#commentarii de bello gallico

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The Ardennes Draft Horse or Ardennais is considered one of the oldest breeds of draft horse.

Their history reaches back to Ancient Rome. The Ardennes breed could be a direct descendant of the prehistoric Solutré horse.

It is claimed to be descended from the type of horse described by Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico.

Caesar described these horses of Belgium as "rustic, hard and tireless." He recommended them for use in heavy cavalry units.

The early type was used by many later Roman emperors for military applications.

The breed's ancestors are thought to have been bred for 2,000 years on the Ardennes plains. It is one of the oldest documented European heavy draft breeds.

They weigh 700 to 1,000 kilograms (1,500 to 2,200 lbs).

[flowerful-doodles]

They should have never let me read the original Latin of Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico

I'm supposed to be studying for my AP calculus exam but all I can hear in my head is Caesar's descriptions of reindeer having antlers like a man's hand being spread out

[a-passing-storm]

“the evil that men do lives after them” yeah I have to read Commentarii de Bello Gallico 2,000 years after Caesar died.

[a-modernmajorgeneral]

Gallic Wars, (58–50 bce), campaigns in which the Roman proconsul Julius Caesar conquered Gaul. Clad in the bloodred cloak he usually wore “as his distinguishing mark of battle,” Caesar led his troops to victories throughout the province, his major triumph being the defeat of the Gallic army led by the chieftain Vercingetorix, in 52 bce. Caesar described these campaigns in De Bello Gallico (“On the Gallic War”).

A coin from Narbonne that was the first Roman colony in Gaul, c. 118 BCE.

Obverse: Goddess Roma with a Gallic helmet

Reverse: Naked Gaul warrior holding a speer, a shield and a horn is driving a biga

https://smb.museum-digital.de/index.php?t=objekt&oges=144845

Source: Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz.CreatoR: Lutz-Jürgen Lübke (Lübke und Wiedemann)          Copyright Notice: CC BY-NC-SA            

[krautjunker]

Austern aus Cancale mit Miesmuscheln und Champagnerschaum

Dieses Rezept aus Cancale stammt von der Exil-Deutschen Manuela Methner. Laut einem Tourismus-Informationsportal darf sich das Städtchen mit etwa 5.400 Einwohnern rühmen, als die Perle der Smaragdküste bezeichnet zu werden und gilt als die Austernhauptstadt Europas. Hier werden auf fast 400 Hektar die delikaten Schalentiere gezüchtet und geerntet. Abb.: Cancale; Bildquelle: Wikipedia Cancale…

[aphroditelovesu]

Yan!Julius Caesar Random Headcanons

❝ 📜— lady l: I love writing these random headcanons and if you guys want more historical characters feel free to send them! If you're curious about how he is yandere, I posted a general headcanon of him, which you can read by clicking here. Here are historical facts and some additional ones from my head. I hope you like it and good reading!! ❤️

❝tw: not entirely historically accurate and perhaps murder (?).

Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC and became an important Roman military and political leader. His conquest of Gaul (present-day France) and his successful campaigns contributed to his rise to power.

In 44 BC, Julius Caesar was appointed dictator for life by the Roman Senate. This move sparked concern among senators, leading to a plot that resulted in his assassination on March 15, 44 BC, known as the "Ides of March". The man did not last long as a dictator.

Julius Caesar played an important role in reforming the Roman calendar. The Julian calendar, introduced in 45 BC, was an adaptation of the lunar calendar to the solar year, forming the basis of the modern Gregorian calendar. So much so that the month of July is in his honor.

Julius Caesar formed a political alliance known as the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Crassus. They shared power and influence to advance their political and personal agendas. It didn't last long because soon they started fighting each other for power. A yandere obsessed with power, I dare say.

Julius Caesar is known for writing "Commentaries on the War in Gaul", also called as Commentarii de Bello Gallico, a series of accounts of his campaigns in the region. These writings offer valuable information about military tactics and life at that time. A great military commander and also a great fanfic writer.

There are reports that say that when he was 30 years old, he passed in front of a statue of Alexander the Great and wept because he had reached the same age and had not conquered as much as the Macedonian King. An inferiority complex, I would say.

The title "Caesar" became a dynastic name used by many Roman leaders after Julius Caesar. The first Roman Emperor, Augustus, was his nephew and adopted heir, and he adopted the title "Caesar" as part of his name. A curious fact is that many Brazilians have Caesar (César in portuguese) in their name.

