In medieval Irish and Scottishlegend,Scota is the daughter of anEgyptianpharaoh and ancestor of theGaels.[1] She is said to bethe origin of theirLatin nameScoti, but historians say she (and her alleged ancestors and spouses) was purelymythological and was created to explain the name and to fit the Gaels into a historical narrative.[1][2]
Edward J. Cowan traced the first mention of Scota in literature to the 12th century.[3] Scota appears in the Irish chronicleBook of Leinster, in aredaction of theLebor Gabála Érenn.[4] The 9th-centuryHistoria Brittonum contains the earliest surviving version of the Lebor Gabala Erenn story (centred on an unnamedGoídel Glas), but this earliest version does not mention Scota even indirectly.[5]
TheLebor Gabála Érenn states that Scota was the mother ofGoidel Glas, the eponymous ancestor of the Gaels. This Scota was the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh named Cingris, a likely reference to Pharaoh Chenchres from thekings list ofJerome (who is calledAkenkheres in Egyptian records). She marries Goidel's fatherNiul, son ofFénius Farsaid (the inventor of letters and legendary ancestor of the Phoenicians).
Niul son of Fénius returns toBabylon as part of an effort to study theconfusion of languages. He is a scholar of languages and is invited by Pharaoh Cingris to Egypt to take Scota's hand in marriage. Scota and Niul's son, Goídel, who was saved by a prayer fromMoses after being bitten by a snake, is said to have created theGaelic language by combining the best features of the 72 languages then in existence. In Fordun's early Scottish version, Gaythelos, as he calls Goídel Glas, is the son of "a certain king of the countries of Greece, Neolus, or Heolaus, by name", who was exiled to Egypt and took service with the Pharaoh, marrying Pharaoh's daughter Scota. TheLebor Gabála Érenn describes him as aScythian, yet the famed Irish genealogistJohn O'Hart notes that Niul's father was a Phoenician, the brother of the legendaryCadmus.[6]
Other twelfth-century sources state that Scota was the wife of Geytholos (Goídel Glas), rather than his mother, and was the founder of theScots andGaels after they were exiled from Egypt.[7]
Other manuscripts of theLebor Gabála Érenn contain a legend of a Scotia who was the wife of Goidel's descendantMíl Espáine of ancientIberia. ThisScotia's Grave is a famous landmark in Munster.[8]
The Gaels, known in Gaelic asGoídel and in Latin asScoti, are said to be named after Goidel and Scota. However, historians say they were characters created to explain the names and to fit the Gaels into a historical narrative.[2][1]
Baldred Bisset is credited with being the first to connect theStone of Scone with the Scota foundation legends in his 1301 workProcessus, putting forward an argument that Scotland, not Ireland, was where the original Scota homeland lay.[9]
Bisset wanted to legitimize a Scottish (as opposed to English) accession to the throne whenAlexander III of Scotland died in 1286. At his coronation in 1249, Alexander himself heard his royal genealogy recited generations back to Scota. Bisset attempted to legitimize a Scottish accession by highlighting Scota's importance as the transporter of theStone of Scone fromAncient Egypt, duringthe Exodus ofMoses, to Scotland. In 1296, the Stone was captured byEdward I of England and taken toWestminster Abbey. In 1323,Robert the Bruce used Bisset's legend connecting Scota to the Stone in an attempt to return it toScone Abbey in Scotland.[10]
The 15th-century English chroniclerJohn Hardyng later attempted to debunk Bisset's claims.[11]
Andrew of Wyntoun'sOrygynale Cronykil of Scotland andJohn of Fordun'sChronica Gentis Scotorum (1385) are sources of the Scota legends, alongside Thomas Grey'sScalacronica (1362).Hector Boece's 16th-centuryHistoria Gentis Scotorum ("History of the Scottish People") also mentions the Scota foundation myth.
Walter Bower's 15th-centuryScotichronicon included the first illustrations of the legends. The 16th-century writerHector Boece included the story of Scota in hisHistoria Gentis Scotorum, andWilliam Stewart made a verse translation in theScots language for the Scottish royal court.[12]
"Scota's Grave"[13] or "Scotia's Grave" is a rock feature in Gleann Scoithín or 'Glenscoheen', south ofTralee inCounty Kerry, Ireland. According to theNational Monuments Service, "Following a site inspection in 1999 it was concluded that the evidence was not sufficient to warrant accepting this as an archaeological monument".[14]
