Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132649 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-11
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
This is a fascinating book about the Celts and their religion, which covers all aspects of the gods, ritual customs, cult-objects and sacred places of the ancient Celtic peoples. The first chapter introduces the Celts and the evidence they have left behind, and places them in their geographical and chronological context. The following chapters cover the various cults of the sun and the sky, mother-godesses and fertility, war, death and the underworld, water gods and healers, animals and animism, and symbolism and imagery. This is a rewarding overview of the evidence for Celtic religions, beliefs and practices which uses modern scholarship to bring an obscure, but captivating part of European history. It covers 500 BC to AD 400, and embraces the whole of the Celtic world from Ireland to Australia.

Customer Reviews

Presents a fascinating subject in a dry-as-dust manner
After taking the trouble to write a long, rambling introduction explaining where the Celts possibly originated, once in the main text the author uses archaeological and architectural jargon without bothering to explain its meaning. There is no glossary, so have a dictionary handy when you read this book. Other authors are discussed with the assumption that you are familiar with their work, so it reads like a text book to accompany an explanatory course. The photos are disappointingly all in monochrome and without any indication of the size of the objects shown. The only colour picture is the front cover which is without caption - you have to plough through the text to find out what it is. A dreadful waste of a fascinating subject.