Celtic Books

This book is an archaeological approach to basic Celtic beliefs. It is not a detailed study of Celtic myth and legend, nor is it meant to be. It covers beliefs such as the significance of water forms (springs, rivers, etc), sky and sun myths and deities and how a sky god of some kind was found throughout the Celtic world, and many other common views of the Celts.

This is a major undertaking considering "Celtic" covers 800 years of pre-history and history and a people that at one point covered most of Europe and parts of Asia Minor. These people has different languages (yes, Celtic, but as similar in some cases as English is to German or less so), different rituals, and different Gods. So to bring an underlying commonality of beliefs to that diversity is impressive. Most of the information here is presented from the hard facts (literally - archaeological remains), and is probably the best, compact source of the basic beliefs of Celtic culture out there.

I'd like to note, I picked this book up at an Archaeological convention, and it is published by the University of Texas; it is very thorough, minimally biased, and well grounded in scholarship.

Dr. Miranda Green has written many books on many aspects of Celtic culture and literature. This inexpensive book is intended to be a short introduction to Celtic mythology and the culture whose beliefs and customs gave birth to those myths. This book is also appropriate for readers ages 12-14. Those who want more in-depth exploration of the myths and the culture should consider The Irish Literary Tradition by J. E. Caerwyn Williams and Patrick K. Ford or Celtic Heritage by Alwyn and Brinley Rees.

A good, short introductory reference book for those interested in exploring and understanding the basic belief system and history behind Celtic mythological tales (The Mabinogion, the Fianna, et al).

I can't even begin to explain how good this book is. It is, bar none, the best book about Celtic traditions I've seen yet, and I've read a lot of them--the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Kondratiev is not afraid of controversy; he spends the beginning of the book expressing some strong opinions. A person wishing to use Celtic spirituality, he asserts, should become a defender of Celtic ways on the more mundane and political level as well. Most importantly, the Celtophile should learn one of the six Celtic languages, since they, along with the worldview they describe, are rapidly disappearing as people begin to speak only English or French in the Celtic nations. And he's probably right. One should embrace all of Celtic culture, not just the "fun stuff", if s/he wants to embrace the spirituality.

The rest of the book is concerned with spiritual rituals for the major earth holidays of the Wheel of the Year, and rituals for the lunar cycles. Kondratiev gathers together huge amounts of information from both Pagan and Christian traditions. He examines the way the holidays are celebrated and were celebrated in the past, and draws parallels between the traditions and mythic stories that may be related. In this way, he gives each festival a "story" or two that illustrates its meaning. Then, he gives a sample ritual as performed by his circle, Celi De. The best way to describe it is that it's similar to the Farrars' _Eight Sabbats for Witches_, only better--both more scholarly and more emotional, two qualities often difficult to combine.

This book is invaluable for anyone wishing to delve deeply into Celtic spirituality. It's out of print, but try to find it wherever you can. You won't regret it.

If this is what you think is "Ancient" spirituality - then have your cup of tea. I found this book to be smeared with neo-paganism all over it - and Scottish does not equal Irish, nor is anything "universally" celtic. To try to make one, is well - a fallacy. He tries so very hard to make a utopia, and frankly the real world isn't like this, nor was it. I'm pawning this book at the second-hand book store, maybe someone else can get something out of it - I didn't.

The first reviewer was right. It is MARVELOUS.... It is the first book I've read that actually grounds you in the Wheel of the Year by making sense of the often disconnected stories of Celtic myth. NONE of the neo-pagan stuff is here exept to compare and contrast what he writes to what has been written or done by neo-pagans.

