The Philosopher and the Druids: A Journey Among the Ancient Celts by Philip Freeman. This is a non-fiction account of a Greek Philosopher travelling among the Celtic tribes of his time. I picked this up off a discount book rack.
Started: 11/18/2012
Completed: 12/30/2012
Recommendation: Mild recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody
Words I looked up:
quern -- A simple hand mill for grinding grain, typically consisting of two circular stones, the upper of which is rotated or rubbed to and fro on the lower one
Review:
The author does a lot with a little. The actual philosopher who did the travelling wrote a book about it, but the book has since been lost. The author of this book uses references to the Greek Philosopher's book from other ancient texts to try to reconstruct what can be reconstructed. Those references amount to about a page of text, and the author of this books builds that into almost 200 pages. Of course, lots of other material is included, but generally from other ancient texts. In short, there is not a lot here that I haven't already seen with the exception of the druids being distinct from the bards and the vates. Freeman does a good job of presenting the material and integrating with other semi-original sources. I recommend this book mildly because much of it is spent dispelling the notion that human sacrifice was a major part of Celtic life. It seems that such an assertion can be made rather quickly in a couple of pages and then let go. Well, because, there should be much more to discuss. Sadly, there isn't much more because the source material is so thin.
The author does a lot with a little. The actual philosopher who did the travelling wrote a book about it, but the book has since been lost. The author of this book uses references to the Greek Philosopher's book from other ancient texts to try to reconstruct what can be reconstructed. Those references amount to about a page of text, and the author of this books builds that into almost 200 pages. Of course, lots of other material is included, but generally from other ancient texts. In short, there is not a lot here that I haven't already seen with the exception of the druids being distinct from the bards and the vates. Freeman does a good job of presenting the material and integrating with other semi-original sources. I recommend this book mildly because much of it is spent dispelling the notion that human sacrifice was a major part of Celtic life. It seems that such an assertion can be made rather quickly in a couple of pages and then let go. Well, because, there should be much more to discuss. Sadly, there isn't much more because the source material is so thin.
