The Celtic Realms [Paperback]

Myles Dillon (Author), Nora Chadwick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000

In their masterly survey of the history and culture of the Celtic peoples, Dillon and Chadwick cover the whole period from the Celts' pre-historic origins to the Norman invasion of Britain. Though few really understand Celtic art, the authors demonstrate the peculiar genius of the Celts in their religion, literature, and visual arts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix Press (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1842120212
• ISBN-13: 978-1842120217
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,634,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, Very Readable and Comprehensive, May 22, 2005

By 

Ogma (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Celtic Realms: The History and the Culture of the Celtic Peoples from Pre-History to the Norman Invasion (Hardcover)

I've had a few people recommend this book to me over the years, and finally sat down to read it when a friend brought it in to work for me. I went out and bought my own copy the next day.

This is an excellent book and is surprisingly current, especially considering that it was first published nearly 40 years ago. Chadwick and Dillon were definitely ahead of their time. I may have been reluctant in the past to crack this book open due to the vast amount of chaff that I have tried to digest from several of their contemporaries.

This book covers most of the topics in Celtica - prehistory, history, culture, language, kingdoms - with a heavy focus on the Celtic literature. Some great insights, definitely a useable research work.

Doesn't say a whole lot about the Druids, but match this up with Ellis' "Celtic Empire", "The Celts" and "The Druids"; Gregory's "Complete Irish Mythology"; Guest's "The Mabinogion"; and Hutton's "Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles",
and you have an excellent all-round introduction to the Celts in general and to the Druids in particular.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brimming mead-horn of interest, November 10, 2006

By 

Andrew D. Lossing "Go real." (Coquille (nowhere-ville), OR, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Celtic Realms: The History and the Culture of the Celtic Peoples from Pre-History to the Norman Invasion (Hardcover)

Most of us are interested, to some extent, in history, and Celtic history captures the interest of a consistently increasing number of us. There's so much wonder, beautiful visual and literary art, and mystery to the ancient Celts.

But amid the work published on the Celts, there is much that is superficial or based on inaccurate traditions (too often English traditions misinterpreting true Celtic realities). I've found some of the latter, as well as some much better sources, and this ranks as the best among them. The scholarly research that went into this book is very strongly apparent; it is as deep as it needs to be. But it is surprisingly accessible as well. The writers know how to speak good, understandable language rather than Academese. Also present is a large amount of actual material. Many similar volumes only present the ideas and conclusions of the writers, while not bothering to provide the reader with much source material. Here, though, you'll find some excellent pictures, fine paraphrases of many Celtic stories, and even a good selection of actual Celtic words, poetry and inscription in the original language, as well as translation. Other writers give us precious few actual Old Welsh and Old Irish words, but these authors realize that most of us will never have easy access to the old texts.

All in all, as a lay reader, if you want intelligent research which gives you a fair amount of familiarity with important ancient mechanisms like art, language and poetry styles, with a fine record of the important points of history, you'll be hard-pressed to find it in a more accessible form. I'd number this among my ten most important books.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic but not dated, April 28, 2005

By 

Hallstatt Prince (MA. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Celtic Realms: The History and the Culture of the Celtic Peoples from Pre-History to the Norman Invasion (Hardcover)

This Dillon and Chadwick masterwork was first printed in 1967 and still stands as a significant work. Some writers of books on the Celts that have been printed over the past twenty years would have benefited if they had consulted this book.
Its discussions of the origins of the Celts are fair-minded and the authors do not rush the reader to conclusions that cannot be with our present state of knowledge and were somewhat ahead of their time in pushing back the origins of the Celtic period further than what is usually presented in other works.
For the beginner it is not always an easy read but it is still approachable and the determined beginner would do well in reading this book as their first introduction to the history of the Celts.
The author's use of the Celtic bardic texts is commendable for they introduce the information they contain yet minimize them as far as being a reliable source of fact and history.
Explored are accounts of the Celts by the Classical world as well as a discussion of the first traces of the Celtic language. Social and religious aspects of the early Celts are also touched on.
Most of the book concentrates on the historical Celts of the British Isles. Their study of the religion, art and literature of the Celts of the British Isles is masterful.
A good companion to this book is Barry Cunliffe's "The Ancient Celts."