Title Highlight: Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture

Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture

1 volume: Maps, charts, illustrations, abbreviations and technical terminology
Phonetic Definitions
Thematic list of entries
Language Index
General Index

This encyclopedia is not what you would think. It is not an encyclopedia about modern popular cultures, but is primarily an encyclopedia of word and language origins and relationships in the Indo-European family of languages, which includes Celtic, English, German, Greek, Persian and the Romance languages. However, the book does contain articles on ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Beaker and Dnieper-Donets culture, the Bronze Age Phrygians and others. It also has articles on various topics including clothing, comparative mythology, medicine, pigs, the trickster and the underworld. The many illustrations and maps clearly show where different cultures were active and what sort of artifacts they left behind and the further reading section after each entry refers one to more information on each topic. If one likes to study the origins of words and concepts in Indo-European languages, this book would be a good place to start. It is also a good introduction to many of the more shadowy ancient cultures sometimes referred to in ancient writings.