At first I thought that I would not like to use the Celtic revisioning of the elements. Then I started reading the rest of the book. Now the elemental placements make sense. The book has NO illustrations so your best bet to understanding where everything falls is to draw your own Wheel of the year and place on it, the elements, the moons and the earth/sun celebrations. I highly recomment putting the neo-pagan elemental directions (in reference to the cycles of the day) in the center to keep you aware of where you are. The best place to start is the chapter on the Moons. Here the author uses the Song of Amergin to understand and celebrate the different moons of the year. Why I suggest starting here is simple: The Celts have no surviving creation myth and to truly be grounded in a mythic cycle it helps greatly to have one so that you understand the basic symbolism of the religion. The author's study of the Song makes this possible. Even though he IN NO WAY suggests that his study of the Song is a Celtic creation myth, he inadvertently shows that the Song could well be the only surviving record of a Celtic creation myth. THAT IS MY THEORY not the author's. The author also finds the strands of similarities among the different stories in Celtic myth and strings them together to help one see an actual pattern in the chaos that is Celtic myth. He makes a connectable and smoothly flowing study of Celtic ritual for the Wheel like NO OTHER author I've read who has written on the subject. I CAN now see the BIG picture among all those disconnected stories of gods and mortals. Now all the stories flow together, connect to the Earth, the Wheel--everything!! You wanna really UNDERSTAND the ritual of Lughnasad read this and nothing else on so called "celtic" ritual or wicca. If you want to UNDERSTAND why one celebration may seem like a repeat of the one before--read this book. If you want to UNDERSTAND Celtic spirituality--START here!
I never EVER wanted to tackle a book on Celtic mythology--now I eagerly await an opportunity. Now that I can see the connections between different gods, understand how the Celts saw their year--I can go deeper into the studies of my ancestors. His research is valid and scholarly. He is amazing. This is my new "bible" and it replaces thoroughly EVERY ritual primer I've ever read. I no longer feel like I'm studying a religion that was created by modern ritualists that belongs to a dozen different countries and traditions, but like I'm studying--in an organized and wonderfully understandable form--what my ancestors did and why they did it. I can actually understand why they celebrated what they did and can connect it to my life!
Thanks to this author I CAN reclaim my tribal ancestory. Something I've wanted to do for over 13 years. He has brought to life what was once a very dead and/or POORLY resurrected religion.
Bless you Alexi--Bless you three times three times.

***This just in. I found out through parousing imbas.com (a Celtic Reconstructionist site where Alexei is a member and where some of his articles are posted) and by then parousing Amazon and emailing a reviewer, that Alexei has republished this book under the name Apple Branch. Amazon sells it.***

I have several Roman recipe books that are as well written, and I didn't really find anything new in these recipes, except [...] an [...] Anglo-centric way of writing, which seems to try to make the authors seem "really smart", using wording that many of my 12th grade students will not understand. With comments about growing seasons in modern England, and the cost of certain wines in the UK, and similar side bars, that I found disruptive. The colloqual British language calling minced meat patties "faggots" and choosing to use words of big caliber when smaller, more universally used common kitchen and cooking words would do, make this seem a bit pretentious.

It is a new addition to my library, but why are we given measures in 'big' and 'little' teaspoons and 'coffee cup' measures and 'dessert spoon' measures? These do not fit my standard of a proper measuring system. Are we to believe that the graduated measuring cup is not available in a British kitchen or are we supposed to assume that Ancient Romans drank coffee from a specific size of cup? (They didn't have coffee!!; which is a great blow to serious reenactors...)

I would rather spend my money on "The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines (Mass Market Paperback) by Jeff Smith" available here at Amazon.com (at a much more reasonable price.

For years, people reconstructing Roman food have taken Apicius literally, and without any thought into the many elements of Roman food. Usually, the food is at best tastless, often inedible, and the excuse is usually an emphatic "this is how the Romans did it! Their taste is not ours". Rather, Apicius is a guide for experienced cooks, much like 18th and 19th century US cookbooks, where the recipe leaves almost all the explanations and cooking instructions out.
Sally Grainger has done meticulous research into the elements of Roman cooking, and actually worked the recipes out into very palatable dishes. I've read through almost all the so called Apicius cookbooks and this is by far the most thorough explanation of the ingredients and how they are made, including mulsum and garum, and in depth descriptions of the unusual seasonings like lovage.
This will change how our reenactment and reconstruction efforts will present Roman food from now on, and make the accompanying academic book that much more interesting.

I was thrilled to receive Christopher Grocock and Sally Grainger's new comprehensive translation of the Apician cookbook, "Apicius, a Critical Edition". It is a masterwork.

I was also pleased to receive Grainger's "Cooking Apicius". Grainger is both a scholar and an excellent cook of Ancient Roman food. Her book is written in a friendly, personal, and sometimes chatty manner, and contains many Britishisms, but, then, she is British, after all.

