![The Druids[ THE DRUIDS ] By Piggott, Stuart ( Author )May-01-1985 Paperback](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/510-aRlkVML._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg)
This book is something of a classic, being one of the only comprehensive attempts at looking at the archaeology of Celtic mythology in Britain. The book is quite comprehensive, well-structured, and well organized, and it provides a tremendous amount of information on Celtic pagan religion both in pre-Roman and Roman times. The book does a great job of attempting to tie together the iconography and disparate literary traditions to present a picture of Celtic pagan religion supported by evidence.
The book is dated in a number of key areas, including reliance on outdated archaeological and mythological theory. In particular, the mythological and iconographic analysis relies too much (IMO) on typological analysis and not enough on looking at the internal structure of the myths themselves. As a result I would not recommend this work to beginners, but rather to advanced students interested in additional information which could be used to fill in gaps.
On the whole, this book is irreplaceable yet it is not something that should be read as an authoritative textbook. The author clearly intended this to be read as a set of iconographic and mythological studies rather than as an authoritative summary of the topic. In this regard it's very, very good, but not something to simply hand an inspiring student who has not yet learned enough to address the work critically. It's still a book I would highly recommend to folks who have read other materials first.
Books to read first:
The Druids (Ancient Peoples and Places Series)
The Ancient Celts
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