iniiTTN J ad NNP UBLIC LIBRARY Legends of the Its ‘Fascinating ... one of the best accounts Ihave seen’ Scotland on Sunday James MackKillop NE FUL PENGUIN REFERENCE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE CELTS Dr James MackKillop is an eminent scholar of Celtic history and culture, having been Visiting Fellow in Celtic Languages at Harvard University, Professor of English at the State University of New York, Visiting Professor at the Université de Rennes and President of the American Conference for Irish Studies. His many publications include the Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (1998), Fionn mac Cumhaill (1986) and Irish Literature: A Reader (1987, 2005). He is based in Syracuse, New York. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/mythslegendsofce0000mack JAMES MACKILLOP Myths and Legends of the Celts PENGUIN BOOKS For Molly E. and Colin K. PENGUIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London wc2R oRL, England Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2¥3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, rr Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi— 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London wc2R ort, England Wwww.penguin.com First published 2005 Published in paperback 2006 2 Copyright © James MacKillop, 2005 All rights reserved The moral right of the author has been asserted Set in 10.5/14 pt PostScript Linotype Sabon Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Printed in England by Clays Ltd, St Ives ple Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser ISBN-13: 978—O—141-01794-5 ISBN-10: O—14I—01794-5 Contents Acknowledgements Vil Introduction PART ONE Contexts Names in the Dust: Searching for Celtic Deities Remnants of Celtic Religion Sacred Kingship in Early Ireland Goddesses, Warrior Queens and Saints Calendar Feasts Otherworlds 107 —Wn on PART TWO Irish Myths 7 Irish Beginnings: the Lebor Gabdla Erenn 127 8 The Irish Mythological Cycle 150 9 The Ulster Cycle, Part I 168 ste) The Ulster Cycle, Part I]: Cachulainn and the Tain 191 Li The Fenian Cycle 219 The Cycles of the Kings 243 I2 CONTENTS PART THREE Welsh and Oral Myths 13 British Roots and Welsh Traditions 261 14 Survivals in the Oral Traditions of Celtic Lands 284 Select Bibliography gOS Leading Names and Terms in Celtic Mythology StS Index 550 vi Acknowledgements Two valued friends read the typescript as it was being prepared and made countless useful suggestions. They are James E. Doan of Nova Southeastern University and Richard Marsh of Legendary Tours in Dublin. Lucy McDiarmid of Villanova University provided vital infor- mation at the inception of the project. Linda McNamara of Inter- Library Loan services at Onondaga Community College found obscure volumes even when they were not stocked by the Widener Library or the Library of Congress. David Lloyd of LeMoyne College gave critical advice on Welsh pronunciation. The author and publisher would like to thank the following for per- mission to reproduce illustrations: Maiden Castle, Tara, The Uffington Horse (plates 1, 2, 13), copyright reserved Cambridge University Collection of Air Photographs; The Coligny Calendar (plate 3), Cliché Ch. Thioc, Musée gallo-romain de Lyon, France; Hallstatt Exca- vations, The Battersea Shield, The Gundestrup Cauldron, Miniature wagon from Mérida, Heads at Entremont (plates 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 16), copyright © akg-images/Erich Lessing; The Book of Durrow (plate 5), copyright © The Board of Trinity College Dublin; The god Sucellus (plate rr), copyright © The Art Archive/Centre Archéologique de Glanum Saint-Rémy-de-Provence/Dagli Orti; The goddess Epona (plate 12), copyright © The Art Archive/Musée Alésia Alise Sainte Reine France/Dagli Orti; and Sheela-na-gigs in Kilpeck (plate rs), copyright © English Heritage. yy, an jeu Aes7 Sa rte S oa or ae is Veta > vaalg) Sai mye 7 4 iete)- iy iy fy ssh Nee agen % ich bl