DeDanaan

Rath : (Ir. rath) circular hill fort protected by earthworks, used by the ancient Irish in the pre-Christian era as a retreat in time of danger. Some of the larger raths, such as that at Tara, were important in early Irish history and were used by chieftains or kings. Many raths remain throughout Ireland. The interior diameter can range from 50 to over 200 feet. The interior is sometimes sited on a natural or artificial mound. There may also be a souterrain, a subterranean room used probably for storage.

Barrow : in archaeology, a burial mound. Earth and stone or timber are the usual construction materials; in parts of SE Asia stone and brick have entirely replaced earth. A barrow built primarily of stone is often called a cairn. Barrows occur in many parts of the world; they were built during the Neolithic period in Western Europe and in recent times in Buddhist countries. In European prehistory the characteristic barrows are either long or round. The long ones are from the Neolithic period and often contain several burial chambers. They may have been intended to simulate cave burials. The stone chambers were placed at one end of the mound and were approached by a passage, sometimes over 300 ft (90 m) in length. Round barrows, usually dating from the Bronze Age, normally contain a single burial. The round barrow was commonly bell shaped; another type had a low central mound that invariably contained cremated remains and was surrounded by a walled ditch or a circle of standing stones, usually about 150 ft (50 m) in diameter. Barrow building in Europe continued until the Christian era. Roman, Saxon, and Viking barrows are known, though such burials were apparently reserved for important personages. The erection of mounds over burials has been widespread. The round barrow or stupa of Asia is usually a shrine for relics of the Buddha.

Cromlech : (Welsh or Breton) crom, feminine of crwm, arched + llech, stone; =crooked stone, term that has changed in meaning from its original equivalent to dolmen. It later came to be used for a single standing stone and now usually refers to a circle of such stones; however, the term is used in this sense for such remains on the Continent, e.g., Britanny and Portugal, rather than for those on the British Isles.

Dolmen : n. A prehistoric megalith typically having two upright stones and a capstone [syn: cromlech, menhir]; French, from Breton *taolvean : *taol alteration (influenced by taol, table), of tol, key + men, stone.

Celtic identity is a chronically vague and indefinable concept, but also one of special importance at the present stage in our history and understanding of where we came from. To a great extent, our understanding of the proper place and status of Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Brittany - as nations in Europe and as parts of the world - depends on the significance one attaches to ‘Celticity’. Even so, Celticity today remains a subject of profound uncertainty and over-heated debate amongst both the public at large and the academic specialists. James P. Mallory of Queen’s University, Belfast, Ireland, is a world-renowned archaeologist and a prolific writer on the subjects of Ireland in the Bronze and Iron Ages, Indo-European Studies, and the saga literature of medieval Ireland.

In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth by JP Mallory : This book takes a multidisciplinary approach in the quest to find the origins of the Indo-Europeans with the main focus on the extrapolated language of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) and archaeology. Some of the basics of Indo-European theory are presented, and while no direct proof exists that a Proto-Indo-European culture existed, it is the only cohesive theory which explains the similarity in languages, cultures, and myths throughout Europe and Asia. Mallory suggests paleolinguistics supports the idea that the languages of Europe and Asia which resemble each other did not spring up independently of one another and it is not likely that the civilizations that sustained them did either. The fact that most of the languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India are linked has been established on a pretty solid basis.

Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. They were spoken across western Europe in ancient times, but are now limited to a few enclaves in the British Isles and on the peninsula of Brittany in France. There are four main groups of Celtic languages, of which the first two are now long extinct:

*Gaulish and its close relatives, Lepontic, Noric, and Galatian. These languages were once spoken in a wide arc from France to Turkey and from the Netherlands to northern Italy.
*Celtiberian, anciently spoken in Aragon and elsewhere in Spain.
*Goidelic, including Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Manx, and Shelta.
*Brythonic, including Welsh, Breton, Cornish, Cumbric, the hypothetical Ivernic, and possibly Pictish.

The separation of these groups probably occurred well before 1000 BC, possibly with an early split of an Insular Celtic branch. The early Celts are commonly associated with the archaeological Urnfield culture.

Indo-European, family of languages having more speakers than any other language family. It is estimated that approximately half the world’s population speaks an Indo-European tongue as a first language. The Indo-European family is so named because at one time its individual members were prevalent mainly in an area between and including India and Europe, although not all languages spoken in this region were Indo-European. Today, however, the Indo-European languages have spread to every continent and a number of islands. It should be stressed that the term Indo-European describes language only and is not used scientifically in an ethnic or cultural sense. The languages classified as Indo-European are sufficiently similar to form one major linguistic division.

