The Druids

In Our Time: History

09/20/12

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42m

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Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Druids, the priests of ancient Europe. Active in Ireland, Britain and Gaul, the Druids were first written about by Roman authors including Julius Caesar and Pliny, who described them as wearing white robes and cutting mistletoe with golden sickles. They were suspected of leading resistance to the Romans, a fact which eventually led to their eradication from ancient Britain. In the early modern era, however, interest in the Druids revived, and later writers reinvented and romanticised their activities. Little is known for certain about their rituals and beliefs, but modern archaeological discoveries have shed new light on them.

With:

Barry Cunliffe Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Oxford

Miranda Aldhouse-Green Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University

Justin Champion Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Previous Episode

Hadrian's Wall

July 12, 2012

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42m

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hadrian's Wall, the largest Roman structure and one of the most important archaeological monuments in Britain. Stretching for eighty miles from the mouth of the River Tyne to the Solway Firth and classified today as a World Heritage Site, it has been a source of fascination ever since it came into existence. It was built in about 122 AD by the Emperor Hadrian, and a substantial part of it still survives today. Although its construction must have entailed huge cost and labour, the Romans abandoned it within twenty years, deciding to build the Antonine Wall further north instead. Even after more than a century of excavations, many mysteries still surround Hadrian's Wall, including its exact purpose. Did it have a meaningful defensive role or was it mainly a powerful emperor's vanity project?

With:

Greg Woolf Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews

David Breeze Former Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Scotland and Visiting Professor of Archaeology at the University of Durham

Lindsay Allason-Jones Former Reader in Roman Material Culture at the University of Newcastle

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Next Episode

Gerald of Wales

October 4, 2012

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42m

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval scholar Gerald of Wales. Born around the middle of the twelfth century, Gerald was a cleric and courtier. For much of his life he was close to Henry II and the Church hierarchy, and wrote accounts of official journeys he made around Wales and Ireland in their service. Both Anglo-Norman and Welsh by parentage, he had a unique perspective on the political strife of his age. Gerald's Journey Around Wales and Description of Ireland are among the most colourful and informative chronicles of the Middle Ages, and had a powerful influence on later historians.

With:

Henrietta Leyser Emeritus Fellow of St Peter's College, University of Oxford

Michelle Brown Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London

Huw Pryce Professor of Welsh History at Bangor University

Producer: Thomas Morris.