The filid, “poets”, of early Irish society were not poorly paid struggling artists: they were held in the highest esteem and a crucial part of culture. Indeed, the word fili, “poet”, more literally means “seer“, and the ollamh, “great poet, chief poet”, had comparable status with the king of the túath, “petty kingdom”, and the…
Category: Related Material
Explorations and developments of the themes of each episode
The Irish Abroad – an ongoing tradition
In our final Immrám episode, The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair – An Unofficial Fenian Immrám, we noticed that Goll, Oscar and Fergus FinnBhéoil [“Fair-Lips”] came up with a familiar strategy. Just like the Children of Tuirenn, Fergus suggests that they sneak into the court of Athens disguised as poets, right down to the hair-do!…
The Island of the Pillar – For Real?
In episode 14 of the series “Rowing Around Immráma”, we treated the Fenian tale, The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair and his Horse, as a kind of spoof Immrám. While this is the impression given, it also has another purpose. One of the prime functions of Fenian tales is to illustrate that whatever genre its heroes…
Underworld, Otherworld ~ part1: Underworld
Underworld, Otherworld: Introduction There are, as we have frequently noted, only four official members that can be strictly classified as Immráma . These are, of course, Immrám Brain Mac Febul, Immrám Snedgussa ocus Mac Ríagla, Immrám Uí Corra, and Immrám Curaig Máel Dúin . However, series four has already reached podcast episode 13 the longest series that…
Mongán, Taliesin, Finn and Arthur!
What is so special about Mongán? Mongán is no longer a well-known figure in Irish mythology; and yet we have found ourselves giving three full podcast episodes to exploring his stories. In the Irish annals (3.1), Mongán was referenced as a king who died in 625 CE. There is also an existing prose text and…
Story Archaeology goes Kind of Epic!
Just when you thought there wasn’t enough Story Archaeology around, we go and do an interview for the Kind of Epic Show! We’re featured in a St. Patrick’s Day special on this “weekly look at all things geek” with Gabe Canada. Here’s a direct link to the episode which will play automatically: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kind-of-epic-show/e/37361615?autoplay=true Here’s a…
An Open Letter to QI
QI is a long-running BBC panel show hosted by Stephen Fry. It is produced by “Quite Interesting Ltd.”, and has become an unofficial source for Quite Interesting facts and exploding General Ignorance. But their research is not flawless… Dear QI Elves, Please can you stop spouting nonsense about Ancient Ireland? I know it’s a…
Extolling the Holly
Poetry specifically describing the properties of different woods is not all that common, although I know of a couple of poems that gives Ash prime place. This poem, in keeping with the season, places the holly as the best of winter woods, It also favours the fragrant honeysuckle, the woodbine. The poem is part of the story of …
The Island of Sheep
They had been two weeks away from land now, fourteen days and fourteen nights on the undulating, heaving, breathing waves. They were here together, in a vessel that had appeared so strong and stalwart on the good earth. It now seemed no more than a fragile cockle shell adrift on the lucid illimitable sea. Tadhg smiled wryly…
Please be patient. Two new episodes are on their way
Hi to all Story Archaeology friends. Chris here. I just wanted to apologise for the delay in publishing our next podcast episodes. Two were recorded in August and are awaiting editing. The first is the very exciting Immráma style journey of Tadhg, son of Cian. This, little known text proved to be an unexpected literary gem…