In the first century AD when the Roman empire desired the expulsion of the practices of the Druid religion from Celtic society in order to minimize the treat of revolt. Agustus denied them citizenship and forbade them to practice Druidical rites, while Tiberius and Claudius banned Druids and Druidesses atempting to destroy their influence (Ells, The Druids, p.17).
However, it is clear not only from text and myth that the Druids did not disappear. Diadems and crowns wornin Druidical ceremonies ahev been found in England that date to the second, third, or possibly the late fourth century AD. All were previously heavily bejeweled and decorated in precious metals indicating thier imortance. Green speculates that the faint figures previouly scraped off were Celtic gods and goddesses (Green, p.116) promtoing the idea that they were symbols of Celtic religion when Roman rule became unaviodbale and the torcs became less common.
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