Druids: A Study in Keltic Prehistory

by T.D. Kendrick

This volume explores all facets of Druidic life and religious practice: their beginnings in the first centuries B.C. in Gaul and Britain, their priests and religious rites, their temples and probable origins. Useful illustrations and an appendix of original Greek and Latin texts relating to the Druids are included.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

1000 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1966

About the author

Sir Thomas Downing Kendrick KCB, British archaeologist and art historian.

Reviews

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.7/5: The reason I am giving it a 3.7 is because it is the first academic book I read from start to finish. I was also not use to the author using the word "I" in academic books I read in college/Uni. If you are interesting in history this I would say it is a interesting read but if you don't want the imagen of the druids dashed then this may not be the book for you.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a present day Druid and I shall never stop reading it.

This is a formal history of Druids from emergence to presumed demise. While later historians might not make the same interpretation, the fundamental information remains. Written by the Curator of Antiquities of the British Museum it is a very confident work.

Besides being a useful historical reference, it informs those of us who identify as Druids. There is current debate as to whether Druids ever existed and clearly Kendrick believes that they did. The references are timeless. Interpretations will always evolve.

The work quotes every word of the Classical Greek and Roman Druid commentary very accessibly and all in one place. I found it refreshing in that in doing so it debunks some quite deeply entrenched but erroneous Druid orthodoxy. (An appendix also presents that record in original Greek and Latin)

It’s usefulness as a reference for those of us who identify as Druid is that, written in 1927, it pre-dates Gerald Gardener who wasn’t a Druid but whose doctrine has affected so much of today’s Druidic thinking and practice.

Read in conjunction with the first chapter of Ronald Hutton’s “Blood and Mistletoe” it presents a picture of the way thinking about this period of history (120 BCE - 360CE) has evolved.

Thoroughly recommended to today’s Druids who wish to look the evidence in the face.

[Patricia Woodruff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really worth reading. The author really adds no new knowledge and there have been so many new archaeological discoveries since this was written in 1927. The author also makes the oft repeated blunder of thinking earlier peoples were “primitive” in their understanding. The author writes, “I am equally impressed by the superb ease in finding celestial orientations, and the immense difficulty in crediting primitive man with having created them intentionally.” Since the author is unable to get past their preconception they conclude since modern man didn’t know this stuff, ancient man could not have either!

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book for something written nearly 100 years ago. Obviously some of it is a bit out of date now but a lot of it is still current as it's mainly about what we know of the ancient Druids. An informative book for those wishing to know about European history from say 300 bc to 300 ad.