As a Stoic philosopherPoseidonius chose to present the Celts as ‘noble savages’ — hehas been called a soft primitivist.

It was Poseidonius’ ethnography of the Celtsthat provided the information for Strabo, Diodorus Siculus,Athenaeus, and possibly also Caesar.

Poseidonius (¢.135-c¢.50 Bc)

Poseidonius is probably the source for the account published byDiodorus Siculus of Celtic wine-drinking.

Strabo was probably using the lost ethnographic works ofPoseidonius as a source for this and much of his other informationon Celtic behaviour, and, since Poseidonius is thought to havetravelled in the West, probably in Gaul, in the late second centuryBC, he too may have made first-hand observations rather than justrepeating earlier sources.