🔥 50 BC | Rome’s “Wicker Man” claim | Gaul What you’re seeing: A torchlit ritual scene in Iron Age Gaul (modern France/Belgium region). A towering wicker effigy is set alight as onlookers watch. This is based on Roman-era descriptions, not a confirmed event we can pin to a specific place and day. Where is this? A generic woodland clearing in Gaul, 1st century BC. The surviving texts do not name a tribe, site, or single documented ceremony. What was the “wicker man”? In Gallic War (Book 6), Julius Caesar claims some communities built huge human-shaped frames woven from branches, filled them with living people, and burned them as offerings. How do we know? Mainly Caesar (Book 6). Strabo later mentions a large straw/wood “colossus” burned with animals and humans inside. Other ancient writers discuss sacrifice, but not this structure clearly. Was this Roman propaganda? Possibly. These accounts were written by outsiders for Mediterranean audiences, and Caesar had political incentives,...