what are the 11 role of druids?
- Conveners of meetings
- supporters of warriors
- educators
- conservers of tradition
- judges
- intermediaries
- mediators
- healers
- diviners
- priests
- astronomers
What is governors meeting
Met annually at Chartres in Gaul
Supporters if warriors?
encouraged resistance to Rome
educators?
trained young nobles to be Druids (took 20 years to train)
conservers of tradition?
maintained knowledge of customary lore
judges?
administered tribal laws decided punishments (e.g. exclusion from sacrifices)
intermediaries?
interceded with the gods
mediators?
decided disputes:
- between nobles and conflicts
- between tribes
Healers?
special knowledge of herbal medincines
Diviners?
predicted the future
priests?
performed sacrifices and rituals
astronomers?
organised the calendars
fixed the days of festivals and sacrifice
determined ‘lucky’ and ‘unlucky’ days
What do the priests do with all these roles?
brought all these practices into a single structure , unified by religious commitment.
Who are Druids?
- members of professional class in which their society’s religious and spiritual life was embodied.
- philosophers of nature and of ethics
- important public figure and priestly caste
How vital and important were they in society?
- had to go under 20 years of training and remember knowledge as no written sources.
Evidence:
Caesar: “Report says that in the schools of druids…some persons remained 20 years under training”
What did druids always have to be present in?
any sort of rituals
Although Druids, what was a threat to them during Roman invasion?
druids always first one killed in attack/invasion of Romans as ones with most knowledge and influence of Celts
What did Caesar say about Druids?
officiate at worship of gods, regulate public and private sacrifices and give ruling on all religious questions
honoured by ppl
acts as judges of disputes
exempt from military services and taxes
What was a major attack of Druids?
in AD60, Roman governor of Britain, Suetonius Paulinus (general), attacked island of Mona (stronghold of Druids)
