Balor

{{Short description|Chief king of the Fomorians in Irish Mythology}} {{Other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} In Irish mythology, '''Balor''' or '''Balar''' was a leader of the Fomorians, a group of malevolent supernatural beings, and considered the most formidable.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Cotterell |first=Arthur |title=The Encyclopedia of Mythology |publisher=Hermes House |year=2006 |isbn=978-0681375819 |pages=102 |language=en}}</ref> He is often described as a giant with a large eye that wreaks destruction when opened. Balor takes part in the Battle of Mag Tuired, and is primarily known from the tale in which he is killed by his grandson Lugh of the Tuatha Dé Danann, son of Cian. He has been interpreted as a personification of the scorching sun, and has also been likened to figures from other mythologies, such as the Welsh Ysbaddaden and the Greek Cyclops.

==Name== The name ''Balor'' may come from Common Celtic ''*Boleros'', meaning "the flashing one".<ref name="ohogain"/>

In the early literature he is also referred to as ''Balor Béimnech'' (Balor the smiter),<ref name="ohogain"/> ''Balor Balcbéimnech'' (Balor the strong smiter),<ref name=lge-para312&331&364/> ''Balor Birugderc'' (Balor of the piercing-eye),<ref name=cmt-ss133/> ''Balor mac Doit meic Néid'' (Balor, son of Dot son of Nét)<ref name=cmt-ss128/> or ''Balor ua Néit'' (Balor, grandson of Nét).<ref name=cmt-ss050/>

Later forms are ''Balor Béimeaen''{{sfnp|O'Donovan|1856|p=18}} or ''Balar Bemen'' (''Ogygia'', 1685),<ref name=oflaherty-ogygia-eng/> and ''Balór na Súile Nimhe'' (Balor of the Evil Eye).<ref name="ohogain"/>

==Mythological Cycle== Balor first appears in the medieval texts that make up the Mythological Cycle.

Balor was the son of Dot son of Néit according to the ''Cath Maige Tuired'' (''CMT''),<ref name=cmt-ss128/> but called Balor son of Buarainech in the list of renowned rath- and castle-builders of the world, preserved in the ''Book of Leinster''.<ref name=ocurry-rathbuilder/><ref name=arbois-rathbuilder/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Buar-ainech means "cow-faced" according to Arbois de Jubainville, who encourages comparison with the Celtic deity Cernunnos.<ref name=arbois-rathbuilder/>{{sfnp|d'Arbois de Jubainville|1903|p=218}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|A later version of this list, in verse and prose, was made by Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh, anno 1650.<ref name=ocurry-rathbuilder/>}} Cethlenn was Balor's wife according to O'Flaherty's ''Ogygia'' (1685).<ref name=oflaherty-ogygia-eng/> Cethlenn is mentioned by name in the ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' (''LGE''), but not as a wife of Balor.<ref name=lge-para314&366/>

The Mythological Cycle tells of a struggle between the divine Tuatha Dé Danann and the demonic Fomorians. At the behest of Bres, the Fomorians go to war against the Tuath Dé. Balor appears as champion of the Fomorians and king of the Isles (the Hebrides), while Indech mac De was the Fomorian king; the two of them leading the Fomorian army.<ref name=cmt-ss050/><ref name=cmt-ss133/> Balor built for Bres the fort of Rath Breisi in Connacht, according to the rath-builder list.<ref name=ocurry-rathbuilder/><ref name=arbois-rathbuilder/>

In the ensuing battle, the second Battle of Mag Tuired, Balor kills the Tuath Dé king Nuada Airgetlám, but Balor is himself killed by his own grandson Lugh before he had a chance to use his destructive eye.<ref name=cmt-ss133/><ref name=lge-para312&331&364/> Balor's eye wreaked destruction when opened, unleashing some "power of poison",{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|''nem'', ''neim''<ref name=dil-neim/>}} but it took the strength of four warriors to lift the eyelid, by grabbing the ring (handle) attached to it.<ref name=cmt-ss133/><ref name=dil-drolam/> Lugh shot a sling-stone ({{langx|sga|cloch as a tábaill}}, "stone from the sling"){{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|táball<ref name=dil-taball/>}} at the eye, which came out the other side and harmed the Fomorian army. Balor's falling body crushed 27 Fomorian soldiers, and his head struck their king Indech.<ref name=cmt-ss133/>

