The Ancient Celts, Second Edition

By: Barry Cunliffe

Narrated by: Julian Elfer

Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Fierce warriors and skilled craftsmen, the Celts were famous throughout the Ancient Mediterranean World. They were the archetypal barbarians from the north and were feared by both Greeks and Romans. For 2,500 years, they have continued to fascinate those who have come into contact with them, yet their origins have remained a mystery and even today are the subject of heated debate among historians and archaeologists.

Barry Cunliffe's classic study of the ancient Celtic world was first published in 1997. Since then, huge advances have taken place in our knowledge: new finds, new ways of using DNA records to understand Celtic origins, new ideas about the proto-urban nature of early chieftains' strongholds. All these developments are part of this fully updated and completely redesigned edition.

Cunliffe explores the archaeological reality of these bold warriors and skilled craftsmen of barbarian Europe who inspired fear in both the Greeks and the Romans. From the picture that emerges, we are crucially able to distinguish between the original Celts and those tribes which were "Celtized", giving us an invaluable insight into the true identity of this ancient people.

©2018 Barry Cunliffe (P)2019 Tantor

Missing the foundation and migration from the steppe and the Tuatha Dé Dannan

I was hoping this book was going to touch on the mysterious Tuatha Dé Dannan and the earliest migration from the steppe. I also expected to hear something of the Sami people who occupied Europe before the arrival of the Celts. However the focus as always was on the time of the Roman Empire with an extra couple hundred-years bookending the Greco Roman Empires. It was interesting to hear of there return to the Scythian lands, but a missed opportunity to explain the Celtic graves found deep into China and even Japan. Otherwise a great book with lots of factual detail without the author inserting his opinions.

I really was hoping for more info from 6500BC-2000BC which is hard for a non academic like myself to wrangle from the misleading texts out there.

Brief History of the Celts

This is an excellent review of the Ancient Celts written from an academic perspective. If you are looking for an emotional discussion that reinforces your favorite social imaginary, then you may not enjoy this book. You should listen to it anyway.

Excellent!

This book is excellent and authoritative. Though (as the title says) really about ANCIENT Celts rather than later, more familiar examples, it is eye opening and an excellent resource on the Classical record and archeologic evidence. I think the Audible version was a great way to get the information, but I plan on grabbing the paper copy for continued reference.

Missing DNA evidence from Max Planck Institute

Wonderfully done, but would love to see it more closely incorporate the latest DNA evidence into the origin story of the population of Europe.

Excellent historical framework

The Ancient Celts is an excellent historical framework through which to view and discuss the identity and meaning of the term Celtic and the ancient peoples to whom it can be applied. Cunliffe focuses on the material archaeological record for his study, but does not hesitate to pull in writings of the Classical era, and previously established linguistic evidence to build his case. He bookends this more detailed study with thought summaries of who the Celts were and their material, cultural, and linguistic influence on Europe.

Where's the beef?

It's a huge accomplishment to write a book on ancient Celtic history, so props to Barry here. However, to be honest, I didn't gain much from it. The material was either too broad, or too diminutive with particular references. It seemed as though Cunliffe was just always saying 'idk this is what I got, you figure it out'. Either way, probably worth the listen if you're interested.

A fascinating book

A great book that I found to be developmental and maturative for a young man coming of age such as myself. I found that this material was really didactic and reliable. This book had given me great insight into my own Celtic background and I further highly recommend this book.

Not really up to date

Barry- honestly, the chapter on indoeuropean migrations was very out of date, mentioning the Anatolian vs kurgan theories as somehow equivalent when the recent genetics studies were all in favor of the latter (didn’t get a mention)...For a second edition published in 2019, this was pretty sloppy research...

Informative but disorganized

Audiobook does not have accompanment or contents or even chapter names, so difficult to track the substantial amount of info covered.

A friendly view of early European cultures that can be designated “Celtic”. Encyclopedic. Unfortunately fails to incorporate DNA

The author is a specialist with decades of research under his belt. He shares his vast knowledge and considered insights in a compelling narrative. I often found his point of view - the Celtic peoples were barbarians to the civilized Etruscan-Greco-Roman peoples. Civilized is relative at best and a mere facade at worst. Caesar was no doubt guilty of war crimes, e.g. Slavery was a accepted practice by those on both sides of the civilized line.
I do appreciate the emphasis on commerce as a factor that drove the story and shaped history.
Finally I am struck by the similarities between the Romanization of Europe and the Europeanization of the Americas.
I found Mr. Eller’s narration pleasant but too rapid. I think the story would have been more enjoyable if he hadn’t been in such a rush to get through it.