The characteristics Indo-European languages share with respect to vocabulary and grammar have led many scholars to postulate that they are all descended from an original parent language, called Proto-Indo-European, which is believed to have been spoken some time before 4000 B.C., perhaps before 8000 B.C. or earlier. Since there are no written records of Proto-Indo-European, it apparently was in use before writing was known to its speakers. Even its existence is an assumption, although a plausible one and the only really satisfactory explanation of the common features of the modern Indo-European languages. There has been much speculation as to the region where the speakers of Proto-Indo-European first lived and the nature of their culture, but nothing definite is known. One theory of the origin of the individual Indo-European languages suggests that as the ancient speakers of Proto-Indo-European migrated or moved away from each other, losing contact, their language broke up into a number of tongues. These tongues later also split up still further, eventually giving rise to the many modern Indo-European languages.” - The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Of course, language and “race” aren’t necessarily connected at all, i.e. the Indo-European group in western China was the Tocharians. Tocharian is an extinct Indo-European language which stands by itself as one of the twelve major groups in the IE language family. It was not discovered until the turn of this century, as a result of archaeological expeditions to Chinese Turkestan. There is evidence both from mummies and Chinese writings that many of them had blond or red hair and blue eyes. This suggests the possibility that they were part of an early Indo-European migration that ended in what is now the Tarim Basin in western China. (Asian scholars tend to think the migration happened in the other direction, towards the west.) The Tocharians, living along the Silk Road, seem to have played a part in the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to China as they had contacts with the Chinese and Persians, and Turkic, Indian and Iranian tribes. [Aside: I’ve also noticed that many Tibetan depictions of Buddha show a blue-eyed figure, and I had always wondered about this.] Mallory has also written a book about these people : The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West, which you might also consider getting your hands on.

In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth is a valuable contribution to a fascinating field. This book is a must for anyone wishing to gain insight into the subject. You will learn something from this book, no matter how much you know or don’t know. Just don’t expect to learn it all on the first run.

Danaan, Tuatha Dé : Literally, “the people of the goddess Dana / Danu.” The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Irish who inhabited the land before the coming of the Milesian Gaels. Their history is chronicled in the Leabhar Gabhala Erenn (’Book of Invasions’) and other ancient texts, as well as in oral folktales passed from generation to generation. When Christian monks started to write down the sagas, these gods and goddesses were demoted into heroes and heroines, although much remains to demonstrate their god-like abilities. Under their leader, Nuada of the Silver Hand, the Dé Danaan came to Ireland from an unknown northern country where they had four fabulous cities - Falias, Gorias, Finias, and Murias. In these great places they studied with learned sages. They became masters of the arts and sciences, both magical and mundane until they advanced to the point where they embodied the supernatural. They could go back and forth between the worlds at will, conjure weather, shape-shift, and they attained the utmost skills in poetry, magic, music, art, and weaponry. From each of the four cities the Tuatha Dé Danaan brought with them magical treasures : the Dagda’s Cauldron (’Undry’), the magical Spear of Lugh, the Stone of Fal (Lia Fáil, Stone of Destiny - the Lia Fáil would roar its approval when a rightful leader was elected to take leadership), and the Sword of Nuada (Cliamh Solais, for it was the Sword of Light). They defeated the FirBolg (”bag men”) and then overcame the Fomorii.

This is not to say that they were without vice. All human passion was experienced by them. Eventually, they were overcome by the Milesian Gaels, with whom in some texts they are also related and are regarded as the Ancestors of the Gaels. The Milesians drove them underground. The gods and goddesses of the Dé Danaan were common to all Celtic peoples : their names are cognate with many deities who appear in the Welsh myths. As they were pushed underground, they were demoted in the eyes of the people and became Faeries.

Dagda, the Good God, was their greatest and wisest ruler when the Milesian Gaels arrived. His daughter Brigit was the patroness of craftsmen and poets and came to be loved by the people of Ireland. Lugh was worshipped as a Sun God, and Badb, Macha, and Morrigan as triple War Goddesses. The triple goddesses would shape-shift and appear as old crones at times, and often as young maidens, as well. They (and some of the other goddesses) would take the form of crows or ravens, and fly over battle fields, goading the warriors into a frenzy. Many other of the Dé Danaans became well known in various Celtic legends, and were known as gods and goddesses and Ancestors. Whether they were or were not in fact deities, what the old texts tell us is that they were god-like beings (something between deities and humans), and were the basis for the Irish Faerie race. Many of them intermarried with humans. In fact, it is believed that almost all of the main clanns in Ireland were descended from the Tuatha Dé Danaan somewhere along their family lines, and many of the great genealogies of these clanns show direct lineage from the Danaans. Known as the Fair Folk, Good Neighbors, Little People, fae, elves, and a whole host of other names, there are numerous faeries of all types and descriptions all over the world today. (Continued)

Source: Part 11 of The History of Ireland (BOOK I-II) by Geoffrey Keating.

In the first place, we shall set down every name that was at any time on Ireland.

