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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 60 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Irish Myth
| The son of Fergus mac Roigh, he was mortally wounded by Conall Cernach? | Irish Mythology
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Iollan. He and his father were intending to entrap Deirdre and the Sons of Usna.
| Known as the Great Queen, she was the archetypal form of the Goddess in Ireland, and often associated with war? | Irish Mythology
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Morrigan. She offered her love to CuChulainn and afer being rejected, she fought him in the form of an eel and a she-wolf. Her normal appearance was as a battle-crow.
| The Land of Youth and immortality where gods and men lived together in a world of beauty? | Irish Mythology
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Tir Na n'Og. Tir Na mBan was The Land of {Women;} Tir Na mBeo was the Land of the {Living;} and Tir Tairngire was the Land of Promise.
| She was the wife of Mongan and was born the same night as he? | Irish Mythology
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Dubh Lacha. Mongan was tricked into giving her up to Brandubh, but she was regained with the help of Cuimhne.
Cuimhne. She magically changed into a beautiful woman so that Brandubh was willing to exchange Dubh Lacha for her.
Mechi. There was a prophecy which said he would ruin Ireland because of his 3 hearts out of which 3 serpents would hatch, devastating the land.
Murdhuacha. A cailleach was a witch, Donn was the Lord of the Dead, and Speir-Bhean was the spirit of a woman who wandered lonely places.
| Daughter of the Dagda and the patroness of poets, healers, and smiths? | Irish Mythology
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Brigit. Saint Brigit is the secondary patron saint of Ireland.
| He was the leader of the first invasion of Ireland and the chief of every craft? | Irish Mythology
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Partholon. He is the reaper of the last sheaf in modern Irish folklore.
| The master of wisdom who gave in to Lugh's keeping of the spear, which gave victory in battle? | Irish Mythology
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Esras. He was from Gorias, which the Book of Invasions suggests was in the northern Greek Isles.
Fomorians. King Partholan drove the Fomorians off to Tory Island (near Donegal), only to die of plague with all of his people save his nephew Tuan. (The Milesians are the (probably European) mortals who later drove the Danaans to Tir na Nog and settled Ireland {themselves;} the Rutulians are a race mentioned in Virgil's {Aneid;} and Mabinogi is a Welsh word meaning something like 'fantasy story.')
Nuada. ...Hence the epithet, 'Nuada of the Silver Hand.' Being blemished by the loss of his hand, Nuada was ineligible for kingship, causing much mischief which failed to be wholly resolved when Nuada's hand was later magically restored. (Tyr also lost a hand, but in Norse myth, when Fenris bit it off as he was being bound.)
| Fomorian King Balor ('of the Evil Eye') invaded mainland Ireland from Tory Island, only to be thwarted mainly by Lugh. What was Lugh's relationship to Balor? | Irish Myth: Book of Invasions
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Grandson. It had been prophesied that Balor would die at his grandson's hands, so he had his only daughter cloistered in a tower for life. However, Balor angered Kian by stealing his magic cow, so Kian got Birog the druidess magically to provide access to the tower and maiden. After that encounter was consummated, Balor's daughter Ethlinn bore triplets, which Balor ordered destroyed. As is usual in myth, one of the triplets escaped destruction, namely, Lugh, who was raised first by Kian and later by Duach of the Otherworld. (Reminiscent of many Greek myths, chiefly that of Perseus-Danae-Acrisius.)
| After Balor was killed by Lugh, the Fomor were routed. The Danaan host took the fight to the Fomorian stronghold, where the definitive defeat of the Fomor was engineered with the crucial use of what object? | Irish Myth: Book of Invasions
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The Harp of the Dagda. The Dagda recovered his harp (plundered by the retreating Fomorians) and, with the Strain of Slumber, put the Fomor to sleep. (Fragarach was the name of a magical sword of Mananan Mac Lir that was entrusted to Lugh. Duach, a foster father of Lugh, did indeed gift Lugh with a magical boat, but the boat was another of Mananan's marvels. The Pig-Skin of Greek King Tuis had magical healing properties, but it was before the battle with the Fomorians that Lugh sent the murderers of his father Kian on a suicide quest to fetch the pig-skin, among other marvels (reminiscent of similar suicide quests from Greek myth, such as the voyage of the Argonauts, Bellerophon's joust with the chimera, and the Twelve Tasks of Heracles).)
