 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(October 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
_(14760452906).jpg)
Nemed orNimeth (Modern Irish:Neimheadh) is a character in medieval Irish legend. According to theLebor Gabála Érenn (compiled in the 11th century), he was the leader of the third group of people to settle in Ireland: theMuintir Nemid (orMuintir Neimhidh, "people of Nemed"),Clann Nemid (Clann Neimhidh, "offspring of Nemed") or "Nemedians". They arrived thirty years after theMuintir Partholóin, their predecessors, had died out. Nemed eventually dies ofplague and his people are oppressed by theFomorians. They rise up against the Fomorians, attacking their tower out at sea, but most are killed and the survivors leave Ireland. Their descendants become theFir Bolg.[1]
The wordnemed means "privileged" or "holy" inOld Irish,[2] and "seems to have been a designation of adruid".[3] The reconstructedProto-Celtic language rootnemos means "sky" or "heaven". In theancient Celtic religions anemeton was aplace of worship (which included temples, shrines and sacred natural places).[4][5][6] Similar roots are found in place names acrossCeltic culture.[5] For example, there was aNemetes tribe of the centralRhine area, who had a goddessNemetona.[4]
According to theLebor Gabála, Nemed, like those who settled Ireland before him, had a genealogy going back to the BiblicalNoah. Nemed was the son of Agnoman ofScythia, the son of Piamp, son of Tait, son of Sera, son of Sru, son of Esru, son of Friamaint, son of Jobhath, son ofMagog, son ofJapheth, one of thesons of Noah.
Ireland had been uninhabited since the Muintir Partholóin died of plague. The Muintir Nemid set sail from theCaspian Sea in 44 ships, but after a year and a half of sailing, the only ship to reach Ireland is Nemed's. In one version, the fleet come upon a tower of gold in the sea. They try to take the tower, but all the ships except Nemed's are wrecked by the waves.[3] Also on board are his wifeMacha, his four chieftain sons (Starn, Iarbonel, Annind, and Fergus 'Red-Side'), their wives and others.[3]
His wife Macha dies twelve days after they arrived and is buried atArd Mhacha (Armagh). Two quite different dates are given for the arrival of Muintir Nemid: 2350 BCE, according to theAnnals of the Four Masters; or 1731 BCE inSeathrún Céitinn's chronology.
Four lakesburst from the ground in Nemed's time, includingLoch Annind, which flowed up when Annind's grave was being dug. The other three lakes areLoch Cál inUí Nialláin,Loch Munremair in Luigne, andLoch Dairbrech inMide.
The Muintir Nemid clear twelve plains: Mag Cera, Mag Eba, Mag Cuile Tolaid and Mag Luirg inConnacht; Mag Seired inTethbae; Mag Tochair inTír Eoghain; Mag Selmne inDál nAraidi; Mag Macha inAirgíalla; Mag Muirthemne inBrega; Mag Bernsa inLeinster; Leccmag and Mag Moda inMunster.
They also build two royal forts: Ráth Chimbaith in Semne and Ráth Chindeich in Uí Nialláin. Ráth Chindeich was dug in one day by Boc, Roboc, Ruibne, and Rotan, the four sons of Matan Munremar. Nemed kills them before dawn the next morning.
Nemed wins four battles against the mysteriousFomorians (Fomoire). Modern scholars believe the Fomorians were a group of deities who represent the harmful or destructive powers of nature: personifications of chaos, darkness, death, blight, and drought.[7][8] These battles are at Ros Fraechain (in which Fomorian kings Gann and Sengann[9] are killed), at Badbgna in Connacht, at Cnamros in Leinster (in which Artur, Nemed's first son born in Ireland, dies), and at Murbolg inDál Riata (where his son Starn is killed by the FomorianConand).
However, nine years after arriving in Ireland, Nemed dies of plague, along with three thousand of his people. He is buried on the hill ofArd Nemid onGreat Island inCork Harbour.[3]
The remaining Muintir Nemid are oppressed by the Fomorians Morc and Conand, who lives in Conand's Tower, on an island off the coast. EachSamhain, the Nemedians must give two thirds of their children, their corn and their milk to the Fomorians. Thistribute may be "a dim memory of sacrifice offered at the beginning of winter, when the powers of darkness and blight are in the ascendant".[10] After many years, the Muintir Nemid rise up against the Fomorians and attack Conand's Tower with 60,000 warriors (30,000 on sea and 30,000 on land), defeating Conand. Morc then attacks, and almost all of the Nemedians are either killed in the fighting or swept away by the sea. Only one ship of thirty men escapes.[3]
Some of the survivors go "into the north of the world" and become theTuatha Dé Danann, some go to Britain and become the ancestors of allBritons, and some go south to Greece and become theFir Bolg.[3] The island would be empty for another 200 years.
TheHistoria Brittonum—which is earlier than theLebor Gabála—says there were only three settlements of Ireland, with the Nemedians being the second. It says that the Nemedians came fromIberia and stayed in Ireland for many years, but returned to Iberia and the continent. TheLebor Gabála says that there were six settlements and classifies the Nemedians as the third group. The number may have been increased to six to match the "Six Ages of the World".[11]
Irish mythology mentions another Nemed, namelyNemed mac Nama, who may or may not be the same as the Nemed mentioned in theLebor Gabála. This Nemed is described as a famous warrior king who raised two horses with the Fairy Folk of Síd Ercmon. When the horses were released from the Síd, a stream calledUanob ("Foam River") orOin Aub chased them from the Síd and released foam over the entire land for a year.Cúchulainn later referred to this river thus: "Over the foam of the two horses of Emain am I come".[12]
Dáithí Ó hÓgáin writes that Nemed himself "is probably drawn from genuine tradition" and that his name (and his wife's name) suggests "he originally belonged to the context of the divine pantheon known as theTuatha Dé Danann".[3] He notes that the clash between the Nemedians and Fomorians echoes the primordial clash between the Tuath Dé and Fomorians, commenting that "the medieval scholars were more concerned with devising a chronological pseudo-history than with avoiding duplication".[3]
In one version of theLebor Gabála, the Nemedians are drowned while trying to take a golden tower at sea, while in theHistoria Brittonum it is theMilesians who attack a glass tower at sea.[13] The Nemedians later battle the Fomorians at a tower by the sea, while the Tuath Dé battle the Fomorians at a place called the "plain of towers" or "plain of pillars" (theBattle of Mag Tuired).[14]
| Preceded by | Mythical settlers of Ireland AFM 2350 BC FFE 1731 BC | Succeeded by |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)