In addition to his military achievements, Julius Caesar had a deep taste for literature and writing. He frequently exchanged letters and discussed poetry with various intellectuals of the day. A true cultured man and a renaissance ahead of time.

The death of Julius Caesar was one of the key events that contributed to the fall of the Roman Republic and the subsequent rise of the Roman Empire. His legacy has had a lasting impact on history and politics. Our man is credited as one of the greatest military commanders of all time.

Rumor has it that Julius Caesar had a secret superstition of avoiding black cats, believing them to bring bad luck. This contrasted with his image as a fearless leader. Poor kitty, so many powerful men were afraid of cats.

[baddieladdie]

Hello!! So I'm an RPer (gross) and I dabble with Joshua Graham. I do cross-canon occasionally and I have stumbled on weird romantic (maybe??) tension with him and RE5/blonde Jill Valentine based on the fact they both were manipulated by someone they respected and did horrible things (even if hers were against her will and he did them by choice) and it's become this heavy, weird tension full of lame, longing gazes and pretty decent fight scenes! Is it possible to get them together? 😬

Regardless, stumbled on your work and I love it!! 😍

I have not played Resident Evil, actually! I had to look up who Jill Valentine was, at first I thought she was Nick Valentine's daughter in some AU\

SO - How 'bout this? I will get us started with some opening context on Joshua Graham. Then you could take it from there? I have a feeling you are a bit more familiar with Jill than I am :)

Tag me if you add on to this - I'd love to give a read!

An idea for a structure could be:

Ch1 - Joshua Graham (see below the cut) Ch2 - Jill Valentine Ch3 - Combat/Meet-cute, Joshua and Jill meet in fire fight Ch4 - Connection/Tension/Romance

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Rating: Teen

Description: Mormon missionary turned co-founder of Caesar's Legion now roams Zion under the guise of folk legends as the Burned Man. He is haunted by his actions while part of the Legion, yet cannot so easily release his dependence on violence as he leads a vicious campaign to bring 'God's justice' to all those who would threaten the safety of the innocent.

Joshua drags his thumb across the bumpy ridges of his Bible. Absent-mindedly, he traces each letter stitched into the black leather. The book was worn down. It could hardly be recognized for what it was - the Holy word of God. The book, like Joshua the man, had been irritably changed in time by the unforgiving nature of this mortal life. Joshua flips through the book, pausing at a page crinkled by a dried blood stain.

18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 1 Peter 1:18-19

“Divide et impera,”  Edward exclaimed, gesturing to his beloved novel ‘Commentarii de Bello Gallico’. “Divide and Conquer. Joshua, this is just like the Roman Empire of great! We conquer these tribes and we make them better. Stronger! Outfit them with weapons and battle strategies. From this tribal strife, we will raise a great and mighty empire!” Sallow laughed with cynical joy.

“It is brutal,” Joshua mumbled in thought. Edward had studied all his life with the Followers of the Apocalypse. His knowledge of societal development and anthropology were next to none. Perhaps Sallows knew something he didn’t. And the good Lord knows it’s good to have friends. He should trust Edward to the very end. Joshua nodded hesitantly,“What better way to unify these groups than under the threat of death. They would have a better chance of surviving if they worked together.” 

“Yes, yes!” Edward walked around the table to get closer to the hesitant missionary and man he called friend. “Leave the brutality to the soldiers. I-” He awkwardly cleared his throat and corrected himself, “We only need you to translate.” He gestured openly with a wide smile. “You’ll never have an opportunity like this again, my friend.”

So that is what Joshua Graham did. He translated for Edward as he spoke to the crowds of tribals he had gathered. But soon, translating became giving orders. Giving orders slowly became leading in battle. Leading in battle became training, punishing, terrorizing. A series of small mistakes before Joshua Graham's great fall.

In time, he would become Caesar’s second in command and most trusted advisor. Never had Graham held such power. Death came as he demanded it. Riches poured from the Earth as he wished it. It was as if the very thread of fate was his to design. 

Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. Galatians 3:13

Sweat beaded at the tip of Joshua’s nose as the Mojave sun beat down on him. Sand carried in the wind irritated his skin. He cursed, putting the hammer down for a moment to adjust the legionary mask snuggly around his nose and mouth.

