How Historic Context Shapes Celtic Myth's
Romeo and Juliette was turned into a poppy, romantic teen flick; gods, deities, and fairy tale creatures of varied religions and cultures are depicted in an extremely popular novel; the ring of the Niebelungen was turned into an epic opera; and the mythological gods of ancient Greece found a new home and names in the Roman pantheon. Adaptation can found in every medium, since stories resonate and reappear, moving from novel, newspaper, or historical event to movie, from poem to play, from folk tale to opera, or from myth to fairy. The ways stories are adapted are endless, and date back to a time where words were not yet written, and cultural ideologies and customs relied on the ...
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shaped myths of the Celtic culture in a variety of ways, for it influenced the very nature of how religion and customs were passed on, how this transformed the image of the Celtic druid, and
Through Roman influences, the transcription process has certainly distorted the myths in Celtic culture in a variety of ways. “The keepers of myth in Celtic society were the druids, [who] maintained an oral tradition and purposely chose to not keep written records, possibly to keep religious matters secret. […] Therefore, along with Roman rule and Christianity […] came the advent of writing and record keeping as clergy and scholars began to record Celtic myths” (Johnson). By simply introducing writing into Celtic culture, Druids, who were in charge of orally transmitting their customs, slowly became superfluous. Hence, very little is currently known about the ancient druids as they left no written accounts about themselves, and the only evidence of them are a few descriptions and ...
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Of course, this is not traditional human sacrifice to the gods, but it is sacrifice to King Arthur, and taking from the Mabinogion, King Arthur was so ambiguously tied to Celtic Mythology that he must, in origin, have been a god, making it indirectly a sacrifice to the gods. By looking at these texts, it becomes visible that the depiction of the druid underwent a big change due to mainly Roman and Christian influences.
Although, most Celtic culture and customs were lost by fusing it with Roman and Christian customs and beliefs, it changed it into a new direction and influenced it in a positive way, by valuing morals and passing along the Greek code of honor. The fact that honor and ...
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How Historic Context Shapes Celtic Myth's. (2011, March 17). Retrieved April 25, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/How-Historic-Context-Shapes-Celtic-Myths/96252
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"How Historic Context Shapes Celtic Myth's." Essayworld.com. March 17, 2011. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/How-Historic-Context-Shapes-Celtic-Myths/96252.
"How Historic Context Shapes Celtic Myth's." Essayworld.com. March 17, 2011. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/How-Historic-Context-Shapes-Celtic-Myths/96252.
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