The Picts cover art

The Picts

A History

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The Picts

By: Tim Clarkson
Narrated by: Mhairi Morrison
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About this listen

A British historian explores the mysterious Scottish culture of the Iron Age and Early Middle Ages whose enigmatic symbols adorn standing stones.

The Picts were an ancient nation who ruled most of northern and eastern Scotland during the Dark Ages. Despite their historical importance, they remain shrouded in myth and misconception. Absorbed by the kingdom of the Scots in the ninth century, they lost their unique identity, their language, and their vibrant artistic culture. Among their few surviving traces are standing stones decorated with incredible skill and covered with enigmatic symbols.

The Pictish Stones offer some of the few remaining clues to the powerful and gifted people who bequeathed no chronicles to tell the sagas of their kings and heroes. In this book, Medieval historian Tim Clarkson pieces together the evidence to tell the story of this mysterious people from their emergence in Roman times to their eventual disappearance.

©2016 Tim Clarkson (P)2022 Tantor Ancient Archaeology Europe Great Britain Middle Ages Royalty Scotland Highlander

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All stars
Most relevant
interesting account of the kingdom of the Picts and their relationship with their neighbours.

picts- not what I expected

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The best information I've found on the Picts. if you're interested in leaning more about them then it's definitely recommended from me.

I hesitated after reading the other review, but it was unnecessary. I find it to be beautifully read.

Good Information on the Picts

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A useful introduction to the history of the Picts. On the whole well-read, although there are occasional hesitations before pronunciations of ancient kingdoms, placenames etc. Overall a good performance and book

Interesting and engaging

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Clarkson simplifies what is an extremely complex subject in an easily readable and understandable manner. Not only that he manages to cut through the so called “problem of the Picts” in simplified way which suggests they were not so different from their contemporaries as might be expected from a people who had no written language. To anyone interested in this period of history I would thoroughly recommend this well read book.

Interesting topic well written and narrated

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A combination of strange pacing and questionable editing choices made the narration sound like text-to-speach AI rather than a real person. This, coupled with frequent mispronunciations of Scottish place names (Islay, Wemyss and Schiehallion to list a few) made this an incredibly frustrating listen. The book presents itself as a narrative history of the picts, however it was much closer to a list of pictish Kings with frequent tangents of varying relevance.

Narration made it almost unlistenable

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