Visiting Roman Britain - What to Bring
Britannia is a part of
the Roman Empire and as such has a great selection of traders and stores able
to sell you most of your comforts from home, and more importantly many of the
comforts you have never even heard of before.
There are limits. During
the early period of occupation, the Roman authorities took a harsh view of the
druids, considering them (rightly) from their experiences in conquering Gaul as
closely associated with the national identity of their new subject peoples. The
extent to which the old-time druids practised human sacrifice remains
contentious. There are suggestions that Roman historians such as Julius Caesar
egged up reports to make their enemies look bad, just as their ancestors made
great play of claims that the Carthaginians spent every other weekend immolating
babies to their gods. So while reports have been made of giant wicker figures, packed
to the brim with sundry sacrificial livestock and even humans, there is a flip
side. Nothing has been reported to us of conversations Cicero and his friends
also had with a rather civilised druid who popped up in the city of Rome by the
name of Diviacus. The long and the short of it all is that the druids were
quickly cooped up in an island called Mona, which after a vicious battle
involving all manner of supernatural weirdness the legions then stormed.
In turn, this means the
traditional apothecaries of society were hacked to bits. Even in Gaul, where
their suppression has been less forceful, they are a thing of the past since
Augustus banned Roman citizens from attending their ceremonies, and Claudius
outlawed them completely.
So you might therefore
want to consult your own priests before coming, and bring your own stock of
traditional herbal remedies. Graeco-Roman medicine is very good, but its
greatest physicians weren’t looking for special roots amongst the weeds in
these climes and would have no idea what mistletoe is for.
from THE DISCERNING BARBARIAN'S GUIDE TO ROMAN BRITAIN by Lee Rotherham
Get your copy HERE
No comments:
Post a Comment