I can’t count the times I’ve prayed for a lecture to end early. We have all heard the dull, monotonous tone of a lecturer, droning through facts we could have simply looked up on Wikipedia or ChatGPT. Instead, we are imprisoned, listening for a whole hour or more, when all we want to do is to escape to our normal lives once more.
So why, you may ask, would we willingly choose to read a lecture? Not only that, but one given before most of us were even born. Why give up our precious time and money to choose to attend a lecture and one which may already have been rendered out-of-date by more recent research?
These were at least my questions when I approached this book, which is the transcript of a lecture some six decades old. But I was happily proved wrong and hope you will be too.
So much of ancient Irish history comes to us through secondary sources, passed down by amateurs, much like me. But Kenneth Jackson was no amateur. He was a Professor delivering the prestigious Rede Lecture at the University of Cambridge. This is the 1960s equivalent of a viral Ted talk, only this one is worth your time.
What I loved about this book was its concision. We get, in a brief 55 pages, a panoramic view of Iron Age Ireland: from the political structures of chiefs and vassals; to the social structures of fosterage, dress and settlements; to the practices of warfare. All of this is communicated through the colourful narratives of myth and legend to show how fact and fiction can so beautifully come together. Unlike so many modern books on this subject, Jackson takes no time to pad out his narrative. His points are clear, well formulated, evidenced, and structured.
The content primarily walks through Irish classical texts, setting them against the other contemporary texts from this period. Greek, Roman, and Norse mythologies are all set against one another to paint a clever backdrop to the Irish mythology canon. Jackson also takes the narratives from these Irish texts to draw informed judgements about the life and beliefs of the people who would’ve created them.
As to whether it is out-of-date, I am honestly not qualified to say whether there are now sections which have been supplanted by modern archaeology or research, but I find it highly unlikely. Sadly ancient Irish history has often not been preserved as it should, so new findings – while now increasing in pace and quality – are still playing catch-up against the erosion of time and memory. But the goods news, for this book, is that makes it still highly relevant today. It is why I think it’s an excellent entry point into the world of Ireland some 2000 years ago and one I’d recommend to any dipping their feet into the world of ancient Ireland.
The only downside is the cost as it’s a little pricey at £17.99 especially for it’s brevity. There may be other sources you can get this online, but for the paperback in the photo above, the cost is disproportionate even for an academic text.
Favourite quote: “But as soon as one tries to fish for this mythology from under the surface much of it slips through one’s net, leaving for the most part little but the names of characters unquestionably recognisable, from their Romano-Gaulish and Romano-British counterparts”.
Favourite fact: the use of the term “sun wise” to refer to turning to the sun rather than away from it.
Available here on: Amazon