The Celts

The Ancient Celts This illustrated history of the Celts provides both narrative history and an examination of the uses and abuses of the concept of Celtic culture and ethnicity. It begins with a discussion of the Celts as seen through the eyes of classical writers, contrasting these accounts with current views drawn from the archaeological discovery of Celtic reality. Descriptions of the first iron age chiefdoms lead to an account of the 5th-3rd century migrations and the subsequent flowering of the developed Celtic world, stretching from south-eastern Britain to Bosnia, from Provence to the Czech Republic. Was this an independent and indiginous culture or instead a response to emerging patterns of trade with the Roman world? How cohesive and stable a culture developed? The Celtic art and religious systems of the period receive particular attention. A final chapter looks at the survival/revival of Celtic language, law and oral tradition from the time of the Roman Conquest of Britain and Gaul. The Celts.

The Historical Atlas of the Celtic World In a series of 54 stunning full-colour maps covering 3,000 years and spanning the whole of Europe, this book comprehensively charts the dramatic history of the Celts from their origins in the Bronze Age to their present-day diaspora. Taking into account the latest research and academic controversies over the historical identity of the Celts, the atlas deals separately with the Continental Celts (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Anatolia), the Atlantic Celts (Britain and Ireland) and the Modern Celts and the current state of Celtic culture. The Celts.

Celtic Lore and Legend: Meet the Gods,... The Celts have always been great storytellers. Across the years, Celtic imagination and belief has spawned a host of heroes, monsters, fairies, spirits, and phantoms all of which have coalesced into a colourful tapestry of lore and legend that has been transmitted from one generation to another. From the earliest legends, told around the fires of the Celtic warriors, through the fireside tales of the rural hearths to the written word of the polished scribe, these stories have a resonance and an immediacy that is hard to dismiss. They represent a vibrant and unbroken link to the Celtic past. Celtic Lore And Legend includes tales of the heroes and gods from the Great Myth Cycles and tales of witches, ghosts and fairies - from Sir Walter Scott's Letters on Witchcraft and Demonology and Edmund Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland to Douglas Hyde's Tales of Saints and Sinners and Lady Gregory's Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland. It is also a treasure trove of lesser-known stories, such as Sir Walter Scott's Wandering Willie's Tale, James Hogg's The Brownie of the Black Hags and Don Byrne's A Tale of the Piper. Celtic Lore And Legend is both an examination and celebration of that tradition. It is one of the first attempts to trace the development of these stories from their earliest mythical roots, through the stores of the rural fireside to the writers of fiction who have used Celtic belief as a source for their own stories. This is the first anthology to seek out and record the traditions from many parts of the Western Celtic world, Ireland, Cornwall, Scotland, Wales and Brittany, from as early as the 17th century. It is a highly readable and enjoyable collection of legend and lore never before available in a single volume. Bob Curran Lives in Coleraine, County Londonderry. The Celts.

How the Celts Came to Britain:... This book reveals how the Celts came to Britain in the sense of how the term 'Celtic' first became associated with the British Isles in the eighteenth century and then gradually took on its modern popular meaning towards the end of the nineteenth. The role of the druids and the importance of craniology in this process is emphasised. The Celts.

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