“Please, I haven’t done anything wrong. Let me go!” The man cried in desperate agony, trying to pull his hand free from where it had been nailed to the cross. Blood spurted generously from the wound Joshua had inflicted. The naked man screamed from a place of consuming pain, but no living soul was around to hear. Their only witnesses were the bodies left in Joshua’s wake. And the man’s pleas meant nothing to the heart that had hardened inside him. Joshua had heard the dying screams of men, women, and children far to often to feel anything at all. He was as stoic as the corpses behind them. 

Graham leaned over the man screaming and punched him squarely in the jaw. The jaw swung open lazily, the man stared up at Joshua horrified that he could no longer speak. Joshua firmly grasped the man’s free hand and pinned it to the right arm of the wooden cross. The man under him squirmed in futile effort to free himself from his inevitable fate. The hammer came down swiftly, pushing the rusty nail through the delicate flesh of the man’s palm. Blood sprinkled Joshua’s legion uniform. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. No matter - his job here was done. The resistance group dead and their leader crucified. With a grunt of effort, Joshua stood the cross up. It was an eyesore against the flat desert landscape. However, it sufficiently served as a warning to any who would cross Caesar and his legion. 

Joshua dusted himself off and stowed his hammer away. He turned his back on the suffering man and walked slowly across the desert plain back home. Home to Caesar’s legion. 

John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Luke 3:16

The nervous raw recruits stumbled forward towards the center of the dam. The veteran's stood before the Malpais Legate (Joshua Graham), silently recalling their first battles as a raw recruit. Joshua felt no remorse. He had followed the Legion military doctrine excellently. They had the enemy on the run and he intended to leave no survivors. Dead men tell no tales.

THUNK

The legionary veteran collapsed next to Graham, a bullet wound oozing from the back of his head. Instinctively, he traced the bullet's trajectory to a platoon of sharpshooters. The First Recon of the New California Republic.

THUNK THUNK THUNK

Bodies of veteran soldiers fell around him at an alarming rate. "Fall back!" the Malpais Legate cried. The raw recruits panicked at the order, dropping their weapons and running for their lives. More experienced soldiers simply pivoted and ran for the ridge.

THUNK THUNK

Bodies of legionaries continued to mount as they made their escape towards the pass through the ridge. Joshua's eye was caught by a glint in the afternoon sunlight. More First Recon shoots and NCR rangers. It was a trap - this whole damn time! Joshua cursed himself, then Caesar for underestimating Chief Hanlon. Swallowing his rising panic, he shouted over the pop of rifles, "Be weary of crossfire! To Boulder City! For Caesar!"

The is when he lost the remainder of his good men. Boulder City wasn't just protected by rangers and sharpshoots. The whole damn city was rigged to explode. Mines and traps lined every square inch of the town. The opposition, having placed them, evaded the threats, only luring the legionaries in further. What was meant to be a great victory for the mighty Caesar had become a costly defeat.

-

veni , vidi, victus

-

"Mighty Caesar," Joshua approached his life-long friend's throne. "We have lost this battle, but not the war. I won't give up. We-"

"You will do no such thing," Edward barked at him. "Your failure has brought shame to the great legion of Caesar! Such a disgrace will not be tolerated, Malpais Legate." Sallow spat his words with such vile hate, Joshua could no longer recognize him. The personification of the roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, had finally consumed the former- follower of the apocalypse completely. No more was Joshua's friend present before him.

"And for your transgression against the might of Caesar, you shall be burned to death!" Caesar shouted til he was red in the face. "Legionaries! Cover the former-Malpais Legate in pitch, lit him on fire and cast him into the Grand Canyon!"

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and it to the full. John 10:10

“Life has not been good to us without your guidance, Joshua.” Follows-Chalk guided a stumbling Joshua Graham through the Dead Horse camp. “We tried to live in your ways but have been driven from our home. With your return, we can take back Zion from the White Legs.”

"I am sorry to hear what has come to pass. God willing, I can undo the harm that has been done here."

"What...happened to you, Joshua?" Follows-Chalk paused, noticing that Joshua had been lagging behind.

"I do not enjoy reflecting, but I pray to God that someone may learn from my mistakes. Was there something specific, Follows-Chalk?"

Follows-Chalk eyed the puss oozing from the bandages around Joshua's face. His bloodshot eyes and uneven gait all clearly showed the man was in undeniable pain.

"How did you survive, Joshua? Such a fall would have killed most men."

