Mythical Ireland embodies the search for a soul among Ireland's
ancient ruins, and is an attempt to retrieve something of deeper import
from 5,000-year-old megalithic monuments and their associated myths. The
book represents a fascinating and engaging journey through time,
landscape and the human spirit. Dealing with archaeology, interpretive
mythography, cosmology and cosmogony, the book attempts to grapple with
a core meaning, something beyond the functional interpretations of
academia.
In this revised and expanded edition, Anthony Murphy delves further into
the many enthralling aspects of this journey. Just how much knowledge
did locals have of the secrets of Newgrange before it was excavated? Who
is the Cailleach, the ancient hag goddess whose image is ubiquitous in
the ancient landscape? What happened to make Ireland's Stonehenge
disappear from the landscape? Who were the first kings of Tara? What
were the indigenous Irish myths about the Milky Way? Did someone try to
steal the Tara Brooch? Why are there myths in Ireland about flooded towns
and cities?
Lavishly illustrated with exquisite photographs of the Irish landscape
and ancient monuments, Mythical Ireland represents a personal and yet
universal journey, a quest to reimagine the shrines as empowering and
transformative sacred places. Murphy invokes the druids and poets of the
Boyne and thus the sídhe of the ancient texts are reawakened for a
modern and turbulent world.
