Lí Ban (from Old Irish lí 'beauty' and ban 'of women';^[1][2] thus 'paragon of women'^[3]) may refer to an otherworldly female figure inIrish mythology.

This Lí Ban claimed the beautifulFand as sister, and was wife toLabraid Luathlám ar Claideb ("Labraid of the swift sword-hand"), the ruler ofMagh Mell.^[3]

She appears primarily in the Irish tale ofSerglige Con Culainn (The Wasting Sickness of Cú Chulainn), where she is the daughter ofÁed Abrat. She appears first in the form of asea bird, then as an otherworldly woman who inflicts the story's eponymous sickness on Cú Chulainn. In the story, Lí Ban acts as messenger and mediator; she andCú Chulainn's charioteerLáeg work together to see that Cú Chulainn is healed in exchange for his aid in Fand's battle in theOtherworld.^[3]

From this, Lí Ban may have derived her namesake,^[3] a legendaryLí Ban ofLough Neagh.^[3][4]

• Serglige Con Culainn, ed.Myles Dillon (1953).Serglige Con Culainn. Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series 14. Dublin:DIAS.; tr.Jeffrey Gantz (1981).Early Irish Myths and Sagas. London: Penguin. pp. 155–78.
• The Sick-Bed of CuchulainArchived 8 July 2009 at theWayback Machine - An English translation of the above
• The Only Jealousy of Emer

• Vries, Ranke de (2007). "The Names of Li Ban". In Joseph Falaky Nagy (ed.).Myth in Celtic Literatures. CSANA Yearbook 6. Dublin: Four Courts. pp. 39–54.ISBN 978-1-84682-046-5.

• Irish goddesses
• Tuatha Dé Danann
• Ulster Cycle
• Irish-language feminine given names
• Feminine given names

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