Aligning with the winter solstice of 2024, Tristan Hughes and Professor Ronald Hutton delve into the ancient Druids of Britain and France.They discuss how Julius Caesar encountered this feared enemy in his Roman conquest of Gaul, and Cicero had meetings with a Druid leader in Rome.From human sacrifice to the creation of Stone Henge, to battles with St. Patrick of Ireland, Tristan and Ronald consider the complex history and evolving perceptions of these enigmatic figures.Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.Theme music from Motion Array, all other music from Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here:https://uk.surveymonkey.com/r/6FFT7MK
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When someone mentions the word, you might think of old men in white robes, wearing mistletoe underneath an oak tree with a sickle. These forest-loving priests who are also closely connected today to prehistoric sites like Stonehenge and the winter solstice.
And indeed, Druids, they have a long history, first mentioned more than 2,000 years ago by Roman statesmen and writers such as Cicero and Julius Caesar, when they were talking about what were, in their eyes, uncivilised barbarian societies that lived in northwest Europe. Think people like the Celts. So who were the ancient Druids? What do the sources say about them?
Why is it so difficult to recognise Druids in surviving archaeology? Did they practice human sacrifice? And how have Druids evolved and transformed over the centuries and millennia to remain so significant down to the present day? from winter solstices to the figure of Panoramix in the brilliant comic series Asterix and Obelix. It's the ancients on History Hit.
I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and today, to align with the winter solstice of 2024, we are exploring the story of the Druids, both the mysterious Druids of Britain and France mentioned by Roman writers, but also their legacy and evolution down to the present day, Now, to talk through all of this, our guest is the wonderful Professor Ronald Hutton from the University of Bristol.
Now, Ronald, he is a regular on the History Hit Network, having featured on not just the Tudors, Betwixt the Sheets and After Dark. This is his first time on the Ancients, but boy, was he brilliant. Sit back and relax as Ronald and I explore the story of the Druids. Ronald it is a pleasure. It is great to have you on the podcast today. It's great to be here. Now, let's get straight into it.
The Druids. First off, who were the Druids, Ronald?
We can say with perfect confidence that the Druids were the main experts in religion, magic, and all modes of spirituality for the peoples of northwestern Europe at the time they emerged into history a couple of thousand years ago. And that's all we can say about them with absolute confidence.
Because this is quite a topic, isn't it, Ronald? Shroud is doing quite a lot of mystery. And the source material that we have for the Druids in ancient history some 2,000 years ago, I mean, what types do we have?
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