Mythical Gallic History

This handsome French engraving represents a funerary urn “excavated” in Dijon, complete with ancient Greek inscriptions bearing the name of the mythical Druid priest, Chyndonax, and an accompanying prayer: “Within this tomb in the sacred bower of the god Mithras rests the body of the High Priest Chyndonax. May the gods guard these ashes from all harm.”

At the time, discovering the solemn burial urn and remains of such a distinguished ancient Druid in this province of France would have suggested that Dijon had once been a major center of culture and ancient Greek learning, and not simply the home of illiterate, nomadic, and barbaric ancient Gallic tribes described by imperial Roman historians.