The Celts

by Helen Litton

In the eyes of the world Ireland is a Celtic country - the source of all Celtic wisdom and lore, untouched by the Roman Empire. Here the Celtic way of life and war was preserved for centuries.
But just how Celtic is Ireland? Do we know whether the Celts arrived at all? If so, when? What was their real impact on this western island at the edge of the known world? Helen Litton explores "Celtic Ireland." Illustrations (some published here for the first time) and quotations are used to clarify the differing strands of evidence-literary, historical and archaeological. From Julius Caesar writing on the Celts to evidence of beautiful Celtic art, ringforts, bog bodies, bronze sword hilts, strange wooden idols and the cult of the human head, the author deals with the known facts about the Celts and comes to grips with the arguments about the true extent of Celtic impact on Ireland.

The period covered is from the 8th century BC (Later Bronze Age) to the coming of Christianity to Ireland, in the 5th century AD-a period of more than one thousand years.

Genres: History

Paperback

Published January 1, 1997

About the author

Born in Dublin, Helen Litton is the editor of Kathleen Clarke’s memoir, Revolutionary Woman, and the author of 6 illustrated history books. She is married with two children. Edward Daly was Helen’s great uncle; she has also written his biography for the 16 Lives series.

Reviews

[Max]

Not to paint this book with too broad of a brush but the word "celtoscepticist" and associated alarums were blaring in my head from early on. (A lot of Barry Raftery here.) Nothing in the book lives up to the monolithic scope of the title; it's focussed almost solely on Ireland, and even then prehistoric Ireland, and even then on what comes from hard archeological evidence. Okay, that's a little harsh. I enjoyed the illustrations and excerpts from Greek & Roman texts. Nevertheless — the work has been wholly superseded by the multidisciplinary approach of Jean Manco's Blood of the Celts (Thames & Hudson, 2015). I do plan on seeking out Litton's work on modern Ireland in the future.

[T.O. Munro]

There are lots of lovely extracts from near contemporary writings (mostly Roman) about Celtic traditions and society, along with some glorious images of artefacts and places which have certainly sparked a few ideas for ,e to visit next time I'm in Donegal.

the book is informative but measured - in that at this distance and with the Celts being a non-literate people - there is little recorded evidence and therefore a limit to what can be firmly asserted. For example artefacts of Celtic origin are no proof of Celtic settlement without further context - they could simply have bene traded or stolen treasures.

I liked hearing about the language differences with P-time and Q-type Celtic shown my words like Map for sun in P-celtic Welsh, and Mac for son in Q-celtic Gaelic. The Linguistic evidence intriguingly points to Scots Gaelic arising from a migration from Ireland to Scotland making Scotland something of an Irish Colony in its inception.

[Lio Leeuwerink]

A great read with many cited sources.

[Bulldog]

An enjoyable enough read, though not necessarily a compelling one.

[Jeff Herman]

Not a whole lot is known about when the Celts migrated to Ireland but what info the author was able to put together was definately interesting.

[Maya]

Please see my review at Celtic Scholar's Reviews and Opinions