eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and which has been the subject of a revivalist movement since the beginning of this century, is ignored by the authorities and treated as something of a music hall joke outside of Cornwall.

Of these six Celtic communities, only two now have their own governments. In Ireland, the Irish Republic comprises (de facto) 26 out of the 32 counties on the island, having achieved self-government in 1921. The Manx also have their own government and represent a Crown dependency constitutionally outside the United Kingdom territory. The people of the six Celtic communities are the modern-day heirs of the unique and fascinating Celtic civilisation.

If, however, it is not the destiny of Celtic civilisation to survive, the Celts will have left behind them evidence of three millennia of a cultural continuum and a contribution to European cultural heritage in art, literature, and philosophy that is second to none. Our knowledge of what we will term “Celtic mythology” stems from two basic traditions, those recorded in Ireland and in Wales in the early Christian period.

It is from the Irish tradition that we have our oldest mythological tales and sagas, for Irish is Europe’s third-oldest literary language, predated only by Greek and Latin. Dr. Georges Dottin has argued that “it is probable that the most ancient pieces of the epic literature of Ireland were written before the middle of the seventh century; but how long previously they had been preserved by oral tradition—this is a point difficult to estimate.” We have a record of the numerous Tech Screpta, or great libraries, of Ireland during the period of the so-called “Dark Ages,” which was, of course, a “Golden Age” of Celtic learning, a time when Ireland was famous for her colleges and centres of learning throughout Europe—when even English kings were sent to Ireland for an education. However, the Viking raids from the end of the eighth century saw entire libraries looted or destroyed.

Therefore, the oldest surviving complete manuscript books that provide the sources for Irish mythology date from the twelfth century. Leabhar na hUidre, known as The Book of the Dun Cow, the Leabhar Laignech, or Book of Leinster, and a book known by its Bodleian Library reference—Rawlinson Manuscript B 502—constitute the earliest rich source texts. The Leabhar na hUidre was compiled under the supervision of Mael Muire Mac Céilchair, who was killed by marauders at the monastery of Clonmacnoise in a.d. 1106. The Leabhar