Druids were an ancient religious order which was ruthlessly eliminated from Roman Britain. The Druids flourished between the late 4th century BC and the end of the 2nd century AD. Much later, thanks to a revival of interest in the 17th century, they inspired a wealth of literature and art. But because the Druids were an oral culture and left no written records of their own, comparatively little is known about their beliefs and practices. And the reinvisions of Druidical traditions by Romantic writers have resulted in much misconception and myth.
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Druids, the priests of ancient Europe. Active in Ireland, Britain and Gaul, the Druids were first written about by Roman authors including Julius Caesar and Pliny, who described them as wearing white robes and cutting mistletoe with golden sickles. They were suspected of leading resistance to the Romans, a fact which eventually led to their eradication from ancient Britain. In the early modern era, however, interest in the Druids revived, and later writers reinvented and romanticised their activities. Little is known for certain about their rituals and beliefs, but modern archaeological discoveries have shed new light on them.
With:
Barry Cunliffe
Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Oxford
Miranda Aldhouse-Green
Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University
Justin Champion
Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London
Producer: Thomas Morris.