Eochaid Airem
Eochaid Airem [ 'eoxiðʼ' arʼev ] ("Eochaid the ploughman") is the name of a legendary figure from the Ulster cycle of Celtic mythology in Ireland . He is in the story Tochmarc Étaíne ("The courtship for Étaín") the king of Ulster , his brothers are Ailill Anguba and his predecessor as King Eochaid Fedlech ("Eochaid the long-lived"), who is considered the father of Queen Medb of Connacht .
After the beautiful Étaín von Fuamnach , the wife of Midir , is jealously bewitched into various animals and finally into an air creature, she is swallowed by the wife of the warrior Étar and then reborn. King Eochaid Airem falls in love with this new Étaín and takes her as his wife. But since Midir still wants Étaín, he looks for her and finds her at Eochaid. Now he causes Eochaid's brother Ailill to fall madly in love with Étaín, but she remains loyal to Eochaid. Since this plan fails, Midir challenges Eochaid to a fidchell game - the prize is said to be Étaín's possession. Midir manages to beat Eochaid and kidnap Étaín in the form of a swan.
In search of Étaín, Eochaid has his warriors dig up all síde ("elven hill") of his empire, since he correctly suspects that Midir hid there with Étaín. Finally he finds the two, but Midir presents him with 50 women to choose from, all of whom look exactly like Étaín. Eochaid chooses whoever he thinks is his wife, but she is his own daughter, Ésa, conceived with Étaín. Only after he has taken her with him and slept with her does Midir reveal to the horrified Eochaid who he was impregnating. The latter then disregards Ésa and wants to have the newborn murdered. A shepherd rescues the two and raises the child - it becomes the famous High King Conaire Mór .
In the story Togail Bruidne Da Derga ("The Destruction of the Hall Da Dergas") is Hochkönig Etarscél , Eochaid's son-in-law, the father Conaire Mórs, whom he fathered with his wife Mes Buachalla .
See also
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 .
- Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 .