Though not stated outright, the supposition is that Balor here is a "one-eyed giant".{{sfnp|Sheeran|Witoszek|1990|p=243}} In one account of the battle, Lugh also killed a Fomorian leader named Goll (meaning "one-eyed"), who may be a duplication of Balor.<ref name="ohogain-fionn">Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Fionn Mac Cumhaill: Images of the Gaelic Hero''. Gill & MacMillan, 1988. pp. 10-11</ref> The ''CMT'' says that Balor's eye gained its baleful power from exposure to the fumes from the magic potion<ref name=dil-fulacht/> his father's druids were brewing.<ref name=cmt-ss133/><ref>See {{harvp|Scowcroft|1995|p=141}} and {{harvp|Sheeran|Witoszek|1990|p=243}} for paraphrases of this passage. Scowcroft writes the eye was "envenomed by vapours from druid concoctions".</ref> O'Curry tantalizingly stated he was in possession of a manuscript with an alternate explanation on how Balor got his power, but does not elaborate due to lack of space.{{sfnp|O'Curry|1863|pp=233–234}}

Another description of Balor's death, dating from at least the 12th century, says he survived the loss of his eye and was chased by Lugh to Mizen Head. Lugh beheads Balor and sets the head on a large rock, which then shatters. This is said to be the origin of the headland's Irish name, ''Carn Uí Néit'' ("cairn of Nét's grandson").<ref name="ohogain"/>

==Folktale== {{See also|Cian|Glas Gaibhnenn}} thumb|Tor Mór on Tory Island, the setting of some versions of Balor's folktale

In folklore collected during the 19th century, Balor is a warrior or tyrant who is generally said to live on Tory Island.<ref name=odonovan/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Balor is frequently legendized as living on Tory Island,<ref name="ohogain"/> but not necessarily.{{sfnp|Morris|1927|p=57}}}} Balor hears a prophecy that he would be killed by his grandson. To avoid his fate, he locks his only daughter, Ethnea (Eithne), in a tower to keep her from becoming pregnant. Balor goes to the mainland and steals the magical cow of abundance Glas Gaibhnenn belonging to MacKineely (Cian mac Cáinte)<ref name=ogle/><ref name=bruford/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Variant: Kian son of Contje,<ref name=larminie/> though he is not the owner of the cow in that version, nor related to the smith who owns it.}} MacKineely/Cian learns he can only get the cow back when Balor is dead, and with the help of his female familiar spirit (''leanan sídhe'') named Biróg, enters the tower, finds Ethnea and impregnates her. When she gives birth to three sons, Balor orders the three to be drowned, but one survives without Balor's knowledge. The grandson is fostered by the smith who is his uncle{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Or Manannán mac Lir the sea-god.<ref name=larminie/>}} Balor eventually encounters his grandson by chance and is killed by him.<ref name=odonovan/>

The unnamed grandson in the tale is recognizable as Lugh. In "Balor on Tory Island" and its variant, the child is called Lughaidh Lámhfhada (Lughaidh Longhand),<ref name=curtin-p283-donegal/><ref name=curtin-p296-connemara/> and is recognized as an equivalent of Lugh.<ref name=brown-sirperceval5/> In the very similar Irish text "Balor agus Mac Cionnfhaolaidh",{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Laoide's Irish text and Curtin's "Balor on Tory Island"<ref name=curtin-p283-donegal/> have the same name for the protagonist Fionn Mac Cionnfhaolaidh vs. Fin the son of Ceanfaeligh (Kinealy), and the plot-lines are similar throughout.}}<ref name=laoide/> the child is Lugh Fadlámhach, i.e., "Lugh the long-armed".<ref name=odonaill-fgb-fadlamhach/> In another variant, the child is called Dul Dauna,<ref name=larminie/> which has been explained as a corruption of ''Ildanach'' "master of all knowledge", Lugh's nickname.{{sfnp|Larminie|1893|p=251}}

The weapon used against Balor by his grandson may be a red-hot heated iron rod,<ref name=odonovan/> or a special red spear crafted by the smith Gaivnin Gow,<ref name=curtin-p283-donegal/> the latter being of special interest to A. C. L. Brown who tries to establish connection to Arthurian lore.<ref name=brown-sirperceval5/>

===Balor's eye=== "Balor himself may have one, two or three eyes, one of which is poisonous, incendiary, or otherwise malignant; he may have two eyes in front, one each in front and back, an extra eye in the middle of his forehead. Lugh always puts the evil eye out", as summarized by Mark Scowcroft.{{sfnp|Scowcroft|1995|p=143}}

In O'Donovan's version of the folktale above, Balor has one eye in the middle of the forehead, and a deadly eye on the back of his head. It is described as both venomous, and issuing some sort of petrifying beam with powers like unto a basilisk.{{sfnp|O'Donovan|1856|pp=18–21}}<ref>Cf. {{harvp|Kinahan|1887|pp=66–68}}. "Stray Donegal Folk-Lore: Ballor of the Evil Eye"</ref> O'Curry deplored the dissemination of such a "peasantry" version, assisted by O'Donovan printing it.{{sfnp|O'Curry|1863|pp=233–234}} This second eye in the back does not preclude comparison with the one-eyed Cyclops of Greek myth.<ref name=crooke/>

In "Balor on Tory Island", Balor covers the eye in the middle of his forehead with nine leather shields, but Lugh (Lui Lavada "the Longhand") sends a red spear crafted by Gavidin Gow through all the layers.<ref name=curtin-p283-donegal/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Thusin Laoide's Irish version,<ref name=laoide/> Lugh Fadlámhach's spear pierces seven coverings (Irish:''bpilleadh''>''filleadh''; German:''Hülle'') out of the nine coverings protecting Balor's eye.{{sfnp|Müller-Lisowski|1923|p=321}}}}

It may be that this forehead eye should be interpreted as an "extra eye in the middle of his forehead" (one of three) as Scowcroft puts it, otherwise Balor would be rendered blind most of the time. But Scowcroft does not specify the work to which he is alluding. Balor is explicitly three-eyed in a version published by William Hamilton Maxwell.<ref name=maxwell/>

But another version of the folktale (from County Mayo) says that Balor was one-eyed, yet it was usually covered: "He had a single eye in his forehead, a venomous fiery eye. There were always seven coverings over this eye. One by one Balar removed the coverings. With the first covering the bracken began to wither, with the second the grass became copper-coloured, with the third the woods and timber began to heat, with the fourth smoke came from the trees, with the fifth everything grew red, with the sixth it sparked. With the seventh, they were all set on fire, and the whole countryside was ablaze!"<ref name="ohogain"/>

===Severed head and lake origin tales=== According to a lay in ''Duanaire Finn'', after he was slain, Balor's severed head was set in the fork of an oak, and the tree which absorbed the venom became the timber-wood made into the shield of Fionn mac Cumhaill.<ref name=duanaire-shield-of-fionn/>

In "Balor on Tory Island" and the Irish text close to it, Lui Lavada (or Lugh) sets Balor's head on a rock, and a lake forms from the dripping pool of liquid. The Irish text does not specify location, but Curtin's tale in English names Gweedore Loch (in County Donegal, local to the storyteller).<ref name=curtin-p283-donegal/><ref name=laoide/>

According to folklore from County Sligo, Balor was said to have a glass through which he would look to destroy a person with his eye. He used the glass to burn and wither all of the plants at Moytura, which prompted a hero to ask how he did this. Balor, being duped by the trick, removed the glass from his eye long enough for the hero to put the eye out. The blood running from Balor's eye{{efn|Or alternatively, a "tear" from the object he dropped.}} created a lake called ''Suil Balra'' or ''Lochan na Súil'' (Lough Nasool, "lake of the eye"),<ref>{{harvp|Borlase|1897|pp=}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=wvJMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA806 pp. 806–808]. Collected from Thomas O'Conor and originally transcribed in O'Donovan, O.S.L. [Ordnance Survey Letters] <math>\tfrac{14}{F. 14}</math>, p. 205.</ref> near Ballindoon Abbey.<ref name=muirhead/>

===Localization of the legend=== The placing of Balor's stronghold on Tory Island derives from the medieval literature, which places the Fomorians' stronghold there.<ref name="ohogain"/> On Tory Island there are geological features called ''Dún Bhalair'' ("Balor's fortress") and ''Túr Bhalair'' ("Balor's tower"),<ref name="ohogain"/> and a tall rock formation called ''Tór Mór'' ("great tower").{{sfnp|Morris|1927|p=48}}

Although the Tory Island version of the folktale printed by O'Donovan was influential, this may have misled the public with the impression that "Tory has almost a monopoly of Balor traditions", so argues Henry Morris.{{sfnp|Morris|1927|p=57}} O'Donovan said that Balor was remembered "throughout Ireland".{{sfnp|O'Donovan|1856|p=18}} The Balor tales involving the magic cow were also being told plentifully elsewhere, particularly "South of Ulster". Morris stated he had collected "remnants" in Farney, Monaghan c. 1900, and that these versions connected Balor and the cow Glasgaivlen with places as far afield as "south Monaghan to Rockabill Island off the coast of Dublin".{{sfnp|Morris|1927|p=57}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Another piece of lore localized in southern Ulster (Breifni region, which spans counties) connects Enniskillen in present-day Northern Ireland, to Balor's wife Cethlenn.{{sfnp|Morris|1927|p=57}}<ref>{{harvp|O'Donovan|1856|p=23}}, note x.</ref> The town was named after an island castle on the River Erne, and popular legend has come to associate the castle with this Fomorian queen.<ref name=vinycomb/> Morris further contends that the village Glengevlin had been named after Balor's cow.{{sfnp|Morris|1927|p=57}}}}

==Interpretations== Some have interpreted Balor as symbolizing a solar deity of the old year, struggling with the solar god of the new year,<ref name="simmons"/> namely Lugh. Folklorist Alexander Haggerty Krappe subscribed to this notion. He suggests that the myth and others like it could be metaphors for yearly cycles of growth, death, and re-growth. Krappe hypothesized that the myth is of ancient origin, with Balor representing winter and the old year, confining the woman who represents the fertile earth.{{sfn|Krappe|1927|pp=18-22}}

Dáithí Ó hÓgáin interprets Balor as personifying the harmful aspects of the sun, such as the scorching sun that would bring crop failure and drought.<ref name="ohogain"/><ref name=ohogain1999/> He speculates that the imagery of Balor is a conflation of a Bronze Age Celtic sun god with the Greek Cyclops.<ref name="ohogain"/><ref name=ohogain1999/> Both Ó hÓgáin and Máire MacNeill believe that Lugh's slaying of Balor was originally a harvest myth associated with the festival of Lughnasa and the later tale of Saint Patrick overcoming Crom Dubh.<ref name="ohogain"/><ref>MacNeill, Máire, ''The Festival of Lughnasa''. p.416</ref> Ó hÓgáin also believes that the hero Fionn's conflict with figures named Goll (meaning "one-eyed"), Áed (meaning "fire") and Aillen (the burner) stems from Lugh's conflict with Balor.<ref name="ohogain-fionn"/>

===Parallels=== The parallel between Balor and Ysbaddaden from Welsh mythology has been noted by several commentators, but for different reasons. Each is a giant whose eyelid takes several men to lift (using a ring handle vs. lifting with forks);<ref>{{harvp|Krappe|1927}}, p. 4 and note 15, citing Windisch. E. (1912), ''Das keltische Britannien bis zu Kaiser Arthur'', p. 159</ref> each has a spear cast at him and loses an eye;{{sfnp|Scowcroft|1995|p=144}} and each is unwilling to give away his daughter to the bridal-quester.<ref>{{harvp|Gruffydd|1928|p=101n}}  apud {{harvp|Scowcroft|1995|p=144n}}</ref>

Since the mid-19th century, Balor has been likened to figures from Greek mythology, especially the Cyclops.<ref name=crooke/> James O'Laverty noted the parallel with Acrisius, the King of Argos who was fated to be killed by his grandson, the hero Perseus.<ref name=olaverty/> This parallel has been pursued at length by others.{{sfnp|Krappe|1927|pp=10-16}}

O'Laverty also ventured that the name "Balor" may be linked to the name of the Greek hero Bellerophon.<ref name=olaverty/> Arbois de Jubainville argued that the name "Bellerophon" means "slayer of Belleros" and that this is another name for the Chimera. He asserts that both the Chimera and Balor are monsters that spew flame or thunderbolts.{{sfnp|d'Arbois de Jubainville|1903|pp=115–116}}

However, de Jubainville (and others) also seized on another comparison: between Balor and Argos the many-eyed watchman of the white cow Io. Since the destroyer of the former is Lugh, and of the latter is Hermes, this neatly fits into the framework of identifying the Celtic Hermes with Lugh.{{sfnp|d'Arbois de Jubainville|1903|pp=113–114}}<ref name=westropp1917/>

Krappe lists six elements that are found in other myths: the prophecy of being slain by his own descendant; the precaution of locking the daughter in a tower; the seduction of the daughter by a stranger, who needs to use magic to gain access; the birth of a boy and the attempt to drown him; the fostering of the boy, and the fulfillment of the prophecy by the boy killing his grandparent.{{sfnp|Krappe|1927|pp=10-16}}

Krappe drew parallel between Balor with the supposed Serbian ''vy'' mentioned by W. R. S. Ralston,<ref>{{harvp|Krappe|1927}}, p. 4 n15, p. 25.</ref> but unfortunately Krappe misreads Ralston and utterly confounds this "vy" with what is actually the "Aged One" character (or "old, old man", the witch's husband) in the Russian ''skazka'' ''Ivan Bykovich'' ("Ivan the Bull's Son").{{Refn|Krappe footnotes thus (p. 4 n15): "But Slavonic folk-lore knows of a similar monster, called Vy by the Servians. He 'lies on an iron couch.. and sends for 'twelve mighty heroes', and order them to take iron forks and lift up the hair about his eyes". But he erroneously made this an attestation of Serbian lore, when in fact Ralston was paraphrasing from the Russian ''Ivan Bykovich''.<ref name="ralston"/> Compare with a modern rendering of the Russian tale ''Ivan Bykovich'': "the witch's husband, who was lying on a bed of iron" et sqq. ("twelve mighty knights", "pitchfork").<ref name=afanasev1946-ivan_cows_son/>}}<ref>Sims-Williams, p. 138 n24: "Krappe seems to go further than Ralston in conflating the Russian and Serbian material".</ref> In actuality, the heavy eyelid/eyebrow motif occurs in ''Ivan Bykovich'',<ref name=afanasev1946-ivan_cows_son/><ref name="ralston"/> but not specifically ascribed to the ''vy'' by Ralston.

Parallels have also been noted in the etymologies and mythic structures between Lugh's slaying of Balor and Loki's slaying of Baldr with additional etymological parallels noted between the theonyms Belenus and Belin (Slovenian deity).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ginevra |first1=Riccardo |year=2020 |editor-last=Repanšek |editor-first=Luka |editor2-last=Bichlmeier |editor2-first=Harald |editor3-last=Sadovski |editor3-first=Velizar |title=Gods who shine through the millennia: Old Norse Baldr, Celtic Belinos, Old Irish Balar, and PIE *bʰelH- 'be white, shine' |url=https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/187601 |journal=vácāmsi miśrā krṇavāmahai. Proceedings of the international conference of the Society for Indo-European Studies and IWoBA XII, Ljubljana 4–7 June 2019, celebrating one hundred years of Indo-European comparative linguistics at the University of Ljubljana. |location=Hamburg |pages=189–208}}</ref>

==Cultural references==

''Cyathophycus balori'', a species of sponge, was named after Balor after a 315-million-year-old fossilised remnant of the sponge was discovered by the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.<ref>{{cite news |title=315 million-year-old fossil sponge found in Co Clare |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2024/0103/1424639-fossil-sponge-co-clare/ |access-date=4 January 2024 |publisher=RTÉ News |date=3 January 2024}}</ref>

==Explanatory notes== {{Notelist}}

==References==

===Citations=== {{Reflist|30em|refs = <ref name=afanasev1946-ivan_cows_son>{{cite book|last=Afanasʹev |first=Aleksandr Nikolaevich |author-link=Aleksandr Nikolayevich Afanasev |others=illustrated by Aleksandr Kurkin |title=Ivan the Cow's Son |work=Russian Folk Tales from Alexander Afanasiev's Collection: Words of wisdom |volume=3 |publisher=George Routledge & Sons |year=1946 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PW3PAAAAMAAJ&q=%22pitchfork%22 |page=59 |isbn=9785050000545}}</ref>

<ref name=arbois-rathbuilder>{{citation|last=d'Arbois de Jubainville |first=Marie Henri |author-link=Marie Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville |title=Gaelic Folk-Tales and Mediæval Romances:Les dieux cornus gallo-romains dans la mythologie irlandaise |journal=Revue Archéologique |series=Quatrième Série |volume=11|year=1908 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JDzOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA6 |pages=6–7 |jstor=41019629}}</ref>

<ref name=brown-sirperceval5>{{citation|last=Brown|first=Arthur C. L. |author-link= |title=The Grail and the English Sir Perceval. V |journal=Modern Philology |volume=22 |number=1 |date=August 1924 |pages=87–88|jstor=433319}}</ref>

<ref name=bruford>{{citation|last=Bruford |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Bruford |title=Gaelic Folk-Tales and Mediæval Romances: A Study of the Early Modern Irish 'Romantic Tales' and Their Oral Derivatives |journal=Béaloideas |volume=34 |year=1966 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xTaAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Ghaibhleann%22 |page=162 |doi=10.2307/20521320 |jstor=20521320|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name=cmt-ss050>{{harvp|Gray|1982}} tr., [https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T300011/text050.html ''The Second Battle of Moytura'' §50], ed. [https://celt.ucc.ie//published/G300011/text050.html CMT §50]; {{harvp|Stokes|1891|pp=74–75}}</ref>

<ref name=cmt-ss128>{{harvp|Gray|1982}} tr., [https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T300011/text128.html ''The Second Battle of Moytura'' §128], ed. [https://celt.ucc.ie//published/G300011/text128.html CMT §128]; {{harvp|Stokes|1891|pp=96–97}}</ref> <ref name=cmt-ss133>{{harvp|Gray|1982}} tr., [https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T300011/text133.html ''The Second Battle of Moytura'' §133], ed. [https://celt.ucc.ie//published/G300011/text133.html CMT §133]; {{harvp|Stokes|1891|pp=100–101}}, glossary p. 113</ref>

<ref name=crooke>{{citation|last=Crooke |first=W. |author-link=William Crooke |title=Some notes on Homeric Folk-lore |journal=Folklore |volume=19 |issue=2 |year=1908 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkYKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA173 |page=173 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1908.9719822 }}</ref>

<ref name=curtin-p283-donegal>{{harvp|Curtin|1894}}. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-RGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA283 Balor on Tory Island]". pp. 283–295. (No. 13. Michael Curran, Gortahork, Co. Donegal)</ref> <ref name=curtin-p296-connemara>{{harvp|Curtin|1894}}. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-RGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA296 Balor of the Evil Eye and Lui Lavada his Grandson]". pp. 296–295. No. 14. Colman Grom, Connemara.</ref>

<ref name=dil-drolam>eDIL s.v. "[http://dil.ie/18783 drolam]"; "[http://dil.ie/33835 omlithe] ''cona drolum omlithi'' `with a polished (?) handle'. The meaning is speculative, cf. Stoke's note on ''omlithi'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=5q8zAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA122 p. 122].</ref> <ref name=dil-fulacht>eDIL s.v. "[http://dil.ie/24930 fulacht (1)]".</ref> <ref name=dil-neim>eDIL s.v. "[http://dil.ie/33028 neim]".</ref> <ref name=dil-taball>eDIL s.v. "[http://dil.ie/39366 táball]".</ref>

<ref name=duanaire-shield-of-fionn>{{cite book|last=MacNeill |first=Eoin |author-link=Eoin MacNeill |chapter=Poem XVI The Shield of Fionn |title=Duanaire Finn: The book of the Lays of Fionn. pt. 1 |publisher=For the Irish Texts Society, by D. Nutt |year=1908 |series=ITS 7 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u1zpAAAAMAAJ |pages=xi, 34–38, 134–139}}</ref>

<ref name=laoide>{{cite book|last=Laoide |first=Seosamh |author-link=:en:Seosamh Laoide |chapter=XIII Balor agus Mac Cionnfhaolaidh |title=Cruach Chonaill |location=Dublin |publisher=Chonnradh na Gaedhilge |year=1913 |orig-year=1909 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/cruachchonaillti00lloyuoft#page/62/mode/2up |pages=63–65}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=77mbFQ5Op_0C 1909 edition].[http://corpas.ria.ie/index.php?fsg_function=5&fsg_id=4076 e-text] via Historical Irish Corpus (RIA)</ref>

<ref name=larminie>{{harvp|Larminie|1893|pp=}}. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=oq9PAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 The Gloss Gavlen]" (told by John McGinty, Achill Island). pp. 1–9.</ref>

<ref name=lge-para312&331&364>{{harvp|Macalister|1941}} ed. tr. LGE ¶312, 118–121; ¶331–332, pp. 148–151; ¶364, pp. 180–181</ref> <ref name=lge-para314&366>{{harvp|Macalister|1941}} ed. tr. LGE ¶314, 124–125 ('''Cetlenn''');  ¶366, pp. 184–185; Poem LV, str. 32 on p. 237</ref>

<ref name=maxwell>{{citation|ref={{SfnRef|Maxwell|1837}} |author=W. H. Maxwell |author-link=William Hamilton Maxwell |title=The Legend of Ballar |journal=Bentley's Miscellany |volume=2 |year=1837 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QRJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA527 |pages=527–530 }}</ref>

<ref name=muirhead>{{cite book|last=Muirhead |first=Litellus Russell |author-link= |title=Ireland |volume=2 |publisher=E. Benn |year=1967 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nDwJAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Lough+na+S%C3%BAile%22 |page=68}}</ref>

<ref name=ocurry-rathbuilder>{{cite book|last=O'Curry |first=Eugene |author-link=Eugene O'Curry |chapter=Lecture XIX The Rath builder and the Caiseal builder |title=On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish |volume=3| publisher=Williams and Norgate |year=1873 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smKZtWUqAXcC&pg=PA15 |pages=14–15|isbn=9780876960103 }}. Taken from Book of Leinster fol. 27v.</ref>

<ref name=odonaill-fgb-fadlamhach>Ó Dónaill (1977) ''Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla'' s.v. [https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/fadl%c3%a1mhach fadlámhach]".</ref>

<ref name=odonovan>{{harvp|O'Donovan|1856|pp=}}. A history of Balor (told by Shane O'Dugan of Tory Island). pp. 18–20, note s.</ref>)

<ref name=ogle>{{citation|ref={{SfnRef|Maxwell|1837}} |last=Ogle |first=Marbury B. |author-link= |title=Reviewed Work(s): Balor with the Evil Eye by Alexander Haggerty Krappe |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=49 |number=3 |year=1928 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ronPAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Kineely%22 |pages=297 |jstor=290097}}</ref>

<ref name=oflaherty-ogygia-eng>{{cite book|last=O'Flaherty |first=Roderic |author-link=Roderic O'Flaherty |others=tr. by Rev. James Hely |chapter=Part III, Chapter XII |title=Ogygia, or, A chronological account of Irish events |volume=2 |year=1793 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pD0IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA22 |pages=21–22}}: "Kethlenda, the wife of Balar, gave Dagda.. a desperate wound from some missile weapon"; p. 23: "Lugad.. Mac Kethlenn, from is great grand-aunt, the wife of Balar".</ref>

<ref name="ohogain">{{cite book|last=Ó hÓgáin |first=Dáithí |author-link=:ga:Dáithí Ó hÓgáin |title=Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUgUAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Balor%22 |pages=43–45|isbn=9780132759595 }}</ref>

<ref name=ohogain1999>{{cite book|last=Ó hÓgáin |first=Dáithí |author-link=:ga:Dáithí Ó hÓgáin |title=The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wYAnySDa0O0C&pg=PA139 |pages=139–140|isbn=9780851157474}}</ref>

<ref name=olaverty>{{citation|last=O'Laverty |first=James |author-link= |title=Remarkable Correspondence of Irish, Greek, and Oriental Legends |journal=Ulster Journal of Archaeology |volume=7 |date=1859 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Fo_AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA342 |pages=342–343|jstor=20563514}}</ref>

<ref name="ralston">{{cite book|last=Ralston |first=W. R. S. |author-link=William Ralston Shedden-Ralston |chapter=Ivan Popyalof |title=Russian Folk Tales |year=1873 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Rr-N3yEOhsC&pg=PA72 |url=https://archive.org/stream/russianfolktales00ralsrich#page/72/mode/2up |page=72}}:".. an Aged One, whose appearance is that of the mythical being whom the Servians call the Vy", cited by {{harvp|Krappe|1927}}, p. 4</ref>

<ref name="simmons">{{cite book|last=Simmons |first=Victoria |author-link= |chapter=Balor |editor-last=Koch |editor-first=John T. |editor-link=John T. Koch |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |volume=1 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2006 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA164 |page=164 |isbn=1851094407}}</ref>

<ref name=vinycomb>{{citation|last=Vinycomb |first=John |author-link=John Vinycomb |title=The Seals and Armorial Insignia of Corporate and other Towns in Ulster (cont.) |journal=Ulster Journal of Archaeology |volume=1 |year=1895|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uF4NAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA119 |page=119}}</ref>

<ref name=westropp1917>{{citation|last=Westropp |first=Thomas Johnson |author-link=Thomas Johnson Westropp |title=The Earthworks, Traditions, and the Gods of South-Eastern Co. Limerick, Especially from Knocklong to Temair Erann |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature |volume=34 |date=1917  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OdIXAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Duldauna%22 |pages=141, 156|jstor=25504213}}</ref> }}

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==Further reading== * Blažek, Václav. "Balor – “the blind-eyed”?". In: ''Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie'' 52, no. 1 (2001): 129-133. https://doi.org/10.1515/ZCPH.2001.129

==External links== {{Celtic mythology (Mythological)}}

Category:Evil gods Category:Fomorians Category:Irish gods Category:Legendary Irish kings Category:Eyes in culture