Ancient Druids: Why Were the Romans So Afraid of Them?

21st Century Wire asks…
Why were the Druids of the British Isles
Why were they such a threat to the Romans? such a threat to their Roman occupiers?
From the time of pre-Roman Britain, the Druids were regarded as the educated, priestly class among the Iron Age Celtic civilisations of Gaul (France), Britain, and Ireland. They are best known as spiritual leaders, mystics, medicine men, poets and scholars of natural law. The Druids were also regarded as adepts and seers in their day, and among their many prophesies was the prediction of the coming of Saint Patrick.
Little is known about the Druids of old as they left behind very little in terms of written or visual records because of the dominance of the oral traditions, but their legend lived on through story tellers who passed down their history over generations, and there is some representations that can be derived from stone carvings and other pagan relics. There were some accounts of Druids left behind by Greek and Roman artists and authors and later from medieval writers. Other cultures regarded them as heretics, accusing Druids of practicing pagan witchcraft and the occult. Modern archaeological have uncovered evidence of their pagan the religious practices, as well as other disturbing historical reports suggesting Druids were involved in both human sacrifice and cannibalism.

This post was published at 21st Century Wire on OCTOBER 12, 2014.