Celtchar mac Uthechair

Celtchar mac Uthechair [ 'kʴeltxar mak' uθʴexirʴ ], also Celtchar mac Uthidir , is the name of a hero and king named in the Ulster cycle of the Celtic mythology of Ireland .

mythology

Celtchars residence is the Dún Lethglaise ( Mound of Down , near Rathkeltair, Irish Ráth Celtchair in Downpatrick , County Down ). His spear Lúin Cheltchair is so bloodthirsty that it has to be cooled in a cauldron of poisonous broth. The warrior Dubthach is named as the later owner of this spear in the Táin Bó Cuailnge ("The Cattle Robbery of Cooley ") .

In the story Scéla mucce Meic Dathó (“The story of Mac Dathó's pig”) Celtchar is referred to as a “ great, gray and extremely terrible warrior ”. However, Cet mac Mágach accuses him of emasculating him with the spear in his own house and therefore denies Cheltchar the heroic bite . In Serglige Con Chulainn ocus oenét Emire (" Cú Chulainn's sickbed and Emer's only jealousy ") he is called the "cunning man". In the Táin Bó Cúailnge (“The Robbery of the Cattle of Cooley ”) he and Conchobar mac Nessa succeed in freeing eight kidnapped Ulster women from the court of Queen Medb of Connacht .

His death as a result of his jealous murder of Blaí Briugu , who had slept with Celtchars wife Brig Bretach, is described in the saga Aided Cheltchair maic Uthechair ("The death of Cheltchars, son of Uthechars").

See also

• Myths and legends from Ireland
• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures

literature

• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .
• Kuno Meyer (translator & ed.): Aided Cheltchair meic Uthechair , "The Death of Celtchar mac Uthechair" in: The Death Tales of the Ulster Heroes. Todd Lecture Series, Dublin 1906.