The ancient Celtic world comprised a multitude of peoples, cultures, languages and histories, covering an immense geographical expanse that stretched from eastern Turkey, across northern Europe, to the west coast of Ireland and its islands.
For millenniums, a popular perception has painted the Celts as superstitious, warlike hotheads, generalisations that stem from classical literature, art, sculpture and coinage. Indeed, Celts are easy to recognise on Roman art due to their shaggy hairstyles and beards and long trousers, sure signs of a barbarian, according to classical standards.
Julius Caesar popularised the notion of the bloodthirsty Celt in his, albeit second-hand and unverified, description of druidic human sacrifice. An ironic statement considering Caesar’s own genocidal military campaigns as well as the fact that Rome’s empire was built on the blood and suffering of millions.
We have come a long way in our understanding and appreciation of the peoples loosely known as the Celts. Racially motivated stereotypes about Celtic peoples have had a long life, influencing political policies, public opinion and scholarly theories from the Enlightenment to the present day.
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It is not all negative, of course. Echoes of the Celtic past continue to stir the modern imagination, inspiring artists, musicians, writers, poets, filmmakers, philosophers, spiritualists, historians, linguists and archaeologists, among others.
Where these concepts about the Celts originated from and how those ideas developed and changed over time depending on the social, cultural and political environment of the day is the subject of this gripping book by John Waddell, professor emeritus of archaeology at the University of Galway.
Waddell takes the reader on a survey through centuries of scholarship to determine how we came to know what we know about the Celts and concludes by looking to the future of Celtic Studies. It is a deeply personal tour and Waddell is the perfect guide. His prose is elegant, effortless and a pleasure to read. The inclusion of over a hundred select colour photographs with maps are a bonus. Highlights of which include the Glauberg man, a life-sized stone male statue found near Frankfurt, and the enigmatic three-faced stone head, a possible deity, found at Corleck, Co Cavan.
While those working in the Celtic field will be acquainted with the historiography Waddell has gathered, his book is an excellent companion for anyone interested in connecting with the Celts and their world.
Dr Chris Doyle is lecturer in medieval history at the University of Galway
