Note (return) — Chapter XIX

The earliest temples of the Gauls were sacred groves, one of which, near Massilia, is described by Lucan. No bird built in it, no animal lurked near, the leaves constantly shivered when no breeze stirred them. Altars stood in its midst, and the images of the gods were misshapen trunks of trees. Every tree was stained with sacrificial blood. The poet then describes marvels heard or seen in the grove—the earth groaning, dead yews reviving, trees surrounded with flame yet not consumed, and huge serpents twining round the oaks. The people feared to approach the grove, and even the priest would not walk there at midday or midnight lest he should then meet its divine guardian.953 Dio speaks of human sacrifices offered to Andrasta in a British grove, and in 61 A.D. the woods of Mona, devoted to strange rites, were cut down by Roman soldiers.954 The sacred Dru-nemeton of the Galatian Celts may have been a grove.955 Place-names also point to the widespread existence of such groves, since the word nemeton, "grove," occurs in many of them, showing that the places so called had been sites of a cult. In Ireland, fid-nemed stood for "sacred grove."956 The ancient groves were still the objects of veneration in Christian times, though fines were levied against those who still clung to the old ways.957