Customer Reviews

The Druids

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Peter Berresford Ellis is a popular historian, not an academic historian. The primary difference between popular and academic historians is that they write for different audiences. Ellis' work has been criticized for lacking the kind of detailed references that a peer-reviewed book or article would include. The reader must guess where the citations and allusions may be researched and accept the citations and translations as accurate.

Hence, you're not likely to find many historians recommending an Ellis book to their students. But students who have read Ellis will have a very clear idea of what materials to look for. And he does a very good job of challenging long-standing interpretations which have always been flimsy or weak at best. Unfortunately for him, the science of historical analysis requires accountability and Ellis refuses to be accountable. He takes his case to the popular audience and hopes to influence the broader imagination.

That's all well and good, but some of his research has been challenged and Ellis has had to make at least one major retraction in his career. He is a Celto-centric writer and people of Celtic heritage should be glad to know there is still a dedicated flag-waver around. But in the end, no matter how well he writes, no matter how thorough his research, Ellis must be regarded only as a popular historian. In that respect, he is one of the finest popular historians I've had the pleasure to read.

Celtic spirituality seems to be a buzz word among Christians and pagans alike, and efforts to define it abound. I recommend this book to readers who are more willing to be challenged rather than soothed by things Celtic. P.B. Ellis states his mission as "an introductory argument about the reality and the legend of the Druids" (p 21). He succeeds quite well in this mission, distilling what can be known from primary sources with very thorough research. Ellis also asks the questions that we would dearly like to ask of these mysterious people, who unfortunately seem to have had a prohibition against committing their scholarship to writing, leaving historians to piece together their philosophy and practices from the works of other observers. Ellis does an exceptional job of revealing the probable biases of these secondary sources, although his style of argument becomes somewhat convoluted at times.

Ellis pulls no punches in criticizing the scholarly positions of other writers on the subject -- an approach which can seem abrasive or refreshing, depending on one's taste. His obvious disdain for the New Age, soft-focus and romaniticized view of Druids may seem harsh as well. But his genuine love for and fascination with Celtic peoples perhaps justifies the contempt he displays for those who call themselves "New Age Celts...preaching harmony with nature, who have stared in incomprehension when it has been pointed out to them that the Celtic civilization itself is struggling in a last ditch attempt to survive" (p 280). Ellis concludes his work by pointing out the "uncomfortable reality for those who would conjure Druids and ancient Celts to their new concepts of 'spiritual enlightenment'" while ignoring the fact that Celtic languages and cultures are in decline in our increasingly homogenized modern world.

Who were the Druids? This group, surrounded by legend and folklore for millenia, continues to fascinate moderns, perhaps because of the enigmatic character of their identity. Probably most of the popular images of Druids -- of being tree worshippers, of being itinerant poets and prophets, of being priests who practiced human sacrifice and built strange structures such as Stonehenge -- are generally misperceptions, perhaps even deliberate 'character assassination' attempts by the victorious political and religious authorities that moved into Druid areas. Indeed, the bulk of Classical information on the Druids comes from anti-Druid writings of the Romans.

`By the time the Celts themselves came to commit their knowledge to writing, they had become Christianised and, not surprisingly, the Druids continued to get "a bad Press". Their portrayal remains an extremely biased one.'

In this very readable book on The Druids, Peter Berresford Ellis presents an examination of the archaeological, etymological and historical evidence to give an account of the identity and importance of the Druids in early Celtic societies.

`The Druids emerge as the intellectual caste of ancient Celtic society. They were the doctors, the lawyers, the ambassadors, the advisors to kings. They also had a religious function.'

One historical fact that is often overlooked is that the early Celtic 'empire' was as expansive as the Roman Empire, stretching from Britain and Ireland in the northwest, through Gaul and central Europe north of the Alps, stretching as far as Turkey to the east, and also extending down into Iberia. The Celtic language group includes influences on all major European languages as well. However, the Celtic empire had no imperium, no central structure or organisation, but was rather a loose confederation, in which the Druids, as the intellectuals, helped to keep a cohesion of social life if not political and economic life.

The Druids operated largely without writing, following the tradition of many early peoples by using an oral tradition of learning and history. Thus the earliest appearances of the Druids come from Greek and Roman writings. The Druids were seen as a philosophising, priestly caste, also somewhat of a civil authority. Indeed, both Julius Caesar and Cicero mention the Druids in their writings, and one Druid ambassador even addressed the Roman Senate in search of an alliance against the barbarian Germanic tribes (Caesar, however, with intent to conquer Gaul, persuaded the Senate to support the Germans so as to facilitate the conquest of Gaul -- of course, shortly thereafter the Germans became the enemies of Rome, and would remain so for the most part for the rest of Roman history).

