King Arthur was not an Englishman, but a Celtic warrior, according to Loomis, whose research into the background of the Arthurian legend reveals findings which are both illuminating and highly controversial. The author sees the vegetarian goddess as the prototype of many damsels in Arthurian romance, and Arthur's knights as the gods of sun and storm. If Loomis's arguments are accepted, where does this leave the historic Arthur?

The author fuses two of the most fascinating mythic traditions together in a single reference tool that combines both Authurian legends and Celtic myths, providing accessible data on each, as well as illuminating illustrations.

King Arthur was not an Englishman, but a Celtic warrior, according to Loomis, whose research into the background of the Arthurian legend reveals findings which are both illuminating and highly controversial. The author sees the vegetarian goddess as the prototype of many damsels in Arthurian romance, and Arthur's knights as the gods of sun and storm. If Loomis's arguments are accepted, where does this leave the historic Arthur?

This is a lively and absorbing account of the world of Celtic myth and the role it has played in the development of western culture. Included here are: The world of the Celts, including an historical overview from their emergence as an identifiable people around 1000 B.C. Also included is an exploration of their social structure. The contents of Celtic myths and the differences and similarities between their manifestation in Britain and Ireland. The topography of the supernatural world of Celtic myth, including discussion of Druidism, Shamanism, and the meaning of Celtic myths. The influence of Celtic myth in English literature from Arthurian legend to the Grail legends. This highly literate, lively, and absorbing exploration of one of the jewels of European cultural heritage demonstrates how deeply Celtic mythology has become embedded in Western consciousness. It is for anyone interested in history, mythology, spirituality, and culture.

This sets the ancient tales of gods and heroes in the context of the burgeoning interest among spiritual seekers of all persuasions in the ancient celtic mythical and legendary traditions.

The medieval legend of the Grail, a tale about the search for supreme mystical experience, has never ceased to intrigue writers and scholars by its wildly variegated forms: the settings have ranged from Britain to the Punjab to the Temple of Zeus at Dodona; the Grail itself has been described as the chalice used by Christ at the Last Supper, a stone with miraculous youth-preserving virtues, a vessel containing a man's head swimming in blood; the Grail has been kept in a castle by a beautiful damsel, seen floating through the air in Arthur's palace, and used as a talisman in the East to distinguish the chaste from the unchaste. In his classic exploration of the obscurities and contradictions in the major versions of this legend, Roger Sherman Loomis shows how the Grail, once a Celtic vessel of plenty, evolved into the Christian Grail with miraculous powers. Loomis bases his argument on historical examples involving the major motifs and characters in the legends, beginning with the Arthurian legend recounted in the 1180 French poem by Chrtien de Troyes. The principal texts fall into two classes: those that relate the adventures of the knights in King Arthur's time and those that account for the Grail's removal from the Holy Land to Britain. Written with verve and wit, Loomis's book builds suspense as he proceeds from one puzzle to the next in revealing the meaning behind the Grail and its legends.

The first collection of Joseph Campbell's writings and lectures on the Arthurian romances of the Middle Ages, a central focus of his celebrated scholarship, now in paperback Throughout his life, Joseph Campbell was deeply engaged in the study of the Grail Quests and Arthurian legends of the European Middle Ages. In this new volume of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, editor Evans Lansing Smith collects Campbell's writings and lectures on Arthurian legends, including his never-before-published master's thesis on Arthurian myth, "A Study of the Dolorous Stroke." Campbell's writing captures the incredible stories of such figures as Merlin, Gawain, and Guinevere as well as the larger patterns and meanings revealed in these myths. Merlin's death and Arthur receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, for example, are not just vibrant stories but also central to the mythologist's thinking. The Arthurian myths opened the world of comparative mythology to Campbell, turning his attention to the Near and Far Eastern roots of myth. Calling the Arthurian romances the world's first "secular mythology," Campbell found metaphors in them for human stages of growth, development, and psychology. The myths exemplify the kind of love Campbell called amor, in which individuals become more fully themselves through connection. Campbell's infectious delight in his discoveries makes this volume essential for anyone intrigued by the stories we tell -- and the stories behind them.