"I survived because the fire inside burned brighter than the fire around me. I feel down into that dark chasm, but the flame burned on and on. The next morning, I woke up and crawled out of the northern edge of the Grand Canyon, that cursed place. It took me three months to return."

Follows-Chalk hung to every word of Joshua's tragic downfall, guiding him to the healer's tent and away from the gaze of the merciless sun.

"The Dead Horses are happy you have returned to us. You are welcome to stay," Follows-Chalk spoke sympathetically. He opened the tent wide for Joshua. The man hissed at the pain as he crouched under the flap to enter the room. "You have been good to us, Joshua."

"You are kind to offer," Joshua groaned as he lowered himself onto a straw mat. A woman rushed over with a basin of clean water and bandages. "It never stops burning. My skin. Every day, I have to unwind the bandages and replace them with fresh ones." He nodded his thanks to the woman. She smiled politely and awkwardly shuffled out. "Exposing my body to the air is like living through it again. But it's better to be clean than comfortable."

Follows-Chalk nodded and turned away to give the Burned Man space to clean his wounds. "Have you met Daniel? He is a missionary like you."

"Who?"

"A Mormon, like you Joshua. He is helping the Sorrows not far from here."

"Take me to him," Joshua gasped in a pain as he removed a bandage that has wound had adhered too. Fresh blood trickled down his back. "In the morning. Tomorrow will be here soon enough. And there is much to do. God be with you, Follows-Chalk."

Like an enemy he has strung his bow; his right hand is ready…he has poured out his wrath like fire on the tent of Daughter Zion. Lamentations 2:4

"Ye have sown death and so shall ye reap it!" Joshua roared, lunging towards the remaining White Legs tribals. He greedily drove his knife into the back of tribal, revealing in the screams of man he had not heard in years.

The lost courier beside him fired lucky shots from a .45 pistol. The bodies of White Legs fell around them until only Salt-Upon-Wounds remained alive.

Joshua stood over Salt-Upon-Wounds. His jagged features highlighted in the dim firelight. It was akin to watching a skilled hunter taunt and play with its prey as it made feeble attempts to escape. "We warned you at Syracuse, and you persisted. You took advantage of us at New Canaan to drive us out, and like the dogs of Caesar you are, you followed us to Zion. And now you stand on holy ground, a temple to God's glory on Earth. But the only use for an animal in our temple is sacrifice!" He smiled grimly at the terror in Salt-Upon-Wounds as the tribal leader curled in terror under Joshua's gaze. "Kale watcha nei conserva oh! You understand me, don't you? Don't you?!"

"Outman!" Salt-Upon-Wounds hissed at the mentally distant courier. "Kuma-man mad! He has killed all White Legs. Please, you talk. You stop this!"

"Stand up and look at what's come for you!" Joshua pulled the tribal leader to his feet. Salt-Upon-Wounds raised trembling hands behind his head.

"Don't listen to this… thing!" Joshua spat. "His cries are those of a mad beast caught in a thicket! He gave no mercy to my family, and I will give none to his!"

The courier squinted their eyes at Joshua, "Is this coming from the missionary Joshua Graham or Malpais Legate? This is brutal and beyond reason. You know it is. Look Joshua, you've already won," The courier gestured to the bodies of the dead that surrounded them. "There's no need to kill him."

"He has a debt to pay for what he's done and I've come to collect," Joshua stammered, but the anger was already starting the leave him and along with it, his conviction. "And so he's chosen to cower in the water like a dumb animal."

The courier stepped over still bodies, moving closer to Joshua. "If what you believe is true," the courier stumbled slightly over an arm shrouded in the darkness. "he'll pay for it later." The courier balanced themselves next to him and whispered, "The Sorrows don't need to see you this. Let's go."

"Go," Joshua sighed in defeat. He released Salt-Upon-Wounds and continued, "Get out of here. Go back. Back to the Great Salt Lake."

Joshua watched Salt-Upon-Wounds scamper off and abruptly turned to the Courier. Angerly, he fumed, "I wanted to take from them what they took from me, from my family!" The courier watched him with mindful pity.

