Caesar's Druids: An Ancient Priesthood

357 Pages·2010·2.027 MB·English

by  Miranda Aldhouse-Green

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CAESAR’S DRUIDS 7
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CAESAR’S DRUIDS
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S T O R Y O F A N A N C I E N T 8
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P R I E S T H O O D
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M A -G
IRANDA LDHOUSE REEN 5
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YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 41
NEW HAVEN AND LONDON 42R
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3 Copyright © 2010 Miranda Aldhouse-Green
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All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form
5 (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
6 except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers.
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For information about this and other Yale University Press publications, please contact:
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U.S. Office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.com
9 Europe Office: sales @yaleup.co.uk www.yalebooks.co.uk
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Set in Minion and Arno by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd
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Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
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3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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Aldhouse-Green, Miranda J. (Miranda Jane)
5 Caesar’s Druids: story of an ancient priesthood/Miranda Aldhouse-Green.
6 p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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ISBN 978–0–300–12442–2 (ci: alk. paper)
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1. Druids and Druidism. I. Title.
9 BL910.A432010
40 299′.16161—dc22
2009026499
41
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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I dedicate this book to Betty Walker 1
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1 Young man, we know your features
2 recreated from the bogland skull.
3 Your unblemished body was well-fed,
4 not scarred either by work or harp-strings.
5 Celtic sacrifice, brought by barbarous rites
6 to this final nurture, your last meal
7 the burnt bannock. Barley grains inside you
8 and mistletoe pollen, surviving centuries,
9 now witness to your druidic death.
10 Was it ordained for Beltain, this offering
1 of your perfect body to the Gods –
2 propitiation, in hope of a rich harvest?
3 (from Lindow Manby Gladys Mary Coles)*
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Contents
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List of Figures viii 1
Acknowledgements xiii 2
Preface xv 3
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1 The Moon and the Mistletoe: In Search of Ancient Druids 1 5
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2 Noble Savages and Barbarous Enemies 20
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3 Priests and Power 39 8
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4 Blood, Thunder and Precious Gifts: The Druids and Sacrifice 59
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5 Druids, Oracles and Shamans 81 1
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6 The Time Lords: Calendars, Festivals and Sacred Knowledge 105
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7 Holy Ground: Sanctuaries and Sacred Landscapes 124
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8 The Druids’ Toolkit: Regalia and Ritual Equipment 146 6
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9 Druids and Doctrine: Earth, Spirit and Underworld 169
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10 Images and Tombs: Druids Face to Face? 186 9
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11 Gender Matters: Druids, Druidesses and Gender-crossers 210
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12 Druids Underground: Rebellion, Resistance and Revitalisation 2
in the Western Roman Provinces 231 3
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Epilogue: Druid Afterlife 251
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Notes 268
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Bibliography 300
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Index 321
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Figures
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1 1. Portrait of Julius Caesar. © Paul Jenkins. xvi
2 2. Mistletoe growing on winter ash trees on a road between the villages
3 of Llanhennock and Tredunnock in Monmouthshire. Photo taken in
4 December 2006. © Author. 2
3. Iron sickle from the late Iron Age hoard of votive objects at Llyn Cerrig
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Bach, Anglesey. © National Museum Wales. 3
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4. Late Iron Age/early Roman-period bronze bucket-mount in the form of
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a bull’s head, from Dinorben, Denbighshire. © National Museum Wales. 8
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5. Reconstruction of a Gallo-Roman temple with officiating priests. ©
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Pamela Johnston. 12
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6. The skull of a man buried with a decorated headband, from a cemetery
