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TheMythological Cycle is a conventional grouping withinIrish mythology. It consists of tales and poems about the god-likeTuatha Dé Danann, who are based on Ireland's pagan deities,[1] and other mythical races such as theFomorians and theFir Bolg.[2] It is one of the four main story 'cycles' ofearly Irish myth and legend, along with theUlster Cycle, theFianna Cycle and theCycles of the Kings.[3] The name "Mythological Cycle" seems to have gained currency withArbois de Jubainvillec. 1881–1883.[a]James MacKillop says the term is now "somewhat awkward",[b] andJohn T. Koch notes it is "potentially misleading, in that the narratives in question represent only a small part of extant Irish mythology". He prefers T Ó Cathasaigh's name,Cycle of the Gods.[2] Important works in the cycle are theLebor Gabála Érenn ("Book of Invasions"), theCath Maige Tuired ("Battle of Moytura"), theAided Chlainne Lir ("Children of Lir") andTochmarc Étaíne ("The Wooing of Étaín").
The characters appearing in the cycle are essentially gods from the pre-Christianpagan past in Ireland. Commentators exercising caution, however, qualify them as representing only "godlike" beings, and not gods. This is because the Christian scribes who composed the writings were generally (though not always) careful not to refer to the Tuatha Dé Danann and other beings explicitly asdeities. The disguises are thinly veiled nonetheless, and these writings contain discernible vestiges of early Irishpolytheisticcosmology.[4]
Examples of works from the cycle include numerousprose tales,verse texts, as well aspseudo-historicalchronicles (primarily theLebor Gabála Érenn (LGE), commonly calledThe Book of Invasions) found inmedievalvellummanuscripts or later copies. Some of the romances are of later composition and found only in paper manuscripts dating to near-modern times (Cath Maige Tuired andThe Fate of the Children ofTuireann).
Near-modern histories such as theAnnals of the Four Masters andGeoffrey Keating'sHistory of Ireland (=Seathrún Céitinn,Foras Feasa ar Éirinn) are also sometimes considered viable sources, since they may offer additional insights with their annotated and interpolated reworkings ofLebor Gabála Érenn accounts.
Orally transmitted folk-tales may also be, in a broad sense, considered mythological cycle material, notably, the folk-tales that describeCian's tryst withBalor's daughter while attempting to recover the bountiful cowGlas Gaibhnenn.
The god-folk of the successive invasions are "euhemerised", i.e., described as having dwelt terrestrially and ruling over Ireland in kingship before the age of mortal men (theMilesians, or their descendants).[c]Afterwards, the Tuatha Dé Danann are said to have retreated into thesídhe (fairy mounds), cloaking their presence by raising theféth fiada (fairy mist).[d]Having disappeared but not died, the deities oftentimes make "guest appearances" in narratives categorised under other cycles. (e.g.,Lugh's appearance as the divine father andMorrígan as nemesis to the Ulster heroCuchulainn;[e]encounters of Finnian characters with dwellers of the sidhe;Cormac mac Airt's, or his grandfather's visits to the otherworldly realms.)
Collectedliterature, while they do not belong to the cycle in entirety, nevertheless capture tidbits of lore about the deities.
The following table is a summary of titles of all of the mythological texts that survive and are in print.[citation needed]
| Irish title | English title | Remarks & Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lebor Gabala Erenn | The Book of the Taking of Ireland |
| |
| Cath Maige Tured Conga | The First Battle of Mag Tured | ||
| Do Cath Mhuighe Tuireadh Ann So | The Second Battle of Mag Tured | Version A | |
| Do Cath Mhuighe Tuireadh Ann So | The Second Battle of Mag Tured | Version B | |
| Aided chloinne Tuireann | The Fate of the Children of Tuireann | ||
| Aided Chloinne Lir | The Fate of the Children of Lir | ||
| The Fate of Sinann | |||
| Scel Tuain maic Cairill do Finnan Maige Bile inso sis | Tuan mac Cairill's Story to Finnen of Moville here below | ||
| The Colloquy between Fintan and the Hawk of Achill | |||
| The Voyage of Bran | |||
| The Tale of Etain |
| ||
| The Taking of the Sid | |||
| The Dream of Oengus | |||
| The Tale of Mongan |
| ||
| The Settling of the Manor of Tara | |||
| Fingen's Night Watch |
The main source of mythology comes fromThe Book of Invasions, orLebor Gabala Erenn. It is an abridged compilation of both prose and poetry on the origins of Ireland and the extraordinary deities. The original was more expansive, but perished in what is to be assumed Viking raids, or being claimed during war time.
