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Celtic
Mythology
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Celtic
Mythology : The Nature and
Influence of Celtic Myth from
Druidism to Arthurian Legend
Ward
Rutherford
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Reviews
From
the Publisher
An exciting journey into the
world of Celtic mythology. |
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Celtic Gods
Celtic Goddesses
Miranda
Gray, Courtney Davis, R. J.
Stewart
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Women in
Celtic Myth : Tales of
Extraordinary Women from Ancient
Celtic Tradition
Moyra
Caldecott
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Celtic
Goddesses; Warriors, Virgins, and
Mothers
Miranda
Green
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Reviews
Celtic
goddesses presided over war,
nature, animals, healing and
fertility. Considerable recent
interest has been focused on the
role of goddesses in ancient
societies, though not always with
a clear eye on the actual source
material. This book, written by
one of the leading scholars of
Celtic myth and religion,
examines the significance of the
female in Celtic belief and
ritual as expressed in surviving
archaeological remains and
written sources. Divine and
semi-divine females abound in
Welsh and Irish myths, often
associated with themes of
virginity and sexuality,
promiscuity and destruction. The
concept of partnership is a
prominent aspect of Celtic
religion and myth, and it is
possible to trace evidence of the
divine marriage in both European
iconography and Irish myth.
Interestingly, the female is
sometimes the dominant partner.
Terrifying battle goddesses were
invoked in times of war, often
believed to change into
raven-form as harbingers of
death. A Mother Goddess was
venerated, often in triple form,
and supplicated for fertility of
animals and crops. Goddesses were
often linked with animals: birds,
dogs, bears, pigs and snakes all
had their divine protectresses.
The great Celtic horse-goddess
Epona even had a Roman festival
dedicated to her. The transition
from polytheistic paganism to
monotheistic Christianity in the
Celtic west is examined in a
final chapter. Booknews,
Inc. , May 1, 1996
In nearly seamless weave of
archaeological and literary
evidence, Green (archaeology and
Celtic studies, U. of Wales)
surveys the role of women in
Celtic society and the
representations and influence of
the divine female in myth.
Britain and Wales are her main
focus, but she also considers
Irish and continental Celtic
people and encompasses a period
from the earliest artifacts to
the taming of goddesses into
saints and historical figures.
Well illustrated in black and
white. Annotation c. by Book
News, Inc., Portland, Or.
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Celtic Women
: In Legend, Myth and History
Lyn
Webster Wilde, Courtney Davis
(Illustrator)
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Reviews
Midwest
Book Review
How did the early lives of real
mothers, daughters and wives
match the myths of Celtic women
witches, warriors, and women?
This title blends myth
considerations with history and
cultural insights, exploring
history and literature to probe
the reality of Celtic women's
lives. An excellent supplement to
any coverage of Celtic history
and legend, this will appeal to
both leisure audiences and those
involved in Celtic studies. |
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Druids, Gods
& Heroes from Celtic
Mythology (World Mythology
Series)
Anne
Ross, Roger Garland
(Illustrator), John Sibbick
(Illustrator)
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Reviews
From
Horn Book
First published in Great Britain,
these volumes, enhanced by
action-packed, double-page
illustrations in color and
numerous line drawings, offer
attractive surveys of Norse and
Celtic mythologies. Ross supplies
additional information that helps
place the myths and legends
within the context of ancient
Celtic civilization, while
Branston focuses primarily on the
stories themselves. Druids, Gods,
and Heroes includes a
bibliography. Ind. --
Copyright © 1994 The Horn Book,
Inc. All rights reserved. Synopsis
Collected here in one volume are
the myths, legends, and stories
of the Celts from the most
ancient Irish tales to the
Arthurian saga. Richly
illustrated with 18 full-color
paintings and 40 line drawings,
and complete with a guide to the
symbols in the illustrations, and
a pronunciation guide.
Synopsis
Forty-three Celtic myths,
legends, and folktales, ranging
from the ancient tales of Ireland
to the Arthurian saga, chronicle
tales of battles, poetry,
mysterious creatures, and magic,
in a richly illustrated
collection.
