Druids: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

161 Pages·2010·2.22 MB·English

by  Barry Cunliffe

Druids: A Very Short Introduction
VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating
and accessible way in to a new subject. They are written by experts, and
have been published in more than 25 languages worldwide.
The series began in 1995, and now represents a wide variety of topics
in history, philosophy, religion, science, and the humanities. The VSI
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everything from ancient Egypt and Indian philosophy to conceptual art and
cosmology—and will continue to grow to a library of around 300 titles.
Very Short Introductions available now:
AFRICAN HISTORY BUDDHISM Damien Keown
John Parker and Richard Rathbone BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown
AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES CAPITALISM James Fulcher
AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel CATHOLICISM Gerald O’Collins
THE AMERICAN THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe
PRESIDENCY Charles O. Jones CHAOS Leonard Smith
ANARCHISM Colin Ward CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham
ANCIENT EGYPT Ian Shaw CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Julia Annas CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead
ANCIENT WARFARE CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy
Harry Sidebottom CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
ANGLICANISM Mark Chapman Helen Morales
THE ANGLO-SAXON AGE John Blair CLASSICS
ANIMAL RIGHTS David DeGrazia Mary Beard and John Henderson
ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard
THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon
Paul Foster COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes
ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore
ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne CONTEMPORARY ART
ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes Julian Stallabrass
ART HISTORY Dana Arnold CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY
ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland Simon Critchley
ATHEISM Julian Baggini COSMOLOGY Peter Coles
AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman
AUTISM Uta Frith CRYPTOGRAPHY
BARTHES Jonathan Culler Fred Piper and Sean Murphy
BESTSELLERS John Sutherland DADA AND SURREALISM
THE BIBLE John Riches David Hopkins
BIBLICAL ARCHEOLOGY Eric H. Cline DARWIN Jonathan Howard
BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Timothy Lim
THE BOOK OF MORMON DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick
Terryl Givens DESCARTES Tom Sorell
THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea DESERTS Nick Middleton
BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright DESIGN John Heskett
BUDDHA Michael Carrithers DINOSAURS David Norman
DOCUMENTARY FILM HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson
Patricia Aufderheide HEGEL Peter Singer
DREAMING J. Allan Hobson HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood
DRUGS Leslie Iversen HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson
DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe HINDUISM Kim Knott
THE EARTH Martin Redfern HISTORY John H. Arnold
ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta THE HISTORY OF
EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch ASTRONOMY Michael Hoskin
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN THE HISTORY OF LIFE
Paul Langford Michael Benton
THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball THE HISTORY OF
EMOTION Dylan Evans MEDICINE William Bynum
EMPIRE Stephen Howe THE HISTORY OF TIME
ENGELS Terrell Carver Leofranc Holford-Strevens
EPIDEMIOLOGY Roldolfo Saracci HIV/AIDS Alan Whiteside
ETHICS Simon Blackburn HOBBES Richard Tuck
THE EUROPEAN UNION HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood
John Pinder and Simon Usherwood HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham
EVOLUTION HUME A. J. Ayer
Brian and Deborah Charlesworth IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden
EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton
FASCISM Kevin Passmore INFORMATION Luciano Floridi
FASHION Rebecca Arnold INNOVATION
FEMINISM Margaret Walters Mark Dodgson and David Gann
THE FIRST WORLD WAR INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary
Michael Howard INTERNATIONAL
FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser MIGRATION Khalid Koser
FOSSILS Keith Thomson INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
FOUCAULT Gary Gutting Paul Wilkinson
FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton ISLAM Malise Ruthven
FREE WILL Thomas Pink ISLAMIC HISTORY Adam Silverstein
FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION JUDAISM Norman Solomon
William Doyle JUNG Anthony Stevens
FREUD Anthony Storr KABBALAH Joseph Dan
FUNDAMENTALISM Malise Ruthven KAFKA Ritchie Robertson
GALAXIES John Gribbin KANT Roger Scruton
GALILEO Stillman Drake KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner
GAME THEORY Ken Binmore THE KORAN Michael Cook
GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh LAW Raymond Wacks
GEOGRAPHY THE LAWS OF
John Matthews and David Herbert THERMODYNAMICS Peter Atkins
GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo
GERMAN LITERATURE Nicholas Boyle LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews
GERMAN PHILOSOPHY LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler
Andrew Bowie LOCKE John Dunn
GLOBAL CATASTROPHES Bill McGuire LOGIC Graham Priest
GLOBAL WARMING Mark Maslin MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner
GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger THE MARQUIS DE SADE John Phillips
THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE MARX Peter Singer
NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers
THE MEANING OF LIFE POSTMODERNISM Christopher Butler
Terry Eagleton POSTSTRUCTURALISM
MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope Catherine Belsey
MEDIEVAL BRITAIN PREHISTORY Chris Gosden
John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffi ths PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY
MEMORY Jonathan K. Foster Catherine Osborne
MODERN ART David Cottington PRIVACY Raymond Wacks
MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter PROGRESSIVISM Walter Nugent
MODERN IRELAND Senia Pašeta PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns
MODERN JAPAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christopher Goto-Jones Gillian Butler and Freda McManus
MOLECULES Philip Ball PURITANISM Francis J. Bremer
MORMONISM THE QUAKERS Pink Dandelion
Richard Lyman Bushman QUANTUM THEORY
MUSIC Nicholas Cook John Polkinghorne
MYTH Robert A. Segal RACISM Ali Rattansi
NATIONALISM Steven Grosby THE REAGAN REVOLUTION Gil Troy
NELSON MANDELA Elleke Boehmer THE REFORMATION Peter Marshall
NEOLIBERALISM RELATIVITY Russell Stannard
Manfred Steger and Ravi Roy RELIGION IN AMERICA Timothy Beal
THE NEW TESTAMENT THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton
Luke Timothy Johnson RENAISSANCE ART
THE NEW TESTAMENT AS Geraldine A. Johnson
LITERATURE Kyle Keefer ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway
NEWTON Robert Iliffe THE ROMAN EMPIRE
NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner Christopher Kelly
NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler
Christopher Harvie and RUSSELL A. C. Grayling
H. C. G. Matthew RUSSIAN LITERATURE Catriona Kelly
THE NORMAN CONQUEST THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
George Garnett S. A. Smith
NORTHERN IRELAND SCHIZOPHRENIA
Marc Mulholland Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone
NOTHING Frank Close SCHOPENHAUER Christopher Janaway
NUCLEAR WEAPONS SCIENCE AND RELIGION
Joseph M. Siracusa Thomas Dixon
THE OLD TESTAMENT SCOTLAND Rab Houston
Michael D. Coogan SEXUALITY Véronique Mottier
PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer
PAUL E. P. Sanders SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt
PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
PHILOSOPHY OF LAW ANTHROPOLOGY
Raymond Wacks John Monaghan and Peter Just
PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SOCIALISM Michael Newman
Samir Okasha SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce
PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor
PLATO Julia Annas THE SOVIET UNION Stephen Lovell
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY David Miller THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
POLITICS Kenneth Minogue Helen Graham
POSTCOLONIALISM Robert Young SPINOZA Roger Scruton
STATISTICS David J. Hand THE UNITED NATIONS
STUART BRITAIN John Morrill Jussi M. Hanhimäki
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY THE VIKINGS Julian Richards
Stephen Blundell WITCHCRAFT Malcolm Gaskill
TERRORISM Charles Townshend WITTGENSTEIN A. C. Grayling
THEOLOGY David F. Ford WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman
THOMAS AQUINAS Fergus Kerr THE WORLD TRADE
TRAGEDY Adrian Poole ORGANIZATION
THE TUDORS John Guy Amrita Narlikar
TWENTIETH-CENTURY WRITING AND SCRIPT
BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan Andrew Robinson
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Barry Cunliffe
Druids
A Very Short Introduction
1
1
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
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© Barry Cunliffe 2010
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First published 2010
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Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
Printed in Great Britain by
Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire
ISBN 978–0–19–953940–6
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
Preface xi
List of illustrations xiii
1 The Druids in time and space 1
2 The European theatre 16
3 The archaeology of religious practice at the time
of the Druids 30
4 Enter the Druids: the fi rst contacts 50
5 Altars steeped in human blood 62
6 Twilight in the far west 85
7 Renaissance and rediscovery 100
8 Romanticism and the rise of nationalism 112
9 Neodruids and the neopagans 124
10 So, who were the Druids? 131
Further reading 137
Index 141