Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
A Brief History of the Celts  By  cover art

A Brief History of the Celts

By: Peter Berresford Ellis
Narrated by: Christopher Oxford
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $16.36

Buy for $16.36

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

For centuries the Celts held sway in Europe. Even after their conquest by the Romans, their culture remained vigorous, ensuring that much of it endured to feed an endless fascination with Celtic history and myths, artwork, and treasures.

A foremost authority on the Celtic peoples and their culture, Peter Berresford Ellis presents an invigoration overview of their world. With his gift for making the scholarly accessible, he discusses the Celts' mysterious origins and early history and investigates their rich and complex society. His use of recently uncovered finds brings fascinating insights into Celtic kings and chieftains, architecture and arts, medicine and religions, myths and legends, making this esesntial listening for any search for Europe's ancient past.

©2003 Peter Berresford Ellis (P)2014 Audible Ltd
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

More from the same

What listeners say about A Brief History of the Celts

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    114
  • 4 Stars
    47
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    107
  • 4 Stars
    41
  • 3 Stars
    16
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    108
  • 4 Stars
    37
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A bit dry, but overall interesting

The narrator was a bit dull, very factual little emotion. But the story more then made up for it. As a person who knows very little about celts, I found it very informative and it made me question some other aspects of history I took as fact. There is a lot about the history between Rome and the celts and I found that the most interesting. There was also a good bit about the women in Celtic history as well which I found fascinating. Defiantly worth a listen, if you ask me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Worth you time

Engagingly written and well organized. I enjoyed the book, though the author is obviously a booster for Celtic culture and makes a lot of tendentious assertions that a more balanced writer would have qualified. Still worth your time if you’re looking for an overview of ancient Celtic culture and history - just double check the facts with other sources before you start spouting off the glories of the Celts to your friends. The reader is great - he has that perfect tone of authority and pomposity to go with the text’s recurring self-important dismissal of all contrary opinions. Or maybe it’s just the British accent. Go in with the understanding that the book has a bias and you’ll find much to enjoy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The Greatest at everything everywhere.

Mr. Peter Berresford Ellis is most certainly one the greatest Celtic apologists. The Celts are the be all end all of civilization in Mr. Ellis' mind I do believe. Interesting information but very favorable in all things Celtic. I admire the Celts as much as anyone, and my DNA has roots in Britain and Western Europe, but Mr. Ellis certainly has his Celtic bias.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

WOW!

What did you love best about A Brief History of the Celts?

A truly amazing people! I really enjoyed listening to their history.

What did you like best about this story?

It was real to the best of archeological history.

What does Christopher Oxford bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He made it as though I was right there with him looking at this amazing people.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't have an extreme reaction but it did make me sad and angry that a barbaric Roman race could defeat such and intellectual and amazing people.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brief yet informative overview

The narrator Christopher Oxford was outstanding. Nary a word mispronounced, in English or French, and some entertaining forays into accents (Irish, Welsh and others). Although I thought I knew something about the Celts, I found from listening that many of my ideas had come from Roman propaganda. Another fascinating bit for me was the linking up of Celtic and Indic cultures. I will probably listen to this again at least once.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great way to start learning about the Celts

Start with this audiobook if you want to learn about the Celts. I've listened to Barry Cunliffe's The Ancient Celts, and a good chunk of Kenneth Harl's Rome and the Barbarians. Both have their pluses and minuses, but this book is definitely the most interesting and I feel like I get a much better overview of the topic.

If you want to further your knowledge, then listen to the other two titles I mentioned. Cunliffe gives more detail on the ancient Celts, whereas this book has one chapter on the subject at the end. However, you will feel like you're having random facts thrown at you and it is more disorganised in how the subjects are grouped. Harl gives more information about the effect Celts had on Rome, but there is also a lot of Roman history that you could maybe skip (and you will get shouted at by the author).

However, both these authors put great stock in Roman descriptions of who the Celts were, even though these sources clearly had some bias. The author of this book has much more skepticism towards these sources which is refreshing. He also provides a lot more information about the Celts on the periphery of the ancient world, like Britain and Ireland, and uses the surviving Irish literary texts passed down through the centuries to help interpret who the Celts might have been.

All in all, I think each had its own merit, but start with this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

Absolutely amazing book! Delivers factual history without bias. I enjoyed learning about the connections of ancient celts to the hindus.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing history

Really great. Amazing history of such a great ancient group
Really wonderful narrator too
I really enjoyed it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

BORING

He just repeats a ton of words from different languages to make a point but doesn’t really tell an actual story that you can follow. It’s frustrating!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent scholarship and narrative

The compilation of the research for this work is most impressive. A worthy listen. I learned a lot!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!