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Animals in Celtic Life and Myth
Miranda Green
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Early Irish
Myths and Sagas (Penguin
Classics)
Jeffrey
Gantz (Editor), Jeffery Gantz
(Translator)
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The Tain
Translated from the Irish Epic
Tain Bo Cuailnge
Thomas
Kinsella (Translator), Louis Le
Brocquy (Illustrator)
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Reviews
This
is the Story of Cuchulain.
As a child-warrior from Ulster
named Setanta, he went to a feast
held by Cullen. King Conchubar
forgot to inform Cullen that the
boy was coming, and when Cullen
sent out his dog (who was the
largest and most vicious dog in
all of Ireland) to protect his
land, Setanta was attacked. The
child hero immediately killed the
dog, which greatly upset Cullen.
So when he complained of the
loss, Setanta volunteered to be
Cullen's hound from that day
forward. His name was, from that
day, Cuchulain, which means the
hound of Cullen - a name revered
in Irish Legend to this day. This
is an excellent translation of
the Epic!!
- Huathe, The
Sacred Fire
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The Raid
Randy
Lee Eickhoff
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Reviews
From
Kirkus Reviews , January 15, 1997
The American author of a thriller
set in Ireland (The Gombeen Man,
1992) retells the greatest Irish
tale of them all, the mythical
Tain--the greatest tale in the
sense that, as with the Iliad and
the Odyssey in Greek literature,
all Irish literature descends
from it. Also known as the Tain
Bo Cualigne, and, in English, as
The Cattle Raid of Cooley, the
epic concerns the rise of a hero,
Cuchulainn, whose forebears were
gods, and who even as a child was
a mighty warrior. The story opens
with a comic argument between the
king and queen of Connacht, a
powerful province in ancient
Ireland. As the two lie in bed
after making love, they take an
elaborate inventory of their
holdings, which are absolutely
equal except that King Ailill
owns a massive bull with mythic
procreative powers. Queen Maeve,
jealous, learns of another such
bull in the weak neighboring
province of Ulster and musters
her armies to capture him.
Adventures galore take place on
the march, and, in epic style,
soldiers declaim on their prowess
in battle and in bed (The Raid is
remarkably graphic in its
depictions both of killing and of
lust). Although Eickhoff renders
some passages in verse, for the
most part he tries to give the
great epic the form of a modern
novel. It's episodic all the
same, rather like one of Robert
E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian
stories. The chief barbarian
here, of course, is mighty
Cuchulainn, who with strength,
valor, and magic almost
single-handedly defends Ulster
from the invading Connachtmen,
saving the mythic bull and
securing his own immortality. As
Eickhoff points out in his fine
introduction, ``Sinn Fein'' means
``ourselves alone.'' Against the
invading British, that is. A
seamless blend of scholarship and
storytelling, though perhaps too
specialized for a wide American
audience. -- Copyright ©1997,
Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights
reserved. Synopsis
A dramatic retelling of Ireland's
epic tale, The Raid explores wild
pagan times in a magical
narrative. When the Connacht
invade his lands, a boy warrior
stands between Ulster and certain
annihilation. He soon begins a
reign of terror upon the Connacht
warriors, appearing out of the
darkness to attack and kill.
Synopsis
A retelling of an Irish epic, the
Tain Bo Cualigne, explains
how an argument between the King
of Connacht and his wife Ailill
about which of them is wealthier
results in war upon the province
of Ulster, protected only by a
powerful boy warrior known as
Cuchulainn.
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Essential
Celtic Mythology : Stories That
Change the World
Lindsay
Clarke
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Reviews
Synopsis
Nine stories offer armchair
adventures of love, war, and
honor and highlight values
central to ancient Celtic
culturevalues that continue to
shape and inspire the Western
mind. These tales bring to life a
world of miraculous events and
acts of passion, peopled with
fair maidens, brave warriors,
giants, and ogresa world governed
by the virtues of fairness,
generosity, wisdom, and loyalty.
A fresh, contemporary retelling
of classic stories of Celtic
mythology. |
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The Sacred
World of the Celts : An
Illustrated Guide to Celtic
Spirituality and Mythology
Nigel
Pennick
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Reviews
Synopsis
A comprehensive and richly
illustrated examination of Celtic
traditions and their continuity
and relevance to the present day.
130 color photos. |
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