Prehistoric London: It's Mounds and Circles

by E.O. Gordon

A thorough analysis of prehistorical pre-Christian Britain. This scholarly account includes detailed descriptions and information of an ancient land with its strange mounds and circles that bear witness to Britain's early culture and religion. Gordon begins with the "The history of a nation is the history of its religion, its attempts to seek after and serve its God" says an old writer. Of no nation or country is this more true than of Great Britain where from the standing stones of Stennis in Orkney to the Maen Ambres in Cornwall -- the prehistoric remains of open-air sanctuaries -- artificial mounds and scientifically constructed astronomical circles bear witness to the vigor and vitality of a national religion which has already passed from the primitive into the metaphysical stage and embodies abstract ideas astronomical observations and a high and pure code of morals. From the comparative study of antiquity in Chaldea Arabia Persia and Palestine we now know this religion to have been Druidism one of the oldest religions in the world and in its Asiatic and Semitic form of Buddhism the religion still of one-half of mankind. The author compares the mounds and circles in Britain to those erected by Moses and Joshua pointing to their similarity and elaborates on the close connection between the religion of ancient Israel and that of British Druidism. This is a book that is so full of captivating historical facts and intriguing conjectures that one hardly knows where to begin to focus for such a brief account as is possible in a summary. But the fascinating evidence revealed through the honest efforts of serious research has given us a wealth of striking characters from the race of people who have inhabited this beautiful land from its earliest days. One especially noteworthy proposition is the author's conviction of the kinship between the Trojans and the British and the evidence she gives to support her position.

176 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1985

Reviews

[Marley · Rating 3 out of 5]

My last book of 1212 I started out with 35 as a goal and this is #60 And strange book it is, but I knew that when I started it.

Prehistoric London is a reprint of a book published in 1914 and the author, EO Gordon appears to be another British Israelite, though I've not taken the time yet to look him up. The book has some interesting stuff in it, but I'm hardly convinced that England was settled by Brutus, the grandson of Aeneas and a few thousand Trojans getting out of Dodge after the iil-fated Helen affair. I was unaware that this was even on the table, but he cites enough sources, including Matthew Arnold and Dryden who waxed poetic about it, so I guess I'm the ignorant one. Anyway, Gordon writes with what appears to be some knowledge about high places, hills, the Tor, mazes etc, and Druids. I was unaware of the Druid,Multmutius, the father of Anglo-Saxon law and thus that's a plus. Whether he's talking through his ate about everything else, I don't know. The flowery language doesn't help.

[Roger Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title is very misleading! Very little of the book has anything to do with London. Most of it is a description of Druid beliefs and practices. Much of it is conjecture and is lacking in provable facts. Correlations are made because they fit the author's theory, not because they are provable. I found it very difficult to finish reading it.