The first name which was given to Ireland was Inis na bhfiodhbhadh, that is to say Island of the Woods; and the person who called that name to it was a warrior of the people of Nin, son of Bel, who came from him to spy out Ireland, and on his coming thither he found it to be all one forest-wood, except Magh-n-ealta alone. Three times, indeed, Ireland was one continuous wood, according to this old saying, which is in the ancient record : “Three times Eire put three coverings and three barenesses off her.” (p.99)

The second name was Críoch na bhfuineadhach from its being at the limit or end of the three divisions of the world which had then been discovered; fuin indeed, from the Latin word finis being equivalent to ‘end’.

The third name was Inis Ealga, that is, noble island; for inis and oiléan are equivalent, and likewise ealga and uasal: and it is during the time of the Firbolg it was usual to have that name on it.

The fourth name was Eire, and it is said that wherefore that name is called to it, according to a certain author, is from this word Aeria, which was an old name for the island which is now called Creta or Candia; and why that author thinks that is because the posterity of the Gaedheal glas dwelt in that island some space of time after Sru, son of Easru, son of Gaedheal, had been driven out of Egypt: and, moreover, Aere is given as a name for Egypt whence the Gael proceeded. However, it is the common opinion of antiquaries that why it is Eire is from the name of the queen of the Tuatha Dé Danann who was in the land a the time of the coming of the of the Clann Míleadh into it: Eire, daughter of Dealbhaoth, was her name, and it is she was wife to Mac Gréine who was called Ceathúr who was king of Ireland when the sons of Míleadh came to it.

The fifth name was Fódhla, from a queen of the Tuath Dé Danann, who was called Fódhla: it is she was wife to Mac Cécht, whose proper name was Teathúr.

The sixth name was Banbha, from a queen of the Tuatha (p.101) Dé Danann, that was in the land, who was called Banbha: it is she was wife to Mac Cuill, whose proper name was Eathúr. These three kings held the sovereignty of Ireland each year by turns; and it is the name of the wife of each one of them would be on the island the year he was himself king. It is why the island is called Eire oftener than Fódhla or Banbha, because that is the husband of the woman whose name was Eire was king the year the sons of Míleadh came there.

The seventh name was Inis Fail; and it is the Tuatha Dé Danann gave that name to it, from a stone they brought with them into it, which was called the Lia Fail: and Saxum fatale, i.e. ‘Stone of Destiny’, Hector Boece calls it in the history of Scotland; and it was a stone on which were enchantments, for it used to roar under the person who had the best right to obtain the sovereignty of Ireland at the time of the men of Ireland being in assembly at Tara to choose a king over them. However, it has not roared from the time of Conchubhar forward, for the false images of the world were silenced when Christ was born. Here is a verse of quotation proving that it is from this stone Ireland is called Inis Fail, as Cionaoth the poet said : –

1. The stone which is under my two heels,
from it is named Inisfail;
Between two shores of a mighty flood,
the plain of Fál on all Ireland.

The eighth name was Muicinis; and it is the children of Míleadh who gave it that name before they arrived in it. When, indeed, they had come to the mouth of Innbhear Sláinghe, which today is called the Haven of Lochgarman, the Tuatha Dé Danann, with their druids, assemble to oppose (p.103) them there, and they practise magic on them, so that the island was not visible to them but in the likeness of a pig, so it is, therefore, they gave (the name) Muicinis to Ireland.

The ninth name was Scotia; and it is the sons of Míleadh who gave that name to it, from their mother, whose name was Scota, daughter of Pharao Nectonibus; or it is why they called it Scotia, because that they are themselves the Scottish race from Scythia.

The tenth name was Hibernia; and it is the sons of Míleadh gave that name to it. However, it is said that it is from a river that is in Spain which is called Iberus (the name) Hibernia is given to it. It is said also that it is from Eibhear (Eber), son of Míleadh, it is called Hibernia; but, however, holy Cormac, son of Cuileannan, says, that why it is called Hibernia is from this compound Greek word ‘hiberoc’ (ie. occasus in Latin) and ‘nyaon’ (i.e. insula) that is equivalent to saying insula occidentalis, i.e. ‘western island’.

The eleventh name was Iuernia, according to Ptolemy, or Iuerna, according to Solinus, or Ierna according to Claudian, or Vernia according to Eustatius. I think there is no meaning in the difference which is between these authors concerning this word Hibernia, but that they did not understand whence came the word itself; and, accordingly, that each one of them separately gave a guess from himself at it, so that from that came this variation on the word.

The twelfth name was Irin, according to Diodorus Siculus.

