1. The Mythological Cycle Today we will continue out investigation into the early Irish deities focusing today on: The Lebor Gabala Érenn And next time The Wooing of Etain.

2. Lebor Gabala: The Book of Invasions Compiled in the 12th century. The five volumes of the LG appear to have grown over several centuries. Perhaps started c 9th century. The compilers created a history of early Ireland based on a succession of different invasions of the island.

3. The Invasions… Cesair Partolon Nemedians Fir Bolg (Belgae?)-dispersed to the west and isles. Tuatha Dé Danann The Milesians (The Sons of Mil, the Gaels)

4. The two Battles of Moytura The first battle concerns the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha Dé Danann and how the former were defeated and dispersed in the west of Ireland and in the isles. The Second Battle is of much greater importance in Irish Mythology and brings in all the Tutha Dé Danann and the god Lug for the first time.

5. Lebor Gabala: The Book of Invasions The narratives are also influenced by Biblical learning about the Old Testament. The narrative as a whole sets the scene for the first of the major cycles of Irish writing: The Mythological Cycle. The key-text is Cath Maige Tuired (The Battle of Mag Tuired/Moytura.

6. Lebor Gabala: The Book of Invasions A detailed outline of the various invasions as well as the two Battles of Moytura in Myths and Legends of the Celts (James MacKillop) pp127-149. All of the members of the Tuatha Dé Danann play a role in the narratives about these two mythological battles.

7. Lebor Gabala: The Book of Invasions In particular we hear about Lug Lámfhota, a major deitiy of the Irish, and of the British and European Celts of the Iron-Age (pre- Roman).

8. Lug Lámfhota In Old Irish – Lug: Light Brightness Lámfhota: Long-armed Long-handed

9. Lug Lámfota Chief of the Tuatha Dé Danann Hero of the Mythological Cycle One of the three great heroes in Irish tradition along with Fionn mac Cumhaill and Cú Chulainn The supernatural father of Cú Chulainn (Ulster Cycle)

10. Lug Lámfota Lámfhota (long-armed) because he has the ability to hurl a weapon or use a sling over long distances Sometimes caled Samildánach meaning that he possesses arts, crafts and trades Much of his story is told in the Cath Maige Tuired (The Second Battle of Mag Tuired (Moytura).

11. Lug Lámfhota His Welsh (ie Celtic British) counterpart is Lleu Llaw Gyffes meaning light of the sure/steady hand Lug shares a divine origin with Fionn and Cú Chulainn, and is sometimes seen as the alter-ego of CC. Gaulish counterpart is Mercury described, like Lug, as being a master of all the arts

12. Lug Lámfhota Mercury also known as Lugos/Lugus In place name lore (dindsheanchas), lugos/Lugus gives his name to Leiden, Lyon, Liegnitz The Roman Emperor Augustus inaugurated a festival on the first of August in Lyon, a forerunner of the Irish August festival, Lughnasa

13. Lug Lámfhota Similar in being long-armed to the Indian god, Savitar, “of the wide hand.” Linked with the Indian Varuna and the Norse Odin for their use of magic

14. Lug Lámfhota Conception & Birth: His grandfather, Balor of the Formorians, was told he would be killed by his grandson so he tried to keep his daughter,Eithne,away from men. Cian, the son of Dian Cécht, (a leading figure of the TDD, the healing god) seduces Eithne and she conceives triplets.

15. Lug Lámfhota Conception & Birth: Two of the triplets were either drowned or turned into seals, leaving Lug as the only surviving baby Fostered by the sea-god Manannán mac Lir (son of the sea)

16. Lug Lámfhota Fosterage Training of sons and daughters by a powerful patron that is not a family member. This practice survived in Gaelic Scotland until the 18 th century. Children were fostered at the age of 7 until the age of 14 for girls and 17 for boys

17. Lugh In a famous scene from Irish mythology, Lugh arrives at the gates of Tara with a retinue of fellow warriors. In a typical scene, they are questioned by the doorkeepers (Camel and Gamel). Lug is required to say who he is and who his kin are (in Celtic fashion).

