai tribe dedicated to the greek god dionysus who dwelled in a temple on an island at the mouth of loia according to strabo no men were allowed to set foot on the island although the women would occasionally return to the mainland to seek sexual partners he goes on to say that the women would choose one day a year to ritually re-roof their temple and that the first woman to drop her load would be rent to pieces by the rest with her body parts being carried around the temple to cries of avar this account is most likely hearsay after all strabo was relying on information from porcidonias who as far as we know never traveled as far north as the mouth for the loire the variable nature of this account can also be seen in a similar story related to us by pomponius mello in his version there are nine of these women who instead dwelled on an island between gaul and britain where he claimed they acted as powerful oracles and remain perpetual virgins we will return to this idea of female druids in our next episode before then we come to our final roman account that of the fourth century a.d poet alsonias in his camarado professor he makes a brief reference to a man who tells us he is a descendant of the druids of baeau and who served at the temple of the gaulish god belanus we have further told of an old man by the name of ibesius who descended from the druids of brittany and who acted as a priest of bolognese in this account we see a sudden reversal in attitudes towards the druid and that of the roman authors of the first and the second century's a.d instead of savages and purveyors of human sacrifice here we see the druids presented as acceptable ancestors it seems by now that whatever threat they had once posed to roman power had long passed and in its place a degree of romance had begun to creep into their identity [Music] so what can we make of these roman and greek accounts well it is difficult to read them without detecting at least some element of propaganda in addition to their description of the druids as buffers of human sacrifice they provide an image of the peoples of gaul and britain that matches known roman stereotypes of savagery in the accounts of diodourous and strabo the people of gaul are pompous fond of frets and bragging and given to display in the heads of their defeated enemies in the case of britain authors such as caesar and strabo are eager to describe them as ignorant of agriculture and proper clothing claiming they dress themselves only in the skins of wild beasts to pliny the gauls are ruled by superstitions he is only too keen to mock whilst testis presents the britons as being ruled over by women a sign of weakness in the roman world what is also interesting is the way the tone of these accounts changes over time in the writings of caesar the druids and their practices are presented without much comment and both strabo and diodorus limit most of their criticism to practices they claim have long since passed by the time of luken pliny and suetonius however these accounts have become noticeably more hostile with the latter two announcing their approval of the order's eradication a similar vein of hostility can be found in tastus account of the druids in britain to whom he is eager to attribute all manner of barbarity then after the apparent destruction of the druids in both gaul and britain these hostile accounts cease by the 4th century any threat they may have once posed to roman authorities seems to have been destroyed entirely so much so that respectable roman citizens were happy to count them as honoured ancestors in light of these attitudes and the obvious benefit to the romans of betraying these peoples in an unfavorable light both historians and archaeologists alike have suggested that spurious elements may have made their way into these accounts unsurprisingly the greatest attention has been focused on the claims of human sacrifice being conducted by the druids which it is argued may have been inserted to play to roman notions of barbarity along this line of reasoning authors such as peter burris fidelis and nora chadwick have claimed that the more barbaric rituals ascribed to the druids by roman authors can be discounted entirely in their minds the druids were an elite class of philosophers whom no pre-roman account had definitively linked with human sacrifice on the flip side the historian stuart pigott found the image presented by the romans to be realistic whilst perhaps the most skeptical of these authors ronald hutton notes we have little way of telling what is and what is not true amongst these accounts finally it should be noted that archaeologists such as jane webster miranda greene and barry cunliffe have been more accepting of the image of druidic sacrifice provided by roman authors pointing to evidence for this activity that has been unearthed in both goal and britain before we move on to examine these archaeological records ourselves there are two further sources of information on religious practices amongst the gauls that we should briefly explore the first is the final group of ancient authors to reference the druids in their writings known as the alexandrian authors after the city in which most of them dwelled this group wrote between the second and fourth centuries a.d and it is from their accounts an altogether different picture of the druids emerges the first of these authors is one diane chrysostom who wrote at the beginning of the 2nd century bc in his account the druids are described simply as purveyors of wisdom amongst the celts acting as respected diviners and advisers to their kings [Music] according to dio these kings were so ruled by their druids that in truth they were the true rulers of their societies the next account that of the early christian writer hippolytus returns to the association with pythagoras previously described by dioderas here he claims that these teachings were taught to the druid by a freischenex slaver pythagoras named zamosus who came to the gauls as a missionary after his master's death this link with pythagoras is reiterated by another christian saint clement of alexandria in contrast to hippolytus however he claims that pythagorean principles were taught