Mythology
The Invasion Myths
The Myths were handed down from generation to generation often in the guise as history. The language was Irish, the third oldest in the western world after Greek and Latin, which spread into Scotland and Wales and often further afield. The time when the epic events of Irish Mythology took place is vague. Many of the writers are obscure, and the poems by Maelmura (died 884), Cinaed Uah Artacain (died 975), Eochaid Ua Flainn (died 984), Flann Mainistrech ( died 1056 ) and Gilla Coemgin ( died 1072 ), give intriguing glimpses into the subterranean wealth of Irish Legend. Very significant is the Lebor Gabala, or the Book of Invasions, which first appeared in the twelth century manuscript. It is chronological and there is a sence of order, as though the writer is determined to make sence of a conflicting body of oral evidence.
This tells of successive waves of invaders, and is of immense antiquity though the twelth century account was modified so as to be religiously correct. There is a verve and a vivacity quite on a parallel with the Greek Epics.
The first race which inhabited Ireland perished in the biblical Flood. This in itself shows the biblical stories have been incorperated into mythology. 268 years later ( for the myth makers are nothing if not precise ) twenty four men and twenty four women came to Ireland, led by a character named Partholon, who came from Greece and landed in what is now County Dublin. At that time there were in Ireland only one treeless and grassless plain, three lakes and nine rivers, but during partholon's time four planes and seven new lakes were formed, and agriculture was introduced. After three centuries the colony had increased to 5000, but the entire population was then wiped out by an epidemic, the people gathering to die on the original plain, being buried at Tamlacht, a word meaning plague-grave, ( question: if there were all wiped out who was there to bury them? ) An extraordinary fact is that excavations have uncovered a number ofancient remains, though they are believed to be Viking. As with all mythology it is possible that later true events have been incorporated in Legend. Although there were no survivors from this plague, the knowledge and skills of the Partholon lived on, though who can say how when there were no writing skills. These include the knowledge and working of gold, the first brewing of beer, and the introduction of domestic cattle, It is possible that later arrivals, always supposing the entire population was wiped which commonsence tells us is impropable, saw the physical remains of these enterprises and made thier own deductions. There was also, it seems, a form of law-giving and ritual.
From the legend it would appear that the people of Partholon arrived in an unpopulated desolate land, ( again unlikely as Ireland, to say the least of it, is extensive and endlessly fertile), but apparently they were also engaged in fighting the Fomorians, a race of demons, monsterous and hideous and equipped with supernatural powers, the forces of evil, though other sources simply describe them as being sea pirates. This was the fate also of the next race to invade Ireland, the people of Nemed, a warrior from Scythia who arrived thirty years later with 900 followers; they cleared twelve new plains and created four new lakes, but they were hit by the same epidemic and were so enfeebled that they were unable to resist the Femorians and became their slaves. Part of their tribute was the delivery on the first of November of two thirds of the children born to them each year, and two thirds of their corn and milk. The Nemedians destroyed the Femorian fortress at what is now Tory Island, and joined battle with the Femorians who, possesed supernatural powers, or alternatively recieved reinforcements from Africa, naturally won, and only thirty Nemedian people survived, who set out for different countries, One of them Simon Brec, went to Greece, and was so prolific that the Greeks became afraid of him and his kin and reduced then to slavery, from which they escaped and returned to Ireland. A feature of the mythology of this indefinable time is the ease with which the various tribes and factions moved around Europe, but the detail is often of help in giving us some kind of a rough time scale. The skills of the Partholon people in God would seem to to indicate knowledge of metals. We are told the Nemed came from Scythia, this in itself is helpful. They were a nomadic tribe inhabiting the Steppes north of the Black Sea between the Danube and the Don Rivers and flourished between the seventh and second centuries BC. They are known to have extensive trading links with the Persians which indicates a willingness to travel. Perhaps more significant is the fact that the Celts of Central Europe occupied for a time this part of the world. In 390 BC the Celts had annihilated the Roman army and Sacked Rome. The next arrivals in Ireland were the Firbolgs together with the less important Fir Gaileoins and the Fir Domnanns and they are often grouped together. The Firbolgs had five leaders, each of which occupied a fifth, a structure which has remained intact. These provinces were Ulster, Leinster, Connaught, East and West Munster. The Firbolgs are " real" and descendants from them were described in the middle ages as " Tattling, guileful, tale bearing, noisy, contemptible, mean, wretched, unsteady, harsh and inhospitable". They were soon challenged by the Tuatha De Danann ( tribes of the goddess Danu), the forces of light, who were allegedly descended from Nemed,