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Originally published in 1911, and now available in Dover paperback, "Religion of the Ancient Celts," is a well written and engaging scholarly work.
Well worth its price, the work is suitable to the general public, while still valuable to those interested in the Celts from an historic, linguistic, mythological or ethnological standpoint. MacCulloch covers his subject matter clearly and thoroughly (referencing such things as parallels with Greek mythology and Sumerian religion) and writes in a style that will satisfy the expert without mystifying or losing the attention of the amateur.
The main text is 390 pp, is fully referenced in footnotes, and is fully indexed. Chapter titles include: Gods of Gaul - The Irish Cycle - Tuatha De Danaan - Gods of the Brythons - Cuchulainn Cycle - Fionn Saga - Gods and Men - Cult of the Dead - Nature Worship - River and Well Worship - Tree and Plant Worship - Animal Worship - Cosmogony - Sacrifice, Prayer & Divination - Taboo - Festivals - The Druids - Magic - Etc...
Although the book may be "dated", it is not "outdated". Given the scholarly standards of its time, this may be more of a virtue than a drawback. More recent results in the area are naturally not addressed. But the work is consistent with comparative methods, and considers the consensus without neglecting competing accounts. There is neither neo-Druidic nonsense nor needless pedantry. While the study is generally limited to the culture of the British Isles, as opposed to that of the Continent, this is due to the lack of Continental oral tradition rather than to lack of attention on the author's part.
MacCulloch is judicious. Yet he addresses issues such as the pre-Indo-European origins of the Mother-Goddess cult of Brigid, as the legends of the faerie-folk known as the "Side,"* (as in banshee) and as the stories of "Isles to the West" now sunk below the sea.
Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien will find this work enthralling and familiar, as it shows some of the sources for his magnificent "Middle-Earth." Avid youngsters, Celtophiles, students of Irish poet W.B. Yeats, followers of Marija Gimbutas (Civilization of the Goddess) and admirers of Robert Graves (The White Goddess) will likewise be pleased.
(Consider a search for MacCulloch's 1918 "Celtic Mythology" at Google Books which will return the entire public domain text. It can be browsed or downloaded in lieu of a preview here of his style.)
I can recommend this work unreservedly for readers of all persuasions.
* ["Side" shows curious parallels to the word "seidhr" - magic learned by the patriarchal Norse Aesir god Odin from the pre-Aryan matriarchal Vanir goddesses, and to "Sedna" - the Eskimo/Aleut "Mistress of Animals" who lives at the bottom of the ocean]
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Wow! Really nice!
I knew it was going to be a facsimile (a copy) of a book so my primary concern was the quality versus the price and I was certainly not let down, the quality is really nice, you won’t be let down. I’m gonna go rove through their other titles and see what else they have. Very impressed. And I got ‘Religion of the Celts’ and have only read certain parts but the text is an awesome old piece with tons of fascinating stuff. Trust me on this purchase, unless your just a dick or something goes wrong you won’t be let down.
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I knew it was going to be a facsimile (a copy) of a book so my primary concern was the quality versus the price and I was certainly not let down, the quality is really nice, you won’t be let down. I’m gonna go rove through their other titles and see what else they have. Very impressed. And I got ‘Religion of the Celts’ and have only read certain parts but the text is an awesome old piece with tons of fascinating stuff. Trust me on this purchase, unless your just a dick or something goes wrong you won’t be let down.
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