Defeated in battle with mortals and retreated to Tir na Nog.. The Milesians defeated the Danaans in battle, slaying their three kings. The surviving Danaans retreated below the hollow hills and became the Sidhe, dwelling thereafter in Tir na Nog, the Land of the Living.
| Tuan, nephew of Partholan, had witnessed the invasions of the Nemedians (as a stag), the Firbolg (as a wild boar) and the Tuatha de Danaan (as a sea-eagle). Centuries later, he effected one final transformation before relating all he had witnessed to sixth-century Abbot Finnen, who wrote it all down. What was Tuan's final transformation? | Irish Myth: Book of Invasions
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Into a fish consumed by the wife of Chief Carell, after which he was reborn as 'Tuan Mac Carell.'. God, no one who doesn't know could ever guess this. That's right, 'Tuan Mac Carell' -- Tuan Mackerel -- was born after entering a woman's body as a fish (specifically, a salmon). Ridiculous, I acknowledge.
Lived nine hundred years as swans.. Their wicked step-mother Aoife transformed them into swans doomed to spend 300 years at Lake Derryvaragh, 300 years in the Straits of Moyle, and 300 years on the coast between Erris and Inishgloryu, until a Southern woman was mated with a Northern man. Bov the Red turned Aoife into a shrieking wind demon in revenge, but the curse could not be broken. 900 years later, they were captured by a chief of Connacht (in the North) as a wedding present for his betrothed, Princess Deoca of Munster (in the South). At the wedding, they changed back into human shape, and died.
| High King Conary Mor was subject to a nine-fold geis of things he must not ever do. Which of the nine bonds did Conary violate? | Irish Myth: Book of Invasions
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All nine.. After violating every geis ever placed upon him (including one placed upon him at birth never to hunt birds), Conary died of thirst, when all sources of water were magically dried. Immediately after his death, his corpse was decapitated. Conary's man Mac Cecht ('the Champion') then came running up with Conary's golden cup filled with water he had managed, too late, to find. The following dialogue ensued: 'O Conary,' he said, 'never believe that Mac Cecht failed thee. Here is the drink.' He poured the water down the throat of Conary. 'Is the drink good, O King?' he {said;} and out of the other world the voice of Conary answered: 'It is a good drink, Mac Cecht.'
| Macha, daughter of Sainrith mac Imbaith, cursed the men of Ulster for nine generations. Why did she so curse the Ulstermen? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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She had been forced to run a footrace when nine months pregnant.. Macha's origins are {mysterious;} she showed up one day out of nowhere and began acting as wife to rich widower Crunniuc. Despite Macha's warning to Crunniuc not to say anything stupid, one day at a fair he boasted that Macha was swifter of foot than the king's horses. She was heavily pregnant at the time. On pain of Crunniuc's death, she was forced to put his boast to the test. She begged to be permitted to give birth to her twins first, but her pleas were ignored. She won the race, delivered the twins *and* her curse, on the finish line. As her children were born, she screamed that every man who heard her, and their descendants for nine generations more, would suffer the same birth pangs for five days and four nights in the time of their greatest difficulty -- this was the 'Pangs of Ulster.' The place where this happened was known ever after as Emain Macha -- the Twins of Macha.
| Several accounts are given of the birth of Setanta, who later came to be known by a more famous name. His mother was Deichtine, sister of Conchobar, King of Ulster. Some later accounts assign his paternity to Conchobar himself (implying a system of matrilineal descent in prehistoric {Ireland?);} others to a petty chieftain of Ulster, Deichtine's husband Sualtaim. But in most accounts Setanta's father is a god. Which god is said to have been Setanta's true father? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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Lugh. Setanta, or Cuchulainn, is famous above all for his ferocity in {battle;} it is appropriate, then, that his father should have been Lugh, he who definitively defeated the Fomorians in the Second Battle of Moytura. The surviving account of how he impregnated Deichtine is confused, involving an intervening miscarriage or stillborn child before the union with the god bore ultimate fruit, and is probably a patchwork of several conflicting older versions of the myth. Lugh either entered Deichtine's drink as a mayfly and impregnated her from within after being consumed, or later, coming to her in the form of a bird. In either event, Lugh appeared to Deichtine in a dream, told her he was the father of the son she would bear, instructed her to name the boy Setanta ('Knowledgeable of Roads and Ways'), and bade her give the boy two foals which would be born simultaneously with Setanta, namely the Roan of Macha and Black Sainglen.
