Wicker man
A wicker figure used for human sacrifice in Gaulish tradition.
The classical sources call it an "image" or "colossus," but its actual shape and purpose remain uncertain from those accounts.[1] The phrase "wicker man" is a contemporary English label, not one found in ancient writings, where Caesar used simulacra and Strabo used kolossos for large images.[1]
Quick Facts
- First visual depiction
- Aylett Sammes, Britannia Antiqua Illustrata (1676)
- Key modern reinterpretations
- James Frazer
- The Golden Bough (1913); Robin Hardy
- The Wicker Man (1973)
- First described by
- Julius Caesar (50s BC) and Strabo (early 1st c. AD)
- Probable source
- Lost ethnography of Posidonius (ca. 135–51 BC)
- Classical terms used
- simulacra (Caesar) and kolossos (Strabo)
- Modern term coined by
- Aylett Sammes (1676)
- Modern image shaped by
- Aylett Sammes
- James George Frazer
- Robin Hardy's 1973 film
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
Caesar describes the practice in his Gallic War, stating that Druids conducted the sacrifice and that criminals were preferred victims.[2] Strabo, who relied on the lost work of Posidonius, wrote about the rite using the past tense, which implies it had already stopped by the time he was writing.[3] Because the wording of Caesar and Strabo is nearly identical, most scholars believe Caesar did not witness the rite himself but instead took his account from the same lost ethnographic work of Posidonius that Strabo used.[1][4] Modern commentators point out that these ancient accounts served the rhetorical purposes of their authors; for example, Strabo's Stoic philosophy led him to express contempt for what he saw as barbarian superstition.[5]
What the cited sources add
Aylett Sammes called the structure a "Wicker Image" in his 1676 book Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, and his engraving fixed its lasting image as a huge male wicker figure filled with human bodies.[6] Richard Sermon notes that since the film's release, there has been a proliferation of wicker-man burnings in Britain and North America, despite a lack of evidence for such a rite in ancient Britain.[7]
References
- Wikipedia, "Wicker man" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brunaux 2000, p. 169–170; Hofeneder 2005, p. 202 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Wicker man" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Aldhouse-Green 2010, p. 67; Julius Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 6:16.; Hofeneder 2005, p. 202; Aldhouse-Green 2010, p. 67; Julius Caesar. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, 6:16.; Hofeneder 2005, p. 202 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Wicker man" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Aldhouse-Green 2010, p. 67; Strabo. Geography, 4:4:5.; Hofeneder 2005, p. 202; Aldhouse-Green 2010, p. 67; Aldhouse-Green 2010, p. 67; Brunaux 2000, p. 169–170; Hofeneder 2005, p. 202 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Wicker man" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brunaux 2000, p. 169–170; ; .; Hofeneder 2005, p. 202; Maier 2001, p. 111 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Wicker man" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Aldhouse-Green 2010, p. 67; Brunaux 2000, p. 169–170; Maier 2001, p. 111 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Wicker man" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sermon 2006; Hutton 2023, p. 28 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Wicker man" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sermon 2006 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Wicker man (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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