Gaedel

Gaedel Glas , also Goidel Glas , ( Latin Gathelus ) is a figure from the Lebor Gabála Érenn "(History of the Conquest of Ireland ") of Celtic mythology .

mythology

Scota (left) with Goidel glass on the journey from Egypt ( Scotichronicon by Walter Bower , manuscript from the 15th century)

Gaedel Glas is considered the son of Nél and Scota and a descendant of Noah . He is regarded as the progenitor of the Gael and (co-) creator of the Goidelic languages .

According to the early Irish chronicle Lebor Gabála Érenn , Scota was the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh Cingris, whose name only appears in Irish mythology. She married Nél, the son of Feinius Farsaidh , who was of Babylonian or Scythian origin and traveled to Scythia after the collapse of the Tower of Babel . Nél was a linguist and was invited to Egypt by the Pharaoh and married to Scota. Goidel Glas, the eponymous ancestor of the Gael, emerged from their marriage . He created the Gaelic languages by combining, together with Feinius Farsaidh and Nél, the best features of the 72 languages that existed after the Babylonian confusion of languages.

In a popular tale from his youth it is reported that Moses healed Goidel from a snakebite as a baby and promised him that he would emigrate to a country where there were no snakes.

Goidelen

In a prehistory to Lebor Gabála Érenn , Agnomain is mentioned as the father of Feinius Farsaidh, so he is to be regarded as the ancestor of the Goidelen. In this story, the Goidelen travel from the north shore of the Caspian Sea over the Maeotis swamps (Sea of Azov) and the Kerch Strait to the Pontus Euxinus ("Black Sea") and the Mediterranean . They are considered the ancestors of the sons of Míl Espáne , the Milesians , the last and "Gaelic" wave of immigration to Ireland, who replace the Túatha Dé Danann as the ruling people.

In his attempt to reconcile Lebor Gabála Érenn with modern research , the linguist O'Rahilly names the Goidelen as the last wave of immigration to Ireland. They are said to have come from southern Gaul and come from the tribe of the Quariates ("Kesselleute") - an origin of Goidel Glas is not discussed. O'Rahilly began this immigration relatively shortly before Caesar's campaigns in Britain, namely between 325 and 50 BC. The Milesians are considered to be the ancestors of the Goidelen. This theory is rejected by recent research as there is no archaeological evidence for it.

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 .
James MacKillop: A dictionary of Celtic mythology. Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-19-860967-4 .

Web links

Gienna Matson, Jeremy Roberts: Celtic Mythology A to Z . 2nd Edition. Facts On File, Incorporated, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4381-3134-4 , pp. 61 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).

Individual evidence

↑ Pliny the Elder , Naturalis historia III, 35.
^ Thomas F. O'Rahilly: Early English History and Mythology. Dublin 1946, pp. 15 f, 229, 419 f.
↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 387 f.

[1] Pliny the Elder , Naturalis historia III, 35.

[2] Thomas F. O'Rahilly: Early English History and Mythology. Dublin 1946, pp. 15 f, 229, 419 f.

[3] Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 387 f.