druid

A druid (Gaulish: druides, from Proto-Celtic *druwides, 'oak-knower' or '[priest with] strong insight') was a member of the learned class of the ancient Celtic peoples of Gaul and Britain, described by Greek and Roman writers as a priest, teacher, judge and custodian of religious and legal tradition. Because the druids committed nothing of their teaching to writing and cannot be securely identified in the archaeological record, almost everything known about them comes from outside observers. Classical authors placed the druids only in Gaul and Britain, never among the other Celtic-speaking peoples. The earliest notices, of the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE, treat them as 'barbarian' philosophers akin to the Persian magi and the Indian gymnosophists. Much of the surviving material descends from...