Re: Gauls Writing Greek

> <<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.

No, you have it wrong. Caesar explicitly says that the Druids had a
ban on committting _any_ religious teachings to writing, and that
for secular purposes they used the Greek alphabet. This is amply
attested in Sourthern Gaul, where we find many early Gaulish
inscriptions in the Greek alphabet (see "Recueil des inscriptions
gauloises, Tome I: textes gallo-grecs", Michel Lejeune, ed.)


- Chris Gwinn