Her discussions of various ingredients and cooking techniques were informative. I have cooked from the Flower/Rosenbaum translation, and also own Andre Dalby & Sally Grainger's "Classical Cookbook", "Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome" by Patrick Faas, "Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens" by Mark Grant, "A Taste of Ancient Rome" by Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa.

I've found all these books instructive, but I enjoy working out the recipes myself and making my own decisions on what substitutes to use here in the US. At the same time, I always appreciate hearing how another cook interprets a recipe, and I very much appreciated Grainger's explanations throughout of her decisions to make certain interpretations or use particular ingredients.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in cooking recipes from the Apician cookbook, but shy of starting out from the original recipes themselves, which can be rather vague.

It's good news to see this book back in print. Originally aimed at children, this book was written by an able, insightful archaeologist and folklorist. The content reflects the author's professional expertise, her gifts as a teacher, and the insights she has gained from living among Scottish bearers of tradition. If you are looking for a wonderful and accurate book to share with children, this beautifully illustrated volume is ideal. However, I also recommend it to those who are new to the subject because it combines tales and archaeological evidence in a delightfully informative way.

I loved the artwork and the stories about the celtic myths. I was a little disappointed that there was so little information about the gods like Cernunnos, Epona, and others. But the book gave a very good explanation to why and I admire Anne Ross' as an author.

Ross's "Druids, Gods and Heroes from Celtic Mythology" was the first book about the Celts I ever got my hands on, and it is one I keep going back to -however, in continous Celtic study, it is getting less and less value. As a first book, it is great. Ross offers a simple glance at the Celtic world, along with a few of its gods, but it is very shallow. The stories, which are beautifully illustrated, are in short versions, leaving out much of the detail (which in itself slightly kills the Celtic spirit). As a prologue for continued study, it works just nicely, but I wouldn't reccomend it to anyone who's read a couple of books on Celtic mythology. As a camp-fire, story telling or general interest book, though, it is wonderful.

The author goes into greater detail discussing the history of Celtic Christianity than some of his peers. With historical documentation being limited, he uses some supposition, but uses it well.

I'd make it the second book that I read on the subject, after, possibly, "Celtic Christianity" by Joyce.

I read this book prior to Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilisation" which is better known due to its run on the bestseller list. I found that reading this book first was a good choice, because its deep background made Cahill's book a better read. In fact, "Early Celtic Christianity" proved to be an excellent read because it allowed a friend (a Cahill reader) and I to compare and contrast the two different views of this interesting point in history. Largely about the same era, this book focuses particularly on three of the more important saints of Ireland -- Brendan, Columba, and Columbanus, and because of this has the distinct advantage of being able to concentrate on some of the smaller details of their lives, and how that effected the turning points of the day, including the christianization of Scotland and the controversial Council at Whitby. While Cahill tends to be more secular and political in his approach, Lehane is more religiously and historically oriented, leading to a more intimate view of the culture. I also found it refreshing that he was careful to present well documented materials as facts and rumors and legends as theories, rather than muddying the two together. It invites you to make your own decisions on how to interpret. A good read all around. A great second read for those who enjoyed Cahill.

If you have read neither book, I recommend both, making this one the first. It presents a firmer foundation (in my humble opinion) and gives Cahill's quicker and lighter view of Columbanus a strong background.

Lehane proves a good, entertaining guide to the Celtic Church in its creative centuries of independence. His account highlights a fresh, innovative movement of self-motivated evangelists, which at first owed little or nothing to the state church of the Roman empire. In Ireland, the first native Christians assumed it natural to have female priests and bishops. They set up "double monasteries" of both men and women, and the head of the whole monastery was often a woman. So in 664, the council of Whitby took place in a Celtic double monastery, with both sexes under direction of Abbess Hilda.

Lehane explores the social world and accomplishments of this great religious movement. Then he shows how its open spirit came to clash with the imperial church's requirements for control over women and other subordinates. In Lehane's account the dreams of the old Celtic Church seem to come alive and challenge our imagination.

