Ailill mac Máta

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Ailill mac Máta or Ailill mac Magach [ 'al'iL' mak' maːɣax ] (to welsh Ellyll , "the [very] Other", describes elves ) is the name of a mythical king of the legend Táin Bó Cuailnge ( "The Cattle Raid of Cooley " ) in the Ulster cycle of Ireland's Celtic mythology .

mythology

Ailill is the King of Connacht and brother of the Kings of Tara ( Cairbre Nia-Fer ) and Leinster . When he marries Medb, she brings the bull Findbennach into the marriage. The bull, however, wants to get out of the "women possession" and joins Ailill's herd. The offended queen now argues with Ailill about the value of her possessions, whereby the king can point out his new possession, namely Findbennach. Thereupon Medb tries with the help of her messenger Mac Roth to borrow the bull Donn Cuailnge from Ulster . When this fails, she persuades her husband to go to war against the neighboring province. In this further course of the Táin Bó Cuailnge , Ailill no longer plays a special role. He even tolerates the relationship between Medb and Fergus mac Róich (the "favor of the queen's thighs") in order to win this over for the Connachters. However, Ailill steals the sword from his rival while he is sleeping with Medb, so that the next morning he competes against Cú Chulainn with a (symbolic) wooden sword . This is also an important point in the tale of Táin Bó Flidhais ("The Driving Away of Flidais' Cattle").

Also in the story Echtrae Nerai (“Nera's Adventure”), Ailill is only a minor character in the rescue of the royal seat of Cruachain from danger from the Otherworld . In Fled Bricrenn ("Bricrius Fest") he tries in vain to settle a dispute between Cú Chulainn, Conall Cernach and Loegaire Buadach over the heroic bite . In Scéla mucce Meic Dathó (“The Story of Mac Dathó's Pig”) his charioteer Fer Loga is one of the main characters who can even bring King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster into his power. In the Remscéla (pre-narration) Táin Bó Froích ("Driving away the cattle of Froech") he wants to kill the warrior Froech , who desires his daughter Findabair as a wife, through a trick.

Alongside the eminent Queen Medb, who provokes and directs the war against Ulster, Ailill always remains a fading, weak, insignificant figure . However, it is said in the Táin Bó Cuailnge that Medb only preferred him to her other applicants, including Conchobar mac Nessa , because he was devoid of avarice, jealousy and fear. Ailill has seven sons with her, Fedlimid, Cairbre, Eochaid, Fergus, Cet, Sin, Dáire and a daughter, Findabair. A second daughter, Étaín , is attributed to him in Tochmarc Étaíne ("The advertisement for Étaín").

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. Praesens Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7069-0541-1 , p. 546.
  2. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 966.
  3. ^ Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. P. 139 f.
  4. ^ Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. P. 147.
  5. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Pp. 530 f, 884, 1029.