to the greeks by the gauls and that this philosophy originated with them he adds that the ancient greeks also received many of their ideas from people they later considered barbarians including the assyrians and the brahmana of india finally we have the words of the last roman historian of note amianes marcelinus who included references to the druids in his 4th century work the rerun gestaram here they are again presented alongside the bards and the vapes whilst the barge remained much the same as in previous accounts the vats are presented not as seers but as investigators of the unknown and of the secret laws of nature the druids now presented as being loftier in their intellect than the other groups are again described as following the teachings of pythagoras along with seeing all manner of obscure and profound subjects the picture of the druids we can garner from these accounts is one more in line with the early greek accounts of the second and third centuries bc than any roman account indeed many of these authors seem to rely on sources dating from these eras these include diogenes liatus who provides the references to sotheon and pseudo-aristotle we discussed earlier in this episode or amnionus marcellinus who seems to be quoting from a garbled version of a text by a 1st century bc greek author named imagines what is also notable is that none of these authors attribute any form of human sacrifice to the druids nor do they provide much detail at all on their specific religious practices many of these accounts also come to us from a dramatically changed empire from that of two centuries prior by the time many of these authors were active the ancient roman religion had itself been largely subsumed in favour of christianity 3 13 a.d the emperor constantine had legalized christianity throughout the empire and over the next decades successive emperors had slowly dismantled much of rome's former religion after the death of the emperor julian in 363 a.d all future emperors would be christians and in 380 a.d emperor theodosius would convene the council of nicaea effectively making nicene christianity the state religion against this backdrop of a shift to christianity the druids may suddenly have found themselves a more acceptable ancestor figure acting as an early source of wisdom unconnected from the pagan religions of greece and rome a final textual comparison can also be made between the people of gore in the 1st century bc and another contemporary group the galatians of northern anatolia these originally gaelic people had invaded the balkans during the first half of the third century bc before arriving in macedonia and greece around 281 bc whilst this invasion force would ultimately be turned back before reaching the temple of apollo at delphi a splinter group continued eastward after crossing into anatolia this force spent time fighting as mercenaries the king nicomedes of bifnia after which they were settled in an area known from then on as galatia two descriptions of galatian society have come down to us from strabo and pliny the elder respectively outlining society split into three separate tribes each governed by four tetrons these tetrax were in turn served by a judge and military commander the former of which were entrusted with many of the duties attributed to the druids by roman authors curiously however no mention of the druids can be found anywhere amongst either author's account despite both authors providing descriptions of the druids of gol elsewhere in the same works it should be noted however that the picture of the galatians presented by strabo and pliny is one over two centuries removed from their celtic origins and it is not unreasonable to assume the religious customs in this society may have evolved during nearly two centuries of residence in anatolia so with all of these various accounts considered what can we make of the druids to most scholars the answer is both everything and nothing for all we know the details of any of these accounts could be wholly true or wholly false as we have no direct accounts by the peoples of gall or britain with which to verify them what we do have available however is the archaeological record of each of the countries where the druids are claimed to have operated before we examine these we should take some time to correct a few misconceptions about the sites at which the druids supposedly worshipped in popular culture their enduring association has been with ritual sites such as stonehenge avebury and newgrange along with the megalithic sites of brittany and alvergnet in france this association was first made by the pioneering archaeologists of the 17th century and remain the dominant view among scholars as late as the second half of the 19th century even now these sites still hold importance for modern druidic movements and hundreds of their adherents regularly flock to these sites to celebrate the summer or winter solstices many of these sites are indeed astronomically aligned with these dates and generally modern groups treat this time as a period between death and rebirth when the sun abandons the earth and the darkest day of winter passes but whilst these dates were clearly of great ritual significance to the original builders of these sites we now know that this tradition of megalithic building predates accounts of the druids by millennia in fact most of these structures date from neolithic times with the earliest appearing during the first half of the fifth millennium bc this pattern of monumental construction continued for much of the next three millennia with many sites being gradually iterated on during this time in brittany a dense collection of standing stones known as the carnac stones was erected between the 5th and the 4th millennium bc at stonehenge the original ditch and banks were raised somewhere around the end of the 4th millennium bc followed by progressive iterations of bluestone circles that continued to be raised over the next 1500 years in addition to henges and standing stones this period also saw the construction of large communal barrows and passage graves along with complementary wooden structures such as the one found at durington walls then around