Milesians are a people figuring in
Irish mythologyThe 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 descendants of
Míl EspáineIn Goidelic mythology Míl Espáine is the ancestor of the final inhabitants of Ireland, the "sons of Míl" or Milesians, who represent the Goidelic Celts.His given name was Golam or Galamh...
, they were the final inhabitants of
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
, and were believed to represent the Goidelic (or
GaelicThe Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages – Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx...
) Celts.
The
Lebor GabálaLebor Gabála Érenn is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish race from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages...
(Book of Invasions — probably first written in the second half of the 11th century AD) describes the origin of the
GaelicThe Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages – Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx...
people. They descended from
Goídel GlasIn Irish and Scottish Medieval myth, Goídel Glas is the creator of the Goidelic languages and the eponymous ancestor of the Gaels.-Scotland:...
, a Scythian who was present at the fall of the
Tower of BabelThe Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built at the city of Babylon , a cosmopolitan city typified by a confusion of languages, also called the "beginning" of Nimrod's kingdom...
, and
ScotaScota, in Irish mythology, Scottish mythology, and pseudohistory, is the name given to two different mythological daughters of two different Egyptian Pharaohs to whom the Gaels traced their ancestry, allegedly explaining the name Scoti, applied by the Romans to Irish raiders, and later to the Irish...
, a daughter of a
pharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt. This was true only during the New Kingdom, specifically during the middle of...
of
EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
.
Milesians are a people figuring in
Irish mythologyThe 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 descendants of
Míl EspáineIn Goidelic mythology Míl Espáine is the ancestor of the final inhabitants of Ireland, the "sons of Míl" or Milesians, who represent the Goidelic Celts.His given name was Golam or Galamh...
, they were the final inhabitants of
IrelandIreland is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islets. To the east of Ireland, separated by the Irish Sea, is the island of Great Britain...
, and were believed to represent the Goidelic (or
GaelicThe Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages – Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx...
) Celts.
Myth
The
Lebor GabálaLebor Gabála Érenn is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish race from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages...
(Book of Invasions — probably first written in the second half of the 11th century AD) describes the origin of the
GaelicThe Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages – Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx...
people. They descended from
Goídel GlasIn Irish and Scottish Medieval myth, Goídel Glas is the creator of the Goidelic languages and the eponymous ancestor of the Gaels.-Scotland:...
, a Scythian who was present at the fall of the
Tower of BabelThe Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built at the city of Babylon , a cosmopolitan city typified by a confusion of languages, also called the "beginning" of Nimrod's kingdom...
, and
ScotaScota, in Irish mythology, Scottish mythology, and pseudohistory, is the name given to two different mythological daughters of two different Egyptian Pharaohs to whom the Gaels traced their ancestry, allegedly explaining the name Scoti, applied by the Romans to Irish raiders, and later to the Irish...
, a daughter of a
pharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt. This was true only during the New Kingdom, specifically during the middle of...
of
EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
. Two branches of their descendants left Egypt and Scythia at the time of the
ExodusThe Exodus, from the Greek word έξοδος, is an event that marked the departure of the Israelites from enslavement in ancient Egypt. The event is described in the Hebrew Bible, but no other original sources...
of
MosesMoses was, according to biblical texts, a religious leader, lawgiver, and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbeinu in Hebrew Moses was, according to biblical texts, a...
, and after a period of wandering the shores of the
MediterraneanThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
arrived in the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
, where they settled after several battles. One of them,
BreogánBreogán, son of Brath, a mythical Celtic king from Galicia. Multiple accounts exist about him, but he is seen as the mythological father of the Galician nation...
, built a tower at a place called Brigantia (probably in the coast of Galicia, near
A CoruñaA Coruña is the second largest city in Galicia in northwestern Spain, second only in size to the port of Vigo in Pontevedra Province. The city is the capital of A Coruña Province...
(Corunna), which was then "Brigantia" and where a Celtic tribe called "Brigantes" is attested in ancient times — see
Tower of HerculesThe Tower of Hercules is an ancient Roman lighthouse on a peninsula about 2.4 kilometers from the centre of A Coruña, Galicia, in north-western Spain. The name Corunna is said to be derived from the ancient columna, meaning column. The structure is tall and overlooks the North Atlantic coast of...
) from the top of which he, or his son Íth, first saw Ireland.
Íth made the first expedition to Ireland, but was killed by the three kings of Ireland,
Mac CuillIn Irish mythology, Mac Cuill of the Tuatha Dé Danann, was a son of Cermait, son of the Dagda. Mac Cuill's given name was Éthur and he was named Mac Cuill after his god, Coll, the hazel. His wife was Banba....
