What do Roman writers report about human sacrifice in Gaul and Britain?

Roman writers, including Julius Caesar, Cicero, Suetonius, and Lucan, reported that human sacrifice was practiced in Gaul. Caesar specifically claimed that druids conducted rituals involving the burning of human victims—typically criminals—inside large wicker figures. Regarding Britain, Pliny the Elder asserted that human sacrifice occurred there as well.21

It is important to note that modern historians often view these classical accounts with skepticism. Many Roman authors never encountered the druids firsthand and may have been motivated by a desire to justify Roman colonial expansion by portraying these societies as barbaric and in need of Roman order. Furthermore, some scholars suggest that writers like Caesar may have projected Roman religious or judicial duties onto the druids to make Gaulish society appear more familiar or easier to integrate into the empire. These practices were eventually forbidden under the Roman emperors Tiberius and Claudius.12