the middle bronze age this pattern of construction began to cease after 1500 bc there is little evidence of continued rituals but i have a stonehenge or avery and outside of some scattered evidence of roman activity neither sight seems to have received much attention in the centuries ahead so we have no evidence the druids had anything to do with the megaliths of northern europe their supposed heyday came many centuries after these sites were abandoned or in the case of the neolithic tombs sealed away but is it possible that some elements of ritual behavior from these times was passed down through the end of the bronze age continuing on in the iron age practices of gaul and britain again the answer is that this is unlikely by all indications religious practices in northern europe underwent a significant shift during the mid-second millennium bc ritual worship instead seems to have become focused on natural sites such as springs rivers marshland and if we are to believe the accounts of classical authors forest groves the main form of worship became the deposition of votive offerings at these sites with the resulting hordes often containing high prestige items such as bronze and iron weaponry prestige seems to become centered around access to these precious items only to shift in favor of ritual feasting and displays of excess burial practices also changed during this time cremation became the norm for much of the bronze age only to be slowly supplanted by a complex patchwork of exumation and inhumation unfortunately we have little way to distinguish where in this process the druids could have emerged many prior authors have attempted to equate their genesis with the immersion of the latin culture of central europe from the 5th century bc onwards or to one of their precursors such as the halstat or earnfield cultures both have been suggested as potential origin points for the protoceltic language and culture and show strong continuity the later iron age communities encountered by greek and roman authors thus if the druids were present in gaul and britain the argument follows that they may have been present in areas where evidence of the latin culture has been found and may well have originated in one of its precursors but before we can ever really answer the question of where the druids originated we would first have to be sure of their existence in their historically attested regions of gaul and britain and to establish whether this is the case we must look to the archaeological record and see what parallels can be made with the classical accounts of druidic activity let's start by examining known iron age religious sites in northwestern europe in france large-scale sanctuaries are known to have existed in several locations from the 4th century bc onwards including the ones excavated at gourne sir and river monster anchor both of these sites began their lives as enclosures marked out by palisades and ditches into which were placed large deposits of weaponry tools jewelry both human and animal bones these ditches were complemented by groups of pits dug at their centers alongside hollow altars and monumental entrance ways similar enclosures are also known in neighbouring switzerland and a number of rectangular sites known as very shanzan have been found throughout eastern france and bavaria in britain these ditched enclosures seem to have been less common but examples of what may be similar centers have been found at heathrow bisson way in norfolk and a tailing island in hampshire [Music] rectangular buildings tentatively identified as shrines have also been found within the interiors of iron age hill falls throughout southern england including the cadbury castle danbury and maiden castle on first glance the presence of these rectangular sites seems to suggest a common structure of religious observance throughout historical gaul and britain each acting as enclosed ritual centers away from more domestic life when we examine these centers individually however their differences become more obvious example these sites often range significantly in scale with some containing buildings rather than altars within their centers in the case of britain sanctuaries associated with specific locations don't seem to have emerged until the very end of the iron age and many of their buildings are circular rather than rectangular at the hill fort shrines there is little evidence of any surrounding enclosure nor is there much sign of separation between them and more domestic buildings further examination has also shown that some of these ditched enclosures may have had a more domestic role for example only limited evidence has been found of ritual behavior at any of the varric shanzan enclosures which lack the votive deposits of sites in northern france instead it has been suggested that these sites may simply have acted as grain storage facilities with no clear religious connotations in addition to these sanctuaries we also know of other classes of ritual sites in iron age goal an example of this can be found in southern france where a ritual center has been unearthed near modern velour this site known as rock battus dates between the 6th and the 3rd centuries bc and persisted until its destruction by the romans during their conquest of southern gaul in the 2nd century bc this sanctuary which consists of a large rectangular platform made of stone flags contained a central portal or door frame constructed from a series of decorated limestone pillars these pillars were marked by recessed alcoves in which human skulls would have been prominently displayed a similar site associated with head veneration has also been found at nearby altermont where a number of stone heads have been unearthed in britain we also know of ritual centers associated with the deposition of votive offerings that bear little resemblance to these enclosed sites this includes centers such as fiskarton which show little evidence of having a temple complex attached despite the presence of ritual platforms and vast deposits of bronze and iron items placed in the adjacent river similar deposits have been found in anglesey the supposed bastion of the druids described by tacitus here large