Celtic Myth - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0785823492 ISBN 13: 9780785823490

Synopsis

A treasury of Celtic legends, art, and history.

This gorgeously illustrated treasury vividly retells the myths and legends of the Celtic peoples--tales of kings, queens, heroes, gods and magical animals
that have entertained and enchanted for hundreds of years.

Fact boxes and feature spreads bridge the gap between myth and reality, building up a picture of the Celtic way of life, beliefs, history, and art. We reveal the truths and teaching that lie behind many of the myths, addressing the question of the role that story-telling played in Celtic society.

Celtic art and artefacts are displayed alongside maps and stunning photography of the landscapes immortalized in the tales, making this is a book to treasure.

Over 70 photos, maps, and illustrations.

About this title

From the Publisher

The Celts were never a unified nation but rather a variety of different peoples sharing a similar culture, religion, and language. Known to the Greeks as keltoi, the Celts migrated from their heartland in central Europe during the course of the first millennium B.C. to various regions of Europe, including France, Switzerland, Germany, and, later, Britain and Ireland.

Although they were never fully literate or built grand stone monuments, the Celts enjoyed a sophisticated lifestyle. Their craftsmanship--seen especially in their goldwork--was second to none, and they were renowned for their martial prowess, as well as for the complexity of their religious beliefs, their poets and priests (known as the druids), and for their appetite for feasting. Perhaps their greatest legacy, however, is their myths and legends--tales of kings, queens, heroes, gods, and magical animals that have enchanted readers for hundreds of years.

Celtic mythology has been preserved mainly in the stories of the Irish, and to a lesser extent the Welsh, which were passed down orally for centuries until the Christian era, when monastic scribes wrote them down. The World of Celtic Myths vividly retells and illustrates the best of these stories, relating adventures of myth and legend to the latest scholarship of history and archaeology. Readers are not only entertained by the derring-do of heroic characters but informed about the mores and material brilliance of Celtic culture and society.

The book is divided into four sections. Three of these include tales from the three best-known groups of Irish stories (known to scholars as the Mythological, Ulster, and Fenian cycles), while the last section features the Welsh collection of myths known as the Mabinogion.

Edition details

• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0785823492
• ISBN 13: 9780785823490
• Binding: Paperback