View source for Talk:Druidry

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The following phrase from the article looks a bit doubtful to me: "Druidic training was very hard, and involved being placed under a heavy rock in a river for 20 years whilst learning by heart thousands of lines of poetry and song."--[[User:British_cons|British_cons]] [[User_talk:British_cons|(talk)]] 06:03, 26 March 2007 (EDT)

I removed the statement about human sacrifice in Wicker Men. The only mention of this is by Julius Caeser and there is a distinct lack of corroborating evidence. [[User:MatteeNeutra|MatteeNeutra]] 07:09, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

:I'm not sure I understand your reasoning. Julius Caesar ''is'' the evidence. [[User:Dorpfeld|Dorpfeld]] 08:02, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

::Julius Caeser said that it happened, that does not necessarily mean that it did! If such a practice did occur, then surely there would be some other reference to it by somebody else? There is no such other reference. I imagine that the idea of burning people in a Wicker Man was probably inspired by the film! [[User:MatteeNeutra|MatteeNeutra]] 08:06, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

:::Hmmm, I doubt if Caesar saw the film (not even the 1973 original). Any influence was no doubt the other way round. The point is, that Caesar tells us lots of things about all sorts of subjects, and he was one of the few Romans in a position to know. Why should we doubt one thing and not the others? [[User:Dorpfeld|Dorpfeld]] 08:10, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

::::I'm not sure what "other things" you are talking about but I imagine there are probably other sources that say the same thing as Caeser on those issues. There are '''no''' other sources that say Druids burned people alive inside Wicker Men. I meant that the insiration for the comment on the page, about the burning, was probably from the film! [[User:MatteeNeutra|MatteeNeutra]] 08:14, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

:::::Caesar is our only source for much of the detail of the Gallic wars, including the names of combatants and political events. And since he fought the war, his statements are regarded as reliable. The Druids in Gaul and Britain were an integral part of all this. [[User:Dorpfeld|Dorpfeld]] 08:17, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

::::::The book that Caeser wrote of his troubles, ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'', is indeed used as a source for much information. However, the books historical accuracy is brought into question when considering the political climate at the time. We have no way of verifying what Caeser says as fact. I would pick fault with most of the article but this sentence is clearly unfounded. [[User:MatteeNeutra|MatteeNeutra]] 09:46, 10 April 2007 (EDT)