amounts of metalwork have been unearthed at the edge of the lake of flynn kerrig back including a crescent-shaped bronze plaque complete with lunar engravings in addition to these water-based sites we also know of the existence of wooded sanctuaries throughout both britain and gaul whilst these sites are archaeologically difficult to confirm their presence is known for the existence of the goalish word nemerton that can still be found as a place name throughout france and britain this name even appears in strabo's account as dryne edmonton the name of the meeting place of the supreme council of the galatians in anatolia so whilst there is some evidence for the sacred groves as described by roman authors there is little evidence for a uniform style of ritual sight or worship across both gaul and britain we do see a few common styles of worship such as the widespread offerings of animal sacrifices and valuable metal items but ultimately there is not enough evidence for as to say that the ceremonies conducted at these sites would have held a common form in addition it has recently been argued that the distinction between the domestic and the ritual may have been far less defined in both gaul and britain and that the practices found at these defined ritual sites may not tell the full story of religious life in either of these sites a good example of this is the deposition of animal and human remains in unused grain storage pits across southern england an act that held clear ritual connotations so what types of deities were being venerated at these centers if we go by the evidence of later roman inscriptions there were perhaps hundreds of different gods and goddesses in britain and gaul many of whom would be co-opted by the romans after their respective conquests a small number of these deities appear to have been worshiped widely across northern europe including figures such as the horn god sir nunos the god of thunder tyrannus or the god of horses opponent overwhelmingly however most gods appear to have been local ones associated with specific tribes or ritual sites most of our information on these more local deities comes to us from later roman inscriptions in which many of them are mentioned only once but the lack of a widespread presence for some of these gods should not be mistaken for a lack of popularity many local gods were likely far more popular in their core regions than the international gods examples of these include the cult of sequana whose ritual site was based at the mouth of the seine in burgundy or the british gods solace and nodens both of whom had elaborate sights devoted to them at bath and lidney park respectively [Music] there are even some celtic gods who would later be incorporated wholesale into the roman pantheon including the aforementioned sequana and epona the latter of whom would become part of the imperial cult as opponent augusta the patron god of cavalry however these gods are in a distinct minority and the majority of celtic deities seem to have been simply equated to an existing member of the roman pantheon for example the gods isis and tutates who were widely worshipped throughout gaul and britain would be equated with mercury and mars respectively while solis would later be identified with minerva the roman god of wisdom and medicine for a long time this synchronization was argued to be a simple form of integration by the new authorities allowing the locals to continue their long-standing religious practices under an acceptable veneer of roman worship under this school of thought it was argued that the nature of the iron age gods and goddesses was preserved largely intact throughout the roman period [Music] in more recent decades however the relevance of the deities outlined in roman inscriptions to the original gods of these societies has come under question many archaeologists including ann ross and miranda greene have argued that the idea that local gods persisted in their same form under new roman titles may well be overly simplistic instead they theorised that the romans would have reinterpreted and adapted these gods to suit their own needs and that this adaptation may well have been an integral part of romanizing the various peoples held under this way so ultimately there is little sign of a unified pantheon amongst the people of gaul and britain as described by season but can we say the same about the priests associated with these sites well luckily for us a small number of inscriptions have been frowned throughout gaul that appear to include native religious titles from our perspective the most interesting element of these inscriptions is their complete lack of mention of the druids instead we see titles such as virgo brett ancestors and gutuita appearing alongside shrines and votive deposits the first of these was found inscribed on a ruined pot at a gala roman shrine in argento margus and it is the same title as that according to the gorish leader divisiatus by caesar this inscription was found in tribal territory belonging to the bitter aegis a neighbouring tribe of diversity this inscription has also been interpreted by miranda greene as indicating the vergarat's participation in a votive ceremony at this site if true this may again indicate a degree of overlap between the nobility and the religious classes of goal the perception reinforced by cicero's identification of divisiatus as a druid interestingly this deposit also dates from the reign of emperor tiberius a time when pliny claims druidic practices were outlawed these inscriptions provide little evidence for a single priesthood and stand at odds with the account of caesar who describes a unified priesthood throughout goal to explain this contradiction we have two clear possibilities either the picture caesar presents is an oversimplification born of ignorance or it is simply a false one constructed for the benefit of his roman audience if so then many of his fellow authors seem to have been happy to turn a blind eye and indeed few of them make mention of the specific gods that the people of gaul or britain would have worshipped there is one roman author however whose works accurately present known deities of iron age gaul and britain