Mór Muman

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Mór Muman , also Mór Mumhan or Mór Mumain ("the great one of Munster"), is the name of an alleged historical queen and later goddess of Munster ( old Irish Mumu ) from the first half of the 7th century († probably around 630 AD .).

According to tradition, her father was the Munster king Áed Bennán mac Crimthainn. Mór Muman is said to have reached her allegorical-political position at a stage of spiritual rapture. Through euhemerism (humanization of the gods) she finally became the country goddess and patroness of the ruling family of the Eoganachta .

Mór Muman Aided Cuanach meic Ailchine

In the story Mór Muman Aided Cuanach meic Ailchine ("Mór Muman and the death of Cuanu mac Ailchine"), handed down in the Book of Leinster (Irish: Lebor Laignech ), the story of their rapture is told. In this condition, she wandered all of Ireland within two years. In Cashel (Tipperary) , Irish: Caiseal Mumhan , “stone fortress of Munster”, the king Fíngen mac Áedo Duib slept her, whereupon she regained her memory. Fingen casts out his wife and makes Mór Muman his new queen. In the Dindsenchas it is written about:

The best of the women from Inis Fail
is Mór, the daughter of Áed Bennan.
Fíngen is better than any other hero
better than anyone who ran across Femen.

When Fíngen dies, she marries his successor, Cathal mac Áedo. The death of her sister Ruithchern, also a country goddess, is reported in the lost story Aithed Ruithcherne la Cuanu mac Cailchin ("The murder of Ruithchern by Cuanu mac Ailchine"). This is the reason for Mór Muman's revenge on Cuanu mac Ailchine.

Mór Muman is often equated or compared with Mugain , Medb and Morrígan .

See also

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 , p. 531.
  • Francis John Byrne: Irish Kings and High-Kings , Batsford, London 1973, ISBN 0-7134-5882-8 , pp. 204 f.
  • James MacKillop: Oxford Dictionary of Celtic Mythology , Oxford University Press 1998, ISBN 0-19-860967-1 .
  • Dan M. Wiley: Mór Muman Aided Cuanach meic Ailchine , The Cycles of the Kings, 2005.