Joshua sighed, allowing his true sadness, underneath all the rage, to flow in. "In this life. I want them to suffer. I want all of them to die in fear and pain," He continued. "I want to have my revenge. Against him. Against Caesar. I want to call it my own, to make my anger God's anger. To justify the things I've done. Sometimes I tell myself that these wildfires never stop burning. But I'm the one who starts them. Not God. Not them. I can always see it in my mind. The warmth and the heat. It will always be a part of me," Joshua paused, looking down the path where Salt-Upon-Wounds had fled. "But not today."

[that-cunning-witch]

Know any good sources on Celtic (specifically Gaulish practices)? I know it’s not your area, but you seem like someone who might know some people who dabble in that sort of stuff. The area I live in has some celtic archeological sites, but sadly not much is known about the local religion or culture. I am trying to put together a Romano-Celtic hearth cult, but it’s difficult finding practices and deities that feel right.

Gaul is a larger Celtic area of Western Europe (modern-day France and parts of modern-day Belgium, Germany, and Northern Italy). I say this because the Celts, when invaded by Rome, took in a lot of Roman religion including Hellenic and (rarely) Kemetic beliefs as well. When the Celts did this, so did the Gauls.

If it helps at all, the specifics you're looking into is called Gallo-Roman, which is part of the larger Romano-Celtic area.

This selective acculturation manifested in several ways. One of the main ways we see this is with the melding of Greco-Roman deities with Gaulish (Celtic) deities. Gaulish epithets for Roman gods (Jupiter Poeninus) and Roman epithets for Gaulish gods (Lenus Mars). Roman gods were given Gaulish god partners (Mercury and Rosmerta & Apollo and Sirona). Towards the east of the Gauls, many mysteries were formed, including one for the Greek hero Orpheus, the Iranian (or Persian) god Mithras, and the Egyptian goddess Isis. In other words, a whole lot of syncretism.

When it came to the Gauls (and the Celts overall) a main part of their belief system was the heavy use of animal imagery. More specifically, zoomorphic deities. However, we see a lot more human-looking representations of the gods because the Romans (and Greeks) weren't too keen on the idea (see Greco-Egyptian).

As for specifically Gallo-Roman hearth religious beliefs, the Lares (Lar singular) is a good place to start. They're the equivalent of Agathos Daimon in Greek religion (Hellenism). Essentially, they're personal household deities that are connected to the hearth.

A majority of the information we have about the Gaelic culture and the eventual melding of the Gallo-Roman culture stems from two sources: artifacts and Julius Ceasar, who wrote all about in what we now call the "Commentarii de Bello Gallico". The gods that he mentions the Gauls worship (like Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Minerva) aren't really the Roman gods that the Gauls are worshipping at that time but rather the closest thing Ceasar can connect. For example, Caesar may say that the Gauls worshipped Mars, when in reality they were worshipping Lenus, a healing god that quickly became associated with Mars because of Caesar and the Roman Empire. However, not all of them were caught. Gobannus is the most well-known example we have, with him being the equivalent to the Roman god Vulcan or the Greek god Hephaestus and yet Caesar makes no comment on the Gaulish god.

One other thing, the specific time we are taking a look at was prior to the overtaking by the Anglos, Saxons, and Jutes (aka pre-Anglo-Saxon times). Because of this, Germanic (Norse) gods weren't known to these people yet. Odin, Thor, and Freyja were unknown to them at this point in time.

Other than that, the last thing I can give to you are articles and books that I stumbled upon that may pique your interest. I do recommend a couple of Wikipedia links, but just know that I recommend using Wikipedia as a jumping-off point. Hope this helps! :^)

Becoming Roman: the origins of provincial civilization in Gaul -- Greg Woolf https://archive.org/details/becomingromanori0000wool

The gods of the Celts -- Miranda Green https://archive.org/details/godsofceltsar00mira

Gallo-Roman Religious Sculptures -- A.N. Newell https://www.jstor.org/stable/640758

Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity? -- John Drinkwater & Elton Hugh https://www.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam031/91018375.pdf

Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War: literally translated -- Frederick Holland Dewey, A.B. https://archive.org/details/caesarscommentar07caes

Category:Gaulish gods -- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gaulish_gods

Category:Gaulish goddesses -- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gaulish_goddesses

sources: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/1999/1999.10.34/ http://www.deomercurio.be/en/dii.html https://www.britannica.com/topic/Celtic-religion/The-Celtic-gods https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lares https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lar-Roman-deities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallo-Roman_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallo-Roman_religion

[whencyclopedfr]