18. Cath Maige Tuired He recites his lineage (presumably revealing he is Balor’s grandson!) and who his fosterers are. He asks if the king (Nuadu) needs a carpenter/smith/champion/harpist/warrior/p oet/historian/sorcerer/physician/cupbearer/ brazier. In each case he is given the answer that the king already has one in his court.

19. Cath Maige Tuired: Lug Lug’s final challenge is to ask whether the king has someone who possesses all these abilities (arts). The doorkeeper announces at one ‘samindánach’ (master of all arts) is at the door, and has come to help Nuadu’s people. (Caesar: omnium inventorem artium); Welsh tradition: Lleu is of the skillful hand). To prove his point Lug, Lug defeats all comers at the Celtic chess game known as fidchell, plays a magical harp..

20. Lug Lámfhota Described as youthful, handsome and athletic To gain admittance to Tara, Lug describes himself as a builder, smith, champion, harper, warrior, poet, historian magician, physician, cup-bearer, craftsman in metal The King, Nuadu, therefore gives his throne to Lug

21. Lug Lámfhota Lug is credited with inventing fidchell, (something like chess), considered to be the board game of Kings. He is also believed to have brought horse racing to Ireland. His constant companion is his lapdog, Failinis who shines like the sun on a summer day and before whom every wild beast falls to the earth powerless

22. Lug Lámfhota Christianization: Early Celtic Christians associated Lug with the archangel, Michael, for his victory over the Formorians. The archangel, Michael, was the captain of the heavenly army that defeated Lucifer.

23. The Two Battles of Maige Tuired ► Attributed to a flat expanse of land near the west shore of Lough Arrow in County Sligo ► A second expanse of flat land, still called the Plain of Moytura lies in southern County Mayo ► If the place name is translated as the Plain of Pillars then archaeological evidence favours the SLigo site where an upright stone column once stood

24. The Two Battles of Maige Tuired ► The First battle of Maige Tuired look place at Beltaine (May 1 st, first day of summer) ► The Second took place at Samhain (November 1 st, first day of Celtic year) ► Text found in the Lebor Gabála (12 th century text)

25. The First Battle of Maige Tuired ► The First Battle of Maige Tuired is the invasion of Ireland by the Tuatha Dé Danann when they defeated the Fir Bolg ► Nuadu, King of the TDD, loses his arm in the battle. The healing god, Dian Cécht, makes him a new arm of silver ► With only one arm, Nuadu is blemished, and no longer fit to be king, so the kingship goes to Bres

26. Cath Maige Tuired The (Second) Battle of Moytura

27. The Second Battle of Maige Tuired ► The second battle is between the now dominant TDD and the resurgent Fomorians ► The two principal combatants are Lug of the TDD and Balor of the Fomorians

28. The Second Battle of Maige Tuired ► King Bres’ father, although raised with the TDD, was a Fomorian ► Bres is oppressive and lets the country fall under the sway of the Fomorians ► Bres is ungenerous and treats other gods (like the Dagda) poorly ► At the request of the TDD leaders, Bres gives up his kingship but musters a Fomorian army to support him

29. The Second Battle of Maige Tuired ► Nuadu is reinstated as King ► Then Lug arrives at the gates of Tara possessing his many arts ► Nuadu relinquishes his throne so that Lug can lead the TDD in battle ► Under Lug’s direction, the craftsmen at Tara fashion wondrous weapons and sorcerers practise magic to use in battle

30. The Second Battle of Maige Tuired ► All of the Tuatha De Danann are conscripted into Lug’s army to withstand the Fomorians. ► The craftsmen: Goibniu, Dian Cécht, Luchta, Ogma, Credne, as well as ► The Morrigan, Cairpre (the satirist), druids and ► The Dagda (he is wounded by Caitlin, wife of Balor). ► Lug fights as a sorcerer

31. The Second Battle of Maige Tuired ► When the battle is enjoined, the TDD have an advantage with Dian Cécht (the healing god) who raises the war dead to life ► Lug also gives the TDD an advantage by using his powers of magic and sorcery

