Editing Reincarnation (section)

===Celtic paganism===
In the first century BCE [[Alexander Cornelius Polyhistor]] wrote:

{{blockquote|The Pythagorean doctrine prevails among the [[Gauls]]' teaching that the souls of men are immortal, and that after a fixed number of years they will enter into another body.}}

[[Julius Caesar]] recorded that the [[druids]] of Gaul, Britain and Ireland had metempsychosis as one of their core doctrines:<ref>Julius Caesar, "De Bello Gallico", VI</ref>

{{blockquote|The principal point of their doctrine is that the soul does not die and that after death it passes from one body into another... the main object of all education is, in their opinion, to imbue their scholars with a firm belief in the indestructibility of the human soul, which, according to their belief, merely passes at death from one tenement to another; for by such doctrine alone, they say, which robs death of all its terrors, can the highest form of human courage be developed.}}

[[Diodorus]] also recorded the Gaul belief that human souls were immortal, and that after a prescribed number of years they would commence upon a new life in another body. He added that Gauls had the custom of casting letters to their deceased upon the funeral pyres, through which the dead would be able to read them.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[T. Rice Holmes]]|title=Caesar's Conquest of Gaul: An Historical Narrative|date=1903|publisher=|isbn=|page=}}</ref> [[Valerius Maximus]] also recounted they had the custom of lending sums of money to each other which would be repayable in the next world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kendrick |first=T.D. |date=2003 |orig-date=1927 |title=Druids and Druidism |publisher=Dover |isbn=0-486-42719-6 |page=106}}</ref> This was mentioned by [[Pomponius Mela]], who also recorded Gauls buried or burnt with them things they would need in a next life, to the point some would jump into the funeral piles of their relatives in order to cohabit in the new life with them.{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=108}}

[[Hippolytus of Rome]] believed the Gauls had been taught the doctrine of reincarnation by a slave of [[Pythagoras]] named [[Zalmoxis]]. Conversely, [[Clement of Alexandria]] believed Pythagoras himself had learned it from the Celts and not the opposite, claiming he had been taught by [[Galatians (people)|Galatian]] Gauls, [[Hinduism|Hindu]] priests and [[Zoroastrians]].{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=105}}<ref name=Lopez>{{cite book|author=Robin Melrose|title=The Druids and King Arthur: A New View of Early Britain|date=2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-07-864600-5-2}}</ref> However, author [[T. D. Kendrick]] rejected a real connection between Pythagoras and the Celtic idea reincarnation, noting their beliefs to have substantial differences, and any contact to be historically unlikely.{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=108}} Nonetheless, he proposed the possibility of an ancient common source, also related to the [[Orphic religion]] and [[Thracian]] systems of belief.{{Sfn|Kendrick|2003|p=109}}