The Discovery of Middle Earth Mapping the Lost World of the Celts [Paperback]

Fifty generations ago the cultural empire of the Celts stretched from the Black Sea to Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. In six hundred years, the Celts had produced some of the finest artistic and scientific masterpieces of the ancient world. In 58 BC, Julius Caesar marched over the Alps, bringing slavery and genocide to western Europe. Within eight years the Celts of what is now France were utterly annihilated, and in another hundred years the Romans had overrun Britain. It is astonishing how little remains of this great civilization.Intriguing and stimulating . . . by an author whose previous works have been, oneafter the other, precise, self-aware, and enlightening.[A] daring theory&. thrilling.Upends nearly everything we believe about the history& of early Europe.Combines travelogue and historical detective story&. The work of a man to whom the past is vividly present.Raises intriguing questions about the relationship between tribe and empire, local identity and larger superstructure.A treasure hunt that uncovers the secrets of one of the worlds great civilizations, revealing dramatic proof of the extreme sophistication of the Celts, and their creation of the earliest accurate map of the world.