A supplemental text is attributed to a chronicler that goes by the name Keating, who published his book in the 17th century. He had access to materials that have not yet been published. Nennius and Eochaid Ua Flainn, chroniclers who lived during the 10th century, recorded mythological Irish history by way of poetry. Though their contributions are short and semi-vague, they contain a lot of precious information on Ireland's spiritual beliefs of the time. The Tuatha De Danann can be linked to the same origins as the gods in Greek mythology.Hesiod calls the Greek Gods "the Golden Race," and similar attributes are seen in the Celtic gods.[5]
In Irish mythology, Ireland was subject to 6 invasions. The first 5 were from otherworldy beings, and the last was from Milesians.[6]
The Tuatha De Danann were known to come from the heavens, but that may be from scribes not knowing how to execute their origin. So the scribes borrowed from past religions like the Greek, Roman, and Eastern myth to create an origin story. The Gauls were thought to come from underneath the Earth. This information had been passed down from druids from Dispater, the God of the underworld.
Earth was thought to be a woman at the time, so this was thought to be a metaphorical birth, not ascending from hell. The earth, moon, and sun were thought to be created by druids, much like how Brahmans boasted the same cosmogony story. Much like preceding myth, the Gauls believed the trees and mountains held up the sky.[7]
These stories stayed in theoral tradition because the Irish had not been invaded at the time, like surrounding countries. In conjunction, the druidic schools wanted to maintain the stories in verbal form. This kept the stories in circulation to the culture and public. When Christian scribes came to Ireland, they wrote down the stories in Latin. In succeeding centuries many of the texts were lost or destroyed during Viking raids. The remaining texts were re-recorded in manuscripts in the 11th and 12th century. Though previous manuscripts were are dated to 3-4 centuries earlier in the Irish language.[8]
TheTuatha Dé Danann are divine beings that came to Ireland by ships and inhabited the country before the native Irish. They came to Ireland to take the land from theFir Bolgs that had already been residing in the north of Ireland at the time. The Tuatha were immediately perceived as gods for their superior skills: various arts of druidry, magic, prophecy and history. Their leader was named Nuada. He led them to war against the Fir Bolgs around the west shore of Ireland, where the Tuatha had arrived by ship. Many of the Tuatha died in this war, but thousands of Fir Bolgs died. Including their leader, Eochai Mac Erc. They come from another world, but reside in Ireland until they were pushed out by war with a semi-demonic race called theFomorians. Their king is known in the mythology as Balor. The Fomorians resided on the outskirts of Ireland. When the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated in battle against theMilesians, they were forced to live underground in theSidhes. The Sidhes were chambers under Ireland's surface. Though away from the mortal world, they still would come to surface on special days like Hallowe'en and May Day.[8]
Besides independent verses, a number of poems are embedded in prose tales, etc. A number of them are also preserved in the pseudohistoricalLebor Gabála Érenn, Keating, etc.
Collected lore are not wholly of mythological content, but parts of it are. "The Fitness of Names" (#149–159, etc.) provides interesting explanations on names ofDian Cecht among others. Irishonomastica, theDindshenchas, also include stories about deities such asBoann (under Inber Colptha), theDagda (under Fidh nGaible), Brecan (Coire Brecain), often in developed narrative verse or prose tales. Genealogical tracts and theRoll of the Kings, various glosses (e.g. to the law treatiseSenchus Mor) may also be culled for information.
