Celtic Myth 6: The Battle of Moytirra – County Sligo Ireland
Celtic Myth 6: The Battle of Moytirra – County Sligo Ireland
Moytirra in County Sligo witnessed two of the greatest battles in Irish myth. The first ended in the defeat of the race known to later tradition as the Firbolg and the establishment of the Tuatha de Danann as rulers of Ireland.
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The Firbolg were one of a succession of groups claimed to have ruled Ireland in the days before history was recorded in writing. Before them there had been Fomorian hunter-gatherers and the followers of a leader called Partholon, who had introduced agriculture to the land. When plague wiped his men out, another band under the command of a certain Nemed arrived, supposedly from distant Scythia. But the Nemedians and the Fomorians mostly killed one another off in a great battle allowing the Firbolg to enter the island unopposed.
The Firbolg evidently reached Ireland’s west coast, for it was there that they confronted the next wave of Invaders, the Tuatha de Danann, children of the goddess Danu. When the Firbolg refused the newcomers’ demand that they should concede half of the island to them, conflict became inevitable.
The battle was delayed for three months. The Firbolg wanted time to copy the fine javelins of the Tuatha, while the latter in their turn spent the interval making heavy spears like those wielded by the Firbolg.
Battle was finally joined on Midsummer’s Day. For three days the armies fought and many were slain, but neither side gained the upper hand. Each evening, doctors bathed the wounded in healing herbs that restored them in time for the next day’s fighting.
On the 4th day, the Tuatha finally got the upper hand. At this crucial point, the Firbolg king became so thirsty that he left the field to find water. A Tuatha force set off in pursuit and after a fierce fight, they killed him. The Tuatha king, Nuadu, now offered peace and the Firbolg accepted. For Nuada, however, it was a bitter victory. In the battle he had lost an arm, and his people could accept only a physically perfect King, giving him no choice but to abdicate.
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