The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts [Hardcover]

Philip Freeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2006

Early in the first century B.C. a Greek philosopher named Posidonius began an ambitious and dangerous journey into the little-known lands of the Celts. A man of great intellectual curiosity and considerable daring, Posidonius traveled from his home on the island of Rhodes to Rome, the capital of the expanding empire that had begun to dominate the Mediterranean. From there Posidonius planned to investigate for himself the mysterious Celts, reputed to be cannibals and savages. His journey would be one of the great adventures of the ancient world.

Posidonius journeyed deep into the heart of the Celtic lands in Gaul. There he discovered that the Celts were not barbarians but a sophisticated people who studied the stars, composed beautiful poetry, and venerated a priestly caste known as the Druids. Celtic warriors painted their bodies, wore pants, and decapitated their foes. Posidonius was amazed at the Celtic women, who enjoyed greater freedoms than the women of Rome, and was astonished to discover that women could even become Druids.

Posidonius returned home and wrote a book about his travels among the Celts, which became one of the most popular books of ancient times. His work influenced Julius Caesar, who would eventually conquer the people of Gaul and bring the Celts into the Roman Empire, ending forever their ancient way of life. Thanks to Posidonius, who could not have known that he was recording a way of life soon to disappear, we have an objective, eyewitness account of the lives and customs of the ancient Celts.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sometime during the first century B.C., the Greek Stoic philosopher Posidonius traveled north and west to see for himself the mysterious culture of the Celts, which he had read about in Herodotus, Plato and Aristotle. Although none of Posidonius' writings survive, Freeman, a professor of classics (St. Patrick of Ireland), sketchily recreates the philosopher's world out of the fragmentary writings of Polybius, Strabo and Caesar, using the philosopher's journey as a flimsy excuse to draw on his own noted expertise in Celtic history and culture. The speculative observations about Posidonius fill only two to three pages of each chapter; the bulk of the book records information about the ancient Celts that readers can find elsewhere, including in Freeman's earlier books. For example, we learn that Celtic feasts were often boasting contests between two tribes and that the Celts were fierce warriors who engaged in one-on-one combat, headhunters and religious people whose priests, the Druids, viewed the natural world as sacred. Posidonius was neither the first to discover all this nor the first to write about it for Hellenistic culture, and Freeman's bewildering book reveals little new on the subject. 8 pages of b&w illus. not seen by PW, 2 maps. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

Sometime in the first century B.C., the Greek philosopher Posidonius traveled among the "barbaric" people known today as the Celts. His written account of that adventure is essentially lost, though fragments of it exist as citations by other ancient authors. Freeman set himself to reconstruct the route of Posidonius and to conjure, from other writings and from archaeological sources, what Posidonius would have experienced. In vivid, sometimes breezy language, Freeman describes the landscapes among which the Celtic tribes lived as well as their appearance and daily life. Most fascinating are his reconstructions of Celtic warfare and how a Greek stranger might have witnessed it, and his examination of the druidic religious faith of the Celts. This book, which fills a void in the academic literature, is written so clearly and compellingly that it should be a crossover hit with a general, popular readership as well. Patricia Monaghan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1St Edition edition (January 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743262808
• ISBN-13: 978-0743262804
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Philip Freeman is the Orlando W. Qualley Chair of Classical Languages at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Classical Philology and Celtic Languages and Literatures. He has taught at Boston University and Washington University in St. Louis and lectured at the Smithsonian Institution. His books have been reviewed in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other national publications.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Those Bloodthirsty Battlin' Celts - As the Greeks and Romans Saw Them, January 10, 2006

By 

Edward F. Strasser "Éad" (Long Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts (Hardcover)

All the books and articles that I have previously read about the Celts have stressed the archaeological evidence. They have especially examined the art, culture, and daily lives of the ancient Celts, and their origins as a people. Freeman, instead, looks at how the Romans and, especially, the Greeks saw them. So, of course, there are a lot of quotes about the Celts as bloodthirsty drunken louts.

But once I got beyond that, there was a lot I hadn't learned from the books and articles I had read earlier. For example, there is more about the Celts of Iberia, Asia Minor, and Cisalpine Gaul (Northern Italy). The Galatians of Asia Minor seem to have been especially important as mercenaries to rulers of the Eastern Mediterranean. There is also more about Caesar's conquest of Gaul. I had previously read about this mostly from Caesar's point of view (in Latin). Freeman counters with a description of how well Vercingetorix and his people resisted Caesar, although they ultimately lost.

Posidonius, a Greek aristocrat, visited only the upper crust of Celtic society, and so we don't see much of the lives of ordinary Celts. In this he is more like a historian than like an archaeologist. He is the philosopher of the title and the unifying symbol of the whole book.

In the latter half of the book, Freeman drops the emphasis on the ferocity and barbarity of the Celts and says more about their mythology and religion, the position of women, and the social lives of the upper crust. This is very speculative and that's probably why other serious authors haven't had so much to say about it. But if you read it as a commentary on what the Celts might have been like, and how their neighbors reacted to them, it will give you a lot to think about.

So, for what Freeman says that the other writers don't say, and especially if you've read some of the other books, I recommend this one.

-- Éad

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book, January 4, 2006

By 

Celtic history fan (Boston USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts (Hardcover)

This is the most readable introduction to the Celts I've ever seen. It takes the real journey of a Greek philosopher to Celtic lands in the days before Julius Caesar and uses it as a connecting thread to tell the whole story of the ancient Celts. I liked the way it was organized around different Celtic themes, like druids, women, war, etc. And the way it ties the ancient Celts into Irish culture is great.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn about the ancient Celts, June 22, 2006

By 

History Teacher (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts (Hardcover)

I read a great review of this book in Harper's Magazine, so I thought I'd give it a try. The author uses the travels of an ancient Greek philosopher that I'd never heard of to tie together a fascinating introduction to the ancient Celts. It's not really about the philosopher as much as it is a really interesting story about Gauls and others Celts (I never knew there was a difference), including druids, art, history , and everything else about them. If you want to learn about Celts in olden days, this is your book.