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Synopsis
This book, a companion volume to the BBC2 television series, aims to trace the origin, growth, flowering and eventual decline of the Celts, a people who are traditionally portrayed as wild, excitable, warlike, ferocious and uncivilized. Despite their numerical smallness the author contends that they made a major contribution to Western civilization. The author originated the Radio 4 programme "Bookshelf" and the Frank Delaney series on BBC television. His previous books are "James Joyce's Odyssey" and "Betjeman Country".
About the Author
Novelist, broadcaster and freelance journalist Frank Delaney was born in the south of Ireland in 1942. His radio programmes have included ‘Bookshelf’ and the language series ‘Word of Mouth’ on Radio 4. He regularly appears on TV, having made arts and history documentaries for the BBC, including ‘The Celts’, and features in the ‘Book Show’ on Sky News.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
An interesting history of the 'Fathers of Europe', tracing their migration from the plains of Hungary to the Celtic Fringe countries of today. An insightful account of their thinking and culture, although the whole book is highly biased in favour of Irish history as oppose to a true balanced view of the Celts as a whole. Would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in ancient history.
By Peasant
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
This is a beautifully written book, and though archaeology and DNA research have moved on since 1986, still well worth reading - especially if, like the author, you are approaching the subject from an Irish perspective.
Delaney takes the traditional view that Ireland, unaffected by the steamroller of the Roman Empire, preserved Celtic culture intact till the early medeival period when the first monks, themselves drawn from the same aristocratic families which had once supplied recruits to the Druids, wrote down, with minimal editing, the oral legends and sagas, hero tales and accounts of Gods and miracles.
It has become fashionable in some circles to sneer at the idea of an authentic Celtic Ireland. This is because recent genetic research has revealed that the vast majority of the ancestral Irish arrived in the Mesolithic, coming up the Atlantic coast from Spain as the ice retreated. Only a small proportion of the modern population can trace in their DNA the influence of Iron Age incomers from Europe. The same is true of course of the British mainland, whose Welsh, Scots and pre-Saxon English populations, demonstrably "Celtic" in culture at the time of the Roman invasion, had nonetheless only a fraction of Celtic "blood". Please do not let this matter deter you from reading this book, for it is, by and large, irrelevant to Delaney's text. Delaney himself, while acknowledging the theories prevalent at the time, holds back from espousing any mass migration. Delaney is interested in the story of Celtic culture, and here his writing is packed with rich imagery and insight.
He starts by outlining what is known of the origins of Celtic culture - quite a lot, actually - at the time of writing.... Read more ›
Delaney takes the traditional view that Ireland, unaffected by the steamroller of the Roman Empire, preserved Celtic culture intact till the early medeival period when the first monks, themselves drawn from the same aristocratic families which had once supplied recruits to the Druids, wrote down, with minimal editing, the oral legends and sagas, hero tales and accounts of Gods and miracles.
It has become fashionable in some circles to sneer at the idea of an authentic Celtic Ireland. This is because recent genetic research has revealed that the vast majority of the ancestral Irish arrived in the Mesolithic, coming up the Atlantic coast from Spain as the ice retreated. Only a small proportion of the modern population can trace in their DNA the influence of Iron Age incomers from Europe. The same is true of course of the British mainland, whose Welsh, Scots and pre-Saxon English populations, demonstrably "Celtic" in culture at the time of the Roman invasion, had nonetheless only a fraction of Celtic "blood". Please do not let this matter deter you from reading this book, for it is, by and large, irrelevant to Delaney's text. Delaney himself, while acknowledging the theories prevalent at the time, holds back from espousing any mass migration. Delaney is interested in the story of Celtic culture, and here his writing is packed with rich imagery and insight.
He starts by outlining what is known of the origins of Celtic culture - quite a lot, actually - at the time of writing.... Read more ›
By Eco Chica
Format:Paperback
I found this book in a thrift shop (Oxfam Books) and bought it for its images and overview of this period in ancient history.
The first thing that struck me though is why he didn't write more about the Iceni Tribe and the amazing Snettisham Hoard, in view of the fact that this book was published after it's discovery. That fact alone is pretty disappointing.
Also, I haven't read more than a few pages, but of the pages I did, I noticed he asks us to treat what the Romans wrote about the Celts 'with suspicion' as they were invaders etc. This was immediately after an account of 'wife sharing' among Celtic tribes. Wife sharing in ancient tribes was not uncommon and I have read about this 'solution' to a shortage of females as being part of the way of life in mountainous China, among other places. Child birth was very dangerous and took the lives of many women. The solution was to share a wife among a load of brothers and even the father.
I'll update this review when I finish the book. I am particularly interested to read about the illuminations in Celtic bibles.
The first thing that struck me though is why he didn't write more about the Iceni Tribe and the amazing Snettisham Hoard, in view of the fact that this book was published after it's discovery. That fact alone is pretty disappointing.
Also, I haven't read more than a few pages, but of the pages I did, I noticed he asks us to treat what the Romans wrote about the Celts 'with suspicion' as they were invaders etc. This was immediately after an account of 'wife sharing' among Celtic tribes. Wife sharing in ancient tribes was not uncommon and I have read about this 'solution' to a shortage of females as being part of the way of life in mountainous China, among other places. Child birth was very dangerous and took the lives of many women. The solution was to share a wife among a load of brothers and even the father.
I'll update this review when I finish the book. I am particularly interested to read about the illuminations in Celtic bibles.
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