Druids
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2024
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Aligning with the winter solstice of 2024, Tristan Hughes and Professor Ronald Hutton delve into the ancient Druids of Britain and France.
They discuss how Julius Caesar encountered this feared enemy in his Roman conquest of Gaul, and Cicero had meetings with a Druid leader in Rome.
From human sacrifice to the creation of Stone Henge, to battles with St. Patrick of Ireland, Tristan and Ronald consider the complex history and evolving perceptions of these enigmatic figures.
Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
Theme music from Motion Array, all other music from Epidemic Sounds
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like the ancient ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. |
| 0:08.1 | With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabatans, and enjoy a new release every week. |
| 0:19.3 | Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. |
| 0:27.4 | Druids. |
| 0:28.4 | When someone mentions the word, he might think of old men in white robes, |
| 0:32.5 | wearing mistletoe underneath an oak tree with a sickle. |
| 0:36.0 | These forest-loving priests who are also closely connected |
| 0:39.2 | today to prehistoric sites like Stonehenge and the winter solstice. And indeed, |
| 0:44.7 | Druids, they have a long history, first mentioned more than 2,000 years ago by Roman statesmen |
| 0:50.4 | and writers such as Cicero and Julius Caesar, when they were talking about what were, |
| 0:56.0 | in their eyes, uncivilized barbarian societies that lived in northwest Europe. Think people like the |
| 1:03.1 | Celts. So who were the ancient druids? What do the sources say about them? Why is it so difficult |
| 1:09.7 | to recognize druids in surviving |
| 1:11.3 | archaeology? Did they practice human sacrifice? And how have druids evolved and transformed |
| 1:16.7 | over the centuries and millennia to remain so significant down to the present day? From winter |
| 1:22.5 | solstices to the figure of panoramics in the brilliant comic series Asterix and Obelix. |
| 1:28.9 | It's The Ancients on History Hit. |
| 1:31.5 | I'm Tristan Hughes, your host. |
| 1:33.3 | And today, to align with the winter solstice of 2024, we're exploring the story of the druids, |
| 1:39.2 | both the mysterious druids of Britain and France mentioned by Roman writers, |
| 1:43.3 | but also their legacy and evolution |
| 1:45.7 | down to the present day. |
... |
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