So we've talked about how difficult it can be to get a handle on the Irish Mythological
Cycle how it's full of supernatural vagaries, informational gaps, and conflicting sources—but
we also talked about how worthwhile it is to mine for material.
And now it time for us to prove it.
Let's delve into what may be the most significant text in the entire Mythological Cycle: The
Lebor Gabala Erenn; better known as the "Book of Invasions."
The tale of Ireland's first settler is not particularly long and—in all honesty—not
particularly impressive.
Her name was Cessair, and she was claimed to be the granddaughter of Noah.
The Noah.
The one with the ark.
For whatever reason, she was unable to secure a place aboard for her and her people, so
instead of becoming resigned to her fate, she brought them aboard three ships of her
own and struck out in search of a safe haven.
Eventually they settled on the island that would one day become Ireland.
Unfortunately, by the time they landed, they'd somehow lost two of their ships.
Even worse, the one ship that actually managed to make shore was only carrying 3 men and
49 women.
For a while, they were able to make things work, sharing the men equally amongst themselves.
But when two of them died, leaving Cessair's husband—Fintan mac Bochra—to care for
the whole 49 of them, he collapsed under the pressure and retreated into the water in the
form of a salmon.
We don't know how exactly he changed shape like that, but whatever it was, it allowed
him to survive the great deluge while the rest perished.
He then went on to live out the next 5,500 years in the form of each species of animal
on Ireland, watching history unfold before him so that he could share it with use someday.
Ireland's second settler was leagues more successful than its first.
300 years after the flood, Partholon arrived with his family and 1,000 of his people.
They were civilized.
They brought with them customs like cooking, ploughing, building stationary homes, cattle
husbandry, trade, and they divided the island into four great regions whose names have since
become lost to history.
When they eventually fought Ireland's first battle at Mag Itha, they bested the Fomorian
chieftain Cichol Grigenchos and his monstrous ranks.
After that, they prospered for more than 500 years.
By all accounts, they could have become the ancestors of Ireland's modern inhabitants...
if not for one slip-up.
For some reason, they all just happened to be gathered together at the plain of Sen Mag
when they were set upon by a plague.
The sickness spread so quickly through their numbers that, by the end of a single week,
not one of them was left standing.
5,000 men and 4,000 women; not one lived... save, perhaps, for a man named Tuan mac Cairill,
whose story is almost identical to Fintan's.
He too escaped death in the form of a salmon, and he too wandered Ireland for centuries
in the shapes of its creatures.
And finally, something stuck!
After the two failures before him, Nemed arrived as Ireland's third and most successful settler
thus far.
Save for the Fomorians—who always just seemed to... be there—Nemed's people were the first
to inhabit Ireland without dying out completely.
That isn't to say they had an easy go of things, though.
After leaving from the Caspian Sea with 44 ships and drifting for more than a year, they
landed with just one ship, carrying Nemed, his family, and a few others.
His wife died within 12 days ashore, but somehow they managed to establish themselves enough
to defeat the Fomorians in four different battles.
That might have secured their place on the island, if a plague hadn't fallen on Nemed
and 3,000 of his people only 9 years after their arrival.
The Fomorians seized the opportunity, and the two Fomorian kings—Conand and Morc—began
to exact a tax on the Nemedians.
Two-thirds of all their corn, two-thirds of all their milk, and two-thirds of all their
children.
Eventually, the people rose up in great numbers and overwhelmed Conand in his tower, where
he died.
In retaliation, Morc called a tidal wave that wiped out all but 30 of them.
Defeated but not dead, they left the island in search of better things.
Some went inland to Britain, some went south to Greece, and a number of them went "into
the North of the world."
Sooo, I said some of the Nemedians went to Greece "in search of better things"?
Well, they didn't find it.
The 230 years they spent there were spent in chains.
It wasn't until the Israelite exodus from Egypt that they had the numbers to escape
back to Ireland.
And even then, by the time they went back, they weren't the same people.
They had become the "Fir Bolg"; the "men of the bag."
Whether this name comes from their time as slaves, hauling sacks of dirt, or from the
fabled sacks of soil they brought to Ireland to change the stony terrain into hospitable
earth?
