Re: [tied] Gauls Writing Greek

The relevant passage is De Bello Gallico 6.14:

Magnum ibi numerum versuum ediscere dicuntur. Itaque annos nonnulli vicenos in disciplina permanent. Neque fas esse existimant ea litteris mandare, cum in reliquis fere rebus, publicis privatisque rationibus Graecis litteris utantur.

([The druids] are said there to learn by heart a great number of verses; accordingly some remain in the course of training twenty years. Nor do they regard it lawful to commit these to writing, though in almost all other matters, in their public and private transactions, they use Greek characters.)

Greek script, then, not the Greek language. And yes, there are a number of known Gaulish inscriptions in the Greek alphabet (3rd c. BC to 1st c. AD), but I will leave the details to Chris, who is better qualified to inform you.

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: x99lynx@...
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 7:11 AM
Subject: [tied] Gauls Writing Greek

Christopher Gwinn wrote:
<<Well, Caesar says they used the Greek alphabet for writing (which is amply
attested), not that the Gauls wrote in Greek.>>

Actually -- I'll check this -- but I think he did. If I remember correctly,
Caesar is talking about how the Druids reserved writing in Gaulish for
religious matters only, and used Greek for commercial and other record
keeping -- the context is about written language, not scripts.

In fact, this is one of the sources often cited for the commonly repeated saw
that the Druids forbade the use of writing. When elsewhere Caesar talks
about using the Greek alphabet to disquise a Latin message so that
Latin-reading (non-druidic?) Gauls could not intercept it, he uses a
different term, "literati" - letters, writing. This is from memory so I
promise to check when I get back.

In any case, have Greek texts or even Greek script been found in Gaul after
say 400BC? I don't think I've heard of any. Am I wrong? So what happened to
all that stuff?

Quick note from on the road.
Steve Long

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