Druids
<p >A <b>druid</b> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_language" title="Irish language" >Irish</a>: <i>Druí</i>; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_language" title="Welsh language" >Welsh</a>: <i>Derwydd</i>) was a member of the educated, professional class among the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts" title="Celts" >Celtic</a> peoples of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaul" title="Gaul" >Gaul</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Britain" title="Great Britain" >Britain</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland" title="Ireland" >Ireland</a>, and possibly elsewhere during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age" title="Iron Age" >Iron Age</a>. The druid class included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brehon" title="Brehon" >law-speakers</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poet" title="Poet" >poets</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician" title="Physician" >doctors</a>, among other learned professions, although the best known among the druids were the religious leaders.
Very little is known about the ancient druids. They left no written accounts of themselves, and the only evidence is a few descriptions left by Greek, Roman, and various scattered authors and artists, as well as stories created by later medieval Irish writers.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#cite_note-2" >[2]</a></sup> While archaeological evidence has been uncovered pertaining to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_polytheism" title="Celtic polytheism" >the religious practices</a> of the Iron Age people, "not one single artefact or image has been unearthed that can undoubtedly be connected with the ancient Druids."<sup id="cite_ref-Hutton_2009_Page_23_3-0" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#cite_note-Hutton_2009_Page_23-3" >[3]</a></sup> Various recurring themes emerge in a number of the Greco-Roman accounts of the druids, including that they performed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sacrifice" title="Animal sacrifice" >animal</a> and even <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice" title="Human sacrifice" >human sacrifice</a>, believed in a form of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation" title="Reincarnation" >reincarnation</a>, and held a high position in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauls" title="Gauls" >Gaulish</a> society. Next to nothing is known for certain about their cultic practice, except for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_of_oak_and_mistletoe" title="Ritual of oak and mistletoe" >ritual of oak and mistletoe</a> as described by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Elder" title="Pliny the Elder" >Pliny the Elder</a>.
The earliest known reference to the druids dates to 200 BCE, although the oldest actual description comes from the Roman military general <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar" title="Julius Caesar" >Julius Caesar</a> in his <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commentarii_de_Bello_Gallico" title="Commentarii de Bello Gallico" >Commentarii de Bello Gallico</a></i> (50s BCE). Later Greco-Roman writers also described the druids, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero" title="Cicero" >Cicero</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-ReferenceB_4-0" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#cite_note-ReferenceB-4" >[4]</a></sup> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus" title="Tacitus" >Tacitus</a><sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#cite_note-5" >[5]</a></sup> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Elder" title="Pliny the Elder" >Pliny the Elder</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#cite_note-6" >[6]</a></sup> Following the Roman invasion of Gaul, druidism was suppressed by the Roman government under the 1st century CE emperors <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius" title="Tiberius" >Tiberius</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius" title="Claudius" >Claudius</a>, and it had disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century.
In about 750 CE the word <i>druid</i> appears in a poem by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blathmac" title="Blathmac" >Blathmac</a>, who wrote about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus" title="Jesus" >Jesus</a>, saying that he was "... better than a prophet, more knowledgeable than every druid, a king who was a bishop and a complete sage."<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#cite_note-7" >[7]</a></sup> The druids then also appear in some of the medieval tales from Christianized Ireland like the "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A1in_B%C3%B3_C%C3%BAailnge" title="Táin Bó Cúailnge" >Táin Bó Cúailnge</a>", where they are largely portrayed as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magician_(paranormal)" title="Magician (paranormal)" >sorcerers</a> who opposed the coming of Christianity.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#cite_note-8" >[8]</a></sup> In the wake of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_revival" title="Celtic revival" class="mw-redirect" >Celtic revival</a> during the 18th and 19th centuries, fraternal and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neopaganism" title="Neopaganism" class="mw-redirect" >Neopagan</a> groups were founded based on ideas about the ancient druids, a movement known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Druidism" title="Neo-Druidism" >Neo-Druidism</a>. Many popular modern notions about druids have no connection to the druids of the Iron Age and are largely based on much later inventions or misconceptions.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference" ><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#cite_note-9" >[9]</a></sup>
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