Aithirne

Aithirne [ 'aθʴirʴnʴe ], also Athirne , with the surname Áilgesach ( áilges - "request not to be refused ") is the name of a poet ( fili ) at the court of King Conchobar mac Nessa of Ulster in the Ulster cycle of Celtic mythology of Ireland .

Legends

Aithirne is the son of the poet Ferchertne and the teacher of Amairgin mac Ecit Salaig. He is a master in the art of áilges (see above) and Glám dícenn ("ritual curse"). In an old legend it is reported how he can wrest the "three cranes of stinginess" ( corr diúltada ) from the god Midir through fasting . The first one keeps shouting “Don't come!”, The second “Go away!” And the third “Past the house!”. Anyone who even looked at these three cranes could not survive a fight that day.

In the story Cath Étair ("The Battle of Étar"), Aithirne is on a tour of Ireland on behalf of King Conchobar , on which he makes enemies everywhere with his outrageous demands. So he wanders around Connacht for so long, always turning the left (announcing evil) side of the province, until the one-eyed king Eochu mac Luchtai is ready to tear out his good eye to ward off disaster. The King of Munster is similarly forced to leave his heavily pregnant wife to him for one night. When he kidnapped 150 aristocratic women in Leinster , however, a quickly deployed army followed him and besieged him with 100 Ulsters in Castle Étar ( Howth , County Fingal near Dublin ). Only the mission of Conall Cernach , in which the Leinster king Mes Gegra lost his life, saved the besieged.

The legend Tochmarc Luaine acus aided Athirni ("Luaines' advertisement and Athirne's death") tells of Aithirne's death at the hand of King Conchobar .

See also

• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• List of Celtic myths and sagas

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .

Web link

• Jean Markale / Jody Gladding: The epics of Celtic Ireland: ancient tales of mystery and magic. Inner Traditions / Bear & Company, 2000

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rudolf Thurneysen : On Irish texts I. In Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie 12 , 1918, p. 398 ff.
2. ^ Sylvia & Paul F. Botheroyd: Lexicon of Celtic Mythology , Tosa Verlag, Vienna 2004, ISBN 9783854928461 , p. 351 f.
3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 943 f.