Gaule

La Gaule (latin Gallia) était le nom donné par les Romains aux territoires où vivaient les Celtes Gaulois (latin: Galli), comprenant l'actuelle France, la Belgique, le Luxembourg et certaines parties des Pays-Bas, de la Suisse, de l'Allemagne sur la rive ouest du Rhin, et de la plaine du Pô, dans l'actuelle Italie. Les anciennes limites de la Gaule étaient le Rhin et les Alpes à l'est, la Mare Nostrum (mer Méditerranée), la plaine du Pô et les Pyrénées au sud, et l'océan Atlantique à l'ouest et au nord. Avant la conquête romaine par Jules César (58-51 av. J.-C.), le nom de "Gaule" correspondait à un espace culturel et militaire fondé sur une religion commune et des fédérations de peuples qui pensaient avoir une origine commune. Cette origine commune remonte probablement au VIIIe siècle avant notre ère, lorsque des groupes de migrants de la civilisation dite "des champs d'urnes", datant de l'âge du bronze, se répandent lentement sur le territoire de la future Gaule. Vers 390 avant notre ère, les Gaulois envahirent et mirent à sac Rome. En 222 avant notre ère, la Gaule cisalpine (la région située entre les Alpes et la vallée du Pô) fut conquise par les Romains. La meilleure description que nous connaissons de la Gaule préromaine se trouve dans le premier chapitre des Commentarii de Bello Gallico, (Guerre des Gaules) de Caius Julius Caesar. Il s'agit clairement d'un point de vue romain sur les réalités gauloises:

Lire la suite...

[st-just]

Julius Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic Wars (Commentarii de bello gallico) are essentially campaign logs, written by Caesar (and Aulus Hirtius for the last book) to the folks back home in order to keep up his political support during his nine years in Gaul. While Gaul (modern France) doesn’t seem exotic to us, you want to keep in mind that this was a region of the world the average Roman knew little about, so Caesar feels he has to do a fair bit of ethnography: who are the people who live here, what are they like, and why is Caesar so intent on killing basically all of them

-Bret Devereaux, The Fremen Mirage

[monstersinthecosmos]

-if you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life and couldn't access any other media, which would it be

-what's your favorite ancient rome fact and how do you think marius feels about it/how did it affect his life!

dsjg;dsg lord what a hard question i couldnt ansewr this last night because it stressed me out, I had to sleep on it.

I THINK MAYBE THE DEPARTED? It's not my very favorite film but is A favorite, I've also watched like 1000+ times, enough to know all the words, and I'm not sick of yet. I think perhaps it's got useful efficiency for this scenario because it's long and has a lot of elements I really enjoy and has a great soundtrack!!! And imo is just really perfect storytelling, it's a movie I can study. I think if I could only watch one movie forever but I was still gonna be writing all the time it would be helpful to have it as a reference. 😂

IDK IF THIS ANSWER IS CHEATING BECAUSE IT'S MORE ABOUT GAUL AND THE KELTOI LMFAO BUT I've been ruthlessly obsessed lately learning about how druids didn't believe in written history and so much of what we know about them is from Roman observers and like full of misinformation and propaganda and disdain for them ! I think it's really clever that Marius even continues this as a Roman character where everything HE has to say about Mael is full of disgust and impatience, vs what Jesse has to say about him.

And like obviously this affected his life quite a bit when it comes to his understanding of his mother's side of the family and even like, arrogantly wandering into Gaul and not taking Mael seriously, and like NOT TO VICTIM BLAME HIM LOL but I wonder how much WORSE it made his year of captivity. I mean that to say like, it's bad ANYWAY, obviously lmfao, but it makes me wonder how much extra psychological duress it caused and extra stages he would've gone through between "I can't believe I've been abducted by these FOOLS I am ashamed" and then after living amongst them and understanding they DO have a culture "So much of what I thought I knew was a lie and it caused me my life".

He's a character that, throughout canon, is pretty profoundly stuck in his turning trauma, to the point that its in his character design DNA, and I wonder if it's like one of the ONE THINGS he still can't get over, or can't admit out loud. I wonder how stubborn he is about historical texts--I think in general he's a person who is often going "nah lol I was there, that's not how it happened" but with Gaul and the Keltoi I wonder if he's been able to reconcile every time something from Commentarii de Bello Gallico gets proven to be complete bullshit. (Perhaps even stuff he witnessed firsthand while he was captive!)

