High above the western shore of Lough Arrow are the Bricklieve hills. From the plain of Moytura, these hills rise clear, and the grey limestone domes that top them are highly visible. These domes are a part of the megalithic complex of passage tombs known as Carrowkeel. The complex comprises of 14 cairns, with a further…
Category: The Battle of Moytura 02: Echtrae Breis – The Adventures of Bres
Bres in Other Texts
Bres Mac Elathan appears in a number of texts besides Cath Maige Tuired, and often in a more sympathetic light. He appears as one of the Túatha Dé Danann, as in Tocmairc Étaíne, “The Wooing of Étaín”, where the Dagda sends Elcmar of the Brug away on business to Bres in Mag nInis so that…
Bres – Kingship and Status
In the 21st century, we have quite different ideas of government, nationhood, sovereignty and royalty to our ancestors of 1000 and more years ago. Indeed, it is hard to imagine that an island as small as Ireland had as many as 150 túatha (usually translated as “tribes” or “petty kingdoms”) between the 5th and…
The Story of Bres
It wasn’t his fault. How could one so noble, so beautiful, have been at fault? He was the golden youth, the beloved one chosen by his mother’s people. How could it all have gone so wrong? How had his golden dreams become so tarnished? He had grown up with his mother’s glowing stories. “When you…
The Battle of Moytura 02: Echtrae Breis – The Adventures of Bres
Bres the Beautiful, the Half-Blood Prince of the Túatha Dé Danann, fared little better than his modern literary counterpart. As the Battle of Moytura draws near, we explore the terrible tale of the king set up to be brought down by meanness and false judgement. Join the Story Archaeologists as we try to piece together…