Scáthach

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Scáthach ([ 'skaːθax ], "shady") is a legendary figure from the Celtic mythology of Ireland .

mythology

Scáthach, the daughter of Ard-Greimne, was a warrior princess and master of martial arts in the Land of Shadows, an Otherworld Kingdom that is associated with Alba ( Scotland ).

According to the Irish legend Tochmarc Emire ("The Advertisement for Emer "), her most famous student was Cú Chulainn , the main hero of Ulster , along with his future opponent Fer Diad . She taught them both the famous battle jump, but only gave Cú Chulainn the Gae Bolga , who unfolded thirty barbs inside his enemy, which tore the stomach apart. Scáthach's daughter Uathach was the lover of Cú Chulainn during his apprenticeship. Scáthach was concerned for him when he challenged her sister Aoife to a fight. However, he defeated Aoife by a ruse and later made her his lover too.

In the poem Verba Scáthaige ("Words of the Scáthach") she prophesies in mysterious phrases Cú Chulainn the course and outcome of the Táin Bó Cuailnge (" Cattle robbery of Cooley").

Another legendary figure who bears the name Scáthach appears to Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna after they have hunted a boar. As a reward for letting the boar run, Fionn is invited to a fairy hill , where he asks for the hand of the young Scáthach. But with that he was unlucky. She played an enchanted harp and put him and his men to sleep. Shortly afterwards they woke up at the place where they had caught the boar and Scáthach was gone. It is unclear to what extent both legendary figures agree.

literature

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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 , pp. 654, 657, 958.
  2. ^ Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter Verlag 1991, ppb edition Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf, 2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 , p. 132 f.