ironically it is one inspired by caesar that of the poet lucan in his brief mention of the druids found within his epic poem the farsalia he lists the name of three deities chutes isis and tyrannus all three of these are known to have been worshipped at a range of sights throughout northern europe inscriptions to tutes have been found throughout britain and gaul mostly in the form of romano british finger rings [Music] isis is similarly known from two gallis inscriptions in which he is depicted as a male figure pruning a tree the last tyrannus is well attested to throughout northern europe as the god of thunder where he is depicted in similar fashion to the roman god jupiter though with the frequent addition of a wheel this authentic presentation of celtic names by lucan thus adds a degree of weight to his account and many later writers have attempted to use these descriptions and the commentaries of later authors to assign specific methods of human sacrifice to each of these deities according to the 10th century commenter bonencia sacrifices to teutates were performed by drowning the victims in a vat of unknown liquid whilst those to esis were performed by hanging finally worship towards tyrenis was shown by the ritual burning of human victims a practice some scholars have attempted to equate with the wicker men described by caesar however it should be noted that neither ritual drowning or hanging are mentioned in any of these classical accounts and that the commentaries these arguments are based on are separated from the original account by nearly a millennium in addition to his documenting of known celtic deities there is also another detail found in lucan's account that has piqued the interest of archaeologists in the farsalia he describes a sacred grove near the greek town of maesilotes wherein the gods were supposedly venerated in the form of wooden figures as we detailed before the existence of these groves is difficult to track archaeologically but wooden figurines dating from this period have been found throughout the celtic world for pre-roman examples we can point to figures unearthed in the british isles including those found at argyle scotland and further south at king stington in devon in east yorkshire five wooden figurines have also been unearthed near the village of rus whilst across the sea in ireland a similar figure has been discovered at rallican in county cavern with the exception of the rauligan figurine which may date from the late bronze age these figures date from between the 6th and the 4th centuries bc and are often suggested to represent cult images of gods or goddesses wooden figures dating from the early roman period have also been unearthed at the ritual center of shamalies as well as at the source of the seine the ritual center of the gods sequana [Music] so could these figures have been a symbol of druidic worship whilst we cannot be certain of a druidic link it seems likely that some of these figures would have carried ritual connotations for example archaeologists have interpreted the site of the wooden figure found at argyle to be a ruined shrine or enclosure other figures have also been suggested to have acted as boundary markers carving the image of local gods in order to protect tribal borders these statues could also represent priests associated with rituals conducted at these signs or be images of local rulers this seems likely in the case of a bronze figure on earth that was in france this figure is crafted in the image of a gaelic warrior wearing a decorative torque armor and shield and it has been suggested by archaeologist miranda greene that it could represent either a warrior deity or a local chieftain alternatively some of these figures may have been intended to depict the worshipers themselves evidence of this can be found amongst the roman era figurines found at chamalees and at the colt center of sequana many of which appear to carry the afflictions of pilgrims who may have sought healing at these sites as for the earlier iron age figures for all we know they could simply have acted as decorations or even toys there is also little unified iconography to be found amongst these figures which range from featureless wooden effigies to complicated bronze figurines finally it should be kept in mind that lucan only mentions these figures when discussing the grove encountered outside macelotes and that as a result it is unlikely to preserve native gallis ritual behaviors so aside from a handful of facts such as the name of free gods presence of wooded sanctuaries and the existence of ritual deposits there seems to be a little in common between the archaeological record and the accounts of roman authors certainly the ubiquitous priesthood of caesar strabo and diodorus seems to be absent from any known inscriptions as does the title druid itself but what about the ceremonial items found away from these centers unearthed at burials or in isolated places like bogland or rivers well it is here that the most compelling evidence for a former specialist priesthood in britain has been found it takes the form of two distinct classes of iron age object the first of these consists of several unusual pieces of headgear that have been unearthed in cyst burials and graves throughout southern england and wales the most widely known of these headdresses or perhaps helmets was unearthed in 1988 a deal in kent inside a male burial site dating from between the third and the second centuries bc this helmet which was worn on the man's head consisted of a narrow brim with two bands that formed a cross over the top of the head similar headgear has been reported in fines from cambridgeshire and got morgan along with possible finds from clued and middlesex comparisons have also been made between these items and headdresses known to have been worn by british priests during the roman period however no known example of these headdresses has been found in other areas where the druids are claimed to have been active such as in gaul or ireland moving beyond these headdresses the second class of items we can point to are a set of bronze spoons or scoops that have been found in areas of britain and ireland with a solitary