Daragh Smyth

The book tells the life story of an Iron Age hero, providing a history of Iron Age Ulster and its customs. Cu Chulainn was the greatest hero of a heroic age centered on Ulster and North Leinster. He is in the European tradition of heroes, from Ajax to Achilles to King Arthur. He was a demi-god, having both a solar deity, Lug, and Conchobar mac Nessa, King of Ulster, for his father. All that is known of him comes from a collection of ancient writings that fuse history, myth and biography. Working from his own translations from the Old Irish and from edited manuscript sources, Daragh Smyth has crafted a fascinating and scholarly account of the life of Cu Chulainn and of aspects of social life in Ulster during the Iron Age. The book is divided into eight chapters; each chapter is taken from a printed version of a medieval manuscript and translated into English. It follows Cu Chulainn from his birth to his initiation in arms, his various romances in Ireland and Scotland, and his marriage to Emer at Emain Macha.

This guide, structured alphabetically with a helpful cross-reference system, allows the reader to delve into the ornate world of Irish mythology and its four cycles of the Mythological Cycle, the Ulster Cycle, the Fenian or Ossianic Cycle, and the Historical Cycle or Cycle of Kings. The characters associated with each of these cycles are vividly brought to life - heroes such as C���ºchulainn, Ois���­n, Cormac mac Airt, Conchobar mac Nessa, Finn and the Fianna.

In Ireland, the link between place and myth is strong, and there is no more enlightening way to understand the rich tapestry of Irish mythology, and its relationship to our true history, than by reading the landscape. Earthing the Myths is an engaging and exhaustive county-by-county guide to the vast number of fascinating places in Ireland connected to myth, folklore and early history.Covering the period 800 BC to AD 650, this book spans the Late Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the early Christian period, and explores the ways in which the land evolved, and with it our catalogue of myths and legends. Smyth chronicles sites the length and breadth of the country, where druids, fairies, goddesses, warriors and kings all left their mark, in tales both real and imagined. With over one thousand locations recorded, from Rathlin Island to the Beara Peninsula, Earthing the Myths breathes life into places throughout Ireland that find their origins in our pre-Christian and pre-Gaelic past, and shows that they still possess unique wisdom and vibrant energy.