Flidas orFlidais (modern spelling:Fliodhas,Fliodhais) is a female figure inIrish Mythology, known by the epithetFoltchaín ("beautiful hair"). She is believed to have been a goddess of cattle and fertility.[1][2]
Flidas is mentioned in theMetrical Dindshenchas as mother ofFand,[3] and in theLebor Gabála Érenn as the mother of Argoen,Bé Téite, Dinand andBé Chuille.[1][4] Dinand andBé Chuille are mentioned as "she-farmers" in a passage about Dian Cecht in Lebor Gabála Érenn and as witches in the Second Battle of Moytura, where they agree to enchant the trees, stones, and sods of the earth to become a host under arms.[4][5] In theMiddle Irish glossaryCóir Anmann ("Fitness of Names") Flidas is said to be the wife of the legendary High KingAdamair and the mother ofNia Segamain.
TheUlster Cycle tale "The Tidings of Conchobar" says that it took seven women to satisfy Fergus, unless he could have Flidais.[6] Her affair with Fergus is the subject of oral tradition inCounty Mayo.[7]
The myths relating to Fliodhais overwhelmingly focus on cattle.
Flidais is a central figure inTáin Bó Flidhais ("The Driving-off of Flidais's Cattle"), anUlster Cycle work, where she is the lover ofFergus mac Róich and the owner of a magical herd of cattle. The story, set inErris,County Mayo tells how Fergus carried her and her cattle away from her husband, Ailill Finn.[8]
During theTáin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) she slept in the tent ofAilill mac Máta, king of Connacht, and every seven days her herd supplied milk for the entire army.[9] InTáin Bó Flidhais she has a favoured white cow known as "The Maol" which can feed 300 men from one night's milking.[10][11]
In the recent past Flidais was popularly rendered as a woodland goddess similar to the GreekArtemis and RomanDiana. Scholars now believe this to be incorrect.[2]
Her son,Nia Segamain, was able to milk wild deer as if they were cows by power received from his mother.[12] This indirect association with deer, and her consequent attribution as a woodland goddess is based on an unlikely medieval folk etymology of her name asflid ois or "wetness of a faun".[2] This etymology may have been an effort to conflate Flidais with the deer maiden,Sadhbh from theFenian Cycle; however, Fliodhais' mythology overwhelmingly focuses only on domestic cattle and milking.
{{cite web}}:|last1= has generic name (help){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)