Stuart McHardy examines the Pictish symbols which have been discovered on various items across Scotland. This interpretation serves as a backdrop for his analysis of the symbols themselves, providing a context for his suggestion that there was an underlying series of ideas and beliefs behind the creation of the symbols.
Edinburgh Castle is one of Scotland's most awe-inspiring and striking landmarks. A site of human habitation since the 9th century BC, it has a rich and varied history and has been a crucial strategic military site for thousands of years. Tales of Edinburgh Castle is a salute to the ancient tradition of storytelling, painting a vivid picture of the castle in bygone times, and the rich and varied characters to whom it owes its notoriety.
A book about Scotland drawn from hundreds, if not thousands, of stories. The stories are hilarious, tragic, heroic or frightening.
For many centuries the people of Scotland have told stories of their ancestors, a mysterious tribe called the Picts. This ancient Celtic-speaking people, who fought off the might of the Roman Empire, are perhaps best known for their Symbol Stones - images carved into standing stones left scattered across Scotland, many of which have their own stories.Here for the first time these tales are gathered together with folk memories of bloody battles, chronicles of warriors and priestesses, saints and supernatural beings. From Shetland to the Border with England, these ancient memories of Scotland's original inhabitants have flourished since the nation's earliest days and now are told afresh, shedding new light on our ancient past.
This is an accessible history of the oft misunderstood Picts, discrediting the idea that the Picts were a strange historical anomaly and showing them to be the indiginous people of Scotland.
McHardy presents a new approach to history, changing our mindset to look at Scotland as the centre of our story.