Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Hardcover – March 1, 2017

It was entertaining

Filled with wonderful comparisons to the gods of Greece and Rome! Epic tales of Celtic gods, and every day people of the times.

This book is much more than I anticipated, it is filled with rich stories of gods and goddesses I never knew of beforehand, my favorites so far being, Lugus, and Etain. The author has been teaching the subject of Celtic mythology for over twenty years, needless to say he knows what he's talking about. Recommended to anyone interested in the Celts! I especially enjoy how the Author has consistently mentioned several places throughout Europe named after many of the ancient Celtic Gods and Goddesses.

I purchased my copy of this fascinating and wonderful book on Celtic Mythology from Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin, Ireland when I was recently on holiday. Philip Freeman, in the introduction, gives a very good historical overview of who The Celts were, and, as a very good scholar and storyteller, delights the reader with the stories of the different Celtic Gods and Goddesses. My favorite parts of the book, were the stories about the great Irish hero Cú Chulainn , the Tuatha Dé Danann, Taliesin, Culhwch and Olwen, St. Brigid, St. Patrick, and St. Brendan to Tír na nÓg.

This professor of Classics and Celtic Studies, Harvard-trained, brings a compendium of interwoven tales, from sources translated from a wide variety of his predecessors. The contents cover the earliest deities, the Book of Invasions, the Wooing of Etain, tales from the Tain and the Ulster Cycle, and stories from the Irish otherworld. Then, a few on Finn the outlaw, before the Mabinogi are related in four stories, followed by three more Welsh stories and sagas. Finally, Christian saints Patrick, Brigid, and Brendan gain attention in this slim, but accessible collection.A quick sample of the tone. Cu Chullain asks his charioteer: "Where on earth are we?" He replies: "'I have no idea, my lord.' He continues, "But I don't think we're in Ulster anymore." (125) Not Kansas either, but the everyday register of these stories makes them meaningful for us. Too often either scholarly versions are antiquated (if in public domain) or New Age-tinged florid reckonings divorced from academic rigor and narrative control. Professor Freeman stays grounded.It's lightly annotated with introductions and endnotes, clarifying where the texts originated and variants in meaning here and there. But the learning's worn lightly, for this volume is aimed at the general reader. While Irish-published resources remain, and predecessors such as Oxford's translation by Sioned Davies of the Mabinogi and Penguin's anthology of Irish themes by Jeffrey Gantz, the updated version of Philip Freeman's colloquial versions is welcome. I'd have liked Breton, Scots, Manx, and Cornish topics to widen the Celtic scope, however.

I’m sure this is a good collection of Celtic mythology stories. But like all mythology stories, these are all kind of ridiculous. Also, I was assuming that most of these stories would involve Celtic gods, but hardly any of these stories involve gods.

I picked up this book in one of my trips into the library in search of primary source material on mythology, and while it is not what I was looking for, it is an overall enjoyable and intellectually stimulating read on the myths attributed to "Celtic culture." From the Mabinogi to the Táin and even touching on Christian "mythology," this book does a great job of touching on the stories from both classics and works that I was unaware contributed to the rich depth of Celtic mythology. This book is a must-have for any amateur connoisseur of world mythology, and it is a great jumping-off point for those who are unfamiliar with Celtic mythology to get a feel for it without getting overwhelmed.Some wonderful features of this book include an introduction explaining where and who Celtic mythology comes from, a pronunciation guide, notes on where each tale comes from, and a glossary, bibliography, and index! I would consider all these features to be the icing on the cake; this book is formatted how every book on such matters should be arranged.

My wife loved it thank you

It’s a beautifully produced book, and I had high hopes for it since it was written by a Professor of Celtic Studies. But the few women in this book are mostly there to care for their warrior men and provide them with heirs. The title is a misnomer. It should have been Celtic Gods and Heroes (with a couple of Goddesses thrown in).

Very educational content-wise, as I don't know much about Celtic Mythology.I need to listen to it again a few times; its a bit 'dry' and academic in places - but it gets stuck right into the yarns, once the dustier bits are done.It took a bit of getting used to Gerard Doyle using a broad Irish brogue (I know him for narrating Diana Wynne Jones's "Chrestomanci" books, and for "The Uses of Enchantment"). Still, it keeps you on your toes as a listener...Mr Doyle is one of my trusted voices, along with Richard Mitchley (who gives an utterly fabulous reading of the 'The Grey King' by Susan Cooper).