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Were the Druids of one group similar or the same as the people in another group? Like would the Irish Druids have considered the Manx Druids the same?
Caesar seems to imply that the druids were all part of the same order, and that their order was centered in Britain. About a century or so later, in discussing the invasion of Britain, Tacitus states that the Isle of Mona was the center for druidic learning in Britain. This island corresponds to present-day Anglesey, and archaeological excavations have indeed produced a large amount of ritual deposits in nearby bodies of water. One of the main ways in which the Iron Age Celts dedicated offerings to the gods was by throwing highly elaborate war gear into lakes and rivers. This practice is also mirrored in Gaul, and Roman commentators mention it several times. This is a pretty uniform practice all around the Celtic world, and it does suggest a unity in ritual practice, perhaps encouraged by a unified druidic order. As for the Irish druids, it is hard to find such complete consistency of ritual practice between them and the Britons and Gauls because the Irish druids had so much more time to evolve as a religious order before Ireland converted to Christianity.
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Well, the Greeks had the word "Keltoi" which I assumed the Romans used... looking it up now it looks like they used it for the Gauls but not for the British Isles lot.
The word Caesar uses for the Britons is Britanni, which I have seen reconstructed in Gaulish as Pritanni. I'm not sure what the actual meaning of the word is, but I feel like I've read somewhere that it was a word the Gauls used to describe the inhabitants of Britain that the Romans adopted. I can't find where I read this, however, so it may be false. Britanni, however, I took straight from the Latin text, so I know that's right at least.
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The most I really know about them is that one of the reasons their tradition didn't survive is that it was entirely oral. I was apparently forbidden to write any of it down, so you kill them and you kill their knowledge.
That sounds about right. I now have my translation of De Bello Gallico back, so I'm going to quote Caesar again.
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The Druids believe that their religion forbids them to commit their teachings to writing, although for most other purposes, such as public and private accounts, the Gauls use the Greek alphabet. But I imagine that this rule was originally established for other reasons - because they did not want their doctrine to become public property, and in order to prevent their pupils from relying on the written word and neglecting to train their memories; for it is usually found that when people have the help of texts, they are less diligent in learning by heart, and let their memories rust.
A little pompous, and so very Roman, complete with a little lesson for all the Roman readers who "neglect to train their memories" and a hint at the noble savage perspective so many Greeks and Romans took towards the Druids. It didn't start with the Romantics of the 1900's, unfortunately.
I just realized that this is one of the only parts in Commentaries on the Gallic War that Caesar actually writes in 1st person... Huh.
If anyone wants more information, I'm happy to hunt down more info. I have about 12 or more books at my disposal now to look up relevant artifacts and quotes.