The Hound of Culann. Culann the Smith had a huge guard-dog which surprised the boy Setanta. Setanta killed it with his bare hands. To repay Cullan for the loss of his magnificent and legendary dog, Setanta swore to raise a pup from the same pack -- and until it was raised, to guard Cullan's property himself. Setanta actually expressed some displeasure at his new cognomen, but on the insistence of the Druid, Cathbad, it stuck.
Aife. Cuchulainn's first son was borne by Aife, Scathac's neighbor, rival and enemy. Aife and Cuchulainn were engaged in single combat on the rope of feats when Aife cut off Cuchulainn's sword at the hilt. He shouted, 'Look behind you! All your men are dead!' and when she turned to look, he grabbed her by the breasts, dragged her off and put a knife to her throat. He agreed to spare her on three conditions: that she give hostages to {Scathac;} that she sleep with {him;} and that she bear him a son. She agreed to the conditions. Cuchulainn told her to name the boy Connla, and to send him to his father in seven years (when Cuchulainn himself would be 14). When he showed up seven years later, he was beating his father in combat every which way until Cuchulainn -- although he knew the boy's identity -- 'played foul' and used the gae bolga (his quasi-mystical under-water thirty-barbed spear) to rip his own son's guts out. An odd episode, difficult to come to terms with.
| At a feast hosted by Bricriu Mac Carbad (of the venomous tongue), Cuchulainn is declared the Champion of Ulster. What does he do to be so honored? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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Submits passively to a demonic giant who wants to cut off his head.. Niceties of honor being of paramount importance among warrior peoples like the Ulstermen, it is critical that the champion's identity be determined before the climax of the feast, for it is he who will receive the 'champion's portion.' Conall of the Victories, Loeghaire the Triumphant and Cuchulainn are the contenders. Bricriu, an inveterate spreader of strife, has set it up that there will be bloodshed among the three heroes. Indeed, he makes matters worse by getting the heroes' wives drunk and then telling them that the first to enter the hall will be the first lady of Ulster. They hike up their skirts in their haste to enter, and make a spectacle of themselves. When the doors are barred against them, Conall and Loeghaire begin tearing down the walls, but Cuchulainn lifts the house, lets his wife Emer and her entourage enter, and then drops it again. But what finally settles the matter is the episode of the weird giant, who offers to let any man cut off his head, so long as the giant could then return the favor. Conall and Loeghaire refuse. Cuchulainn agrees, and decapitates the giant, who walks off carrying his own severed head, only to return with his head and an axe. Cuchulainn quietly lays his head upon the block, but the giant turns out to be the legendary sorcerer-hero Cu Roi Mac Dairi, who declares Cuchulainn champion.
Rampageous and beautiful Derdriu ni Feidlimid.. Derdriu (or Deirdre, meaning 'rampageous', and so called after the audible shout she delivered while in her mother's womb) was predicted (by Cathbad the Druid) to be the cause of the downfall of the men of the Red Branch, on account of her great beauty. It was therefore requested that she be killed at birth, but Conchobar wanted her for himself, so had her reared in secret. However, at about the age of fourteen, she met the handsome Naoise, and eloped with him. Conchobar pursued but could not catch her, and ultimately lured her, Naosie, and Naosie's brothers back to Ulster, where he treacherously murdered the men and captured the woman. Conchobar's treachery caused a split in the house of the Red Branch, with many of its warriors leaving Ulster and joining Medb and Ailill of Connaught. Derdriu later hurled herself from Conchobar's chariot and died, preferring death to his treatment of her.