[templeofthehorn]

The Druids ~

The Druids were a priestly class in Britain, Ireland, Gaul and possibly other parts of Celtic Europe and Galatia during the Iron Age and potentially even earlier. Information about these mystical ones is quite obscure. They left no written accounts about themselves and the aspects attributed to them are derived from descriptions left by Greek, Roman and various scattered authors and artists over time.

While archaeological evidence has been uncovered pertaining to the religious practices of Iron Age peoples, no artefacts or images have been unearthed that can undoubtedly be connected with the Druids.

Various recurring themes emerge in a number of the Greco-Roman accounts extant, typically including that they performed human sacrifice, believed in a form of reincarnation and that they held a high position in Celto-Gaulish society.

Various passages within the writings also report of what would now be termed homosexual acts among them and a culture of homo-eroticism within their class which related to the warriors with which they seemed closely associated - perhaps a sexo-spiritual element of nature/power/fertility/virility-based beliefs. Little is actually known about their practices, except for their “ritual of oak and mistletoe” as described by Pliny the Elder. Sexual workings may have held a place in their ceremonies and it is thought by some likely that they held semen vitally sacred as the essence of life.

The earliest known reference to the Druids dates to 200 BCE, although the oldest actual description comes from Caesar in his ”Commentarii de Bello Gallico” (50’s BCE). Later, other Greco-Roman writers also described them including Cicero & Tacitus as well as Pliny.

Following the invasion of Gaul by the Romans, Druidism as a practice or religious construct was suppressed by the government under the 1st-century emperors Tiberius and Claudius. After this imposition, references of it disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century.

There are also stories created by later medieval writers. In about 750 CE the word “Druid” appears in a poem by Blathmac, who in writing about Christ says that he is “better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop and a complete sage.”

References also appear in tales from potentially Christianised Ireland. The Druids are characterized in the famous Táin Bó Cúailnge largely as sorcerers who opposed the coming of Christianity.

In the wake of the Celtic revival during the 18th and 19th centuries, fraternal and Neopagan groups were founded based upon ideas about the ancient ones in a movement which is now known as Neo-Druidism…

image Draia

[certifiedcoffeeaddict]

the fact that the commentarii de bello gallico are like an actual scientific source for the gallic wars is so insane to me actually

[a-passing-storm]

Honestly, I’m so glad that I live in a time and place where people don’t get crucified or burned alive. 

[tortoisesshells]

Five Things You Might Find In My Fics

Thank you for the tag, @mercurygray! It’s always good, if a little mortifying, to pick out the common threads.

1. Someone is having the worst day of their life so far, and it’s probably on a ship. Or adjacent to a ship. Adjacent to the water, at least. 2. At least once, characters’ deeply-held beliefs will put them in moral conflict with their romantic interests. 3. Character A is reading an essay/novel/poem/play, and both they and Characters B-Z will comment on either the reading material itself or Character A’s relationship with it, or their own relationship with it or understanding of it. There’s a 50/50 shot of both whether I will explain the reading material, and whether I will ever explain WHY we’re interrupting the narrative to talk about American Civil War doggerel poetry, or Commentarii de Bello Gallico. You just gotta trust me that I needed to allude to Voltaire’s essays on the Society of Friends in England in this PotC fic. 4. Depression and one hundred and one ways how to badly cope. 5. I use the word “too” too much. Much love to @theonlyredcar, who points it out every chapter and fic I send her, and does not sigh too much when I promise to mend my ways. We both know I’m lying.

Tagging the lovely @theonlyredcar, @sagiow, @fatherramiro, @starsuncounted, & @jomiddlemarch - and whoever else wants to hold up the mirror!

[splendidemendax]

cavete idus martias, omines! have a chapter on caesar's commentarii de bello gallico (commentaries on the gallic war).

caesar (yeah, that one) wrote this as a record of/propaganda about his war in gaul. i don't trust it as far as i can throw it, but i do find it fascinating.

this chapter's themes are war, responsibility, and the other. the passages are the description of gaul at 1.1–9, things going wrong at 5.24–37, and caesar's dubious ethnography at 6.13–24, plus a bonus bit of caesar being wrong about animals at 6.25–28.

(previous chapters: homer’s iliad | aeschylus’ agamemnon | vergil’s aeneid | cicero’s against catiline | seneca’s apocolocyntosis | ovid’s heroides | sappho's extant fragments)