The philosopher and the Druids A journey among the ancient Celts

Review by Booklist Review

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 2006 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Library Journal Review

Freeman (classics, Luther Coll.; St. Patrick of Ireland) aims to piece together the lost account of the first-century B.C.E. journey of the Stoic philosopher Posidonius from Rhodes into the wild Celtic northlands in Gaul (now parts of Spain and France). Along the way, Freeman describes Posidonius's education and training as well as the range of knowledge available to him about the Celts, skillfully quoting from many different ancient narratives with his own translations. Although the supposition in Rhodes had been that the Celts were a race of savages, Posidonius discovered that they were a complex and articulate society-albeit one that practiced a ritual involving human sacrifice. The philosopher's account proved to be a valuable study of a people soon to be conquered by Julius Caesar. In examining ancient Celtic history and culture in tandem with Greek and Roman attitudes, Freeman has turned out an engrossing study that both students and lay readers will enjoy. Highly recommended for public and undergraduate collections.-Robert Harbison, Western Kentucky Univ. Lib., Bowling Green (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

Recreating a vanished Celtic society through the eyes of a scholar traveling in the first century B.C. Historian Freeman (Classics/Luther Coll.), who has written extensively on ancient Celtic culture, languages and interaction with classical civilizations of Rome and Greece, here focuses on surviving fragments from the writings of the Syrian-born (ca. 135 B.C.) Greek philosopher Posidonius. There are problems, however, since almost all of Posidonius's writings on his extensive travels, primarily through lands of the Gaulish tribes in Western Europe, have been lost and are accessible only through other contemporary and later writers. The author ably bridges gaps in the record, but the speculative refrain of "surely Posidonius" did this or that in the company of Celts, or visited a particular tribal capitol, etc., does become distracting. His point is well taken that at least here was a learned person putting himself at risk in order to apprehend Celtic culture for posterity with no particular axe to grind--or wield, as in the case of another prolific reporter on Celtic customs, their Roman conqueror Julius Caesar (whom Freeman also cites). Somewhat out of kilter with the book's title, the focus does not narrow to the Druids, specifically, until near the end, with Freeman acknowledging that "All the Greek and Latin passages we have left on the ancient Druids would fit comfortably on a single sheet of paper." Nonetheless, the author confidently builds on archaeological evidence of their role in Celtic society; they did not worship trees, he asserts, although mistletoe was commonly used in rites that did include "occasional" human sacrifices. When at his best, Freeman clearly connects touchstones of Celtic culture to practices that persisted in Ireland, some even into the 20th century. A brisk and illuminating overview of how Celts impacted their world and ours. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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INTRODUCTION "Celtic"...is a magic bag, into which anything may be put, and out of which almost anything may come.... Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight. -- J. R. R. Tolkien One warm summer day in the year 335 B.C., a young Alexander the Great was sitting outside his tent on the banks of the Danube River. His father, Philip of Macedon, had been murdered just the year before during a wedding, but Alexander had lost no time in seizing his father's throne and firmly establishing his own rule throughout Macedonia and Greece. Philip had long nursed a dream of invading the mighty Persian Empire to the east, a vast kingdom stretching from the borders of Greece to Syria, Egypt, Babylon, and all the way to India. Alexander shared this vision and prepared for the upcoming Persian campaign by securing his northern frontiers against the wild tribes of Thracians and Scythians who rode south to raid and pillage whenever they saw an opportunity. Alexander had just defeated these fearsome warriors of the north in battle using the legendary daring and determination that would soon gain him the largest empire the world had ever known. But on this day the twenty-one-year-old Macedonian general and former student of the philosopher Aristotle was content to rest from war and enjoy the glow of victory with his companions. Among them was a young man named Ptolemy, a childhood friend of Alexander who now served as a trusted lieutenant. Twelve years later, after Alexander's death, Ptolemy would seize control of Egypt and establish a ruling dynasty that would end with his descendant Cleopatra. Ptolemy's memoir records that as Alexander sat before his tent, a small group of warriors approached the camp and asked for an audience with the king. They were unusually tall men with drooping mustaches, each wearing a gleaming gold torque -- a sort of thick necklace -- around his neck, and a brightly colored tunic that reached halfway to his knees. They carried long swords in finely decorated scabbards attached to chain belts, while flowing cloaks of checkerboard green were fastened around their shoulders with enormous gold brooches. Strangest indeed to the eyes of a civilized Greek was the utterly barbaric way they dressed below the waist -- they wore, of all things, pants. The embassy approached the astonished King and presented themselves as Celts who had traveled from the mountains of the west to seal a pact of goodwill with the victorious monarch. Alexander welcomed them warmly, assured them of his peaceful intentions toward their people, and invited them to share a drink of fine Greek wine. The Celts