The thirteenth name was Irlanda; and I think that the reason why that name was given to it is, because that (p.105) it was Ir, son of Míleadh, was the first man of the Clanna Míleadh who was buried under the soil of Ireland, and accordingly, the island was named from him: ‘Irlanda’ and ‘land of Ir’ being indeed equivalent, for ‘land’ in English, and ‘fonn’ or ‘fearann’ in Gaelic are alike. The truth of this thing is the more admissible, since the book of Armagh says that a name for this island is Ireo, that is to say, the grave of Ir, because that it is there is the sepulchre or grave of Ir.

The fourteenth name was Ogygia, according to Plutarch: indeed, ‘Ogygia’ in Greek and insula perantiqua, i.e. most ancient island, are equivalent; and that is a suitable name for Ireland, because that it is long since it was first inhabited, and that perfect is the sound information which its antiquaries possess on the transactions of their ancestors from the beginning of eras, one after another.

For information on other Irish names, such as for people, see this page.

The Book of Kells contains a wealth of decoration, featuring not only abstract interlacing patterns and zoomorphic motifs but portraits of the Evangelists, of Christ, and of the Virgin and Child. The patterns that flank this portrait are typical of the Hiberno-Saxon style of manuscript illumination.

Book of Kells : Book of Kells, largest and most sumptuously decorated of the few illuminated Gospel books to survive from monasteries in Ireland and the north of Britain between the 7th and the 9th centuries. The date and place of origin of the Book of Kells have long been disputed. The rich monasteries of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland, and Kells, in County Meath, Ireland, could well have produced such a lavish illuminated manuscript, whose vellum pages required over 185 calf-skins. It may have been begun at Iona in the late 8th century and then taken to Kells, where in ad 807 a monastery was established as a refuge from Viking raids.

The manuscript is incomplete and now comprises 680 pages of the Gospels in Latin preceded by canon tables and other introductory text pages usual in such manuscripts. Much of the Gospel of St John is missing.

The manuscript’s glory lies in its decoration. Illustrations include the symbols of the Evangelists, their portraits, and those of Christ, and the Virgin and Child. The additional scenes of the Temptation and Arrest of Christ are the earliest narrative scenes to survive in a Gospel manuscript. Each Gospel opens with a richly decorated initial. The text is filled with abstract and zoomorphic (animal-form) interlace patterns which characterize not only this manuscript but also the other Hiberno-Saxon gospel books, such as the Lindisfarne Gospels or the Book of Durrow. It is the use of the human figure, the unusual colours, and the wealth of decoration that set aside the Book of Kells from the other manuscripts. It is not known how many scribes contributed to the elegant and confident majuscule text (written in large letters), nor whether they were also the artists who produced the intricate and magnificent decoration that makes the Book of Kells one of the finest exemplars of the Insular, or Hiberno-Saxon, style (the British and Irish style of manuscript illumination).

The Book of Kells is in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. [Image : Bridgeman Art Library, London / New York / The Board of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland]

The Celtic Art Coracle Volume 1 Issue 9

DE DANAANS IN AMERICA

The idea of “First People”, such as applies to the Anasazi ancestors of the Hopis, can be compared with Irish traditions concerning the De Danaans. The legends suggest a colonization of Ireland by people of the Near-East, the Milesians, the Sea People, led by “Mil of the Ships”. Presumably the author of the Irish tale had heard of the Phoenicians, whose capitol was Miletia.

Out of Miletia, also, sailed the ships of Tarshish which are thought to have colonized all along the southern Gulf Stream to Mexico, according to James Bailey, the author of Godmen and Titans, who suggests that many of the tales of culture bearers around the Atlantic rim may relate to Bronze age prospectors seeking tin by secret routes. Knowledge of such a route may have originated the legend of Atlantis. Plato’s directions tell how to get to Atlantis: go out through the gates of Gibraltar, turn left, straight down the coast of Africa a couple of days, turn right a couple of miles, and you hit “the river with no banks” upon which you can pull up you oars, or roll up your sails, and the current will take you to “Atlantis” in a couple of weeks. The scene that greets the eyes when you get to Atlantis, as described by Plato, could well be a description of a Middle-American metropolis modeled on an Egyptian plan.

If such routes were indeed travelled in the Bronze age, this might explain some tantalising correspondences between traditions on both sides of the Atlantic: Quetzlcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, was also known as Kukulcan. This name, as James Bailey pointed out sounds tantalizingy like the name of the Ulster hero, Cuchulain. Another Ulster tale concerns the son of Finn MacCool, Oisin, who was taken away to the Land in the Remote West, where he stayed 300 years. After this time, he pined for home and returned. A similar tale is told of Kukulcan, that he came from the land of in the east, across the ocean, by way of stepping stones, stayed for 300 years, and went home, to attend to a crisis in his native land.

The tale of Kukulkan is from the Popul Vuh, sacred writings of the Zapotek culture. Intriguingly, a carving in a temple there resembles very closely a similar design found in Celtic art, as for instance in the Book of Lindisfarne.

© Aidan Meehan 1983