--author of "Different Visions of Love"

If you have never met _Y Gododdin_ before, don't start with this book - go look for a copy of A. O. H. Jarman's bilingual edition instead. On the other hand, if you are already an enthusiast, buy it by all means - you will find much here to interest, intrigue, educate, challenge and possibly annoy you. The long introduction is practically a book in itself, if a rather dense one; the translations (there are, in a manner of speaking, two - Koch's reconstructed Old Welsh version of the medieval manuscript, plus his English translation) are also interesting, if very literal-minded. I do recommend this book - but not for beginners.

The basic aim of this book is to show that Aneirin, who lived in the 7th century C.E., could have written the "Gododdin," which was first transcribed (that we know of) in the 13th century C.E. To do this, Koch works backwards from the text we have in the Book of Aneirin. The first half of the book is the introduction, which as O.J. Padel noted read more like working notes than anything intended for public consumption, and surely not for the casual reader.

This is a brilliant work in its own right, but readers looking for a good English translation of the Gododdin might be better off looking at Jarman's work, which is quite poetic and is bilingual between English and modern Welsh.

If perchance you are seeking a good translation of "Aneirin's" Gododdin, this probably is the one to get. Dr Koch has managed to present a very thorough reconstruction of this epic poem, with the full apparatus you'd expect from a scholarly book such as this one. Indeed, you get a long and precise discussion of the text in the introduction, an Old/Middle Welsh - English facing translation and complete footnotes to help you make the best out of the text. Be warned, though. This book isn't for the faint of heart nor for the neophyte who expects an introduction to the subject or to the field of Insular Celtic Studies. The author expects the reader to be at the very least familiar to the setting of Dark Age Britain. Yet, since you are reading this, surely this warning is useless. All in all, the best your money can buy if only a bit mind-boggling in its sheer complexity. But for this, it is I who is to blame !

This book is the best reference work I have ever used for research. The bibliography cannot be improved upon and the text provides the most up-to-date summary on this fascinating subject. Another reviewer said the book was dull. It is not meant to be a history book on the colonies. For this type of thing, try Dunbabin's "The first western Greeks." This book is an archaeological reference, not a overview of classical history of the colonies, although it does refer to history where relevant. I have had this book for four years and have used it countless times. Boardman's work is always outstanding.

I bought this book hoping to learn about the history of the Greek colonies in the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins, and it seems that Boardman is the old acknowledged expert.

Boardman provides some info on where the colonies where, but beyond that the entire discussion is about (a) from what Greek city the colony was founded, and (b) what kind of coins and pottery were there, (c) where there Phoenicians around. Believe it or not, that's pretty much all there is.

He starts out by indicating he will leave out all the politics and military history of the colonies, as they have been covered by Herodotus and others! In other words, let's leave out the interesting part. It's kind of frustrating when the leading expert on a historical topic starts out by indicating he will only talk about coins and pots. The maps are generally good in indicating where all the old Greek colonies were, except for the Black Sea, where the maps are sketchy.

For better Black Sea maps and information, see Professor G. Tsetskhadlze, publisher Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany, or look up The Phanagoria Project on the net, he seems to be the leading expert now, doing excavation there. And he writes in English.

I have read and owned every edition of "The Greeks Overseas" since the first little Pelican paperback. It is the single, first and last, indispensable book for students of Archaic Greece, whether studying primarily history or archaeology or art. I consider it prerequisite to his other books on Archaic art and on the diffusion of Greek civilization. Professor Boardman has given us more than any other scholar of his generation, all of it of enduring value. The latest edition of the basic "Greek Art" is also worthy of reading by everyone from adolescents to mature scholars. A new edition of a Boardman book is not merely a new cover and an up-dated bibliography (though that, of course, is provided).

This book is a visual delight to anyone curious about the Celts.
It includes little known legends ,and lavish illustration.
There are few books that provide such a vivid doorway,to the shrouded past.

Nice overwiew of the pre-Arthur time of Great Britain. I really enjoyed the little known stories, most of them being pretty thorough and inspiring, beyond simple fairy tales. I also read with a lot of pleasure the short sociological facts about Celtic society and traditions, which give the reader just enough insight. Am not totally convinced that these short essays are all that accurate, but this book is not a dry scholar paper so I can forgive some freedom...

