>>14938538i wouldnt consider a mythological progenitor to be a solid source, but i do see where youre coming from
>allobrogesinteresting, that's southern france (narbonensis) so phoenician/semitic connections there are very possible, that area had been a phoenician trading port for centuries
i'll clarify my position on the druids
from my understanding the druids had multiple roles that ranged from judges to fortunetellers to scientists
they were a religious caste for all intents and purposes and lives slightly seperately from the rest of the celts, attending colleges to learn legends/astronomy/law orally for up to 23 years to memorize their ancient body of knowledge
the main difference i see between druids and semitic priests is that semitic priests also handled money whereas the druids were essentially fed/housed for free and were known to wander about
to me this paints the druids in a societal role thats a bit more flexible, akin to hindu holy men whereas the semitic priest is a tax collector as judge first and giver of wisdom second
i understand there was a distinction of two hebrew priestly castes a long time ago and the moneycollecting ones killed off the lorekeeper ones and usurped their role
that said if you go back far enough, the argument that they stem from the same source become more and more likely, with regionalism shaping how each religion treated the role of priest
if anything, i think the scythian mystics are probably the missing link between traditions in the levant and ancient europe, if only because geographically they were the go-between