1 at Mill Hill, Deal; c.100 BC. © Paul Jenkins. 18
2 7. Head of the emperor Claudius, found in the River Alde, Suffolk, and
3 originally from the temple of the imperial cult at Colchester, Essex;
4 first century AD. © P.J. Lopeman. 22
5 8. Wrought-iron slave gang chain (one of two) from the late Iron Age
6 votive deposit found at Llyn Cerrig Bach, Anglesey. © National Museum
Wales. 26
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9. Stone sculpture of Mercury from a Romano-British well at Emberton,
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Buckinghamshire. The schematised style is a characteristic of local
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work and may also reflect the affirmation of local identities and
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cosmologies. © Paul Jenkins. 35
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10. Anglesey, the edge of the world. © Author. 36
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11. A Gallic feast. © Paul Jenkins (after Gruel 1989). 40
3 12. Coin of Vercingetorix, unprovenanced. © Paul Jenkins (after Duval
4 1987). 42
5 13. Diviciacus at Rome. © Paul Jenkins (after Brunaux 1986). 49
6 14. Inscribed coin of Dumnorix/Dubnorix minted by the Aedui. © Paul
7 Jenkins (after Gruel 1989). 50
8 15. Pot bearing a cursive inscription that reads Vergobretos readdas, from the
Gallo-Roman town of Argentomagus, France. © Musée d’Argentomagus. 51
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16. Altar from Autun (Augustodunum), capital of the Aedui, dedicated by
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a gutuatercalled Norbaneius Thallus to the local god Anvallus. © A.
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Maillier-Bibracte. 53
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Figures ix
17. Skeleton of a man buried in a seated position at Acy-Romance, 1
Ardennes, France in the second century BC. © Paul Jenkins. 56 2
18. Reconstruction of the sacred lake-site of La Tène, on the shores of Lake 3
Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Here, in the late nineteenth century, a drop in the 4
water level revealed a timber causeway and a large assemblage of metal-
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work that had been cast into the water in sacrificial acts. Human remains
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suggest that ritual murder took place here too. © Paul Jenkins (after
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Brunaux (trans. Nash) 1988); from an original drawing by A. Rapin). 60
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19. Bronze mouthpiece from a carnyx, in the form of a boar’s head, found
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at Deskford, Grampian, Scotland; first century AD. © Paul Jenkins. 62
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20. Bronze sceptre terminal in the form of a double horse, rider and
trophy severed heads, from the Celtiberian oppidumof Numancia. © 1
Paul Jenkins. 65 2
21. Part of a stone monument, set up in Paris in honour of Jupiter in AD26 3
by a guild of Seine boatmen, depicting a woodcutter and inscribed 4
‘Esus’. © Paul Jenkins. 69 5
22. Lindow Man. The body of a young man sacrificed and placed in a peat- 6
bog at Lindow Moss, Cheshire in the first century AD. © The Trustees 7
of the British Museum. 71
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23. Bronze knife decorated with curvilinear La Tène designs, from the
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vicinity of Verulamium, Hertfordshire; probably first century AD. ©
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Paul Jenkins. 76
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24. The skull of a young man found in the ditch of the Roman fort at
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Vindolanda just south of Hadrian’s Wall; earlier third century AD. ©
Author. 78 3
25. Romano-British bronze figurine of Mercury with ‘shamanic’ rattle 4
from Southbroom, Wiltshire. © The Trustees of the British Museum. 85 5
26. Gold coin of the Ambiani depicting ‘shape-shifting’ between human 6
and animal forms. © Paul Jenkins (after Creighton 2000). 87 7
27. Antlered human figure depicted on an inner plate of the silver 8
cauldron from the votive deposit in a bog at Gundestrup, Jutland,
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Denmark; probably first century BC. © Paul Jenkins. 87
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28. The Batavian prophetess Veleda sequestered in her tower. © Anne
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Leaver. 94
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29. Casting lots among the Germans, as described by Tacitus. © Anne
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Leaver. 99
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30. Replicas of the contents of the ‘Doctor’s’ grave at Stanway, Colchester,
Essex. © Philip Crummy/Colchester Archaeological Trust. 101 5
31. Iron Age gold coin from Drayton, Hampshire, depicting a horse with 6
crescent moon above. © Chris Rudd. 109 7
32. The Järrestad Dancer, a Bronze Age rock-carving from southern 8
Sweden. © Anne Leaver. 112 9
33. The Gallo-Roman ritual calendar from Coligny (Ain), France. © 40
Author. 114
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34. Iron Age swords with lunate symbols. © Author (after Fitzpatrick 1996). 117
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