#AncientCelticReligion

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Ancient Celtic Society

The society of the Celts in Iron Age Europe was made up of several distinct hierarchical groups. At the top were rulers and elite warriors, then there were the religious leaders, the druids, and then specialised craftworkers, traders, farmers, and slaves. Our knowledge of Celtic society is, unfortunately, fragmentary and reliant on secondhand literary sources and archaeology. Nevertheless, there are many features of Celtic society that we do know about, whether it be the status symbols of ancient Gauls or the fighting queens of ancient Britain.

The Constituents of Celtic Society

The Celts have left no extensive written records of their own and so we are obliged to study secondhand accounts by classical authors and piece together features of society from archaeological remains. We do know that most Celtic communities were rural and agrarian with a distinct hierarchy, at the top of which were kings or queens or an aristocratic group, and their kinsfolk whose wealth was based on land ownership. Below these were various groups divided by function and skills such as warriors, druids, specialist artisans and traders (including foreigners). The vast majority of the population were low-skilled craftworkers and farmers; at the very bottom of society were the slaves. Except for slaves, there is no evidence of any barriers for the child of one of these groups to eventually enter another group provided they acquired the necessary wealth (through valour in war, for example) or went through the required education or apprenticeship.

Within Celtic society there was a binding system where powerful individuals undertook to look after others - that is provide food, shelter, legal and military protection - in return for some sort of service, much like in the lord and vassal relationship of medieval feudalism. For the Celts, such a person was an ambactus, and the result was ties of loyalty were established to their lord and the wider ruling class and status quo. Some lords commanded the loyalty of thousands of kinsmen, retainers, and vassals. However, these are generalisations, and as with other areas of Celtic culture, it is important to stress that there were great variations both as the Iron Age period developed in Europe and in terms of geography. In short, Celtic societies in one part of Europe in 700 BCE were perhaps very different from those in another part of the continent, never mind compared to Celtic societies in 400 CE.

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Druid

Druids were a class of individuals in ancient Celtic cultures known for their great wisdom and knowledge of traditions. Not only priests who managed all religious rituals such as sacrifices (including humans), druids were able to give practical help by interpreting events of nature, divining the future as soothsayers, and making medicinal potions, especially using sacred plants like mistletoe.

In addition, Druids were repositories of the community's history and may also have been required to cast taboos (or, less accurately, spells) on people, ensuring compliance to the society's rules. Evidence that women were druids in antiquity is scarce, as is information on druids in general which has led to much speculation and often fanciful assumptions in later periods. Druids and Celtic religion declined following persecution by the Romans in the 1st century CE and then the arrival of Christianity across Europe.

A Note on Sources

Not a great deal of ancient written material is available concerning druids, and what there is comes either from Greek and Roman authors or medieval literary sources such as Irish mythological poems. The consequences of this are a lack of consideration for Celtic cultures other than in the British Isles and Gaul, and an absence of information prior to the Roman period when druidism was already in decline. Another problem is the confusion and inappropriate comparisons made by ancient writers between druids and other men of wisdom in other cultures such as the magi of Persia, Greek Pythagoreans, and Indian ascetics. Nevertheless, works such as the Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar (c. 100-44 BCE) provide invaluable information on this mysterious class of priests who left no information themselves on their beliefs and practices.

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