Among the ancient pages about the druids, none is as dramatic as Tacitus' account of the island of Mona, today's Anglesey, in north Wales. In a few lines the Roman historian stages a clash between two worlds: disciplined legions and a religious community that meets the soldiers not with swords but with curses.
The context: Britain under Nero
After the invasion ordered by Claudius in AD 43, the conquest of Britain advanced in stages. Around AD 60 the governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus decided to attack Mona. Tacitus, in the Annals (XIV, 29-30), explains why: the island was populous and gave shelter to fugitives. In the Agricola (14 and 18) Tacitus also recalls the episode and the later campaign of his father-in-law Agricola against the same island.
To cross the strait separating Anglesey from the mainland, the infantry used flat-bottomed boats, while the cavalry crossed by fording or swimming beside their horses.
The scene on the shore
Tacitus' passage deserves a careful summary, because it is the source of almost every modern image of the druids:
- On the beach stood an army dense with weapons and men.
- Among them ran women in black robes, hair dishevelled, like the Furies, brandishing torches.
- All around, the druids raised their hands to the sky and poured out dreadful curses.
- The soldiers, struck by the strangeness of the sight, stood for a moment motionless, as if paralysed, exposed to blows.
- Then, urged on by their commander and spurring one another not to fear a band of women and fanatics, they advanced and overwhelmed the defenders, throwing them into their own flames.
The sacred groves
After the victory, the Romans imposed a garrison and cut down the consecrated groves, which Tacitus calls devoted to "savage superstitions". He adds that the Britons held it lawful to drench their altars with the blood of captives and to consult the gods through human entrails. Here too the caution needed for Caesar applies: Tacitus writes as a Roman, for a Roman audience, and describing enemy barbarity is part of the historiographical genre.
The sudden interruption
The operation was not completed at leisure. Just as Suetonius Paulinus was busy on Mona, news reached him of the revolt of Boudica, queen of the Iceni, in the east of the island. The governor had to abandon the enterprise and march south. Historians have often commented on this detail: some suggest that attacking a religious centre also had a political value, striking at a network of authority that linked different peoples. It is a plausible interpretation, but not proven by the sources.
What archaeology says
Anglesey has not yielded a "druidic sanctuary" with inscriptions, but it has produced one of the most important finds of the British Iron Age. In 1942, during work on an airbase, a large deposit of metal objects emerged from the peat of the lake of Llyn Cerrig Bach:
- weapons, including swords and spearheads;
- chariot parts and horse harness;
- slave chains, with neck-rings for several people;
- cauldrons and decorated plaques.
The objects had been placed in the water over a long period, before the Roman conquest, and some came from other regions of Britain and from Ireland. This suggests the site was an offering place visited by different communities. It does not prove the existence of a druidic college on the island, but it fits the idea of Mona as an important religious centre.
| Source | What it says | What it does not say |
|---|---|---|
| Tacitus, Annals XIV | attack, druids, women, groves cut down | doctrines, specific rites |
| Tacitus, Agricola | second campaign on the island | religious details |
| Llyn Cerrig Bach | votive offerings in water over a long time | names of priests or deities |
A symbol born from a page
Tacitus' description has inspired paintings, poems and novels. In the nineteenth century the scene of the torch-bearing women and the druids with raised arms became an icon of Celtic resistance. The student of tradition must be able to distinguish the levels: the historical fact (a military campaign), the literary account (with its rhetoric) and the modern myth (with its projections). Each has value, but they should not be confused.
Symbolically, Tacitus' page shows an ancient idea: ritual speech as a weapon. The druids do not fight; they curse. The gesture of hands stretched to the sky is the gesture of prayer and invocation found in many cultures. Whether or not it worked, the Romans felt its weight, at least for an instant.
In short
- Tacitus recounts Suetonius Paulinus' attack on Mona around AD 60.
- Cursing druids and torch-bearing women briefly paralyse the soldiers.
- The sacred groves are cut down, but Boudica's revolt interrupts the campaign.
- The Llyn Cerrig Bach deposit attests offerings in water before the conquest.
- Historical fact, Roman rhetoric and modern myth must be kept distinct.
