Editing Wicker man (section)

==Ancient accounts==
[[File:Myths and legends; the Celtic race (1910) (14781091124).jpg|thumb|Illustration of human sacrifices in Gaul from ''Myths and legends; the Celtic race'' (1910) by [[T. W. Rolleston]]]]

While other [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] writers of the time described human and animal sacrifice among the [[Celts]], only the Roman general Julius Caesar and the Greek geographer [[Strabo]] mention the wicker man as one of many ways the [[druids]] of [[Gaul]] performed sacrifices. In the mid-1st century BC, Caesar wrote in his ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico|Commentary on the Gallic War]]'' that a large wickerwork figure with limbs was filled with living men and set on fire.<ref name="Davidson"/> He says criminals were the preferred victims, but innocent people might also be burned if there were no criminals.<ref>''De Bello Gallico'' [http://thelatinlibrary.com/caesar/gall6.shtml#16 6.16]</ref> Writing slightly later, Strabo says in his ''[[Geographica]]'' that men and animals were burned in a large figure of wood and straw, although he does not make clear whether the victims were burned alive. He adds that the ashes were believed to help the crops grow.<ref name="Davidson"/> 

Also in the 1st century BC, Greek historian [[Diodorus Siculus]] wrote in ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'' that the Celts sacrificed human and animal captives by burning them on huge [[pyre]]s along with the [[First Fruits|first fruits]].<ref name="Voigt">{{cite encyclopedia |title=The violent ways of Galatian Gordion |encyclopedia=The Archaeology of Violence: Interdisciplinary Approaches |year=2013 |last=Voigt |first=Mary |editor=Sarah Ralph |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |pages=220–221}}</ref> It has been suggested that both Diodorus<ref name="Voigt"/> and Strabo<ref name="Davidson"/> got their information from the earlier Greek historian [[Posidonius]], whose work has not survived.<ref name="Voigt"/>

In the 1st century AD, Roman writer [[Lucan]] mentioned human sacrifices to the Gaulish gods [[Esus]], [[Teutates]] and [[Taranis]]. In a [[Scholia|commentary]] on Lucan—the ''[[Commenta Bernensia]]'' dating from the 4th century and later—an unnamed author added that sacrifices to Taranis were [[Death by burning|burned]] in a wooden container.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maier |first=Bernhard |author-link=Bernhard Maier |title=Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture |date=1997 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |page=36}}</ref><ref>Mircea Eliade, ''A History of Religious Ideas'', Vol. 2. University of Chicago Press (1982). § 171.</ref>

There is some archaeological evidence of human sacrifice among [[Celts|Celtic peoples]], although rare.<ref name="koch687-690"/> There is also evidence of Celtic animal sacrifice, sometimes by burning.<ref name="Green94-96">{{Cite book |last=Green |first=Miranda |author-link=Miranda Aldhouse-Green |title=Animals in Celtic Life and Myth |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |pages=94–96}}</ref> Some modern historians and archaeologists stress that the ancient Greco-Roman accounts should be viewed with caution, as Greeks and Romans "had good reason to dislike a long-term enemy" and it may have benefited them to "transmit any bizarre and negative information" about the Celts. Their desire to depict Celtic peoples as "[[barbarians]]" may have "led to exaggeration or even fabrications".<ref name="Voigt"/>