K. H. Jackson's The Oldest Irish Tradition: A Window on the Iron Age was originally delivered as the Rede Lecture at the University of Cambridge in 1964. Jackson intended to show that the heroic literature of Ireland, the Ulster cycle of tales, derived from 'pre-historic' oral traditions which flourished before the introduction of Christianity in the fifth century. By closely examining this body of heroic narrative, Jackson attempted to illustrate how different aspects of the social structures, customs, ethos, and material culture in the tales could provide a picture of Ireland in the Early Iron Age.

This lecture explores the possibility that the Ulster cycle of tales preserves an oral tradition from the third and fourth centuries AD.

Book Information
ISBN 9780521134934
Author Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson
Format Paperback
Page Count 64
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 80g
Dimensions(mm) 203mm * 127mm * 4mm