| How did it happen that the Connaught war host entered Ulster unopposed, without provoking outcry? Why wasn't Cuchulainn there to guard the marches? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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He was consummating an adulterous tryst.. Cuchulainn's mortal father (or foster-father) Sualtaim told him to expect the men of Connaught, but Cuchulainn had previously sworn to tryst with the maid of King Conchobar's daughter. Rather than permit it to be said that men's promises are false while women's promises are true, Cuchulainn kept his word and allowed the host to enter. However, he delayed their entry and forced them to take a long way round by planting a monstrous and terrifying ogham in their path.
| On Conaille Plain Cuchulainn killed three hundred warriors of Connaught with his sling, over the course of three nights. Medb negotiated with him to put a stop to that, and they agreed that the forces of Connaught would send a single champion to do combat against Cuchulainn at the 'ford of battle' each day, and that the Connaught host would only march during the pendency of each combat. In exchange, Cuchulainn would set aside his staff-sling. How many days did it take Cuchulainn to slay Nathcrantail, the spear-throwing first champion of Connaught? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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2. At their first encounter, Nathcrantail cast nine spears at Cuchulainn in quick succession. Cuchulainn leapt from one to the other as Nathcrantail cast them, and on the ninth was carried past some birds. Distracted, he hunted them and failed to slay his foe. Nathcrantail went back and told Medb that the beardless Cuchulainn had fled from him. Cuchulainn's explanation was that he killed no unarmed person (or tried not to, at any rate), and that Nathcrantail had carried no arms but only 'spits of wood.' The next day Cuchulainn was not so easily distracted: he leapt onto Nathcrantail's shield boss, from which perch he cut off the man's head. Before Nathcrantail's body fell, Cuchulainn cut it in half from neck to crotch.
| Cuchulainn was important to the Ulstermen because he alone among them was immune to the Curse of Macha (perhaps due to his divine parentage), which left them weak and helpless in their times of greatest need. However, after a desperate battle at the ford, in which the Morrigan's intervention left Cuchulainn sorely wounded, Cuchulainn's divine father healed him be sending him into a three-day sleep. What martial asset did the forces of Ulster call upon to defend them while Cuchulainn slept? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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A small army of 150 pre-adolescent boys.. The boy-troop of thrice fifty sons of kings defended Ulster while Cuchulainn {slept;} they were all killed, but not before they had slain 450 men of Connaught.
| While Cuchulainn recuperated from wounds inflicted in the flight alluded to in the preceding question, his mortal (or foster) father Sualtaim met his end. How did Sualtaim die? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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Cut off his own head by falling on his shield-edge.. Cuchulainn sent Sualtaim to warn the hosts of Ulster, who at last had recovered from the Pangs of Macha's Curse, that the hosts of Connaught had captured the bull and were escaping with it. Sualtaim delivered the warning, and then fell off the Roan of Macha on to his own shield.
| What was the outcome of the final battle between the forces of Ulster and the forces of Connaught at the Plain of Garech? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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Men of Connaught routed, but their leaders spared. After the defeat of the Connaught war host, Cuchulainn came upon Medb helpless in the throes of an ill-timed and massive menstrual flow. He spared her, and gave her surviving forces safe passage out of Ulster.
| What was the ultimate fate of the two fabulous bulls (Dub of Cuailgne and Finnbennach of Connaught) after all the dust had settled? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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Dub slays Finnbennach, then dies himself. Thus, with both bulls eliminated, Medb still managed to achieve the ultimate goal of her {cattle-raid;} namely, to win her argument with Ailill! (Without Finnbennach, Ailill was less wealthy than Medb, so she didn't need to augment her wealth by adding Dub to her possessions.)
| A final question to prove that the Ulster Cycle isn't ALL about {Cuchulainn;} what body part was used to kill King Conchobar? | Irish Myth: Ulster Cycle
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The excised brain of Mesgedra, King of Leinster. Conall of the Victories made Mesgedra's brains into a sling stone, but the brain-missile was stolen by Ket of Connaught, and used on Conchobar, imbedding the brain-missile in the king's forehead. Conchobar's surgeons sewed him up, but could not remove the intrusive brain. They told him to rest, but he lost his temper, and died.
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