,
Mac CechtIn Irish mythology, Mac Cecht of the Tuatha Dé Danann was a son of Cermait, son of the Dagda. Mac Cecht's given name was Téthur and he was named Mac Cecht after his god, Cecht, the ploughshare. His wife was Fodla....
, and
Mac GréineIn Irish mythology, Mac Gréine of the Tuatha Dé Danann was a son of Cermait, son of the Dagda. Mac Gréine's given name was Céthur and was named Mac Gréine after his god, Grian, the sun. Mac Gréine is Irish for "Son of the Sun". His wife was Ériu....
of the
Tuatha Dé DanannThe Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gabála Érenn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....
. In revenge the eight sons of Íth's brother
Míl EspáineIn Goidelic mythology Míl Espáine is the ancestor of the final inhabitants of Ireland, the "sons of Míl" or Milesians, who represent the Goidelic Celts.His given name was Golam or Galamh...
(the "Soldier of
HispaniaHispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior...
", whose given name was Golam), led an invasion force to defeat the Tuatha Dé and conquer Ireland. The sons of Míl landed in
County KerryCounty Kerry is one of the traditional counties of Ireland. It is located within the province of Munster. Kerry is the fifth largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 14th largest in terms of population...
and fought their way to
TaraThe Hill of Tara , located near the River Boyne, is an archaeological complex that runs between Navan and Dunshaughlin in County Meath, Leinster, Ireland...
. On the way, the wives of the three kings,
ÉriuIn Irish mythology, Ériu , daughter of Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann, was the eponymous matron goddess of Ireland. Her husband was Mac Gréine...
,
BanbaIn Irish mythology, Banbha, sometimes written as Banba in English, daughter of Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann, is the patron goddess of Ireland....
and
FodlaIn Irish mythology, Fódla , daughter of Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann, was one of the tutelary goddesses of Ireland. Her husband was Mac Cecht....
requested that the island be named after them: Ériu is the earlier form of the modern name
Éireis the Irish name for the island of Ireland and the sovereign state of the same name.- Etymology :The modern Irish Éire evolved from the Old Irish word Ériu, which was the name of a Gaelic goddess. Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or...
, and Banba and Fodla were often used as poetic names for Ireland, much as
AlbionAlbion is the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain. It is thought to derive from the white cliffs of Dover. Today, it is still sometimes used poetically to refer to the island or England in particular. It is also the basis of the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland,
is for BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
.
At Tara the sons of Míl met the three kings, and it was decreed that the invaders return to their ships and sail a distance of nine waves from Ireland, and if they were able to land again, Ireland would be theirs. They set sail, but the Tuatha Dé used magic to brew up a storm, in which five of the sons were drowned, leaving only Eber FinnÉber Finn, son of Míl Espáine, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland and one of the founders of the Milesian lineage, to which medieval genealogists traced all the important Gaelic royal lines....
, EremonÉrimón, son of Míl Espáine, according to medieval Irish legends and historical traditions, was one of the chieftains who took part in the Milesian invasion of Ireland, which conquered the island from the Tuatha Dé Danann, and one of the first Milesian High Kings.Before coming to Ireland, he and his...
and AmerginAmergin Glúingel or Glúnmar is a druid, bard and judge for the Milesians in the Irish Mythological Cycle...
the poet, to land and take the island. Amergin divided the kingship between ÉremonÉrimón, son of Míl Espáine, according to medieval Irish legends and historical traditions, was one of the chieftains who took part in the Milesian invasion of Ireland, which conquered the island from the Tuatha Dé Danann, and one of the first Milesian High Kings.Before coming to Ireland, he and his...
, who ruled the northern half, and Éber FinnÉber Finn, son of Míl Espáine, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland and one of the founders of the Milesian lineage, to which medieval genealogists traced all the important Gaelic royal lines....
, the southern.
Legacy
In the historical schemeO'Rahilly's historical model is a theory of Irish prehistory put forward by Celtic scholar T. F. O'Rahilly. It was based on his study of the influences on the Irish language and a critical analysis of Irish mythology and pseudohistory....
proposed by T. F. O'RahillyThomas Francis O'Rahilly , was an influential scholar of the Celtic languages, particularly in the fields of Historical linguistics and Irish dialects. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy.He was born in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland...
the descent of the kings of Ireland from the sons of Míl is a fiction intended to provide legitimacy for the Goidels, who invaded Ireland in the 1stThe 1st century BC, also known as the last century BC or 1st century BCE started on the first day of 100 BC and ended on the last day of 1 BC.It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period...
or 2nd century BC, giving them the same ancient origin as the indigenous peoples they dominated. However, it has been argued that the story is a much later invention of medieval Irish historians, inspired by their knowledge of the Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, written by the early 5th century GallaeciaGallaecia or
Callaecia was the name of a Roman province and an early Mediaeval kingdom that comprised a territory in the north-west of
Hispania...
n cleric, Paulus OrosiusPaulus Orosius was a Christian historian, theologian and disciple of Augustine of Hippo from Gallaecia. He is best known for his Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII , which he wrote in response to the belief that the decline of the Roman Empire was the result of its adoption of...