32. The Second Battle of Maige Tuired ► Balor, the leader of the Fomorians is a formidable enemy ► His baleful gaze can destroy an army ► Sometimes known as Balor of the Baleful Eye ► His eyelid is so mighty that it takes four men to lift it (note comparison with Ysbaddaden in Culhwch & Olwen)

33. The Second Battle of Maige Tuired ► Lug puts a sling-shot stone through Balor’s eye which crashes through his head and exits at the back of his skull, killing 27 Fomorians in the process ► The Fomorians are expelled from Ireland forever

34. The Second Battle of Maige Tuired ► Bres is captured and tries to win favour by promising the TDD cattle will always have milk and that they will always have good harvests ► The TDD reject Bres’ offer but spare his life for giving good advice on the right times to plough, sow and reap

35. The Second Battle of Maige Tuired ► The Mórrígan announces the end of the battle, and ► Badb, the war goddess makes a prophecy of the end of the world

36. The significance of the battle ► Georges Dumézil and the Rees brothers (Alwyn and Brinley). ► A primeval battle between the gods and their adversaries occurs in other mythologies, and there are striking similarities between the stories told of these conflicts by the ancient Indians, Scandinavians and Greeks, and other peoples whose languages are derived from Indo-European.

37. The significance of the battle ► In northern Indian tradition the battle is fought between two Indian groups the Devas (the ‘gods’) and the Asuras. It has been stated that this is the basic theme of Vedic tradition. ► The Asuras were malevolent beings (cf the Fomorians). In that same tradition both the Asuras and the Devas are kinsmen (note the mixed background of both Lug and Bres).

38. The significance of the battle ► In Scandinavian tradition (mainly recorded in medieval Iceland), the disstinction is made between two races of deities: the Vanir and the Aesir who also engage in a mythic battle. (the Edda of Snorri Sturluson).

39. The significance of the battle ► An early theory about the significance of the battle emphasized the episode where Lug kills Balor and saw in this the displacement of an older deity by a younger one in some undatable period in pre-Christian Ireland.

40. The significance of the battle ► Certainly, the Second Battle seems to have been interpolated (inserted) into the longer narratives about the various conquests of Irleland, but that it was a text which was of enormous importance in early medieval Irish culture (and perhaps earlier).

41. The Fomorians (Fomhoire) ► The Fomorians appear prominently in the action of the Second Battle of Moytura. ► They are portrayed as malevolent beings, monstrous and fearsome. ► Each are described as having one eye, one arm and one leg, although later in the BII material they seem more completely anthropomorphic.

42. The Fomorians (Fomhoiri) ► The Fomorians do not appear as settlers of Ireland (in the context of the LG), but rather make raids on the mainland from the sea and their fortress on Tory Island (off Co Donegal, NW Ireland).

43. The Fomorians (Fomhoiri) ► Scolars today tend to see the Fomorians as ‘euhemerized’ sea-deities, pre-Christian in origin but which came to be seen later as demonic humans. ► Etymologically the name means ‘under the sea’. ► Individual Fomorians are particularly loathsome, especially Balor of the Baleful Eye. ► His gaze is lethal: he never opens his one eye except on the battle-field, where four men are needed to lift his eyelid. ► Any individual or army looking at the eye are made powerless.

44. Cath Maige Tuired ► The story of the second battle of Moytirra can be reduced to two basic levels of plot:  The struggle between two supernatural races on the one hand (the Tuatha De Danann and the Fomorians)  The killing of a tyrant by his prophesied grandson on the other. (This is the myth of Lugh).

45. The arrival of the Sons of Mil ► This was the last invasion in the Lebor Gabala. The LG suggests that they arrived in Ireland via Spain. They defeat the Tuatha Dé Danann but neither the LB nor the Second Battle of Moytura text explain what happened to them. ► For this we have to turn to the text of Mesca Ulad (The Intoxication of the Ulstermen) p190. (Early Irish Myths and Sagas).

46. Next Week Text: Early Irish Myths and Sagas September 29 The Wooing of Etain, P. 37-59 October 1 The Dream of Oengus, P. 107-112 The Labour Pains of the Ulaid and The Twins of Macha, P. 127-129