That's unclear.
But however they came to be, they were better off for it.
Uncontested by the Fomorians, they thrived, and divided up Ireland into its five provinces:
North and South Munster, Ulster, Leinster, and Connacht.
To preside over them, they established a high-kingship, which lasted for 37 years and saw the rule
of 7 different kings.
The short succession ended with the rule of a man named Eochaid mac Eirc, said to be the
example of a "perfect king".
But even "perfect", it seems, is not enough to save one from the gods.
As you'll recall, when the remainder of Nemed's people dispersed, a number of them travelled
into the mysterious "North".
We have no idea what that means exactly, but we do know that wherever it was, it brought
them under the guidance of the goddess Danu, who sent them to learn in the four mythical
cities of knowledge: Gorias, Findias, Murias, and Falias.
By the time they were done with their training, they were no longer the "tribe of Nemed";
they were something more: the tribe of the goddess Danu—The "Tuatha De Danann".
With their new god-like abilities, they returned to Ireland to reclaim their home.
The first order of business, of course, was to wrestle it from the Fir Bolg, a conflict
which became "The First Battle of Mag Tuired", during which the arm of Nuada, then king of
the Tuatha, was severed.
Since he was no longer perfect, he was no longer fit to rule, and so the throne was
passed on to the half-Fomorian prince, Bres.
Bres was as beautiful as he was greedy, and favored his Fomorian kin.
Before long, the Tuatha were living in what amounted to slavery, paying taxes and using
their powers for menial labor.
After seven years of this, Dian Cecht—healer of the Tuatha—created for Nuada a silver
arm, with which he was able to reclaim the throne and depose Bres.
Cast aside and bitter, Bres sought help from the Fomorian champion Balor of the Baleful
Eye.
Together, with the might of the Fomorian armies at their back, they waged a war against the
Tuatha De Danann—"The Second Battle of Mag Tuired"—which claimed the lives of Nuada
and Balor and many other before the Tuatha came out victorious and began their 200-year
reign.
This period accounts for the bulk of The Mythological Cycle, as most stories—such as The Wooing
of Etain and The Children of Lir—revolve around the exploits of the Tuatha De.
As it does in most stories, in order for the time of man to begin, the time of gods and
magic eventually had to come to an end.
And the end came with the arrival of Ireland's sixth and final mythological invaders: The
Milesians.
They didn't just emerge from the fog to crash the party, though.
They actually have a really interesting history with heavy connections to other historical
events—mostly biblical, naturally.
Their ancestors are said to have aided in the construction of the tower of Babel, invented
the Gaelic language, and they escaped slavery in Egypt alongside the Israelites.
After that, they wandered the world for 440 years before eventually conquering Spain.
From there, they discovered Ireland and sent a small party to explore.
The Milesians were well received by the kings of the Tuatha De Danann, but before they could
return to Spain, a mysterious third party murdered the Milesian prince, Ithe, who had
been an envoy, which inevitably sparked a war between the two peoples.
Oddly enough, the god-like figures turned out to be no match for the new invaders, and
were quickly forced to seek terms.
In the end, they were allowed to stay, but only beneath the sidhe mounds.
And so it was that the great dieties of Ireland became the Aos Sidhe, who in turn became nothing
more than Irish faeries.
Now, this is definitely the abridged version of the book of Invasions; we really recommend
you do some digging on your own time.
But even here in this chopped-up, super-condensed version, you can begin to see the loose threads,
waiting for someone to spin them into stories.
Like, where did the Fomorians come from?
What are they?
And how did Fintan and Tuan do their shapeshifting thing?
How are the Milesians able to overcome the god-like Tuatha De Danann?
And most curious of all: what about the North?
What was it like?
How did Danu and the cities produce demi-gods, and... could it be done again?
All good fodder for new stories.
Hopefully something in there sparks your imagination.
If it does, feel free to write something up and send it to us.
Just click that "submit" button at the end.
Anyway, we've got our own story to write, so that's it for this list.
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Everything helps.
As always, thanks for watching, and keep making stuff up.
We'll see you... next week!
Bye!