pair also being unearthed in eastern france only around 15 of these items are known to exist but most of them being found in pairs almost all of these spoons seem to have been deliberately deposited within graves or hordes and their exact age remains uncertain going by their decoration styles these spoons may range in date from the 5th century bc to the 2nd century bc and seem to have no roman associations these spoons take the form of small shallow bowls which are large enough to sit comfortably within an adult's hand in almost all examples one of these spoons contains a small offset hole whilst the other is usually marked by an incised cross these features have led archaeologists to theorize that these spoons held a divinatory role associated with the druids wearing liquid will be poured into the bowl of the perforated spoon allowing it to run through the hole and pull in the second spoon held below however this theory now seems more uncertain for example the bowls of these spoons are too shallow to hold much liquid and it has been demonstrated that the holes are too small for water to flow through them this doesn't rule out a different liquid however or that a powdered or granulated substance could have been used instead these fines are certainly significant and may well indicate a greater degree of uniformity in ritual practices amongst the peoples of britain than cena established ritual sites but again we have no direct evidence of druidic involvement and the most notable items described by a classical writer the golden sickle and serpent eggs of pliny remain absent perhaps the closest item we have to these descriptions of druidic practices comes from a single burial on earth near stanway dating from around 50 a.d this burial which comes from a graveyard of what unlikely early roman client kings contains a set of instruments somewhat to known greco-roman surgical tools what has excited more interest however is the inclusion in the grave of an otherwise unique set of rods which archaeologists have theorized may have been used as a form of divinatory tool in addition to these tools this individual is also buried with a cloak decorated with broaches an intact board game and a tea strainer containing residue of the herb artemisia due to the inclusion of these items this burial has been routinely described as the doctor's grave by archaeologists but to the general public the individual it contains is better known by another title the druid of colchester so was this individual a druid the answer is that it is certainly a possibility after all divinatory and herbal knowledge were widely attributed to the druids by ancient authors and there is ample evidence that both were practiced by the individual placed within this grave however the picture is complicated by known crossover between iron age magical practices and those of early medicine outside of the rods there is little evidence that this individual was a member of any organized priesthood and indeed much of their kit is consistent with well-known roman medical practices as a result the most we can say is that this person was certainly a member of the public elite acting either as a doctor religious official or perhaps even both in addition to these spoons headdresses and divinatory rods we have one last item to consider one that is by far the most frequently associated with druids it consists of the fragmentary remains of a large bronze tablet that was unearthed in the late 19th century in the french commune of coligny engraved on this tablet was an elaborate calendar outlining both the sole year and lunar months along with a system of notations listing both auspicious and inauspicious dates this calendar dates from between the first and the second century's a.d and was written using the latin alphabet though the language it was composed in is gaulish whilst only a small part of this calendar has survived it contains a full five-year cycle and this repetition allows us to reconstruct it with some confidence by all indications the calendar outlined in this tablet may be the original celtic lunisolar calendar support for this comes from its counting of time not by days but by nights practice of the goals claimed by both caesar and pliny this five-year calendar also bears some resemblance to the five-year cycle of sacrifices amongst the goals outlined by deodorants on which occasions he claims captors would have been first impaled and then burned alongside offerings of summer fruits in honour of the gods attempts have also been made to link this calendar with the 30-year lunar cycle of the druids outlined in pliny's account although the presence of large numbers of notations and abbreviations make the exact length of any longer cycle open to individual interpretation so did the druids create this calendar the answer might very well be yes given that it was constructed during a period when roman authors were still reporting the presence of druids in goal and that it bears a passing similarity to other elements of their accounts however it could have just as easily been drawn up by romanised officials who retained a knowledge of local customs indeed similar intercalary systems are known to have existed amongst the ancient greeks and the kalignik calendar may well be influenced by these systems through trade links with the masalias to the south even so this hasn't stopped historians and archaeologists alike from citing this calendar as a piece of druidic handiwork many of whom argued that only the druid would have had the advanced lunar and solar knowledge required for its crafting as to whether it was observed throughout goal and britain however we cannot be sure so far only one other example has been found at a roman era shrine in a nearby village of the lards de geria sadly this calendar is even more fragmentary consisting as it does of only eight small fragments so it seems we again have no certain evidence of druidic involvement with these items with the possible exception of the coligny calendar and the items found in the doctor's grave but there is one final element of the archaeological record that bears examining in relation to the druids it concerns a practice that roman