Celtic Myths and Legends

by T.W. Rolleston and T. W. Rolleaton

Book Overview

This splendidly illustrated study by the distinguished Celticist T. W. Rolleston masterfully retells the great Celtic myths and illuminates the world that spawned them. Focusing principally on Irish myths, the book first takes up the history and religion of the Celts, the myths of the Irish invasion and the early Milesian kings.
What follows is pure enchantment as you enter the timeless world of heroic tales centered around the Ulster king Conor...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486265072
• ISBN13: 9780486265070
• Release Date: November 1990
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A interesting read for anyone who loves myths or learning about different cultures

It has beautiful illustrations and fascinating stories. I enjoyed reading it and found it intriguing and unique. It was also refreshing hearing other mythology then Greek or Nordic mythology.

This is a great beginners survey guide.My

At 141 pages, with a lot of full color pictures/illustrations, this is more a picture book of celtic mythology than anything else. While the major myths are touched on: The Irish Invasion Myths, the early Milesian Kings, Tales of the Ultonian Cycle, Tales of the Ossianic Cycle, The Voyage of Maeldun, Myths and Tales of the Cymry, and the Arthurian Saga this book gives little more than a flavor of each story. The illustrations, pictures of places or ancient artifacts are usually relevant to the story on the page the picture appears on. The authors have also made every effort to cite the book where each illustration is from or which museum each artifact was photographed from, but the stories themselves have no source citations. You are left wanting for more after reading this book. However, with no bibliography, one wonders where the stories were lifted from, and more importantly where to continue your new found interest after reading this book.

A very helpful introduction to the Celtic myths

This book is meant to give the reader a general conception of the subject of the Celtic myths. The stories are too abundant to be added in their full content in a volume of this size. Celtic Myths and Legends breaks the myths into eight chapters starting with Celts in Ancient History, Religion of the Celts and takes the reader on a trip through the Irish Invasion Myths, Early Milesian Kings, Ultonian Cycle, Ossianic Cycle, Voyage of Maeldun and Myths and Tales of the Cymry. There is a brief, but insightful explanation of the Arthurian Myths. The numerous black and white illustrations reveal the rich clothing and armor of the ancient Celts. I have read many books on the Celtic myths and this one was the most helpful to me. I like the way the stories are broken up into shorter paragraphs with subtitles to make them easier to read and understand. There are dates given as to when these tales may have been written and when some of the legendary characters may have lived. The dates were really helpful to me and made it easier for me to understand the stories. It is interesting to see how the stories change as Christianity takes over. I think this is a great book for students and general readers who are interested in the Celtic myths.

Actually, 4 and a half stars

Excellent, accurate and detailed work of research. The author has done his homework and reviewed many original sources to give us an awesome insight on the life of the celts and their mithology.However i didn't give it 5 stars for some political reasons:1) The author tries every once in a while to "prove" the arian lineage of the celts (it seems that his favorite image of the celts is one of tall, blonde people, when everybody knows that celts were in a rather wide range of height, hair and skin colors).2) The author blames the druids for the decline in celtic civilization (he considers them more an anchor than the engine behind technological and geopolitical advancements).3) His vision of the world is a Western vision, not a celtic vision. He speaks about the "menacing and horrifying world of supernatural and Nature" (i'm not sure if that's the correct phrase since i have the spanish translation), something that's opposed to the point of view within the legends.However, if you can read the book "with a grain of salt", you'll find a treasure of knowledge, well balanced by the independent view of a great researcher.

Easy to understand

Rolleston's book was the first book I read that placed the Celtic myths in a context that could be understood through a timeline. Most scholarly books on this topic group the stories as subject, but this book placed them in 'chronological' order. I would highly recommend this book.

Good analysis but not good story telling.

This book provides a good scholarly overview of the old Irish myths. However, if you are looking for a good book with which to learn the myths or to read to your children, this is not it. What it gains in analysis it loses in storytelling. A good book but only to a point.