The Fisher King is a figure closely associated with the Arthurian cycle and, more directly, with the legends of the search for the Grail. A discussion on the development and varying source materials for the stories is beyond the scope of this article, but similar motifs and character types appear in each version, the main…
Four Cities, Four Teachers, Four Treasures
There is much curiosity surrounding the four cities and teachers named in the opening lines of Cath Maige Tuired. The names are archaic-sounding, with their -ias endings. The “cities” do not seem identifiable with any geographic location, ancient or modern. And aside from this brief appearance, the “teachers” are never heard from again. However, the…
Cath Maige Tuired – Sections 1 – 14
Edition: Elizabeth Gray Translation: Elizabeth Gray [Isolde Carmody] This text and its published translation are made available by kind permission of CELT, the Corpus of Electronic Texts, at University Colege Cork: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/ We will not always put the full text here on our blog, and we recommend that you read Gray’s edition, or better still,…
The Story of Nuada
Nuada stared into a palm of silver, a cupped pool reflecting a refracted and shattered image of his frowning face. He held the hand up before him, flexed his fingers and five silver rays flared like a crown around his image. So it worked to his will then. It was more than a magnificent glove….
The Battle of Moytura 01: Echtrae Nuadat – The Adventures of Nuada
Nuada Láim Argait, the merchant king with the Silver Arm, leads his people in wisdom and strategy for much of the saga of the Second Battle of Moytura. He is widely regarded as cognate with the British Celtic god Nodens. So when and how, mythologically speaking, did he come to Ireland? This first episode of…
Series 2: The Battle of Moytura
Our second series of podcasts concerns the great mythical saga, Cath Maige Tuired, The Battle of Moytura. Now, you may legitimately ask “Which one?”, because the tradition does indeed have two battles at Moytura. The first battle was between the Túatha Dé Danann and the Fir Bolg at Magh Tuired Coinge, near Cong in Co….
Samhain Special: Corpse Carrying For Beginners
An Acallam na nÉces Samhain Special In this seasonal special, the Story Archaeologists compare two stories of Samhain. It’s a time for ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night… but what could such stories tell us about life 100 or even 1,000 years ago? Find out as the Story Archaeologists go…
Tales of Sheebeg
The 1931 excavation of the cairn on Sheebeg In our conversation on Sheebeg, we talked about the excavation that took place in January 1931. I thought that it might be interesting to include a few quotes from the newspapers of the time and the only sketch that was made, as far as I am aware,…
More on Sheebeg
Below, as promised, some pictures of the hill and cairn at Sídh Beag. More material, such as the newspaper reports from 1931, will be posted soon… Watch this space!!
Special: Tales of Sheebeg
An Acallam na nÉces Special In the West of Ireland, every hill is a hollow hill, and every well is a source. But the hill we live on has many legends. Join the Story Archaeologists on an aerial survey of the story-scape of Sídh Beag, the Small Fairy Hill. Don’t forget to subscribe to get…