Conn Cétchathach

Conn Cétchathach [ koN 'kʴeːdxaθax ] ("Conn with the hundred battles") was the name of a king in the Celtic mythology of Ireland who is said to have lived in the 2nd century AD. He is a main character in the Finn Cycle and the Historical Cycle .

Mythology and Etymology

In Airne Fingein ("Fingein's Night Watch") it is reported that Fingein mac Luchta is prophesied by a fairy that Conn will be born. Fingein then serves Conn as a loyal henchman until his death. Conn helps the king Tadg mac Nuadat against the kidnapper of his daughter Muirne , the Fianna leader Cumhall mac Basna . In the short story Baile in Scáil ("The Prophecy of the Phantom"), Conn is predicted his future soon after he took office. He was first ruler of the north of Ireland from Tara , only after winning the battle of Mag Léana against Mug Nuadat did he become the high king of all of Ireland (according to tradition from 177 to 212). The legend Echtrae Chonnlai ("Connla's Adventure") tells how Conn's son Connla falls in love with a fairy and follows her into the Otherworld . Conn's second son Art is the father of the famous Cormac mac Airt . In one version of the legend Esnada Tige Buchet ("The Song of the House of Buchet") it is told how he becomes the son-in-law of his predecessor as king, Cathair Mór .

When the widowed Conn married Bé Chuma , who was repudiated by the Túatha Dé Danann , and therefore offended his son Art mac Cuinn and thus sins against the fír flathemon (“justice of kings”), misfortune struck his country until he was druids order to atone for the wrongdoing through a human sacrifice .

According to a tradition represented by Geoffrey Keating , Conn Cétchathach is said to have been murdered by 50 Ulster warriors disguised as women in his ruler's seat of Tara.

His grandfather was Tuathal Techtmar , who is said to have founded the fifth province of Mide and who first collected the tribute from Bóruma . According to Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh , his descendants include the Irish hermit Fiacrius .

See also

• List of the High Kings of Ireland
• Irish high kings
• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures
• List of Celtic myths and sagas
• Macgnímartha Finn

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 .
• Ingeborg Clarus : Celtic Myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 .

Web link

• Eugene O'Curry: Cath Mhuighe Léana, or The battle of Magh Leana. The Celtic Society, 1855

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 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 , p. 889 f.
2. ↑ Joseph Casimir O'Meagher, Saint Fiacre de la Brie. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 2, 1891/1893, p. 173