Celt And Greek

"In 279 BC a great host of 150,000 Celtic warriors, in three separate armies, erupted on to the Greek peninsula. The Macedonian king, Ptolemy Ceraunnos, was slain and the army that, less than two generations before, had conquered the known world for Alexander the Great was swept aside. The Athenians were likewise defeated and the great sanctuary of Delphi was looted and destroyed. The Celtic invasion left an indelible impression on Greek literature and art." "This is the first popular account of the Celts of Eastern Europe and their relationship with the Hellenic states, a relationship which started in the 6th Century BC. It explains the eastward push of the Celtic peoples from their homelands and the foundation of tribal states in Eastern Europe as far as the Ukraine. It shows how some Celtic tribes turned south into Greece itself before moving on into Asia Minor. The book also traces the involvement of bands of Celtic mercenaries in the employ of the Hellenic kingdoms and empires."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Developed from an early oral storytelling tradition dating back to the dawn of European culture, this is one of the oldest and most vibrant of Europe's mythologies. From all six Celtic cultures - Irish, Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Manx and Breton - Peter Berresford Ellishas included popular myths and legends, as well as bringing to light exciting new tales which have been lying in manuscript form, untranslated and unknown to the modern general reader. The author brings not only his extensive knowledge of source material but also his acclaimed skills of storytelling to produce an original, enthralling and definitive collection of Celtic myths and legends - tales of gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, magical weapons, fabulous beasts, and entities from the ancient Celtic world.

The author of Ireland's Holy Wars journeys through the Celtic world to discover the Celtic past and what remains of the authentic culture today, discovering that Celtic revival is largely misplaced and that the threats to the world's Celtic communities and culture are relentless.

'This book does provide a thoroughly researched and clearly presented picture of those Celts who strayed into the classical world and of the fronge Celtic communities at the moment when they were overrun and assimilated by Rome.' - THES

The story of North European cultural ancestors.

Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For two and a half thousand years they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists. Barry Cunliffe's classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of early chieftains' strongholds, All these developments are part of this fully updated , and completely redesigned edition. Cunliffe explores the archaeological reality of these bold warriors and skilled craftsmen of barbarian Europe who inspired fear in both the Greeks and the Romans. He investigates the texts of the classical writers and contrasts their view of the Celts with current archaeological findings. Tracing the emergence of chiefdoms and the fifth- to third-century migrations as far as Bosnia and the Czech Republic, he assesses the disparity between the traditional story and the most recent historical and archaeological evidence on the Celts. Other aspects of Celtic identity such as the cultural diversity of the tribes, their social and religious systems, art, language and law, are also examined. From the picture that emerges, we are — crucially — able to distinguish between the original Celts, and those tribes which were 'Celtized', giving us an invaluable insight into the true identity of this ancient people.

A historian of the ancient world examines the epic rise and fall of the Celtic tribes who invaded the Mediterranean and lands further east. The eastern Celtic tribes, known to the Greeks as Galatians, exploited the waning of Macedonian power after Alexander the Great’s death to launch increasingly ambitious raids and expeditions into the Balkans. In 279 BC they launched a major invasion, defeating and beheading the Macedonian king, Ptolemy Keraunos, before sacking the Greeks’ most sacred oracle at Delphi. Eventually forced to withdraw northwards, they were defeated by Antigonus Gonatus at Lysimachia in 277 BC but remained a threat. A large Galatian contingent was invited to cross to Asia to intervene in a war in Bithynia but they went on to seize much of central Anatolia for themselves, founding the state of Galatia. They remained a force in the region and their warriors served as mercenaries in many armies throughout the eastern Mediterranean. In this authoritative history, John Grainger explores the fortunes of these eastern Celts down to their eventual subjugation by the Romans, Galatia becoming a Roman province in 30 BC.

Scant records remain of the ancient Celtic religion beyond some eleventh- and twelfth-century written material from the Irish Celts and the great Welsh document Mabinogion. This classic study by a distinguished scholar, builds not only upon the surviving texts but also upon folk customs derived from the rituals of the old cults. A masterly and extremely readable survey, it offers a reconstruction of the essentials of Celtic paganism: fascinating glimpses into primitive forms of worship involving rites centered on rivers and wells, trees and plants, and animals; and examinations of evidence from Celtic burial mounds to explore beliefs and customs related to the culture of the dead, including rites of rebirth and transmigration.

Early in the first century B.C. a Greek philosopher named Posidonius began an ambitious and dangerous journey into the little-known lands of the Celts. A man of great intellectual curiosity and considerable daring, Posidonius traveled from his home on the island of Rhodes to Rome, the capital of the expanding empire that had begun to dominate the Mediterranean. From there Posidonius planned to investigate for himself the mysterious Celts, reputed to be cannibals and savages. His journey would be one of the great adventures of the ancient world. Posidonius journeyed deep into the heart of the Celtic lands in Gaul. There he discovered that the Celts were not barbarians but a sophisticated people who studied the stars, composed beautiful poetry, and venerated a priestly caste known as the Druids. Celtic warriors painted their bodies, wore pants, and decapitated their foes. Posidonius was amazed at the Celtic women, who enjoyed greater freedoms than the women of Rome, and was astonished to discover that women could even become Druids. Posidonius returned home and wrote a book about his travels among the Celts, which became one of the most popular books of ancient times. His work influenced Julius Caesar, who would eventually conquer the people of Gaul and bring the Celts into the Roman Empire, ending forever their ancient way of life. Thanks to Posidonius, who could not have known that he was recording a way of life soon to disappear, we have an objective, eyewitness account of the lives and customs of the ancient Celts.