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Celtic World
Probes the mysteries of the Celts, examining their legendary savagery in battle and the contributions of the artisans and traders who established the first cities in barbarian Europe
356 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
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About the author
Barry Cunliffe
174 books160 followersSir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe taught archaeology in the Universities of Bristol and Southampton and was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2008, thereafter becoming Emeritus Professor. He has excavated widely in Britain (Fishbourne, Bath, Danebury, Hengistbury Head, Brading) and in the Channel Islands, Brittany, and Spain, and has been President of the Council for British Archaeology and of the Society of Antiquaries, Governor of the Museum of London, and a Trustee of the British Museum. He is currently a Commissioner of English Heritage.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 14, 2013
Barry Cunliffe's "The Celtic World" is a good introductory level book on the history and archaeology of the Celtic people. As someone who is not well versed in Celtic history, I found it provided me with a good source of notes to look back on. It is loaded with maps, graphs and pictures of artifacts, and they all blend well with the text. Also the pictures are not just presented with a small caption but have a very detailed description about them.
"The Celtic World" is divided into seven chapters. The first is untitled but the remaining six are; Two) Celtic Society, Three) Religion and Mystery, Four) The Genius of the Celts, Five) The Destiny of the Celts, Six) The Island Celts, and Seven) The Celts Today. Each Chapter is divided into smaller sections on specific material about the main topic. These subsections are brief, usually two pages including pictures, but no longer than four pages. For the sake of brevity I will break down the first three chapters, and summarize the last four.
The first chapter serves as an introduction, and does (I believe) a good job of telling us who the Celts were, and how we use written history, and archaeology to look at their culture. The first chapter is broken down into sections on; "The Portrait of a Civilization" a less than one page look at the entire Celtic history, "A People Whose Roots Lie Buried in the Past" on Europe from the time of hunting and gathering to the point where Europe is absorbed in Roman colonial expansion, "Hallstatt and La Téne Cultures" on the two earliest Celtic cultures from late bronze age into the iron age, "The Emergence of the Celts" about the Urnfield culture, and the development of an aristocracy, "Discovery of the Celts" on how their settlements can be found across temperate Europe, and how their language still survives today, "Graves" on the vast quantities of graves excavated, and the difference of them based on social standings, "The Language of Objects" provides technical information like materials, and variation of design, and cultural information like style and decoration, "Sculpture and Coins" on the emergence of Celtic expression of themselves thru sculpture and coinage, "Written Evidence" about the many ancient historians views of the Celts, "Ancient Stories Retold" about the survival and documentation of the Celtic oral narratives.
The second chapter deals mostly with the late Bronze and the Iron Age period, using archaeology with the integration of texts by Celtic, Greek, and Latin authors in this chapter. "The Celtic Society" chapter is divided into sections on; "The Early Chieftains" on the aristocratic culture of the Hallstatt chieftains, "Wealth and Power" on the aristocratic burials of Celtic men and Women at the Mont Lassois and Heuneburg sites, "The Meeting of Two Worlds" on trading between Celtic and Mediterranean Cultures, "Revolution and Migration" about the early migration of the Celts that brought them into conflict with Greeks and Romans, "Profile of the Celts" which references things like customs and feasts by classical authors, "Physical Appearance" which again uses classical sources to describe the Celts, "Dress and Arms" which has lots of pictures (mostly of weapons) with helpful captions, "The Organization of the Tribe" which uses Irish texts to show social hierarchy and kinships, "A Nation of Horsemen" about the importance of horses in Celtic culture, "The Horse in Harness" about the Celtic chariot, "Arms, Armor, and Warfare" pretty self explanatory but it has lots of artifact images, "From Hamlets to Cities" archaeological data about small farm communities, "Hillforts" Shows various styles of these structures all over Europe, "The First Cities" about the development of Celtic communities and towns, "The Shifting Tribes" brief descriptions of tribal geography in Britain.
