Editing Gaul (section)

==Culture==
=== <span class="anchor" id="Gallia Comata"></span> Social structure, indigenous nation and clans ===
{{Main article|Gauls}}
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2011}}
[[File:Gaul, 1st century BC.gif|thumb|upright=1.25|A map of Gaul in the 1st century BC, showing the relative positions of the [[Celts|Celtic]] ethnicities: '''Celtae''', '''Belgae''' and '''Aquitani'''.]]
[[File:Celts in III century BC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Expansion of the Celtic culture in the 3rd century BC.]]

The fundamental unit of Gallic politics was the clan, which consisted of one or more of what Caesar called ''pagi''. Each clan had a council of elders and initially a king. Later, the executive was an annually-elected magistrate. Among the Aedui, a clan of Gaul, the executive held the title of ''Vergobret'', a position much like a king, but his powers were held in check by rules laid down by the council.

The regional ethnic groups, or ''pagi'' as the Romans called them (singular: ''pagus''; the French word ''pays'', "region" [a more accurate translation is 'country'], comes from this term), were organized into larger multi-clan groups, which the Romans called ''[[civitates]]''. These administrative groupings would be taken over by the Romans in their system of local control, and these ''civitates'' would also be the basis of France's eventual division into [[List of Ancien Régime dioceses of France|ecclesiastical bishoprics and dioceses]], which would remain in place—with slight changes—until the [[French Revolution]].

Although the clans were moderately stable political entities, Gaul as a whole tended to be politically divided, there being virtually no unity among the various clans. Only during particularly trying times, such as the invasion of Caesar, could the Gauls unite under a single leader like Vercingetorix. Even then, however, the faction lines were clear.

The Romans divided Gaul broadly into ''Provincia'' (the conquered area around the Mediterranean), and the northern '''Gallia Comata''' ("free Gaul" or "long-haired Gaul"). Caesar divided the people of Gallia Comata into three broad groups: the ''Aquitani''; ''Galli'' (who in their own language were called ''Celtae''); and ''Belgae''. In the modern sense, [[Gauls|Gaulish peoples]] are defined linguistically, as speakers of dialects of the Gaulish language. While the Aquitani were probably [[Vascons]], the Belgae would thus probably be a mixture of Celtic and Germanic elements.

Julius Caesar wrote in ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico|The Gallic Wars]]'':

{{blockquote|All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae inhabit, the Aquitani another, those who in their own language are called Celts, in our Gauls, the third. All these differ from each other in language, customs and laws. The river Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani; the Marne and the Seine separate them from the Belgae. Of all these, the Belgae are the bravest, because they are furthest from the civilization and refinement of [our] Province, and merchants least frequently resort to them, and import those things which tend to effeminate the mind; and they are the nearest to the Germans, who dwell beyond the Rhine, with whom they are continually waging war; for which reason the Helvetii also surpass the rest of the Gauls in valor, as they contend with the Germans in almost daily battles, when they either repel them from their own territories, or themselves wage war on their frontiers. One part of these, which it has been said that the Gauls occupy, takes its beginning at the river Rhone; it is bounded by the river Garonne, the ocean, and the territories of the Belgae; it borders, too, on the side of the Sequani and the Helvetii, upon the river Rhine, and stretches toward the north. The Belgae rises from the extreme frontier of Gaul, extend to the lower part of the river Rhine; and look toward the north and the rising sun. Aquitania extends from the river Garonne to the Pyrenaean mountains and to that part of the ocean which is near Spain: it looks between the setting of the sun, and the north star.<ref>{{cite book |last=Caesar |first=Julius |date=1869 |title=The Gallic Wars |url=http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.1.1.html |translator1-last=McDevitte |translator1-first=W. A. |translator2-last=Bohn |translator2-first=W. S. |location=New York |publisher=Harper |page=9 |isbn=978-1604597622 |access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref>}}

===Religion===
{{Main article|Celtic polytheism}}

The Gauls practiced a form of [[animism]], ascribing human characteristics to lakes, streams, mountains, and other natural features and granting them a quasi-divine status. Also, worship of animals was not uncommon; the animal most sacred to the Gauls was the [[boar]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=MacCulloch|first1=John Arnott|title=The Religion of the Ancient Celts|date=1911|publisher=Clark|location=Edinburgh|isbn=978-1508518518|page=22|chapter-url=http://sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/rac/rac06.htm |chapter=Chapter III. The Gods of Gaul and the Continental Celts |via=Internet Sacred Text Archive |access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref> which can be found on many Gallic military standards, much like the [[Aquila (Roman)|Roman eagle]]. Their system of gods and goddesses was loose, there being certain deities which virtually every Gallic person worshipped, as well as clan and household gods.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Warner|first1=Marina|last2=Burn|first2=Lucilla|title=World of Myths, Vol. 1|date=2003|publisher=British Museum|location=London|isbn=978-0714127835|page=382|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H-iqkWDTzA4C&q=gauls+%22ancestor+god%22+dis+pater+caesar&pg=PA382|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref>

Perhaps the most intriguing facet of Gallic religion is the practice of the [[Druid|druids]]. The druids presided over human or animal sacrifices that were made in wooded groves or crude temples. They also appear to have held the responsibility for preserving the annual agricultural calendar and instigating seasonal festivals which corresponded to key points of the lunar-solar calendar. The religious practices of druids were syncretic and borrowed from earlier pagan traditions, with probably indo-European roots. Caesar mentions in ''The Gallic Wars'' that those Celts who wanted to make a close study of druidism went to Britain to do so. In a little over a century later, [[Gnaeus Julius Agricola]] mentions Roman armies attacking a large druid sanctuary in [[Anglesey]] in Wales. 

There is no certainty concerning the origin of the druids, but it is clear that they guarded the secrets of their order and held sway over the people of Gaul. Indeed, they claimed the right to determine questions of war and peace and thereby held an "international" status. In addition, the druids monitored the religion of ordinary Gauls and were in charge of educating the aristocracy. They also practiced a form of excommunication from the assembly of worshippers, which in ancient Gaul meant a separation from secular society as well. Thus the druids were an important part of Gallic society. The nearly complete and mysterious disappearance of the Celtic language from most of the territorial lands of ancient Gaul, with the exception of Brittany, can be attributed to the fact that Celtic druids refused to allow the Celtic oral literature or traditional wisdom to be committed to the written letter.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kendrick |first=Thomas D. |author-link=T. D. Kendrick |date=1966 |title=The Druids: A Study in Keltic Prehistory |location=New York |publisher=Barnes & Noble |page=78}}</ref>