Dr. Eckhard Deschler-Erb,
                                                    Department of Pre-History and Early History,
                                                                                       Petersgraben 9 - 11,
                                                                                           CH - 4051 Basel,
                                                                                        Tel. 061/267 23 40

Basel, 06. 08. 97

This is to certify that

I have read the novel, 'Caesar's Druid', by Claude Cueni and examined it with regard to its historical accuracy.

The author has made every effort to take into account in his work the latest developments in research into the Gallic Wars, and has, in addition, been meticulous in his reading of the most recent work on the subject.

The result of this is, however, no dry 'historical tome', but an extremely exciting book which portrays very precisely the spirit of those times and the world of Celtic and Roman thought and ideas as we are able to visualise it today.

This is also clearly evident in the description of Gaius Julius Caesar.  This Roman military commander is by no means one-dimensionally represented as the dazzling golden boy, or as the churlish butcher of the Celts, but is shown in all his ambivalence as an extremely complex person somewhere between genius and madness.

In the depiction of Celtic society, too, the author has succeeded in distancing himself from any romantic distortions.  The Celts were not the esoterically head-in-the-clouds figures we like to imagine today, but a strictly hierarchically defined society which, purely because of internal disputes, was hardly in a position to think about a national identity.

To sum up, I can only repeat once more, and confirm with my sugnature, that the author has succeeded in creating a most vivid and thrilling portrait of Gaul at the time of Caesar's conquest.