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Pailler, Jean-Marie, “Les druides de César : digression ethnographique et neutralisation historique”, Études Celtiques 36 (2008): 35–58.
- journal article
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Article
“Les druides de César : digression ethnographique et neutralisation historique”
Periodical
Études Celtiques 36 (2008)
Études Celtiques 36 (2008).
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 36, 2008: <link>
Volume
36
Pages
35–58
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Abstract (cited)
[FR] César ne parle des druides que dans l’excursus ethnographique sur les Gaulois, au début du livre VI. Dans ce passage, il évoque la polyvalence des druides et leur grande influence politique. Mais dans le reste de la Guerre des Gaules, César ne parle presque jamais des druides, et s’il mentionne les nombreuses démarches de son ami éduen Diviciacus, il omet de préciser que c’était un druide. Pourtant, il est possible d’attribuer aux druides un rôle déterminant dans plusieurs événements rapportés, par ex. la rédaction du recensement helvète, la présidence d’assemblées de chefs séditieux, la réception de serments solennels, l’arbitrage entre prince rivaux. De plus, l’existence d’un chef suprême élu par les druides au cours d’une assemblée montre que les druides ont probablement conçu les premiers l’idée d’une unité de la Gaule. Le proconsul minimise le rôle des druides de façon à neutraliser leur image, mais il s’est probablement inspiré du modèle druidique pour le récupérer à son profit, car plusieurs de ses démarches montrent qu’il a voulu assumer lui-même le rôle d’arbitre suprême.
[EN] Cesar speaks of druids only in his ethnographic excursus about Gauls (beg. of Bk. VI). There he tells us about their multiple competence, and their great political influence. But in the rest of Bellum Gallicum, Cesar almost never speaks about them, and if he reports about the varied business of his Eduan friend Diviciacos, he omits to say he was a druid. It is nevertheless possible to recognize a druidic intervention in many reported events : e. g. the writing of the Helvetian census, the chairmanship of seditious assemblies, the receipt of solemn oaths, the settlement of rivalries. Moreover the election of a supreme head at a general assembly of druids would show that they had conceived Gaul as a political unit. The proconsul clearly minimised the role of the druids in order to neutralise their image, but he probably used the druidic model for his own profit, since some of his interventions show he wanted to assume himself the rôle of supreme arbiter.
[EN] Cesar speaks of druids only in his ethnographic excursus about Gauls (beg. of Bk. VI). There he tells us about their multiple competence, and their great political influence. But in the rest of Bellum Gallicum, Cesar almost never speaks about them, and if he reports about the varied business of his Eduan friend Diviciacos, he omits to say he was a druid. It is nevertheless possible to recognize a druidic intervention in many reported events : e. g. the writing of the Helvetian census, the chairmanship of seditious assemblies, the receipt of solemn oaths, the settlement of rivalries. Moreover the election of a supreme head at a general assembly of druids would show that they had conceived Gaul as a political unit. The proconsul clearly minimised the role of the druids in order to neutralise their image, but he probably used the druidic model for his own profit, since some of his interventions show he wanted to assume himself the rôle of supreme arbiter.
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Contributors
Pierre Faure
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April 2020
