The ban imposed by Augustus on Roman citizens to attend Druidic rites broke for the first time after almost half a century with the 'silence / assent', with which Caesar, the subsequent Roman governors and the prince himself had tolerated the Celtic religion until approximately 13/12 BC. The measures concerning Druidism and, more generally, the religious situation of Roman Gaul were some of the first measures adopted by Augustus as soon as he became pontifex maximus: a truly significant indication of the urgency, which he attributed to the need to intervene with radical measures in the complex panorama of Celtic rites and cults.
Zecchini, G., Augustus and the Celtic Religion, in Sabino Perea Yebene, S. P. Y. (ed.), Augustus and the Romana religio, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle Upon Tyne 2026: 23- 31 [https://hdl.handle.net/10807/336337]
Augustus and the Celtic Religion
Zecchini, Giuseppe
2026
Abstract
The ban imposed by Augustus on Roman citizens to attend Druidic rites broke for the first time after almost half a century with the 'silence / assent', with which Caesar, the subsequent Roman governors and the prince himself had tolerated the Celtic religion until approximately 13/12 BC. The measures concerning Druidism and, more generally, the religious situation of Roman Gaul were some of the first measures adopted by Augustus as soon as he became pontifex maximus: a truly significant indication of the urgency, which he attributed to the need to intervene with radical measures in the complex panorama of Celtic rites and cults.
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