. See also Early history of Ireland-Prehistory:There is no evidence of human habitation in Ireland before the last Ice Age. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers settled between 8000 and 7000 BC. Farming, and the proliferation of megalithic monuments, began in the neolithic, beginning c. 4500 BC...
.
For centuries, the myth of the Míl Éspaine and the Milesians was used in Ireland to win and secure dynastic and political legitimacy. For example, in his Two bokes of the histories of Ireland (1571), Edmund CampionSaint Edmund Campion, S.J. was an English Jesuit priest and martyr.-Early years and education :...
tried to use the myth to establish an ancient right of the BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
monarch to rule Ireland. In A View of the Present State of Ireland, Edmund SpenserEdmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem celebrating, through fantastical allegory, the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy.-Life:Edmund Spenser was born in London around 1552...
accepted and rejected various parts of the myth both to denigrate the Irish of his day and to justify EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
colonisation of Ireland in the 1590s (at the height of the Anglo-Spanish warThe Anglo–Spanish War was an intermittent conflict between the kingdoms of Spain and England that was never formally declared. The war was punctuated by widely separated battles, and began with England's military expedition in 1585 to the Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester in...
).
Probably the last major outing for the myth was during the Contention of the bardsThe Contention of the Bards was a literary controversy of early 17th century Gaelic Ireland, lasting from 1616 to 1624 , in which the principal bardic poets of the country wrote polemical verses against each other and in support of their respective patrons.There were thirty contributions to the...
, which appears to have rumbled on from 1616 to 1624. During this period poets from the north and south of the island extolled the merits of their respective peoples (Eremonians and Eberians), at the expense of the other side, and often descended to a pettiness that some contemporaries thought foolish.
Finally, Geoffrey KeatingSeathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian. He was born in Burgess, Ballylooby, just outside Cahir in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644...
's Foras Feasa ar Eirinn (written c.1634) used the myth to promote the legitimacy of the StuartThe House of Stuart, also known as the House of Stewart, is an important European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century. Their direct ancestors had held the title High Steward of Scotland since the...
claim to royal authority in Ireland (related to the origin of the Lia FáilThe Lia Fáil , also known as the Stone of Destiny, is a stone at the Inauguration Mound on the Hill of Tara in County Meath in Ireland, which served as the coronation stone for the High Kings of Ireland. In legend, all of the kings of Ireland were crowned on the stone up to Muirchertach mac Ercae c...
), demonstrating that Charles ICharles I, , the second son of James VI of Scotland and I of England, was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. Charles famously engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England...
was descended, through Brian Ború, Éber and Galamh, from Noah and, ultimately, from Adam. The lion-rampant motif seen in the Royal Standard of ScotlandThe Royal Standard of Scotland, also known as the Banner of the King of Scots or more commonly the Lion Rampant of Scotland, is the Scottish Royal Banner of Arms...
was used by other clans claiming a Milesian ancestry.
There is a legend that Queen ScotaScota, in Irish mythology, Scottish mythology, and pseudohistory, is the name given to two different mythological daughters of two different Egyptian Pharaohs to whom the Gaels traced their ancestry, allegedly explaining the name Scoti, applied by the Romans to Irish raiders, and later to the Irish...
's grave is in the Slieve Mish mountains just outside Tralee in County Kerry. The legend tells that Scota was the daughter of a pharaoh and was to marry the Irish king, but she fell from her horse and died. A large rock marks the spot where she fell.
Footnotes
See also
- Celtiberians
The Celtiberians were a Celtic-speaking people of the Iberian Peninsula in the final centuries BC. The group originated when Celts migrated from Gaul and integrated with the local pre-Indo-European populations, in particular the Iberians....
- Black Irish
Black Irish is a traditional term that is commonly used among Irish American communities to describe a dark brown or black hair phenotype appearing in Caucasian people of Irish descent. This can be distinguished in contrast to the brown, blond or red hair color variant, the latter stereotypically...
- Clonycavan Man
Clonycavan Man is the name given to a well-preserved Iron Age bog body found in Clonycavan, County Meath, Ireland in March 2003. He has been calculated to have been approximately 1.57 metres in height, and is remarkable for the "gel" in his hair....