Fir Bolg

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Fir Bolg

In Irish mythology

Irish mythology

The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branches of Celtic mythology....
the Fir Bolg (Fir Bholg, Firbolg) were one of the races that inhabited the island of Ireland prior to the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann

Tuatha Dé Danann

The Tuatha D? Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gab?la ?renn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....
.

ar antiquity the Fir Bolg were the rulers of Ireland (at the time called Ériu) immediately before the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann

Tuatha Dé Danann

The Tuatha D? Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gab?la ?renn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....
, who many interpret as the Gaelic gods. The King of the Tuatha Dé, Nuada

Nuada

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In Irish mythology

Irish mythology

Tuatha Dé Danann

Mythology

In far antiquity the Fir Bolg were the rulers of Ireland (at the time called Ériu) immediately before the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann

Tuatha Dé Danann

The Tuatha D? Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gab?la ?renn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....
, who many interpret as the Gaelic gods. The King of the Tuatha Dé, Nuada

Nuada

In Irish mythology, Nuada or Nuadu , known by the epithet Airgetl?m , was the first king of the Tuatha D? Danann. He is cognate with the Gaulish and Roman Britain god Nodens....
, sued for half the island for his people, but the Fir Bolg king refused. At the ensuing Battle of Mag Tuired the Fir Bolg were all but conquered and their king slain by the goddess Morrigu, though the fierce efforts of their champion Sreng

Sreng

In Irish mythology Sreng was a champion of the Fir Bolg or Men of Bolg. In the first Battle of Magh Tuiredh he faced Nuada, king of the Tuatha D? Danann, and with one great blow he cut off half his shield and severed Nuada's arm at the shoulder....
saved them from utter loss, and the Tuatha Dé were so touched by their nobility and spirit they gave them one quarter of the island as their own. They chose Connacht

Connacht

Connacht is the western Provinces of Ireland of Ireland, comprising counties County Galway, County Leitrim, County Mayo, County Roscommon, County Sligo....
. After this, the Fir Bolg all but disappear from mythology.

Etymology

The origin of their name is the subject of some dispute. Many commentators consider them the "men of Builg" or "men of bags", or by comparison with the modern Irish word bolg meaning 'belly' (and originally meaning 'bag'). Alternatively they may be related to the Belgae

Belgae

The Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul in the 1st century BC, and later also in Roman Britain. They gave their name to the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, and later, to the modern country of Belgium, where they are colloquially known as the "Old Belgians"....
tribe, whose name meant the "shining ones" (from Proto-Celtic *belo, meaning "bright"). In Early Irish, "boillsg" meant gleam; from Proto-Celtic *bolg-s-cio-; related to Latin "fulgeo", shine, English "effulgent", Lithuanian "blizgù" and even Russian "byela" (white).

Tribes

These people arrived in Ireland in three groups, the Fir Bolg, the Fir Domnann

Fir Domnann

Fir Domnann was an ancient Ireland tribe or people located in the west of Connacht, in what is now the Erris Peninsula in County Mayo. In Irish mythology they make up one third of the Fir Bolg....
and the Gaileanga. According to the model proposed by O'Rahilly

T. F. O'Rahilly

Thomas Francis O'Rahilly , was an influential scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly in the fields of Historical linguistics and Irish language dialects....
, The Fir Bolg are linked to the historical Belgae, known from Gaul

Gaul

Gaul is the name used for the region of Western Europe comprising part of present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the River Rhine....
and Britain, and to the historical Builg of Munster

Munster

Munster is the southernmost of the four provinces of Ireland. The largest city in Munster is Cork ....
; the Fir Domnann to the British Dumnonii

Dumnonii

The Dumnonii or Dumnones were a Celtic tribe who inhabited the farther parts of the West Country peninsula of Britain, during the British Iron Age and the early Roman Britain....
and the Gaileanga are the Laigin, who founded Leinster

Leinster

Leinster , one of the Provinces of Ireland, lies in the east of Ireland and comprises the counties of County Carlow, County Dublin, County Kildare, County Kilkenny, County Laois, County Longford, County Louth, County Meath, County Offaly, County Westmeath, County Wexford and County Wicklow....
. According to this model, the three groups probably represent the Ivernic-speaking peoples who inhabited Ireland before the Goidelic-speaking Gaels.

Other theories have been advanced about the origin of the Fir Bolg. Some scholars have related the name of a Celtic god with the word Bolg. The Fir Bolg, according to one legend, were involved in carrying bags of earth at one point in their history, hence the "Men of Bags" interpretation. Others speculate that "Bolg" relates to a word for small boats.

One interpretation which has gained ground is drawn from the recorded histories. The Fir Bolg, according to this theory, were largely conquered by the Gaels, and thus, as a lower class in society, would have had different customs befitting a lower social status. In particular, this theory holds that "Fir Bolg" is a corruption of a term for "Breeches-Wearers", reasoning that, as manual laborers, the Fir Bolg would have found it useful to wear trousers

Trousers

Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately . Such items of clothing are often referred to as pants in countries such as Canada, South Africa and The United States....
rather than the robes and garb of the Gaels. This theory, however, remains largely speculative, and there is little hard evidence to confirm this interpretation.

The Fir Bolg were recorded as being ejected from Ireland and returning under a King named Aengus. The Fir Bolg were given, as a place of settlement, the Aran Islands

Aran Islands

The Aran Islands are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. The largest island is Inishmore the middle and second-largest is Inishmaan , and the smallest and most eastern is Inisheer ....
and surrounding coastland (the largest of these Islands, Inishmore--Árainn--is home to a fortress allegedly related to Aengus and the Fir Bolg, Dún Aengus

Dún Aengus

File:D?n Aengus.jpgD?n Aengus is the most famous of several prehistoric forts on the Aran Islands, of County Galway, Ireland. It is located on Inishmore at the edge of an approximately 100 metre high cliff....
). This episode of history, in which the Fir Bolg come from what is assumed to be a place near modern Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, settle in Ireland, and then go to the Aran Islands, on Ireland's western fringe, has given rise to one interpretation of Fir Bolg origins. A Pictish

Picts

The Picts were a confederation of tribes in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland from Roman Empire times until the 10th century....
invasion of Ireland is the proposition in this account, and the Aran Islands were a last refuge for this invading force.

External links

from "On the Ancient Races of Ireland" by Sir William Wilde