Q: Which was the state of Celtic Paganism during the Roman period?

I'm a bit confused about this topic.
Was Celtic Paganism classified as religio licita or illicita?
I got conflicting informations: some Celtic traditions survived and were accepted* (Epona.) and others not really (Druids**?).
What I want to understand is whether Celtic Paganism was completely tolerated or not and which traditions and practices in particular were considered to be illegal.
I'd also like to understand how this changed over time.

* AFAIK some temples and sanctuaries were still used after Caesar's conquest.
** I'm not sure about this information about the Druids: it is basically something I only heard a couple of times.
 
A lot of it was syncretized, with various Celyic goddesses being associated with one of the Dei Consentes, e.g. Sulis Minerva in Britannia. From what I understand, the Druids--whose networks crossed provincial and imperial borders and thus could become a source of resistance--were oppressed for political as much as religious reasons (though rumors of human sacrifice and cannibalism also certainly played a role). Overall, it was mainly tolerated, but in everywhere except to some extent Britain the cultural pull of Rome resulted in the deities becoming ever less distinct aspects of their Roman counterparts.
 
While I'm not the most learned, I imagine that the Romans did what they did elsewhere, which is syncretize local gods with their own. So you'd have a Gallic war god get barrel-named with Mars, or Venus or Jupiter or so on. That seemed to be very much the way of the land among Romans, Greeks and Egyptians, who would see a local divine archetype and go "Basically XX) and rebrand it as such. Sometimes it was altered for purely political considerations (such as with Baal in Carthage not equating to Jupiter) and other times alterations occurred as religion developed.
 
While I'm not the most learned, I imagine that the Romans did what they did elsewhere, which is syncretize local gods with their own. So you'd have a Gallic war god get barrel-named with Mars, or Venus or Jupiter or so on. That seemed to be very much the way of the land among Romans, Greeks and Egyptians, who would see a local divine archetype and go "Basically XX) and rebrand it as such. Sometimes it was altered for purely political considerations (such as with Baal in Carthage not equating to Jupiter) and other times alterations occurred as religion developed.

I wouldnt call it syncretism so much as henotheism, though there were a few exceptions (e.g. Cybele). There were also a few seeming incongruities that seem to just have happened without political motive, such as the God of Israel becoming associated with Dionysus as Dionysus Iao (Iao being according to Josephus a form of the Tetragrammaton)
 
As far as i understand it, the celtic gods/beliefs were never considered illegal or threatening, only the religious specialists (aka, the druids).

As Arcavius said though, they were targeted because they as an institution/class/caste were a political threat to roman rule rather than a because they were heathens. In the mindset of most of the ancient world all gods were real, whether because they were just different forms/expressions of your own god(s), or because they were a god particular to some land or people varied. And for the romans in particular, they wanted all the gods within their borders to be on their side so it was better to integrate than to eradicate.

The accusations of cannibalism are certainly fictitious, and human sacrifice if it ever happened was very rare. These were just propagandistic tools to dehumanize people like the gauls and britons.
 
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