Welcome
BRITANNIA
For discussion of the half-millennium during which Britain was a province of Rome's Empire.

Roman Britannia (9 threads, 434 posts)
    The Fashionable Toga: Life in Britannia (50 posts)
    Historical Thread 2 Featured May 6 , 2004

    For discussion of all aspects of Romano-British life, religion, and society. ...
    12 Members have made 50 Posts here to date.
    Google
    AncientWorlds.net Web
    Next: Druids and Romans redux
    Prev: Romans and the Druids
    Druids and Romans
    xenophon.jpg
    Author: * Demetrios Xanthippos - 7 Posts on this thread out of 988 Posts sitewide.
    Date: Apr 7, 2003 - 06:29

    The Romans were always willing to go along with the beliefs of conquered peoples to get along. They usually adopted or otherwise cooopted the gods of those peoples, often as a weapon of war (there’s a term for that, but I can’t recall it).

    The druids had two big things against them. The first was their practice of human sacrifice. There were plenty of lurid stories about using vicitms as messengers to the gods or the dead, wicker men, etc. They’re all there in Caesar.

    The other problem was the political role the druids played. The druids were a professional priestly class, unlike the norm in the Mediterranean world where priests were usually chosen from among the citizenry. They held a lot of influence on the local chieftains, who had to work hard themselves to get their men to follow them. One could say that the Celts allowed themselves to be led rather than following anyone. It’s a lot easier to get people to do what you want when you can cause them all sorts of trouble with the gods. The druids were the one thing that had any kind of federating influence on Celts (nothing could have had a unifying influence). If I remember correctly, druidic influence was even one of the excuses that Caesar offered for his attemped invasion of Britain.


    NEXT: Druids and Romans redux
    PREV: Romans and the Druids
Rome - Rome, Season 1 - The Stolen Eagle


Copyright 2002-2008 AncientWorlds LLC | Code of Conduct and Terms of Service | Contact Us! | The AncientWorlds Staff