authors were more than happy to attribute the peoples of both britain and gaul that of ritual human sacrifice let's start with potential evidence for this activity in ritual centers in gaul at sites such as rivermont sir ankara and rockpertus we can find ample evidence for the ritual display of body parts we previously detailed the ceremonial stone alcoves found at rockportus alcoves are designed for the display of human skulls at rivermont however the displays are far more ghoulish consisting of hundreds of human bodies found both inside and outside of its central enclosure many of these bodies were found to be incomplete or damaged and some of their bones seemed to have been used in the construction of two rectangular ossuaries built in the corners of the enclosure a mass grave was also unearthed outside its ditch containing the bodies of over 100 male skeletons each of which seem to have been ritually decapitated a similar display of bodies has been found at the cult site of montmartin and evidence of ritual destruction of human remains has also been unearthed at gornay sir iran and at the site of mormont in western switzerland there is significant uncertainty over what exactly these mass displays of body parts represent most scholars agree that the bodies found at rivermont are the victims of a single large iron age battle which the shrine may originally have been built to commemorate some of the heads displayed at rock patios similarly seem to have come from the bodies of men slain in battle as shown by a piece of javelin found still embedded in one of the skulls as a result earlier scholars hypothesized that one of the functions of these sites was to ensure the ritual humiliation of their fallen opponents where their bodies would be displayed as trophies or otherwise destroyed whilst this may well be true of the skulls displayed at rock parties it is now thought that the headless warriors found in the mass grave outside the river mount enclosure are the foes of the sanctuary's builders given their decapitation and careless burial by comparison the several hundred bodies found within the enclosure seemed to have been subjected to a complicated ritual treatment first they seemed to have been displayed in the open air where they were allowed to decay until only the bones and ligaments remained some of these bones were then used to construct the ossuaries whilst others were carefully destroyed by being crushed and then cremated the purpose of these destructions is unknown perhaps it simply marked an unusual form of ritual treatment for the locals departed comrades the most prestigious of whom had their bones selected for inclusion amongst the ossuaries other authors have taken the opportunity to suggest that these are not fallen warriors at all but the bodies are sacrificial victims whilst the evidence for this at rivermont and other sites in northern gaul remains unclear this may well be true of the remains found at mormont where bones have been unearthed carrying clear signs of butchery so there may well be some slim evidence for human sacrifice in parts of iron age goal but can we say the same for across the channel well let us start by examining the key piece of evidence that many authors cite as proof of ritual druidic sacrifice in britain it consists of the body of a 25 year old man an earth from a bog in lindau in cheshire dating from somewhere between the first and the second century's a.d due to the oxygen-free conditions of his environment large portions of his torso remained well preserved enough so that we can reconstruct a picture of how he would have lived and died as best we can tell lindoman seems to have been a member of the social elite by all signs his body was well nourished bearing few signs of hard physical labor [Music] according to pathologist ian west who performed the initial forensic analysis at london hospital he was subjected to a free fall death first he was stunned by two blows to the head after which he was garrotted by a cord made of animal sinew which fractured his neck finally his throat was cut any one of these wounds could have been fatal by themselves suggesting a level of theatricality to his dispatch consistent with ritual sacrifice the contents of the man's stomach have also been offered as evidence for druidic involvement consisting of a cake made from barley that had been laced with mistletoe pollen even his one item of clothing has been largely interpreted in a ritual context consisting of a fox fur band worn around his upper arm so in lindo man we likely have an example of a ritual killing if not an outright human sacrifice perhaps his body was deposited in the bog after death in order to mark out a tribal boundary or to act as an offering to an unknown deity the discovery of mistletoe residue within his last meal has also invited comparisons to the writings of pliny who speaks of the special reverence that drew its hell for mistletoe grown on oak trees it is on further examination however that this picture becomes less clear firstly it seems that not every forensic expert to have examined the body agrees with the hypothesis of a threefold death robert connolly a lecturer in physical anthropology at the university of liverpool suggested that many of these wounds were in fact inflicted postmortem perhaps as a result of the peat cutting operations that led to lindo man's discovery instead he points the initial blows to the head as being the only pre-mortem wounds and claims that the ligature found alongside the man's neck may in fact have been ornamental rather than a murder weapon moreover it is uncertain that the mistletoe pollen found within the man's stomach was intentionally added to his meal ultimately only four grams were found to be present an amount well within the limits of accidental contamination this isn't to say that the initial forensic examination of lindoman was wrong and that connolly is right simply that the jury is still out as to whether lindo man was a human sacrifice either way he was certainly a prestigious individual whose execution and deposition in the bog had a degree of ritual overtones where we can be more certain of human sacrifice in britain however is in the