The Mysteries of Stonehenge
eBook - ePub

The Mysteries of Stonehenge

Myth and Ritual at the Sacred Centre

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Mysteries of Stonehenge

Myth and Ritual at the Sacred Centre

About this book

Stonehenge presents us with one of the greatest archaeological mysteries from prehistory. With each new breakthrough in field research and technological innovation, the full scale and significance of the ancient site only deepens. In this new magisterial study by Nikolai Tolstoy, an essentially historical approach is used to try and explain the human story behind the implacable stones, and to enliven our understanding of Stonehenge through the fragments of myth and ritual that survive through Britain's oral tradition. With years of patient study and an acquired fluency with the island's many ancient languages, Tolstoy excavates a new theory from the layers of cultural sediment. Whilst admitting the latest archaeological evidence and research, Tolstoy aims to reconstruct the significant aspects of British pagan ideology and thinking from the pre-Roman era. By exploring the myths and rituals passed down alongside the material remnants of this lost civilisation, Stonehenge becomes illumined as the 'sacred centre' of Britain, the holy site at which the ancient peoples' most profound beliefs – in the birth, destruction and eventual rebirth of their island itself – were celebrated.

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Yes, you can access The Mysteries of Stonehenge by Nikolai Tolstoy in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Ancient History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Year
2016
eBook ISBN
9781445659541
Edition
0

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. Preface by Professor John Waddell
  4. Introduction
  5. 1 - The Riddle of Stonehenge
  6. 2 - ArchƦology and Stonehenge
  7. 3 - The Sacred Centre and the Ancient Roads of Britain
  8. 4 - Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum BritanniƦ
  9. 5 - ā€˜The Giants’ Dance’
  10. 6 - Avenues of Transmission in Archaic Tradition
  11. 7 - Historical Tradition in MediƦval Wales
  12. 8 - Celtic Tradition and the Transfer of the Preseli Bluestones
  13. 9 - Maxen the Emperor and the Preseli Sanctuary
  14. 10 - A Christianized Myth of the Sacred Centre: The Life of St Illtud
  15. 11 - The Hyperborean Temple
  16. 12 - The Conversation of Lludd and Lleuelys
  17. 13 - The Three Oppressions of the Island of Britain
  18. 14 - Pagan Survival in the Early Middle Ages
  19. 15 - The Omphalos of Britain
  20. 16 - The Destruction and Renewal of the World
  21. 17 - The Collapsing Castle and the Sacred Centre
  22. 18 - The Stones and the Seasons: Myths and Rituals of the Omphalos
  23. Bibliography