What a lovely overwiew of Celtic culture. The author alternates between short, intriguing essays on Celtic society and traditions, and actual Celtic stories. The ballance is perfect. The reader is given just enough background to understand each story. By the end of the book, though, a detailed impression of these remarkable people has been woven. The shcolarship is never pretentious or dull, and the stories are told with a sensitivity that avoids any awkwardness in dealing with subjects like magic. The stories are products of the Celtic culture and are presented in that context. They appear, not as childish fairy tales, but as rich and vibrant reminders of a culture that thrived in Britain for about a thousand years.

Barbara Yorke has written a nice summation of the current state of research into the origins of six of the seven kingdoms of the Heptarchy, the classic seven-kingdom division of England (defined as the land held by the Anglo-Saxons) in the Sixth through Eighth Centuries (the seventh, Sussex, is even more poorly documented than the others, and she treats it in the sections on Kent and Wessex). There are various ways to approach the king lists for this period, and Yorke is somewhat of a minimalist, preferring not to list rulers who cannot be attested by relatively reliable sources (and for early Anglo-Saxon England, "relatively reliable" is itself a relative term), so her lists do not include some rulers mentioned in that reliable old stand-by, the "Handbook of British Chronology." She also includes useful notes on what little is known about some of the less-known groups which may have been sub-kingdoms with brief flashes of autonomy, like Lindsey, Wight, the Hwicce, Middle Angles and Maegonsaeten, and Elmet.

Most interesting to me was her careful reconstruction of the political trajectory of Kent, suggesting that instead of being a single state, it may have been for much of its history divided into two kingdoms, East Kent and West Kent, the latter at times including Sussex, and that many of the kings listed. whose chronology has been so debateable, may in fact have ruled concurrently in its two halves.

This is a useful addition to the library of anyone interested in Anglo-Saxon England or the "Dark Ages," and a nice guide to the period that fascinated J.R.R. Tolkien and from which he drew much of Middle Earth.

I was very impressed by this book which is both very readable and scholarly. I like in particular how the History of each Anglo-Saxon kingdom was dealt with differently. I have greatly enjoyed this book and the only thing that stops me from giving it 5 stars is a personal preference. I would have rather there had been a more in depth analysis of the early history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. However, if you are interested in Anglo-Saxon history, particularly of the individual kingdoms, then this book is what you should buy

I was very impressed by this book which is both very readable and scholarly. I like in particular how the History of each Anglo-Saxon kingdom was dealt with differently. I have greatly enjoyed this book and the only thing that stops me from giving it 5 stars is a personal preference. I would have rather there had been a more in depth analysis of the early history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. However, if you are interested in Anglo-Saxon history, particularly of the individual kingdoms, then this book is what you should buy

I appreciate the treatment Bob Stewart gives to these tales. I find myself re-reading them because each time I find something new that tweaks my interest. My favorite is Sequana the Duck. I have learned from the retelling of these tales more about mythology, legend and magic then I could probably learn through a more "academic" approach.

I fear keith coady has missed stewart's point. These are MAGICAL tales. Stewart's approach has been set out more clearly in his previous books but is made again in this volume. To put it simply, certain images, & more importantly, sequences of images have a transformative (ie MAGICAL) effect on consciousness. the 'story' is merely a linking narrative to connect the sequence of images. The way to read these tales is to visualise the scenes as described in the tale as strongly as possible. Anyway, there are some really good stories in the collection!

As I was reading through this book, I often thought that perhaps the book was too advanced for me and that it was designed for people with scholary educations in storytelling. By the time I was finished, I understood that I was wrong, and exactly why. The reason why I took this book to be more advanced than it actually is because I didn't understand any of the stories. Sure, I could tell what the characters were doing and why, but after completeing the book, I found that I understood only about two or three of them. The reason for this is because the stories have no flow to them. They have nothing that connects point A to point B. Instead they follow a magickal theme, like birth/death, underworld journeys, deathly crone goddesses etc. But it seems that the author has failed to realize that a good story must also have a begining and an ending, instead of just a tale that follows a particular theme but nevr seems to go anywhere, which is what most of the tales in this book are. The author is also extremely critical of stories that aren't EXACTLY like his. Countless times throughout the book he take harsh shots at every outlook of stories in our world today(fairy tales, movies etc.) and proceeds to tell us why those outlets are pointless and why his stories are the only real magickal tales. Well, his themes may be a little more on track, but his stories go no-where. We need a beginning and an ending.