Chapter Three is by far my favorite of this book, discussing the religious and mystical aspects of Celtic culture. The "Religion and Mystery" chapter is divided into; "A Pagan Trinity" on how, for purposes of strength and potency, many deities were tripled, "Earth Mother and Tribal Father" on gender roles of deities, and their annual union, "The Major Gods" on the quantity of gods, and the few who were compared to Roman gods, "Sacred Animals" about the animals that were revered and reviled, and why they held such importance, "The Cult of the Human Head" on the power believed to be contained in the head, and how it was used in rituals, "The Sacred Places" discussing how the Celts worshiped in the countryside and the woods, rather than in temples for the most part, "Sacred Springs" about the curative properties of springs, "Votive offerings" on how and when they made offering to the gods in exchange for victory or cures, "Ritual Shafts and Enclosures" on the intricate and deep shafts that were filled with offerings to please the gods underground.
Now to briefly summarize the remaining chapters, Chapter Four "The Genius of the Celts" covers the misnomer of the barbarian, it shows us the Celts as a knowledgeable and highly skilled people. Chapter Five "The Destiny of the Celts" is about the conflict of the Celts against other European barbarians and Rome, with the inevitable conquest of the Celts by Rome. Chapter Six "The Island Celts" is about the Celts of Ireland who, because they were separated by the sea from mainland Europe, were mostly untouched except by Christianity, and their quest to restore Christianity where it had been wiped out. Lastly Chapter Seven "The Celts Today" serves as a twenty-eight year old retrospective on the 19th and 20th century Gaelic and Celtic peoples of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Once again, I feel that this text is easy to read and far from boring, making it an ideal foundational tool in understanding Celtic Culture.
"The Celtic World" is divided into seven chapters. The first is untitled but the remaining six are; Two) Celtic Society, Three) Religion and Mystery, Four) The Genius of the Celts, Five) The Destiny of the Celts, Six) The Island Celts, and Seven) The Celts Today. Each Chapter is divided into smaller sections on specific material about the main topic. These subsections are brief, usually two pages including pictures, but no longer than four pages. For the sake of brevity I will break down the first three chapters, and summarize the last four.
The first chapter serves as an introduction, and does (I believe) a good job of telling us who the Celts were, and how we use written history, and archaeology to look at their culture. The first chapter is broken down into sections on; "The Portrait of a Civilization" a less than one page look at the entire Celtic history, "A People Whose Roots Lie Buried in the Past" on Europe from the time of hunting and gathering to the point where Europe is absorbed in Roman colonial expansion, "Hallstatt and La Téne Cultures" on the two earliest Celtic cultures from late bronze age into the iron age, "The Emergence of the Celts" about the Urnfield culture, and the development of an aristocracy, "Discovery of the Celts" on how their settlements can be found across temperate Europe, and how their language still survives today, "Graves" on the vast quantities of graves excavated, and the difference of them based on social standings, "The Language of Objects" provides technical information like materials, and variation of design, and cultural information like style and decoration, "Sculpture and Coins" on the emergence of Celtic expression of themselves thru sculpture and coinage, "Written Evidence" about the many ancient historians views of the Celts, "Ancient Stories Retold" about the survival and documentation of the Celtic oral narratives.
The second chapter deals mostly with the late Bronze and the Iron Age period, using archaeology with the integration of texts by Celtic, Greek, and Latin authors in this chapter. "The Celtic Society" chapter is divided into sections on; "The Early Chieftains" on the aristocratic culture of the Hallstatt chieftains, "Wealth and Power" on the aristocratic burials of Celtic men and Women at the Mont Lassois and Heuneburg sites, "The Meeting of Two Worlds" on trading between Celtic and Mediterranean Cultures, "Revolution and Migration" about the early migration of the Celts that brought them into conflict with Greeks and Romans, "Profile of the Celts" which references things like customs and feasts by classical authors, "Physical Appearance" which again uses classical sources to describe the Celts, "Dress and Arms" which has lots of pictures (mostly of weapons) with helpful captions, "The Organization of the Tribe" which uses Irish texts to show social hierarchy and kinships, "A Nation of Horsemen" about the importance of horses in Celtic culture, "The Horse in Harness" about the Celtic chariot, "Arms, Armor, and Warfare" pretty self explanatory but it has lots of artifact images, "From Hamlets to Cities" archaeological data about small farm communities, "Hillforts" Shows various styles of these structures all over Europe, "The First Cities" about the development of Celtic communities and towns, "The Shifting Tribes" brief descriptions of tribal geography in Britain.
