Deirdre

This article is about the heroine Deirdre of Irish mythology. For other namesake see Deirdre (first name) .

Deirdre and Leborcham

Deirdre's human sacrifice at Naoise's grave (illustration by JHF Bacon)

Deirdre (also Derdriu ) is the name of a heroine in Irish mythology . Her story is a Remscéla (pre-narration) of the Táin Bó Cuailnge ("The Cow Robbery of Cooley ").

mythology

In the story Longas mac nUislenn ("The Exile of the Sons of Uislius") Deirdre is the daughter of the bard Fedlimid mac Daill. Shortly after her birth, the druid Cathbad prophesied that she would grow into a beauty for which "all charioteers" would wage war. Also, the druid said, the three greatest warriors of Ulster would have to go into exile because of her. Conchobar mac Nessa , King of Ulster , wants to marry Deirdre when she grows up. She should grow up in seclusion - with an old woman named Leborcham .

But Deirdre sees Naoise (also Noisi), the son of Uislius and grandson of Cathbad, and falls in love with him. Together with Naoises two brothers Ardan and Annli , they flee to Alba Scotland , but there too Naoise and his brothers are persecuted by the king because of Deirdre's beauty. Eventually they land on a remote island. They are lured home from there by a betrayal of Conchobar and Naoise is murdered by Eogan mac Durthacht . In anger at Deirdre's refusal to marry him, Conchobar offers her to the man who killed Naoise. She then commits suicide by hitting her head from the moving war chariot against a rock.

A continuation of this story is Tochmarc Luaine acus aided Athirni ("Luaines' advertisement and Athirne's death").

William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) redesigned Deirdre's fate in his drama of the same name.

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. 2nd corrected and enlarged edition. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
• Ingeborg Clarus : Celtic Myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter, Düsseldorf et al. 1991, ISBN 3-530-70014-2 , pp. 290 ff. (2nd edition. Patmos, Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 ).
• Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .

See also

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

Web links

• The Exile of the Sons of Usnech
• Deirdre of the Sorrows
• Deirdre
• Deirdre of the Sorrows by JM Synge
• The Lament of Deirdre

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Rudolf Thurneysen : The Irish hero and king saga. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 1980, pp. 16-27.
2. ^ Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. P. 110 ff.
3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 983.