The Celtic Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends (Myths, 2)

Enjoyed this.

fascinating read

I received this book compliments of Thames & Hudson through the Goodreads First Reads program.Since the Celtic peoples of Ireland and Wales left no written records the sources for their myths are fragmentary. There is physical evidence in grave goods and other archaeological findings. Caesar and other Romans made observations about the Gauls and some of these corroborate the myths. The written sources of the myths themselves come from Christian scholars and monks who recorded them hundreds of years after they were first popular with the bards.So it isn't possible to know what changes, or how many changes, had been made by the time they were written down.The stories contain common threads that point to probable basic beliefs. Basic does not mean boring, since there are many gods and half-gods, lots of magic and curses. The storytellers used certain elements as cues (reminiscent of music for the villain in old movies).Aldous-Green examines and explains all this, not simply the stories but what they may have meant, where the meaning may have originated. She shows the differences and similarities in Irish and Welsh myths and sometimes reaches to Europe for evidence. The many illustrations are another layer of information, for me very welcome.Rather than learning any of these myths in their entirety (they are not presented here in that form) I come away from the book with a better grasp who these people were. They certainly didn't see the world as only good and bad. It was much more realistic than that even as it was fantastic.

This book is not a retelling of the stories, nor is it much of an analytical or historical text. It is a bit of both, repetitive, mixing Irish and Welsh tales, and much smaller and shorter than I had hoped. You are better off with an edition of the Mabinogion. Despite being Scottish I am more interested in the Welsh/Brythonic side of things. You would think there must be a proper text on the Welsh mythology, with evidence to date the tales and redactions to specific centuries, and place them in historical context, as well as analyse them in terms of tropes and archetypes, and relate their origins to historical events, older shared Celtic or even Indo-European concepts, and psychology. This is not it.

A concise and thorough grounding in Celtic mythology which I will return to as inspirational reference points to my own practice as a visual artist.

Excellent.

An absorbing, detailed and very well-illustrated guide to Irish and Welsh Celtic myths and beliefs. I thoroughly recommend this short book as a readable introduction (if slightly repetitive). There are many useful 'inserts' or short paragraphs on particular aspects, and the author appears to be widely conversant with the latest archaeological and scholarly findings.It is fascinating to read summaries of the main myths and to learn about how animals played a pivotal role in mediating between the material and the spirit world, amidst a dazzling array of Celtic Gods, with spirits lurking in every corner of an unstable landscape. The versions of ancient Welsh stories which we have are far more Christianised than Irish ones, which burst with pagan life, though they both have much common: talking heads, human animal transformations, magical cauldrons and an earth-like 'Otherworld'.One small caveat is that Aldhouse-Green - like many other writers - seems to think it strange (or somehow invalid) that early Christians took over various pre-Christian religious markers and holy people (such as Brigit) - but surely it is natural that the new religion should have built to some extent on the old (not least in its art, the closeness of the 'otherworld' and a sense of the sacredness of certain places).The author also says that it is difficult to see links between pre-Christian religion and medieval Celtic myths (page 50), which might be true in the academic sense that the exact progression of the one to the other over a period of a thousand years lacks continuous textual evidence, but she seems to have over-looked one major source: the extraordinary early Christian hagiographies of saints, not least Ireland's rich hagiographical tradition (especially the lives of Saints Patrick, Columba and Bridget), which appear to me to be poised half-way between pre-Christian heroic myths and medieval morality tales.

It was a fast shipping and in perfect condition!! Love this book, I can't wait to purchase the other ones of the collection 😊It is pleasurable to read such an amazing edition, perfectly designed, lovely typographic composition and style!