gladly accepted, though they refused an offer to dilute the wine with water as was the Mediterranean custom. Aristotle had taught Alexander never to pass up an opportunity to discover something new about the world, so the young general eagerly inquired about Celtic culture, history, and religion. Finally, when their tongues were thoroughly loosened by drink, Alexander asked his visitors one last question: What do you fear the most? Most men in such a situation would naturally have turned to flattery and quickly answered that they most feared the military might of the great general who sat across from them. But the leader of the Celtic band soberly looked Alexander in the eye and said, "Nothing. We honor the friendship of a man like you more than anything in the world, but we are afraid of nothing at all. Except," he added with a grin, "that the sky might fall down on our heads!" The rest of the Celtic warriors laughed along with their leader as they rose and bade farewell to the Macedonians. Alexander watched them stride out of camp and begin the long trek back to their mountain home. He then turned to his friends and exclaimed, "What braggarts these Celts are!" This meeting between Alexander and the Celts was one of the earliest encounters between the Greeks and an almost legendary people who lived in the unexplored forests and mountains of western Europe. The few Greek records of the Celts before Alexander's time speak only of a wild and uncivilized collection of tribes known as the Keltoi, who dwelled in the distant lands of Italy, Spain, and beyond the Alps, all the way to the mysterious northern sea. But the Celts were rapidly becoming a force in the classical world. In the decades before Alexander, they had swept south over the alpine passes and breached the gates of Rome. Fifty years after Alexander, they would attack the sacred Greek site of Delphi, home to Apollo's oracle, and cross the Hellespont into Asia Minor, ravaging the coast before settling permanently in their own kingdom of Galatia in the middle of the Greek world. From that time to the end of the Roman Republic, the Celts would be a constant threat to the civilized lands of the Mediterranean. Only with the crushing defeat of the Gauls by Julius Caesar in the first century b.c. would the Celts virtually disappear from the stage of history. Today, more than two thousand years after Caesar, the Celts are everywhere. Turn on the radio and you can hear the lilting melodies of Celtic music. Browse your local bookstore and count the numerous volumes available on Celtic art, history, mythology, and spirituality. Hollywood movies regularly feature fearless Celtic warriors facing down a vastly superior enemy or immortal elves speaking a hauntingly beautiful language of Celtic origin. You can watch high-stepping Celtic dance at almost any local folk festival or purchase intricately crafted Celtic jewelry. But who were the Celts? Do modern ideas of Celtic culture have genuine roots stretching back to ancient times? If so, what were these Celts of Greek and Roman times really like? The truth about the Celts may surprise you, because many of the most common ideas about them are based on fantasy or, at best, half-truths. They were not wild and mindless barbarians who knew little of civilized ways but a sophisticated and technologically advanced culture spread throughout Europe who in many ways surpassed the Greeks and Romans. Did the priests of the Celts, the Druids, really practice human sacrifice? Yes -- archaeology and ancient literary sources firmly agree that they did, but they were also believers in reincarnation who studied the subtle movement of the stars and composed hauntingly beautiful poetry. Were women really equal to men in ancient Celtic society? Yes and no -- it was definitely a man's world, but a Celtic woman had rights and power even Cleopatra might have envied. We know about the ancient Celts through different kinds of evidence, such as Greek and Roman writers, archaeology, and the emerging study of early Celtic languages. But by far our best source for the true story of the Celts comes from the pen of a single man who is scarcely remembered today -- a Greek philosopher of the first century b.c. named Posidonius. When Posidonius was a young man, he set out on an extraordinary journey to the still unconquered Celtic lands of western Europe. Rome was even then beginning to sweep into Celtic territory. It was only a matter of time before the unstoppable legions would move north and destroy what remained of independent Celtic life in continental Europe. But Posidonius was a scientist as well as a philosopher, a man skilled at careful observation and methodical record keeping. Just as Lewis and Clark journeyed to discover the American West and its native people before both were changed forever, Posidonius set out on a mission to uncover the truth about the Celts before they were swallowed up by Rome. The account Posidonius wrote of his journey was his History, a marvel of ethnic study that became a best-seller across the Mediterranean world. But somehow in early Christian times it disappeared, so that not a single copy of this priceless book survives today. However, we can reconstruct much of the lost original by carefully sifting through ancient authors, both famous and obscure, and piecing together like a jigsaw puzzle the scattered fragments of Posidonius that they quote. Even though many parts of the puzzle are forever lost, enough remain to create a vivid picture of a vanished people. By building on this forgotten History of Posidonius, along with the works of other early writers and recent discoveries by archaeologists, we can uncover the fascinating and true story of the ancient Celts. Copyright (c) 2006 by Philip Freeman Excerpted from The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey among the Ancient Celts by Philip Freeman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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