bodies that have been unearthed within the interiors of hill forts throughout southern england these bodies are generally found in ditches or disused grain storage pits with most of them being found complete often in positions suggesting they were carefully deposited in the graves after death in a few examples however such as at wanderie ring and danebury bodies have been found that clearly underwent some form of ritual mutilation at wandelberry the remains of a partially dismembered child have been found whilst at danbury the finds are even more macabre here a pit containing some 25 mutilated bodies has been unearthed mostly consisting of young males who seem to have been bound prior to their deaths many of these bodies show signs of having had their legs crudely hacked off and it is unknown whether this happened before or after their deaths according to the lead excavator of this site barry cunliffe these bodies appear not to have been deposited over a period of years suggesting that either the pit remained open for extended periods always repeatedly uncovered so that new bodies could be interred we can never be sure just how many of these remains are a consequence of human sacrifice some may simply have been criminals executed in a fashion that only resembles ritual sacrifice but even if we were to assume that most of these cases were indeed human sacrifices then the sites at which they occur are in a distinct minority compared to those where there is no such evidence of this activity perhaps the most we can say is that while peoples in parts of both gold and britain are likely to have utilized human sacrifice as part of their rituals there is little evidence of it forming a common part of the religious systems of these places so in general terms what can we glean from this archaeological record well perhaps the most obvious factor is that while there is ample evidence for complex ritual behaviors amongst the iron age peoples of goal and britain there is little evidence for any unified belief structure nor is there any evidence for the existence of an international priesthood whilst inscriptions mentioning religious officials have been found they present a variety of different religious titles and no title resembling that of druid has yet been found indeed it seems there is little evidence for a distinction between ritual and mundane life in either the societies where the druids were supposedly present and it is more likely that the elites of these iron age societies held some form of dual role acting both as nobility and as priests depending on the occasion this idea may perhaps explain the contradictions in caesar and cicero's accounts over the role of divisiatas who was presented as both a druid and as a military leader the specific gods worshiped by these societies also seem to have varied dramatically a picture complicated by their later co-option by the romans finally despite evidence of human sacrifices and display of body parts in some areas of both gaul and britain it remains unlikely that human sacrifice was a common element of religious practices in either society so if there is little sign amongst the archaeological record for the druids in either gaul or britain how might classical authors have constructed such a picture well we have to remember that few of these authors had first-hand experience with any of these societies and that their accounts are frequently colored by their greco-roman backgrounds faced with an unfamiliar set of ritual beliefs they may well have sought to impose ideas of religious organizations seen in their own societies onto these cultures even inventing them wholesale if necessary as a result what was in fact a patchwork of different ritual practices may well have been simplified down to a common religious class one that the roman readers of these authors would have found easier to digest reports of human sacrifice which may well have occurred in some parts of gaul and britain were in turn added to the common package of the druids the prevention of which these authors would have used to justify their conquests later with native religious practices largely pacified all manner of hearsay began to be added to their image as shown by the practices ascribed to the druids by both pliny and lucan even so we cannot dismiss the existence of the druids entirely if only because of the presence of similar words for seer or wise one in other indo-european languages perhaps the word druidi may simply have served as a generic word for priest or wise one amongst the peoples of these regions that later came to be applied uncritically by greek and then roman authors to any and all religious officials they encountered this might well explain the widespread contradictions between their accounts which could each have been attempting to push many different religious customs into a common mold alas all of this is conjecture as it seems are so many things when it comes to the druids [Music] but whilst we have come to the end of our examination of the druids of ancient gaul and britain there is another place where the druids are claimed to have survived long after their brethren had vanished it is here across the irish sea that the druids would supposedly remain the religious elite of their society for another 400 years deferred to even by the very kings that they supposedly served we'll examine these irish druids and more next time [Music] you

Channel: The Histocrat

Views: 1,776,762

Rating: 4.8344116 out of 5

Keywords: Gaul, Britain, Druid, Ancient, histocrat, romans, celts, julius caesar, england, ireland, france, iron age, stone henge, history, documentary, roman empire, la tene, halstatt, stonehenge, prehistory

Id: 8JBW-_zq4xM

Length: 123min 8sec (7388 seconds)

Published: Thu May 14 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/solon_isonomia]

No one knows who they were or what they were doing.

[u/beanselyk]

Gotta get that 9th level True Resurrection spell. That’s the good stuff.

[u/lipshipsfingertips]

1-800-DRUIDIA

[u/thomasedfreeman]

Where a man’s a man, and the children dance to pipes of pan!

[u/kirkbadaz]

Only druids ever are in DnD

[u/AGUSuru]

Very well produced documentary. Thank you.