Druids

A powerful Celtic priesthood of the Gauls and Britons from the 1st century BC through the 1st century AD. They led the resistance to the Romans, and when they were finally defeated in 78 AD they were exterminated, partly due to human sacrifices that they carried out. The Druids believed in reincarnation, worshipped the moon and heavenly bodies, and built circular temples in forest groves. Archaeologically the only material definitely attributed to them is a hoard of bronze and iron at Llyn Cerrig Bach in Anglesey. It is no held that they built Stonehenge or Avebury.

A powerful Celtic priesthood, evidence for which we derive mostly from late Roman Republican and Imperial literary sources. Since they provided a focus of opposition to Roman expansionist aims, Druids tend to be viewed with hostility by Latin authors, and are credited with various barbarisms, such as the practice of human sacrifice. Led by an arch-Druid, their tribal responsibilities seem to have included functions that were social (e.g. calling the annual assembly), juridical (e.g. holding court and issuing sentences) and scholarly/archivist (e.g. the maintenance and transmission of knowledge in subjects such as physics, astronomy and theology). Archaeological evidence with direct named connection is lean, but Druids are, for instance, thought to be associated with a hoard of bronze and iron at Llyn Cerrig Bach in Anglesey. Supposed association with the stone circles of Stonehenge and Avebury should be consigned where they belong—to the world of popular myth.