T. W. Rolleston (1857–1920)

This was a good overview of Celtic myth and culture, however...

Having been written in 1911 there is a very outdated preoccupation with "racial characteristics" which permeates the introduction to the "Celtic race". It almost felt as if the first few chapters told me more about European attitudes of the time, and how they contributed to the absolute shitshow that was to come soon after the publication of this book, than they did about the actual Celts.

Celtic Myths and Legends is a great book. Written by T. W. Rolleston, it has the unusual property of beginning with what we actually know about the Celtic People from historical sources. The book gives a thorough grounding in the life and times of the Celts and even goes into etymology, particularly with place names. Starting out in this book, I only knew the bare minimum about the Celts. I knew approximately where they were located and had a rough idea of when they were at their zenith, but show more most of that comes from Civilization IV, the classic PC Strategy Game. I did not know about the Sacking of Rome that they did, and I was not aware of the art that they did and so on. However, something occurred to dissolve their unity and cohesion, and they separated into a number of small factions that were easily taken out. Their influence survives in the names of places and in certain words.

Once we get over all of the historical details the book gets into the Myths and Legends. It reminds me of the other book on Celtic Myths and Legends that I had read, and that is not a bad thing. There are a number of powerful warriors and legendary weapons in the Celtic Myths. The stories are also quite entertaining. It is unfortunate that they lose out in popularity from the Greeks and the Romans. The book contains pictures of legendary scenes from the myths and images of places that it talks about. It is quite interesting as I mentioned.

The only problem I had with this book isn’t even the fault of the book. It was printed in 1985 and belongs to my Public Library system, so it is rather worn. In some sections, it appears as though some of the pages are about to come out of the spine. Although it is hardcover, the page binding seems to be weakening. Also, since it is a Library book, it seems that someone had underlined some of the paragraphs and I hate when people do that. Other than that, I would say that the book is excellent. show less

This is a pretty darn swell book. It gives some history of the Celtic peoples starting with ancient times and speculating on their interactions and pre-historic culture. Later it gives other details on the mythic histories of various Celtic cultures as well as various mythic and legendary cycles.

I found the details chosen by the author intriguing and the stories engaging.

Heartily recommended for anyone interested in the subject.

part of my heritage so well loved