Chapter Three is by far my favorite of this book, discussing the religious and mystical aspects of Celtic culture. The "Religion and Mystery" chapter is divided into; "A Pagan Trinity" on how, for purposes of strength and potency, many deities were tripled, "Earth Mother and Tribal Father" on gender roles of deities, and their annual union, "The Major Gods" on the quantity of gods, and the few who were compared to Roman gods, "Sacred Animals" about the animals that were revered and reviled, and why they held such importance, "The Cult of the Human Head" on the power believed to be contained in the head, and how it was used in rituals, "The Sacred Places" discussing how the Celts worshiped in the countryside and the woods, rather than in temples for the most part, "Sacred Springs" about the curative properties of springs, "Votive offerings" on how and when they made offering to the gods in exchange for victory or cures, "Ritual Shafts and Enclosures" on the intricate and deep shafts that were filled with offerings to please the gods underground.
Now to briefly summarize the remaining chapters, Chapter Four "The Genius of the Celts" covers the misnomer of the barbarian, it shows us the Celts as a knowledgeable and highly skilled people. Chapter Five "The Destiny of the Celts" is about the conflict of the Celts against other European barbarians and Rome, with the inevitable conquest of the Celts by Rome. Chapter Six "The Island Celts" is about the Celts of Ireland who, because they were separated by the sea from mainland Europe, were mostly untouched except by Christianity, and their quest to restore Christianity where it had been wiped out. Lastly Chapter Seven "The Celts Today" serves as a twenty-eight year old retrospective on the 19th and 20th century Gaelic and Celtic peoples of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Once again, I feel that this text is easy to read and far from boring, making it an ideal foundational tool in understanding Celtic Culture.
August 27, 2022
At first glance, this book appears to be a comprehensive overview of the Celts. And it does provide some useful information but I did not find a deep look at the motivations for the Celts, particularly the early Christian monks like Patrick (who was neither Irish nor Roman Catholic) and Columba. He mentions Iona and Dalriada but fails to mention the Macdonalds whose ecclesiastical capital it was. It was their progenitor, Somerled and his son, who built the church and abbey and their descendants who maintained them for hundreds of years.
This book has a lot of information for the person looking for an overview but I was disappointed particularly when it came to the Celts' motives, especially those of Columba and the Christian monks of Ireland and Scotland. Patrick and Columba were early missionaries of the Gospel of Christ in the tradition of the first century church without all the ritual that came later. Nor were they ascetics who "wandered" around looking for a place where they could live a solitary existence.
Columba and the monks who came with him to Iona were looking for a base from which to launch their many missionary journeys to the Picts. I had the sense the author looked down on those who willingly gave their lives for Christ so that the unreached peoples of Ireland and Scotland could hear the Gospel. At one place he even referred to these early Christians as a "cult".
This book has a lot of information for the person looking for an overview but I was disappointed particularly when it came to the Celts' motives, especially those of Columba and the Christian monks of Ireland and Scotland. Patrick and Columba were early missionaries of the Gospel of Christ in the tradition of the first century church without all the ritual that came later. Nor were they ascetics who "wandered" around looking for a place where they could live a solitary existence.
Columba and the monks who came with him to Iona were looking for a base from which to launch their many missionary journeys to the Picts. I had the sense the author looked down on those who willingly gave their lives for Christ so that the unreached peoples of Ireland and Scotland could hear the Gospel. At one place he even referred to these early Christians as a "cult".
October 28, 2010
Read My review on Celtic Scholar
December 27, 2008
Published 1990
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews