Irish mythology

{{Short description|none}} {{Multiple issues| {{More footnotes needed|date=April 2009}} {{More citations needed|date=March 2018}} }} {{Use Hiberno-English|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} [[File:Riders of th Sidhe (big).jpg|thumb|alt=A painting of four figures riding atop their horses|''Riders of the Sidhe'', a 1911 painting of the aos sí or Otherworldly people of the mounds, by the artist John Duncan]] [[File:Cuchulain in Battle.jpg|thumb|''Cuchulain in Battle'' by Joseph Christian Leyendecker, 1911]] {{Celtic mythology}} '''Irish mythology''' is the body of myths indigenous to the island of Ireland. It was originally passed down orally in the prehistoric era.<ref name="edwards2005"/> In the early medieval era, myths were written down by Christian scribes,<ref name="ussher1996"/> who revised it considerably in order to fit the history and religion according to Christianized learning.<ref name="o_henir1989"/> Irish mythology is the best-preserved branch of Celtic mythology.{{cn|date=December 2025}}

The myths are conventionally grouped into 'cycles'. The Mythological Cycle consists of tales and poems about the god-like Tuatha Dé Danann, who are based on Ireland's pagan deities, and other mythical races like the Fomorians.<ref name="koch2006"/> Important works in the cycle are the ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' ("Book of Invasions"), a legendary history of Ireland, the ''Cath Maige Tuired'' ("Battle of Moytura"), and the ''Aided Chlainne Lir'' ("Children of Lir"). The heroic cycles and even the Historical Cycle (Cycle of the Kings) are also considered repositories of mythological texts.<ref name="monaghan2004-historical"/> The Ulster Cycle consists of heroic legends relating to the Ulaid, the most important of which is the epic ''Táin Bó Cúailnge'' ("Cattle Raid of Cooley").{{sfnp|Scott|Gerig|1929|pp=198–199}}{{sfnp|Greene|1985|p=xvii}}{{sfnp|Koch|2006|p=995}} The Fenian Cycle focuses on the exploits of the mythical hero Finn and his warrior band the Fianna, including the lengthy ''Acallam na Senórach'' ("Tales of the Elders").{{sfnp|Scott|Gerig|1929|p=203}}{{sfnp|Greene|1985|p=xix}} The Cycles of the Kings comprises legends about historical and semi-historical kings of Ireland (such as ''Buile Shuibhne'', "The Madness of King Sweeny"),{{sfnp|Greene|1985|p=xxi}} and tales about the origins of dynasties and peoples.{{sfnp|Koch|2006|p=995}}

There are also mythological texts that do not fit into any of the cycles; these include the ''echtrai'' tales of journeys to the Otherworld{{Refn|{{harvp|Dillon|1948}} chapter "The Adventures", pp. 101ff., ''Early Irish Literature'' ''apud'' Sienkewicz (1996)<ref name="sienkewicz1996"/>}} (such as ''The Voyage of Bran''), and the ''Dindsenchas'' ("lore of places").<ref name="mallory1993"/> Some written materials have not survived, and many more myths were likely never written down.

== Figures ==

Myles Dillon and Nora K. Chadwick classify Irish gods into four main groups. Group one encompasses the older gods of Gaul and Britain. The second group is the main focus of much of the mythology and surrounds the native Irish gods with their homes in burial mounds. The third group are the gods that dwell in the sea and the fourth group includes stories of the Otherworld.{{sfnp|Dillon|Chadwick|1967|pp=143–144}} The gods that appear most often are the Dagda and Lugh.{{sfnp|Dillon|Chadwick|1967|pp=143–144}}

=== Tuatha Dé Danann === {{main|Tuatha Dé Danann}} The main supernatural beings in Irish mythology are the Tuatha Dé Danann.{{Refn|Mackillop: "principal family of euhemerized pre-Christian deities".<ref name="mackillop-tuatha"/>}}

====Terminology==== {{main|Tuatha Dé Danann#Name}}

Tuatha Dé Danann is construed to mean "the folk of the goddess Danann<ref name="Carey tuath de"/> or "people/tribe/nation of the god Ana[?]"<ref name="mackillop-tuatha"/>{{efn|name="dana=prothesis"}} Ana or Anu is an attested name of a goddess{{Refn|e.g. Cormac's glossary{{sfnp|Stokes ed.|O'Donovan tr.|1868|p=4}}{{sfnmp|1a1=Hennessy|1y=1870a|p=425|2a1=Hennessy|2y=1870b|2p=37}}}} (with genitive form {{lang|sga|Annan}}<ref name="mackillop-ana"/>); Danann is only found in later attestations; reconstructed (nominative) forms *Danu or *Dana are unattested<ref name="Carey tuath de"/> and are speculative.<ref name="mackillop-danu"/> The solution may be that Dana is merely a d-added variant of the goddess Ana/Anu<ref name="mackillop-danu"/> However, others suggest it was a later scholarly invention,<ref name="mackillop-ana"/> an extension added to the original appellation which was simply Tuath Dé (god-folk), until the simpler version became inconveniently ambiguous with Tuath Dé used to denote the "People of God" (i.e., Israelites).<ref name="Carey tuath de"/><ref name="mackillop-ana"/>

Whatever the origin, Dana/Danu/Danand is treated as just a variant form of Ana/Anu/Anand<ref name="macalister-anand&danand&morrigu">{{harvp|Macalister|1941}}, Introduction, p. 103: "...and Mor-rīgu, the latter sometimes called Anand or Danand."</ref> in certain scholarly circles, and thus a ''bona fide'' goddess, e.g., Macalister's translation of the ''Lebor Gabala''.<ref name="LGE-366">{{harvp|Macalister|1941}} ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' '''4''' Section VII. §366, pp. 182–183. (Irish: Danand); "Dana is mother of the gods".</ref> A Welsh goddess Dôn is mentioned as possibly connected,<ref name="Carey tuath de"/><ref name="mackillop-danu"/> insinuating the plausibility of the Dana/Danu goddess in Irish myth.

====General description==== Prominent male deities include The Dagda ("the great god");<ref name="Carey tuath de" /> the long-armed Lugh; the silver-armed Nuada; Aengus; the sea god Manannán; Dian Cécht the healer.<ref name="mackillop-tuatha"/><ref name="Carey tuath de"/> There are also Goibniu the smith, Creidhne the goldsmith/brazier, and Luchta the carpenter.<ref name="Carey tuath de"/>{{efn|These three may be the identity of the mysterious ''Trí Dé Dána'' ("three gods of craftsmanship") according to speculation.{{sfnp|Williams|2018|p=163}}}} There is also Ogma, a god of eloquence and a warrior,<ref name="mackillop-tuatha"/><ref name="Carey tuath de"/> as well as Nét (Neit) a "god of war".<ref name="Carey tuath de"/>{{Refn|''Cormac's glossary'', s.v. "Neit."{{sfnp|Stokes ed.|O'Donovan tr.|1868|p=122}}}}

The Warrior goddesses are often depicted as a triad: The Morrígan{{efn|Whose name means "the great queen"{{sfnp|MacCulloch|1911|p=71}}}}, Macha, and Badb{{efn|Whose name means "Royston crow".{{sfnp|Hennessy|1870b|pp=34–35}}}}<ref name="LGE-366"/>{{sfnp|Dillon|Chadwick|1967|pp=143–144}}<ref name="keating apud hennessy">Geoffrey Keating's ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'' ("History") apud {{harvp|Hennessy|1870b|pp=37–38}}</ref>{{sfnp|Dillon|Chadwick|1967|pp=143–144}}<ref name="fleming1996"/>{{efn|The triad may consist of other combinations substituting Nemain.{{sfnp|MacCulloch|1911|p=71}}}} while Keating's ''History ''has little to say about these three deities.<ref name="keating apud hennessy"/> The warrior goddesses appear in the saga ''Táin Bó Cúailnge'', meddling in the human wars between the Ulstermen and Connacht.{{sfnp|Hennessy|1870b|pp=41–42}} The Morrígan appears in the guise of a crow ({{lang|sga|badb}}, namesake of her sister goddess) before Cú Chulainn.{{sfnp|Hennessy|1870b|p=47}}{{sfnp|Kinsella tr.|1970|p=98}} In a later encounter, she transforms into an eel, wolf, and cow.{{sfnp|Hennessy|1870b|pp=47–48}}{{sfnp|Kinsella tr.|1970|p=135}}

Brigit a "goddess of poets"<ref name="Carey tuath de"/> and daughter of the Dagda.<ref name="Carey tuath de"/>

Ana/Anu aka Dannan/Dana/Danu<ref name="macalister-anand&danand&morrigu"/>{{efn|name="dana=prothesis"|Dana is the form of Ana with the initial "d-" added (prothesis).<ref name="mackillop-ana"/>}} is as aforementioned, the "mother of the Irish gods",{{Refn|In ''Sanas Cormaic'' Ana is {{langx|la|"mater deorum hibernensium"}}, where the editors note Ana is better known as "Dannan".{{sfnp|Stokes ed.|O'Donovan tr.|1868|p=4}} or "the mother of gods".<ref name="LGE-366"/>}}{{efn|Mother of Brian and his brothers,<ref>{{harvp|Macalister|1941}} §316, pp. 128–129; §368, pp. 192–193.</ref> but only probably.<ref name="mackillop-ana"/>}} and possibly an alias of The Morrígan.<ref name="macalister-anand&danand&morrigu"/>{{sfnmp|1a1=Joyce|1y=1879|1p=401–402|2a1=Joyce|2y=1914|2p=455–456}}

The Tuatha Dé Danann live in the Otherworld, which is described as either a parallel world or a heavenly land beyond the sea or under the earth's surface.<ref name="Carey tuath de"/> Many of them are associated with specific places in the landscape, especially the ''sídh'' mounds; the ancient burial mounds and passage tombs which are entrances to Otherworld realms.<ref name="Carey tuath de"/><ref name="ohogain tuatha"/> The Tuath Dé can hide themselves with a ''féth fíada'' ('magic mist'){{Refn|As told in {{illm|Altram Tige Dá Medar|ga|lt=''Altram Tige Dá Medar''}} ("The Nurture of the Houses of the Two Milk Vessels"<ref name="mackillop-altrom"/><ref name="mackillop-fethfiada"/>}}<ref name="ohogain manannan"/> and appear to humans only when they wish to.<ref name="Carey tuath de"/>

The Tuatha Dé intermarried with their adversaries, the Fomorians, so that when Nuada became disqualified from kingship due to his debility (loss of arm), Bres who had a Fomorian father took over the kingship of the Tuatha Dé. There ensued the Second Battle of Mag Tuired where Lug led the victory by slaying the Fomorian champion Balor, his own grandfather.<ref name="mackillop-tuatha"/>

=== Fomorians === thumb|250px|The Fomorians, as depicted by John Duncan (1912) The Fomorians or Fomori ({{langx|sga|Fomóire}})<ref name="ohogain fomhoire"/> are a supernatural race, who are often portrayed as hostile and monstrous beings. Originally, they were said to come from under the sea or the earth.<ref name="ohogain fomhoire"/> Later, they were portrayed as sea raiders, which was probably influenced by the Viking raids on Ireland around that time.<ref name="ohogain fomhoire"/> Later still they were portrayed as giants. They are enemies of Ireland's first settlers and opponents of the Tuatha Dé Danann,<ref name="Carey fomori">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Fomoiri |encyclopedia=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |year=2006 |last=Carey |first=John |author-link=John Carey (Celticist) |editor=John T. Koch |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=762}}</ref> although some members of the two races have offspring. The Tuath Dé defeat the Fomorians in the ''Battle of Mag Tuired''.{{sfnmp|1a1=Joyce|1y=1879|1p=406–407|2a1=Joyce|2y=1914|2p=460–461}} This has been likened to other Indo-European myths of a war between gods, such as the Æsir and Vanir in Norse mythology and the Olympians and Titans in Greek mythology.<ref name="ohogain myth cycle"/>

=== Heroes === The idea was articulated by v in 1940 (translated 1949)<ref name="powell1951-rvw"/> that members of the two main Irish heroic cycles (Ulster Cycle, Finn Cycle) fell into two distinct groups, the Ulstermen being the "tribal hero"<ref name="powell1951-rvw"/> functioning within the boundaries of the community, and the {{lang|ga|fíanna}} the "extra-tribal hero" <ref name="powell1951-rvw"/> or the "outsiders"<ref>Functioning "outside the tribe", {{harvp|Sjoestedt|1949|pp=109–121}} ''apud'' {{harvp|Vielle |1994|p=223}}.</ref><ref>{{harvp|Sjölblom|1994|p=162}}: "heroes of Ulster are functional inside the community in contrast to the ''fíanna'' who almost exclusively function outside the communal boundaries of experience" citing {{harvp|Sjoestedt|1949|pp=73–110}}.</ref>{{sfnp|Vielle |1994|p=227}} Joseph F. Nagy in 1985 further explored the mythical significance of this boundary in Finn Cycle tales, stressing the idea of liminality,<ref>{{harvp|Nagy|1985|pp=1–16}} ''apud'' {{harvp|Sjölblom|1994|p=162}}.</ref> where the border was seen as the threshold between the material world and the Otherworld or "sacred otherness".<ref>{{harvp|Nagy|1985|pp=135–136}} ''apud'' {{harvp|Sjölblom|1994|p=162}}.</ref>

One comparison allegorize the Ulster hero Cú Chulainn as a warrior-dog,{{efn|Cú Chulainn's name of course implies "watchdog of Culann", which he was to assume the role of to replace the dog he killed.}} and Finn as a hunter-wolf {{harvp|Vielle |1994|p=227}} This two group categorization is one of continuing debate. Some reservations are expressed as to whether Nagy's idea of "liminal" boundaries presents such a starkly opposite dichotomy.{{sfnp|Sjölblom|1994|p=162}} The idea that the ''fíanna'' differed from the Ulster heroes were less tied to a homeland had been noticed long before Sjoestedt, but the older characterization of the ''fíanna'' as "outcasts" or "mercenaries" were inadequate, as T. G. E. Powell explains it, and Sjoestedt's insight demonstrated the ''fíanna'' were still attached to the community and not cast out, but were in voluntary exile, and able to return to the community.<ref name="powell1951-rvw"/> Powell's own suggestion was that the difference came from Cú Chulainn belonging to the aristocratic class, while the ''fíanna'' had its origin in some tribal group not among the historical ruling classes of Ireland.<ref name="powell1951-rvw"/> In literature, it is pointed out that only the Ulster heroes were sung in the form of a full-fledged epic saga, the ''Táin Bó Cúailnge'', while there were mostly only disparate pieces of poetry and prose tales regarding the ''fíanna'' (some as old as the 7th century),{{sfnp|Vielle |1994|p=223}} the ''Acallam na Senórach'' ({{circa|1200}}) being the central and the most comprehensive narrative in the ''fíanaigecht'' corpus {{sfnp|O'Donnell|2025|p=PT100}}<ref name="MedIrEncy-FenianCycle"/> (cf. Fenian Cycle).

The hero Cúchulainn's fighting skills were fostered by the women warriors Scáthach and Aoife (Aífe) who exhibited otherworldly prowess.<ref name="mackillop-scathach"/><ref>{{harvp|O'Donnell|2025|p=}} "Ch. 2. §The fosterage in Alba", p. 64T ''et seqq.''</ref>{{efn|Búanann, Bodbmall Scáthach are "multiforms of a supernatural martial foster-mother figure" according to Nagy.,<ref>{{harvp|Nagy|1985|p=102, n13}} ''apud'' {{harvp|Dooley|1994|p=130}}</ref>}} Likewise, the warrior woman Liath Luachra trained the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill.<ref name="brown1920"/><ref>{{harvp|Nagy|1985|p=104}} ''apud'' {{harvp|O'Donnell|2025|p=PT101}}.</ref>

The Fianna warrior bands were thus the outsiders, connected with the wilderness, youth, and liminal states.{{Refn|{{harvp|Nagy|1985|pp=17–40}} ''apud'' DeAngelo (2025) [2019];<ref name="deAngelo2025"/> pp. 17, 33 ''apud'' FitzPatrick (2023)<ref name="fitzPatrick2023"/>}} Their leader was called Fionn mac Cumhaill, and the first stories of him are told in fourth century. They are considered aristocrats and outsiders who protect the community from other outsiders; though they may winter with a settled community, they spend the summers living wild, training adolescents and providing a space for war-damaged veterans. The time of vagrancy for these youths is designated as a transition in life post puberty but pre-manhood. Manhood being identified as owning or inheriting property. They live under the authority of their own leaders, or may be somewhat anarchic, and may follow other deities or spirits than the settled communities.{{sfnp|Nagy|1985}} The church refused to recognize this group as an institution and referred to them as "sons of death".{{sfnp|Williams|2018|p=82}}

=== Legendary creatures === The Oilliphéist is a sea-serpent-like monster in Irish mythology and folklore. These monsters were believed to inhabit many lakes and rivers in Ireland and there are legends of saints, especially St. Patrick, and heroes fighting them.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100247615;jsessionid=A63CCC73C2E4397C92726419D92EC0B6 | title=Oilliphéist }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://emeraldisle.ie/the-great-wyrms-of-ireland | title=The Great Wyrms of Ireland | Folklore and fairy tales from the Emerald Isle }}</ref>

In Irish folklore there is also the ''Cailleach'' or hag, said to have lived many lives that begin and end with her in stone formation. She is still celebrated at Ballycrovane Ogham Stone with offerings and the retelling of her life's stories. The tales of the Cailleach connect her to both land and sea.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Wyeth, Adam |title=The hidden world of poetry: unravelling Celtic mythology in contemporary Irish poetry |year=2013 |publisher=Salmon Poetry |isbn=978-1-908836-56-4 |oclc=857525147}}</ref> Several Otherworldly women are associated with sacred sites where seasonal festivals are held. They include Macha of Eamhain Mhacha, Carman, and Tailtiu, among others.<ref name="orpen1906"/>

==Sources== [[File:Book of Leinster, folio 53.jpg|thumb|upright=1|alt=A page from a 12th-century Irish manuscript|Folio 53 of the ''Book of Leinster''. Medieval manuscripts are the main source for Irish mythology and early literature.]]

The key and earliest manuscript sources for Irish mythology are the late 11th/early 12th century {{Lang|mga|Lebor na hUidre}} (LU, Book of the Dun Cow);{{efn|In the library of the Royal Irish Academy}} the ''Book of Leinster'' (early 12th-century);{{efn|Held in Library of Trinity College Dublin}} and MS Rawlinson B 502 (''Rawl'', composite of mid-12th century and 14th–15th century redactions).{{efn|Held by Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford}}<ref name="frehan2012"/> Despite the dates of these sources, most of the material they contain predates their composition.<ref name="frehan2012"/><ref name="mackillop-ybl"/>

''The Yellow Book of Lecan'' (YBL){{efn|Library of Trinity College}} is another important codex that contains earlier pieces of writing even though it was compiled at a much later period, 1391–1582.<ref name="frehan2012"/>{{sfnp|Dillon|Chadwick|1967|p=239}}{{Refn|Mackillop.<ref name="mackillop-ireland"/><ref name="mackillop-ybl"/>}} The YBL includes the legends of Fionn Mac Cumhail, and fragmentary portions of ''Táin Bó Cúailnge'' ("The Cattle Raid of Cooley") of the same version as the oldest (but incomplete) copy in LU.<ref name="walsh1929"/>

Other important sources compiled around the late 14th century or the early 15th century are ''The Book of Ballymote'' (BB)<ref name="frehan2012"/> and ''Leabhar Ua Maine'' (Book of Hy Many).{{efn|Both these are in the Royal Irish Academy.}} A fuller text concerning the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann is found in the YBL and the BB,<ref name="hull1930"/> though a briefer account is also found in the ''Lebor Gabala''.{{sfnp|Hull|1930|pp=75–76}}<ref name="LGE-304">{{harvp|Macalister|1941}} ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' '''4''' Section VII. §304–306, pp. 106–109.</ref>

Other 15th-century manuscript ''The Book of Fermoy'' contains, for instance, the {{illm|Altram Tige Dá Medar|ga|lt=''Altram Tige Dá Medar''}}.{{efn|Title of the narrative described above about the scattering of the defeated Tuatha Dé, and Manannan using the magical fog.}}<ref name="mackillop-altrom"/><ref name="AltramTigeDaMedar-ed-tr-dobbs"/><ref name="AltramTigeDaMedar-ed-tr-duncan"/>

And in the modern period, Geoffrey Keating's ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'' (''The History of Ireland'') ({{circa|1640}}).

Most of these manuscripts were created by Christian monks, who may well have been torn between a desire to record their native culture and hostility to pagan beliefs, resulting in some of the gods being euhemerised. Many of the later sources may also have formed parts of a propaganda effort designed to create a history for the people of Ireland that could bear comparison with the mythological descent of their British invaders from the founders of Rome, as promulgated by Geoffrey of Monmouth and others. There was also a tendency to rework Irish genealogies to fit them into the schemas of Greek or biblical genealogy.

Whether medieval Irish literature provides reliable evidence of oral tradition remains a matter for debate. Kenneth Jackson described the Ulster Cycle as a "window on the Iron Age", and Garret Olmsted has attempted to draw parallels between ''Táin Bó Cuailnge'', the Ulster Cycle epic and the iconography of the Gundestrup Cauldron.<ref name=Jackson-1964-oldest/> However, these "nativist" claims have been challenged by "revisionist" scholars who believe that much of the literature was created, rather than merely recorded, in Christian times, more or less in imitation of the epics of classical literature that came with Latin learning. The revisionists point to passages apparently influenced by the Iliad in ''Táin Bó Cuailnge'', and to the ''Togail Troí'', an Irish adaptation of Dares Phrygius' ''De excidio Troiae historia'', found in the Book of Leinster. They also argue that the material culture depicted in the stories is generally closer to that of the time of their composition than to that of the distant past.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

==Mythological Cycle== thumb|Lugh's Magic Spear; illustration by H. R. Millar {{main|Mythological Cycle}}

The Mythological Cycle, comprising stories of the former gods and origins of the Irish, is the least well preserved of the four cycles. It is about the principal people who invaded and inhabited the island. The people include Cessair and her followers, the Formorians, the Partholinians, the Nemedians, the Firbolgs, the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Milesians.<ref name="frehan2012"/> The most important sources are the ''Metrical Dindshenchas'' or ''Lore of Places'' and the ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' or ''Book of Invasions''. Other manuscripts preserve such mythological tales as ''The Dream of Aengus'', ''Tochmarc Étaíne'' ("the Wooing of Étain") and ''Cath Maige Tuireadh'', ''the (second) Battle of Magh Tuireadh''. One of the best known of all Irish stories, ''Oidheadh Clainne Lir'', or ''The Tragedy of the Children of Lir'', is also part of this cycle.

''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' is a pseudo-history of Ireland, tracing the ancestry of the Irish back to before Noah. It tells of a series of invasions or "takings" of Ireland by a succession of peoples, the fifth of whom was the people known as the Tuatha Dé Danann ("Peoples of the Goddess Danu"), who were believed to have inhabited the island before the arrival of the Gaels, or Milesians. They faced opposition from their enemies, the Fomorians, led by Balor of the Evil Eye. Balor was eventually slain by Lugh Lámfada (Lugh of the Long Arm) at the second battle of Magh Tuireadh. With the arrival of the Gaels, the Tuatha Dé Danann retired underground to become the fairy people of later myth and legend.

The ''Metrical Dindshenchas'' is the great onomastics work of early Ireland, giving the naming legends of significant places in a sequence of poems. It includes a lot of important information on Mythological Cycle figures and stories, including the Battle of Tailtiu, in which the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by the Milesians.

By the Middle Ages, the Tuatha Dé Danann were not viewed so much as gods as the shape-shifting magician population of an earlier Golden Age Ireland. Key texts such as ''Lebor Gabála Érenn''<ref name="mackillop-lge"/> and ''Cath Maige Tuireadh''<ref name="mackillop-cmt"/> present them as kings and heroes of the distant past, complete with death-tales. However, there is considerable evidence, both in the texts and from the wider Celtic world, that they were once considered deities.

==Ulster Cycle== [[File:Cuchulain in Battle.jpg|thumb|"Cuchulain in Battle", illustration by J. C. Leyendecker in T. W. Rolleston's ''Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race'', 1911]] {{main|Ulster Cycle}}

The Ulster Cycle is traditionally set around the first century AD, and most of the action takes place in the provinces of Ulster and Connacht. It consists of a group of heroic tales dealing with the lives of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, the great hero Cú Chulainn, who was the son of Lug (Lugh), and of their friends, lovers, and enemies. These are the Ulaid, or people of the North-Eastern corner of Ireland and the action of the stories centres round the royal court at Emain Macha (known in English as Navan Fort), close to the modern town of Armagh. The Ulaid had close links with the Irish colony in Scotland, and part of Cú Chulainn's training takes place in that colony.

The cycle consists of stories of the births, early lives and training, wooing, battles, feastings, and deaths of the heroes. It also reflects a warrior society in which warfare consists mainly of single combats and wealth is measured mainly in cattle. These stories are written mainly in prose. The centerpiece of the Ulster Cycle is the ''Táin Bó Cúailnge''. Other important Ulster Cycle tales include ''The Tragic Death of Aife's only Son'', ''Bricriu's Feast'', and ''The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel''.<ref name="mackillop-ulster"/> ''The Exile of the Sons of Usnach'', better known as the tragedy of Deirdre, became the source material for plays by William Butler Yeats (''Deirdre'', 1907) and John Millington Synge (''Deirdre of the Sorrows'', 1910).<ref name="mackillop-deirdre"/>

This cycle is, in some respects, close to the mythological cycle. Some of the characters from the latter reappear, and the same sort of shape-shifting magic is much in evidence, side by side with a grim, almost callous realism. While we may suspect a few characters, such as Medb or Cú Roí, of once being deities, and Cú Chulainn in particular displays superhuman prowess, the characters are mortal and associated with a specific time and place. If the Mythological Cycle represents a Golden Age, the Ulster Cycle is Ireland's Heroic Age.

==Fianna Cycle== [[File:Heroes of the dawn (1914) (14750481494).jpg|thumb|Fionn fighting Aillen, illustration by Beatrice Elvery in Violet Russell's ''Heroes of the Dawn'' (1914)]] {{main|Fianna Cycle}}

Like the Ulster Cycle, the Fianna Cycle (or Fenian Cycle, also referred to as the Ossianic Cycle) is concerned with the deeds of Irish heroes. The stories of the Cycle appear to be set around the 3rd century and mainly in the provinces of Leinster and Munster.<ref name="frehan2012"/> Differently, the Fianna Cycle has strong links to Gaelic Scotland, with many extant texts from that country. They also differ from the Ulster Cycle in that the stories are told mainly in verse, and that in tone they are nearer to the tradition of romance than the tradition of epic. The stories concern the doings of Fionn mac Cumhaill and his band of soldiers, the Fianna.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|title=The Early Finn Cycle by Kevin Murray (review)|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/16/article/959596|journal=Eolas: Journal of the American Society for Irish Medieval Studies|date=2018|issn=2329-0846|pages=135–138|volume=11|issue=1|first=Kevin R.|last=Kritsch}}</ref>

The single-largest medieval Irish text for the Fianna Cycle is the ''Acallam na Senórach'' (''Colloquy of the Old Men''), which is found in two 15th century manuscripts, the ''Book of Lismore'' and Laud 610, as well as a 17th century manuscript from Killiney, County Dublin. The text is dated from linguistic evidence to the 12th century. The text records conversations between Caílte mac Rónáin and Oisín, the last surviving members of the Fianna, and Saint Patrick, and consists of about 8,000 lines. The late dates of the manuscripts may reflect a longer oral tradition for the Fenian stories.

The Fianna of the story are divided into the Clann Baiscne, led by Fionn mac Cumhaill (often rendered as "Finn MacCool", Finn Son of Cumhall), and the Clann Morna, led by his enemy, Goll mac Morna. Goll killed Fionn's father, Cumhal, in battle, and the boy Fionn was brought up in secrecy. As a youth, while being trained in the art of poetry, he accidentally burned his thumb while cooking the Salmon of Knowledge, which allowed him to suck or bite his thumb to receive bursts of stupendous wisdom. He took his place as the leader of his band and numerous tales are told of their adventures. ''Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne'' (''The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne'')<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Grady |first=Standish |url=http://archive.org/details/truigheachtdhi02ograuoft |title=Tóruigheacht Dhiarmuda agus Ghráinne |trans-title=The pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne |last2=Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language |date=1880 |publisher=Dublin: M.H. Gill }}</ref> billed as the greatest prose narrative of the cycle, has only survived in modern Irish texts dating to the 17th century at the oldest, though still asserted to contain elements from the 10th century.{{efn|It was proposed in the 19th century that certain elements of the ''Pursuit of Diarmuid'' contributed to ''Tristan and Iseult'', and argued persuasively by Gertrude Schoepperle (''Tristan and Isolt, a study of the sources of the romance'', 1913) according to Mackillop.<ref name="mackillop-toraigheacht"/>}} The legend of Oisín and his otherworldly lover Niamh Cinn-Óir is also widespread, and known in various oral tellings, but was not set down in writing until c. 1750 when Mícheál Coimín (1676–1760) composed the {{lang|ga|Laoi Oisín i dṪír Na nÓg}} ("Lay of Oisín in the Land of Youth").<ref name="mackillop-oisin"/>

The world of the Fianna Cycle is one in which professional warriors spend their time hunting, fighting, and engaging in adventures in the spirit world. New entrants into the band are expected to be knowledgeable in poetry as well as undergo a number of physical tests or ordeals. Most of the poems are attributed to Oisín''.'' This cycle creates a bridge between pre-Christian and Christian times.<ref name="frehan2012"/><ref name=":2" />

==Kings' Cycle== {{main|Cycles of the Kings}}

It was part of the duty of medieval Irish bards, or court poets, to record the history of the family and the genealogy of the king they served. This they did in poems that blended the mythological and the historical to a greater or lesser degree. The resulting stories form what has come to be known as the Cycle of the Kings, or, more correctly, Cycles, as there are a number of independent groupings. This term is a more recent addition to the cycle, being coined in 1946 by Irish literary critic Myles Dillon.{{sfnp|Dillon|1946}}

The kings that are included range from the almost entirely mythological Labraid Loingsech, who allegedly became High King of Ireland around 431 BC, to the entirely historical Brian Boru. However, the greatest glory of the Kings' Cycle is the ''Buile Shuibhne'' (''The Frenzy of Sweeney''), a 12th century tale told in verse and prose. Suibhne, king of Dál nAraidi, was cursed by St. Ronan and became a kind of half-man, half bird, condemned to live out his life in the woods, fleeing from his human companions. The story has captured the imaginations of contemporary Irish poets and has been translated by Trevor Joyce and Seamus Heaney.

==Other tales== [[File:Mound of the Hostages, Hill of Tara 2018-07-24.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Mound of the Hostages, located in County Meath. Places beneath mounds and hills were attested locations of the Irish Otherworld.{{sfn|Carey|2000|pp=113, 116}}]]

===''Eachtraí''=== The adventures, or ''echtrae'', are a group of stories of visits to the Irish Other World (which may be westward across the sea, underground, or simply invisible to mortals). The most famous, ''Oisin in Tir na nÓg'' belongs to the Fenian Cycle, but several free-standing adventures survive, including ''The Adventure of Conle'', ''The Voyage of Bran mac Ferbail'', and ''The Adventure of Lóegaire''.

===''Immrama''=== The voyages, or ''immrama'', are tales of sea journeys and the wonders seen on them that may have resulted from the combination of the experiences of fishermen combined and the Other World elements that inform the adventures. Of the seven ''immrama'' mentioned in the manuscripts, only three have survived: ''The Voyage of Máel Dúin'', the ''Voyage of the Uí Chorra'', and the ''Voyage of Snedgus and Mac Riagla''. ''The Voyage of Mael Duin'' is the forerunner of the later ''Voyage of St. Brendan''. While not as ancient, later 8th century AD works, that influenced European literature, include ''The Vision of Adamnán''.

===Folk tales=== {{main|Irish folklore}}

Although there are no written sources of Irish mythology, many stories are passed down orally through traditional storytelling. Some of these stories have been lost, but some Celtic regions continue to tell folktales to the modern-day. Folktales and stories were primarily preserved by monastic scribes from the bards of nobility. Once the noble houses started to decline, this tradition was put to an abrupt end. The bards passed the stories to their families, and the families would take on the oral tradition of storytelling.

During the first few years of the 20th century, Herminie Templeton Kavanagh wrote down many Irish folk tales, which she published in magazines and in two books. Twenty-six years after her death, the tales from her two books, ''Darby O'Gill and the Good People'' and ''Ashes of Old Wishes,'' were made into the film ''Darby O'Gill and the Little People''. Noted Irish playwright Lady Gregory also collected folk stories to preserve Irish history. The Irish Folklore Commission gathered folk tales from the general Irish populace from 1935 onward.

==Explanatory notes== {{notelist}}

== References == === Citations === {{reflist|25em|refs= <ref name="AltramTigeDaMedar-ed-tr-dobbs">{{cite journal|last=Dobbs |first=Margaret E. |author-link=Margaret Dobbs |title=Altromh Tighi da Medar |trans-title=The Fosterage of the House of the two goblets |journal=Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie |volume=18 |date=1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AsM54bxSlKUC&pg=RA1-PA189 |pages=189–230}}</ref> <ref name="AltramTigeDaMedar-ed-tr-duncan">{{cite journal|last=Duncan |first=Lilian |author-link= |title=Altram Tige Dá Medar |journal=Ériu |volume=11 |date=1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUolAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA185 |pages=182–225}}</ref>

<ref name="brown1920">{{cite journal|last=Brown |first=Arthur C. L. |author-link= |title=The Grail and the English 'Sir Perceval' XI–XV |journal=Modern Philology |volume=18 |number=4 |date=August 1920|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Modern_Philology/pQInAQAAIAAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PA213 |page=213–214, 223}}</ref>

<ref name="Carey tuath de">{{cite encyclopedia |year=2006 |title=Tuath Dé |encyclopedia=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |last=Carey |first=John |author-link=John Carey (Celticist) |editor=John T. Koch |pages=1693–1697}} (reprinted in ''{{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=fRjOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA751|2=The Celts: History, Life, and Culture}}'', 2012, pp. 751–753)</ref>

<ref name="deAngelo2025">{{cite book|last=DeAngelo |first=Jeremy |author-link= |chapter=Chapter 1. Outlawry and Liminality in the North Atlantic. § The Potential and Threat of the Liminal |title=Outlawry, Liminality, and Sanctity in the Literature of the Early Medieval North Atlantic |location= |publisher=Routledge |year=2025 |orig-year=2019 |chapter-url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Outlawry_Liminality_and_Sanctity_in_the/rGqLEQAAQBAJ?&gbpv=1&pg=PT49 |page= |isbn=9781003700982 |doi=10.4324/9781003700982}}</ref>

<ref name="edwards2005">{{cite book|last=Edwards |first=Ruth Dudley |author-link=Ruth Dudley Edwards |others=Bridget Hourican |title=An Atlas of Irish History |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJC13H8h6PIC&pg=PA105 |page=105 |isbn=9780415278591}}</ref>

<ref name="fitzPatrick2023">{{cite book|last=FitzPatrick |first=Elizabeth |author-link= |title=Landscapes of the Learned: Placing Gaelic Literati in Irish Lordships, 1300-1600 |location=|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2023|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Landscapes_of_the_Learned/tni3EAAAQBAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PA13 |page=13, n69 |isbn=9780192855749}}</ref>

<ref name="fleming1996">{{Cite book |last=Fleming |first=Fergus |author-link= |chapter=Mother Goddess |title=Heroes of the dawn : Celtic myth |publisher=Barnes & Noble |date=2003 |orig-date=1996 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tiwe-PC3aUgC&q=mother+goddess |pages=23–25 |isbn=9780760739297}}</ref>

<ref name="frehan2012">{{cite book |last=Frehan |first=Pádraic |author-link= |date=2012 |title=Education and Celtic Myth: National self-image and schoolbooks in 20th-century Ireland |publisher=Rodopi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z4Vduo2mWLIC&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=Rawlinson&f=fals |pages=193–196 |isbn=9789042035904 |oclc=819379953}}</ref>

{{void|This review is not very illuminating compared to the Powell review added.<ref name="hgt1949-rvw">{{cite journal|author=H.G.T. |date=1949 |title=Reviewed work: ''Gods and Heroes of the Celts'' by Marie-Louise Sjoestedt & Myles Dillon |type=book review |journal=Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society |volume=12 |issue=1 |page=85 |doi=10.2307/27728728 |jstor=27728728 |issn=1393-2195}}</ref>}}

<ref name="hull1930">{{cite journal|last=Hull |first=Vernam |author-link= |title=The Four Jewels of the Tuatha Dé Danann |journal=Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie |volume=18 |date=1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AsM54bxSlKUC&pg=RA1-PA73 |page=73}}</ref>

<ref name=Jackson-1964-oldest>{{cite book|last=Jackson |first=Kenneth Hurlstone |year=1964 |title=The Oldest Irish Tradition: A window on the Iron Age |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University Press |oclc=246461036 }}</ref>

<ref name="koch2006">{{cite book|last=Koch |first=John |author-link=John T. Koch |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=1326}}</ref>

<ref name="mackillop-altrom">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Altrom Tige Dá Medar", p. 12</ref> <ref name="mackillop-ana">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Ana, Anu, Annan (gen.)", p. 14</ref> <ref name="mackillop-cmt">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Cath Maige Tuired", pp. 70–72 </ref> <ref name="mackillop-danu">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Danu, Dana", p. 114</ref> <ref name="mackillop-deirdre">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Deider, Derdriu, Deirdriu, Deirdri, Derdrend (gen.)", pp. 117–119</ref> <ref name="mackillop-fethfiada">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "féth fíada", p. 176 </ref> <ref name="mackillop-ireland">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Ireland", pp. 243–245</ref> <ref name="mackillop-lge">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Lebor Gabála Érenn", pp. 259–262</ref> <ref name="mackillop-oisin">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Oisín, Oissíne, Oisséne, Oiséne, Usheen", pp. 313–314</ref> <ref name="mackillop-scathach">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Scáthach, Scáth, Scáthach nUanaind, Skatha", p. 334</ref> <ref name="mackillop-toraigheacht">Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne", pp. 362–363 </ref> <ref name="mackillop-tuatha">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Tuatha Dé Danann", pp. 366–367</ref> <ref name="mackillop-ulster">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Ulster Cycle", pp. 372–374</ref> <ref name="mackillop-ybl">{{harvp|MacKillop|1998}} s.v. "Yellow Book of Lecan", p. 380</ref>

<ref name="mallory1993">{{cite journal|last=Mallory |first=J. P. |author-link=J. P. Mallory |title=The Archaeology of the Irish Dreamtime |journal=Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium |volume=13 |date=1993|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0l0pAQAAIAAJ&q=dindshenchas |page=2}}</ref>

<ref name="MedIrEncy-FenianCycle">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Murray |first=Kevin |author-link= |title=Fenian Cycle |editor-last=Duffy |editor-first=Sean |editor-link= |encyclopedia=Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia |location=New York |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2005 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Routledge_Revivals_Medieval_Ireland_2005/zEArDwAAQBAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PT379 |pages= |isbn=9781351666169}}</ref>

<ref name="monaghan2004-historical">{{cite book|first=Patricia |last=Monaghan |author-link=Patricia Monaghan |date=2014 |orig-date=2004 |chapter=Historical Cycle |title=The encyclopedia of Celtic mythology and folklore |publisher=Facts on File |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nd9R6GQBB_0C&pg=PA246 |pages=246–247 |isbn=9781438110370}}</ref>

<ref name="o_henir1989">{{cite book|last=O Hehir |first=Brendan |author-link=|chapter=The Passing of the Shee |editor-last=Finneran |editor-first=Richard J. |editor-link= |title=Yeats: An Annual of Critical and Textual Studies, Volume VI |location= |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1989 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6EiKiL3Uy8AC&pg=PA253 |page=253 |isbn=9780472101078}}</ref>

<ref name="ohogain fomhoire">{{harvp|Ó hÓgáin|1991|pp=232–233}} s.v. "Fomhóire"</ref> <ref name="ohogain manannan">{{harvp|Ó hÓgáin|1991|pp=288–289}} s.v. "Manannán"</ref> <ref name="ohogain myth cycle">{{harvp|Ó hÓgáin|1991|pp=312–315}} s.v. "Mythological cycle"</ref> <ref name="ohogain tuatha">{{harvp|Ó hÓgáin|1991|pp=407–409}} s.v. "Tuatha Dé Dannan"</ref>

<ref name="orpen1906">{{cite journal|last=Orpen |first=Goddard H. |author-link=Goddard Henry Orpen |title=Aenach Carman: Its Site |journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |series=Fifth Series |volume=36 |number=1 [Vol. 16] |date=31 March 1906 |url= |pages=11, 17}} Also p. 17, note 1: "So, too, ''Oenach Macha'' [Fair of Macha] (Rennes Ds., 94) : cf. Mr. Nutt's remarks ''loc. cit.'' ["Voyage of Bran," vol. ii., p. 184]"</ref>

<ref name="powell1951-rvw">{{cite journal|last=Powell |first=T. G. E. |author-link=T. G. E. Powell |title=Gods and Heroes of the Celts. by Marie-Louise Sjoestedt and Myles Dillon |type=book review |journal=Man |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=51 |date=May 1951 |url= |page=69–70 |jstor=2794127}}</ref>

{{void|<ref name="retzlaff1998">{{Cite book |last=Retzlaff |first=Kay |author-link= |title=Ireland : its myths and legends |date=1998 |publisher=Metro Books |isbn=1-56799-564-0 |location=New York |url= |oclc=37457923}}</ref>}}

<ref name="sienkewicz1996">{{cite book|last=Sienkewicz |first=Thomas J. |author-link=Thomas J. Sienkewicz |title=World Mythology: An Annotated Guide to Collections and Anthologies |location= |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tc3WAAAAMAAJ&dq=echtrae+mythology |page=253 |isbn=9780810831544}}</ref>

<ref name="ussher1996">{{cite book|last=Ussher |first=Arland |author-link=Arland Ussher |chapter=The Colour Green |title=The Encyclopedia Americana |volume=15 |location= |publisher=Grolier Incorporated |date=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sVQNAQAAMAAJ&q=scribes+Irish |page=420}}</ref>

<ref name="walsh1929">{{cite journal|last=Walsh |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Walsh (priest) |title=The Book of the Dun Cow |journal=The Irish Ecclesiastical Record |volume=xxxiv |series=Fifth Series |date=1872 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iVQDA2x7jtEC&pg=PA457 |page=457}}</ref>

}}

=== Sources ===

====Primary sources==== {{refbegin}} ;(Anthologies and compilations) * Cross, Tom Peete; Slover, Clark Harris edd., (1936). ''Ancient Irish Tales''. Totowa, New Jersey: Barnes and Noble Books (reprinted [https://books.google.com/books?id=MCgqAAAAYAAJ 1969], 1988. {{ISBN|1-56619-889-5}}). * {{cite book |last=Dillon |first=Myles |author-link=Myles Dillon |title=The Cycles of the Kings |location= |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1946 |url= |page=}} (reprinted 1994 Dublin and Portland, OR: Four Courts Press. {{ISBN|1-85182-178-3}}). * {{cite book |last=Dillon |first=Myles |author-link=Myles Dillon |author-mask=2 |title=Early Irish Literature |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=1948 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmvCwYP-aJ4C& |page=}} (reprinted Dublin and Portland, OR: Four Courts Press 1994. {{ISBN|0-7858-1676-3}}). * Gantz, Jeffrey tr. (1981). ''Early Irish Myths and Sagas''. London: Penguin Books. {{ISBN|0-14-044397-5}}. * Price, Bill (2008) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3lTuAAAAMAAJ&q=mythology Celtic Myths]'', Pocket Essentials (reprinted Oldcastle Books, 2011).

;(Cath Maige Tuired) * ''Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired''. Elizabeth A. Gray, Ed. Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1982. Series: Irish Texts Society (Series); v. 52. Irish text, English translation and philological.

;(Táin Bó Cúailnge) ** ''Táin Bo Cuailnge from the Book of Leinster''. Cecile O'Rahilly, Ed. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1984. ** ''Táin Bo Cuailnge Recension I''. Cecile O'Rahilly, Ed. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 1976. Irish text, English translation and philological notes. ** Joseph Dunn: ''The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúailnge'' (1914) ** Faraday, Winifred tr. (1904) ''The Cattle-Raid of Cualng''. London. This is a partial translation of the text in the Yellow Book of Lecan, partially censored by Faraday. ** {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Kinsella tr.|1970}} |translator-last=Kinsella |translator-first=Thomas |translator-link=Thomas Kinsella |year=1970 |title=The Tain |language=en |trans-title=The Raid |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iiWQDwAAQBAJ |isbn=0-19-281090-1}}

;(Sanas Cormaic) * {{citation |ref={{SfnRef|Stokes ed.|O'Donovan tr.|1868}} |last1=Stokes |first1=Whitley |author1-link= |last2=O'Donovan |first2=John |author2-link= |author-mask=Stokes, Whitley ed. |author2-mask=O'Donovan, John tr. |title=Sanas Chormaic: Cormac's Glossary |location= |publisher=O. T. Cutter, for the Ir. arch. a. Celt. Soc. |year=1868 |orig-year=1988 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tagCr8Plw8C&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA4 |page=}} {{refend}}

====Secondary sources==== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Carey |first=John |author-link=John Carey (Celticist) |year=2000 |chapter=The Location of the Otherworld in Irish Tradition |chapter-url=https://www.ucc.ie/en/media/academic/seanmeanghaeilge/cdi/texts/Carey_Location-of-the-Otherworld.pdf |editor-last=Wooding |editor-first=Jonathan M. |pages=113–119 |title=The Otherworld Voyage in Early Irish Literature: An Anthology of Criticism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HIdiAAAAMAAJ |location=Dublin |publisher=Four Courts Press |isbn=9781851822461 |oclc=1302630617}} * {{cite book |last1=Dillon |first1=Myles |author1-link=Myles Dillon |last2=Chadwick |first2=Nora Kershaw |author2-link=Nora Kershaw Chadwick |date=1967 |title=The Celtic Realms |edition=1st |location=London |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0m4TAQAAIAAJ& |oclc=}} (2nd ed., London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1972 {{isbn|0297995804}}) * {{cite book |editor-last=Greene |editor-first=David H. |editor-link=David Herbert Greene |title=An Anthology of Irish Literature |volume=1 |location= |publisher=NYU Press |year=1985 |orig-year=1954 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tWsVCgAAQBAJ&pg=PR21 |pages= |isbn=9780814730058}} * {{cite journal |last=Hennessy |first=W. M. |author-link=William Maunsell Hennessy |title=XLVI. The Goddess of War of the Ancient Irish |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy |volume=10 |date=1870a |orig-date=29 January 1869 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xzpJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA425 |pages=421–438}} * {{cite journal |last=Hennessy |first=W. M. |author-link=William Maunsell Hennessy |title=The Ancient Irish Goddess of War |journal=Revue celtique |volume=1 |date=May 1870b |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BqxYAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA32 |pages=32–55}} followed by C. Lottner notes, pp. 55–57 * {{cite book |last=Joyce |first=Patrick Weston |author-link=Patrick Weston Joyce |title=Old Celtic Romances: Translated from the Gaelic |edition=1 |location= |publisher=C. Kegan Paul & Company |year=1879 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=14AWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA401 |page=}} * {{cite book |last=Joyce |first=Patrick Weston |author-link=Patrick Weston Joyce |author-mask=2 |title=Old Celtic Romances: Translated from the Galic |edition=3 |location= |publisher=Longmans, Green |year=1914 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rCpLAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA456 |page=}} * Mallory, J. P. ed. (1992) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRiAAAAMAAJ& Aspects of the Tain]''. Belfast: December Publications. {{ISBN|0-9517068-2-9}}. * {{cite encyclopedia |last=MacKillop |first=James |author-link=James MacKillop (author) |title=Dictionary of Celtic Mythology |location= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcelt0000mack/page/n9/mode/2up |page=}} {{void| * {{cite encyclopedia|last=Maier |first=Bernhard |author-link=Bernhard Maier |title=Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture |location= |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7AvdTqwucfwC&pg=RA1-PA116 |page= |isbn=9780851156606}} }} * {{cite book |last=Macalister |first=R. A. S. |author-mask=Macalister, R. A. S. ed. tr. |chapter=§316 |title=Lebor gabála Érenn : The book of the taking of Ireland |volume=4 |location=Dublin |publisher=Published for the Irish texts Society by the Educational Company of Ireland |year=1941 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mbpAAAAMAAJ&Delbaeth |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/leborgablare04macauoft/leborgablare04macauoft/page/128/mode/2up |page=}} * {{Cite book |last=MacCulloch |first=John Arnott |author-link= |title=The Religion of the Ancient Celts |location= |publisher=T. & T. Clark |date=1911 |orig-date= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NGcKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA71 |page=}} * {{cite book |last=Nagy |first=Joseph Falaky |author-link= |title=The Wisdom of the Outlaw: The boyhood deeds of Finn in gaelic narrative tradition |place=Berkeley & Los Angeles, CA |publisher=University of California Press |year=1985 |url=}} * {{cite book |last=O'Donnell |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas O'Donnell |title=Fosterage in Medieval Ireland |location= |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2025 |orig-year=2020 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Fosterage_in_Medieval_Ireland/Rm2LEQAAQBAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PT101 |page= |isbn=9781040794739}} * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Ó hÓgáin |first=Dáithí |author-link=Dáithí Ó hÓgáin |title=Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition |publisher=Prentice Hall Press |year=1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUgUAQAAIAAJ&q=tuatha |pages= |isbn=9780132759595 |oclc=22181514}} * O'Rahilly, T. F. (1946) ''Early Irish History and Mythology'' * Rees, Brinley and Alwyn Rees (1961). ''Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales''. New York: Thames and Hudson, (reprinted 1989. {{ISBN|0-500-27039-2}}). * {{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Robert D. |author1-link= |last2=Gerig |first2=John L. |author2-link= |chapter=Medieval Irish Literature |editor-last=Cunliffe |editor-first=John W. |editor-link= |title=The Columbia University Course in Literature: Medieval Song and Story |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |date=1929 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zl01jAp3Ks4C&pg=PA203 |pages=192–242}} * {{cite book |last=Sjoestedt |first=M. L. |author-link=Marie-Louise Sjoestedt |others=Translated by Myles Dillon |title=Gods and Heroes of the Celts |place=London |publisher=Methuen |year=1949 |url=}} (reprinted Berkeley, CA: Turtle Press, 1990. {{ISBN|1-85182-179-1}}) * {{cite book |ref=none |editor1-last=Stockman |editor1-first=Gerard |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Mallory |editor2-first=J. P. |editor2-link=J. P. Mallory |title=Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Belfast and Emain Macha, 8-12 April 1994 |location=Belfast |publisher=December Publications |year=1994 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ulidia/3pzYAAAAMAAJ?gbpv=1 |pages= |isbn=9780951706862}} ** {{cite book |last=Dooley |first=Ann |author-link=Ann Dooley |chapter=The invention of women in the Táin |editor1-last=Stockman |editor1-first=Gerard |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Mallory |editor2-first=J. P. |editor2-link=J. P. Mallory |title=Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Belfast and Emain Macha, 8-12 April 1994 |location=Belfast |publisher=December Publications |year=1994 |chapter-url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ulidia/3pzYAAAAMAAJ?gbpv=1&bsq=Scáthach |pages=123–133 |isbn=9780951706862}} ** {{cite book |last=Sjölblom |first=Tom |author-link= |chapter=On the Threshold: The Sacredness of Borders in Early Irish Literature |editor1-last=Stockman |editor1-first=Gerard |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Mallory |editor2-first=J. P. |editor2-link=J. P. Mallory |title=Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Belfast and Emain Macha, 8-12 April 1994 |location=Belfast |publisher=December Publications |year=1994 |chapter-url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ulidia/3pzYAAAAMAAJ?gbpv=1&bsq=Threshold |pages=159–164 |isbn=9780951706862}} ** {{cite book |last=Vielle |first=Christophe |author-link= |chapter=The Oldest Narrative Attestations of a Celtic Mythological and Traditional Heroic Cycle |editor1-last=Stockman |editor1-first=Gerard |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Mallory |editor2-first=J. P. |editor2-link=J. P. Mallory |title=Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Belfast and Emain Macha, 8-12 April 1994 |location=Belfast |publisher=December Publications |year=1994 |chapter-url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ulidia/3pzYAAAAMAAJ?gbpv=1&bsq=heroic+cycle |pages=217–227 |isbn=9780951706862}} * Williams, J. E. Caerwyn (1958). ''Traddodiad llenyddol Iwerddon''. Cardiff: University of Wales Press {{in lang|cy}}. Translated by Ford, Patrick K. (1992). ''Irish Literary History''. Belmont, Massachusetts: Ford and Bailie {{in lang|en}} {{ISBN|0-926689-03-7}}. * {{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Mark Andrew |author-link= |title=Ireland's Immortals: A history of the gods of Irish myth |location=Princeton, New Jersey |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=2018 |orig-date=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C3SYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |page= |isbn=978-0-691-18304-6 |oclc=951724639}} (2016 ed. {{isbn|978-0-691-15731-3}}) {{refend}}

==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |ref=none |last=Armao |first=Frederic |author-link= |year=2022 |title=Uisneach or the Center of Ireland |publisher=Routledge |location=New York City |isbn=978-0367697709}} * Clark, Rosalind (1991) ''The Great Queens: Irish Goddesses from the Morrigan to Cathleen ni Houlihan''. Savage, MD, Barnes and Noble Books. {{ISBN|0-389-20928-7}} * Coghlan, Ronan (1985) ''Pocket Dictionary of Irish Myth and Legend''. Belfast: Appletree. * Danaher, Kevin (1972) ''The Year in Ireland''. Dublin, Mercier. {{ISBN|1-85635-093-2}} * Patterson, Nerys Thomas (1994) ''Cattle Lords and Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland''. Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press (2nd edition) {{ISBN|0-268-00800-0}} * Power, Patrick C. (1976) ''Sex and Marriage in Ancient Ireland''. Dublin, Mercier * Smyth, Daragh (1988, 1996) ''A Guide to Irish Mythology''. Dublin, Irish Academic Press {{refend}}

===Adaptions, collections, and retellings=== {{refbegin}} * Bonwick, James (1894) ''[https://archive.org/details/irishdruidsoldir00bonw Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions]'' * Frost, Gregory (1986) ''Tain'' * —— (1988) ''Remscela'' * Gregory, Lady Augusta] (1902)''Cuchulain of Muirthemne'' ([http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cuch/ composite electronic edition]) * —— (1904) ''Gods and Fighting Men'' * Lenihan, Eddie and Carolyn Eve Green (2004) ''Meeting the Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland''. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. {{ISBN|1-58542-307-6}} * Llywelyn, Morgan (1989) ''Red Branch'' * —— (1994) ''Finn MacCool'' * —— (1984) ''Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish'' * Marillier, Juliet (1999–2001) ''Daughter of the Forest'', ''Son of the Shadows'', and ''Child of the Prophecy'' (Sevenwaters trilogy). * Stephens, James (1920) ''Irish Fairy Tales'' * Wilde, Lady Francesca Speranza (1887) ''[https://archive.org/details/cu31924074445762 Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland]'' {{refend}} ==External links== {{Commons category}} {{refbegin}} * [http://www.ucd.ie/folklore Department of Irish Folklore, Dublin. Includes the National Folklore Archives] * [https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/index_irish.html The Celtic Literature Collection] * [https://www.libraryireland.com/LegendaryFictionsIrishCelts/Contents.php/ Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaFMov--UMM&lc=UgzMH8pAjumAiWB2gh54AaABAg.A4iM6xAoQhyA4mNAoHFWjf YouTube Channel Imaginaire Celtique: "Irish Goddesses", with Noemie Beck, Associate Professor, University of Savoie-Mont Blanc] {{refend}} {{Navboxes|list= {{Gaels}} {{Celts}} {{Europe topic|Mythology of}} {{Irish mythology (Fenian)}} {{Irish mythology (mythological)}} {{Irish mythology (Ulster)}} {{Religion topics|ancient}} {{Paganism}} }} {{Authority control}}

Category:Irish mythology Category:Celtic mythology Category:Culture of Ireland Category:Irish-language literature