Ellis examines the Druids from many vantage points, looking at the writings about the Druids by both insiders (Celts) and outsiders. Ellis also examines the religion, rituals, and wisdom of the Druids, which includes subchapters on schools, books, philosophy, law, history, poetry, music, medical knowledge, art, astronomy and astrology, and mysticism.

Ellis argues in his final chapter that the Druids never truly disappeared. As a social class, rather than as a narrowly-defined group of wizards and priests, the Druids as an intelligensia remained under a new classification, but this social strata was slowly destroyed by the nations who conquered the Celts and made strides to assimilate or eliminate the Celtic peoples. Ellis traces the literary/historical chain of events that led to the identification of the Druids as a small subset of this intelligensia, mostly those dealing with religion and the arts, most commonly associated with secret rites or witchcraft, which is present in today's thinking about the Druids.

`Celtic and Druidic "truth" of every description -- from "arcane knowledge", "karmic destiny", "the true path", to "mystic awareness" -- are solicited in the commercial deluge of New Age philosophies. The Druids and the Celts were there when our seventeenth and eighteenth century ancestors sought "Romanticism" as a counter-balance to the "Age of Reason" and industrialisation. It is not surprising that they are still being reinvented at this time because, in our sad and sorry contemporary world, people still want a quick fix on spirituality.'

This is a fascinating and highly readable text on the history of the Druids, and the history of the way the Druids have been portrayed (and misrepresented).

I have this book in my personal collection, and upon having read it for four or more times, I can say that it is the most well though out and researched book on the subject of the Celtic Druids. As an author and researcher, Mr. Ellis is a very objective writer. I have detected no pretense, bias, or any other thing that might have detracted from this piece. While there may be certain defects as to the writing, &c. I do not feel qualified to make any statements as to what those defects are, and such should be left for professional critiques to determine. However, I view Mr. Ellis as a fore-most person in this area of research, and anthropologically speaking, find him to be very well spoken through his writing. This book is recommended must see for any one partaking in the challenge of anthropologically researching and studying the ancient Celtic Druids. It is a five star book.

Ellis's writing style can be a bit frustrating for the pagan reader, but as a student of history I found this book most enjoyable. The author's theories about the similarities between Celtic and Indian culture are, if nothing else, intriguing. I feel that the material was presented in the manner intended: as a sampling of the evidence that will hopefully inspire others to do the research for themselves. As a Celtic reconstructionist pagan, I personally share his views on "new agers" claiming to follow a Celtic path. A triumphant book that delivers us from the New Age dregs of revisionist religion to at least a plausible level of ancient custom.

Of the books published for this decade, this tops the charts in both research, and it's being a flowing book. In that, I am referring to the fact that unlike predecessors by other authors, this book actually reads well. It's a moving historical work that gives the facts/fiction/and dramatic in both. P.B-Ellis has excelled himself in this work

Beresford Ellis has written an introduction to Druid society and culture. It is not overly long, and reasonably accessible, I think. It looks at clearing up the misconceptions (or Asterix caricatures :) :) ). For those interested in learning something about this group of people, this book is certainly worth a look.

This is a well written book, which includes with through rearsearch, from, a large variety of primary and secondarrry sourses. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is interested in European history, celtic history, and Druids. or anyone interested in reading a well written book

This is actually my second review of the book. I know it does little for my own credibility to go back on something i have already said, but i decided that my judgement of the book was rather harsh, and so reread it in order to glean from it a more balanced opinion.

Peter is obviously trying to introduce the public to the high merits of Druidry in the ancient and modern world. Whilst I still question his research approach and the fact that he seems more interested in his opinion than giving cold fact (except the last chapter) he does give a fair review overall of many works currently in publication. I was most disappointed by his treatment of Henaff, who was highly regarded in many Irish circles as a scholar, a Druid, and a man. He would have done well to have dedicated a chapter to Henaff's works so that his criticisms could find a foundation. I also felt his treatment of OBOD, the UAOD, and other organizations to be curt and uninformed. The merit and character of such organizations lies in the eyes of the beholder, and is often not present to those not involved enough to be informed.

Overall a good read and a nice bib. A bit harsh on the new agers but right about the need to revive celtic languages imho.

This is a good book for some one with little to no knowlage of Druidism. The author is overly verbose at times but He does give some insight to Druid culture and belief