a trip to SilveRmines

 

Silvermines operated from 1950-1980...but is this the whole truth? What about BC? What about the book of invasions, where the 4th invasion to Eire was done by some Greeks?

Druids and Ancient Greeks

 Druid Jan Tetteroo calls up ancient ancestors with his shaman drum on the Paps of Anu near Killarney, Co Kerry. ‘We can’t communicate with the other dimensions for you if you don’t believe. You have to do the work yourself as well.’ Photograph: Valerie O’Sullivan

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 the purpose of this post is to show how Druids are connected to Greeks.

According to this source

"There are a number of points that seem to connect druids with the ancient Greek civilization. Druids get their name from the Greek word for oak tree which is “driis” (in Greek  ΔΡΥΣ). Since time immemorial, the oak tree was a sacred tree for ancient Greeks. The oak tree was the sacred tree of the Greek royal families of Macedonia. Many of the Macedonian crowns or wreaths found in royal tombs in Greece depict oak branches and leafs. The oak tree was also the sacred tree of ancient Greek gods Gaia and later Zeus. Also, an oak tree believed to have prophetic powers stood by the ancient oracle of Dodoni".

In the Gaellic Wars a book written in Roman times by Julius Caesar, we can find evidence that druids used the Greek language:

” They (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. That practice they seem to me to have adopted for two reasons; because they neither desire their doctrines to be divulged among the mass of the people, nor those who learn, to devote themselves the less to the efforts of memory, relying on writing; since it generally occurs to most men, that, in their dependence on writing, they relax their diligence in learning thoroughly, and their employment of the memory.” 

Lebor Gabála Érenn (an ancient Irish collection of poems and narratives) refers to the Greek Partholon who reached Ireland after the big flood. He came from Macedonia or central Greece with his wife; his three sons and their wives and three Druids, Fios, Eólas, Fochmarc. The names of the three druids mean cognition, κnowledge and inquiry.  

As it happens with myths they carry a core of truth. 

In this case the story could signify that knowledge was brought to Ireland by Greek settlers who brought with them wise men to spread knowledge and educate locals (druids). 

 According to the Irish Times:

“A druid in the modern days is a person who has developed some knowledge,”Jan says. “Who has learned for years. Who has got knowledge about nature, spirituality, the other world, history, philosophy, the arts; and who makes that a central part of his life. All the decisions he makes in his life more or less derive from that.”

So, are modern times Druids in Ireland connected to Ancient Greek philosophy?

Probably...,

We also need to remember that according to the book of Invasions, the fourth (I think) invasion in Ireland was by Greeks around 400 BC, back then, the Greeks were at war with the Persians and they needed metals to make weapons. In southern Dublin, there was lead and according to Diodorus Siculus, Greeks knew quite a few things about Iris = Eire = Ireland.

The rest is imagination and story telling.

We need to remember that all mythology have an element of truth, like Thiseas (Theseus) and Minotaur.

Is it all fictional?

Probably not. As in today's Athens, there is a suburb called Theisio (Θησείο) named after Thiseas.

So, we can read the sources and use creatively our imagination to travel back in history!

Yannis Zabetakis