Celts. The Mythology That Shaped Our Consciousness

A fresh and candid look at the stories underlying Celtic mythology. The book examines their influence on culture throughout history to the present day.

Since the sagas and legends were first recorded in the Middle Ages (by that time they were... already hundreds of years old!), authors and artists from around the world have used mythological images in their subsequent works. How is it that they are so familiar to us, even though they come from a world separated from us by centuries and so different from our own? How did King Arthur, first mentioned in early Welsh chronicles, paradoxically become a typical English hero?

Oxford lecturer and medievalist Mark Williams explores the roots of the legends and their heroes, who have had the greatest cultural impact and left their mark both on the genre of modern fantasy and on culture as a whole.