Audacht Morainn

Audacht Morainn [ 'auðaxt' moriNʴ ] ("Morann's legacy / testament") is the name of a collection of doctrinal sayings in the Old Irish language , which, after stylistic comparisons, was probably written in the 7th or 8th century. They are said to have been written by the legendary judge Morann for the instruction of his foster son, the Irish King Feradach Find Fechtnach . According to the legend, Morann wore a collar ( id, sín ) around his neck, which always tightened when he wanted to pass an unjust judgment. In another version, the defendant wore the collar, which then decided guilt or innocence. The main point of Audacht Morainn is the fír flathemon , the "justice of the ruler".

The metrics (verse doctrine) of the numerous sentences is a rhythmically varying prose with the use of alliteration . A selection:

He should hold up the truth, she will hold him up.

He should protect the truth, it will protect him:

The true ruler does not take from anyone, nobody takes from him.

The untruthful ruler strikes, is beaten, injured, injured, crushed, crushed.

Every ruler who does not rule in true righteousness should die, will die, should resign, will cede; what he builds he destroys.

Fir flathemon

The ruler's justice was one of the king's most important tasks because it ensured the prosperity and happiness of his empire. Injustice ( gáu flathemon ) was the cause of every misfortune of the king and his subjects, the king could be deposed and - possibly even with death - punished. This gáu flathemon was named in the old Irish legal texts with the rough term cacc for enech ("shit on his face / his honor").

Similar rules are known from India ( ṛta, dharma ), Greece ( dikē ) and Egypt ( maat ).

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 .
• Wolfgang Meid : The Celts. Reclams Universal Library , Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-15-017053-3 .

See also

• Sayings collections and glossaries
• De duodecim abusivis saeculi ("About the twelve grievances of the world")
• Aithech fortha

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 237.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 889.
3. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 32 f.
4. ↑ Wolfgang Meid: The Celts. P. 162 f.
5. ^ Bernhard Maier: Lexicon of the Celtic religion and culture . P. 129. (entire chapter fir flathemon )