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Celtic Mythology


  Celtic Mythology : The Nature and Influence of Celtic Myth from Druidism to Arthurian Legend

Ward Rutherford
Reviews
From the Publisher
An exciting journey into the world of Celtic mythology.
 
  Celtic Gods Celtic Goddesses

Miranda Gray, Courtney Davis, R. J. Stewart

 
 

  Women in Celtic Myth : Tales of Extraordinary Women from Ancient Celtic Tradition

Moyra Caldecott
 
 

  Celtic Goddesses; Warriors, Virgins, and Mothers

Miranda Green
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.

 

  Celtic Women : In Legend, Myth and History

Lyn Webster Wilde, Courtney Davis (Illustrator)
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.
 

  Druids, Gods & Heroes from Celtic Mythology (World Mythology Series)

Anne Ross, Roger Garland (Illustrator), John Sibbick (Illustrator)
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.

 

  Animals in Celtic Life and Myth

Miranda Green
 
 

  Early Irish Myths and Sagas (Penguin Classics)

Jeffrey Gantz (Editor), Jeffery Gantz (Translator)
 
 

  The Tain Translated from the Irish Epic Tain Bo Cuailnge

Thomas Kinsella (Translator), Louis Le Brocquy (Illustrator)
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

 

  The Raid

Randy Lee Eickhoff
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.

 

  Essential Celtic Mythology : Stories That Change the World

Lindsay Clarke
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.
 

  The Sacred World of the Celts : An Illustrated Guide to Celtic Spirituality and Mythology

Nigel Pennick
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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