The following prose tales are described in greater depth in the following section.
| Irish title | English title | Remarks & Notes | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aislinge Óenguso | Dream ofAengus | remscél toTáin Bó Cúailnge | |
| Altram Tige Dá Medar | The Fosterage of the House of Two [Milk-]Vessels | alt. "Tale of Curchóg"[9] | [10] |
| Cath Muige Tuired Cunga | The [First] Battle of Mag Tuired of Cong | ||
| Cath Maige Tuired | The Second Battle of Mag Tuired | ||
| Ceithri cathracha i r-robadar Tuatha De Danand | Four Jewels of the Tuatha Dé Danann | ||
| De Gabáil in t-Sída | The Taking of the Fairy Mound | remscél toTáin Bó Cúailnge | [11] |
| Echtra Nera[i] | The Adventures of Nera] | remscél toTáin Bó Cúailnge | |
| Eachtra Léithín | The Adventures of Léithín | mod. versions | [12] |
| How theDagda Got His Magic Staff (club) | [13] | ||
| Oidheadh Chloinne Lir | The Fate of theChildren of Lir | ||
| Oidheadh Chloinne Tuirenn | The Fate of the Children ofTuirenn | late romance | |
| Scél Tuáin meic Chairill | The Story of Tuán son of Cairell | ||
| Tochomlod Nemid co hErin (?) | The Invasion of Nemed | frag. | [14] |
| Tochomlod mac Miledh a hEspain i nErind | The Progress of the Sons of Mil from Spain to Ireland | [f] | [15] |
The euhemerised deities arrived in five sets of migrations (seeLebor Gabála Érenn), but none of the individual migrations tales (Irish:tochomlada; sing.tochomlod) survived intact.[g][h]Remnants of the migration tales are the summarised accounts given in theLebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions). Apart from these are the tale ofTuan mac Cairill,Fintan mac Bóchracolloquy. Tuan and Fintan are ancient beings from the Antediluvian past, who have reincarnated into different creatures, and are referred to in theLebor Gabála Érenn as well.[16]
Of the battle tales (Irish:catha; sing. cath), the full narratives of the First and Second Battle of Moytura (Battles of Mag Tuired) survive in relatively late (16th century) manuscripts.[i]Other important battle tales such as theCath Tailten (Battle of Tailten) orOrgain Tuir Chonaind ("Massacre of Conan's Tower") are lost, though abstracted in theLebor Gabála Érenn.[18]
The late romance ofOidheadh Chloinne Tuireann ("The Fate of the Children of Tuireann") tells howLugh fines the sons ofTuireann for his fatherCian's murder, compelling them to collect a series of magical objects and weapons which will be useful in the second battle of Mag Tuired against theFomorians. An earlier version of this is recorded in theLebor Gabála Érenn, with a somewhat different list of fines (eiric), with no indication the murder happened on the eve of the great battle.[19]
In theOidheadh Chloinne Lir ("The Fate of the Children of Lir"), the eponymous children are turned into swans by their jealous stepmother, and live in swan form into Christian times, when they are converted, transformed back into human form, and die of extreme old age.
Tochmarc Étaíne ("The Wooing of Étaín") tells first of the conception ofAengus through the adultery of theDagda andBoann, and howAengus won the residence of theBrú na Bóinne from Boann's husbandElcmar. It goes on to tell of the various lives ofÉtaín, wife ofMidir, who is turned into a fly and driven away by Midir's jealous first wifeFuamnach. In her insect form she becomes the companion of Aengus, until Fuamnach once again drives her away, and she is swallowed by a mortal woman and reborn as her daughter. Her beauty attracts the attention of theHigh King,Eochaid Airem, who marries her; ultimately her bereft husbandMidir uses magic and trickery to win her back.
There is also a curious account regardingGoídel Glas, the legendary ancestor of the migratory races and eponymous creator of the Gaelic language, and how he was cured by Moses's rod from a snake bite, related to in theLebor Gabála Érenn, although Macalister is dismissive of it as fiction invented by glossators.[20]
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