RE: A new RW inspiration for zzaburi : Druids !

From: martin.helsdon <martin.helsdon_at_NNKUcRgBtfYUsoRFOI6NR5sHpwHDZ9NPJchhwZfRVJU84ssnowi-5apWboAOl>
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2012 16:37:16 -0000


> One of my Christmas present is a book simply called "Les Gaulois"
("Gauls"),
> by french archeologist Jean-Louis Brunaux. Written in 2011, pleasant
to read,
> with plenty of illustrations and detailed information, it integrates
the
> lastest findings in archeology. And it shows a fascinating pictures of
Druids
> which I'd like to share with you.

Sounds like a reprint of his 2005 'Les Gaulois' published by Les Belles Lettres.

> The name "Druid" itself meant "Wise one" or "He who can see better
than other men".

It is more generally given the etymology oak-knower.

The writings of Miranda Aldhouse-Green and Barry Cunliffe present the druids seen less through a classicist/romanticist filter, using material from areas where they weren't so thoroughly decimated by the Romans. The druids who appear in relatively late Irish literature and law codes and in Welsh stories are probably closer to the reality. About the only material artefact that may be related to the druids is the Coligny calendar, and that displays significant Mediterranean influences.

I'd be wary trying to project druids onto any Gloranthan template, not least because their nature varies according to what sources and writers you use: anything from wise philosophers to priests conducting human sacrifices. There's so little genuine material that it possible to portray them as almost anything. In reality they probably were a mixture of the two.            

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