Nia Segamain
Encyclopedia
Nia Segamain, son of Adamair
Adamair
Adamair , son of Fer Corb, was, according to medieval Irish legends and historical traditions, a High King of Ireland. He came from Munster, killed the previous incumbent, Ailill Caisfhiaclach, and reigned for five years, until he was killed by Eochaid Ailtleathan...

, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland
High King of Ireland
The High Kings of Ireland were sometimes historical and sometimes legendary figures who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over the whole of Ireland. Medieval and early modern Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken sequence of High Kings, ruling from Tara over a hierarchy of...

. He took power after killing his predecessor, Conall Collamrach
Conall Collamrach
Conall Collamrach, son of Eterscél Temrach, son of Eochaid Ailtlethan, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his uncle Óengus Tuirmech Temrach, and ruled for five years, until he was killed by Nia Segamain...

. Geoffrey Keating
Geoffrey Keating
Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian. He was born in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644...

 says his mother was the presumed woodland goddess Flidais
Flidais
Flidais is a female mythological figure in early Irish literature, including the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the Metrical Dindsenchas and the Ulster Cycle...

 of the Tuatha Dé Danann
Tuatha Dé Danann
The 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....

, whose magic made wild does
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

 give milk as freely as domesticated cattle during his reign. He ruled for seven years, until he was killed by Énna Aignech
Enna Aignech
Énna Aignech , son of Óengus Tuirmech Temrach, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland. He took power after killing his predecessor, Nia Segamain, and ruled for twenty or twenty-eight years, after which he was killed by Crimthann Coscrach in the...

. The Lebor Gabála synchronises his reign with that of Ptolemy VIII Physcon
Ptolemy VIII Physcon
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II , nicknamed , Phúskōn, Physcon for his obesity, was a king of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. His complicated career started in 170 BC, when Antiochus IV Epiphanes invaded Egypt, captured his brother Ptolemy VI Philometor and let him continue as a puppet monarch...

 in Egypt (145-116 BC). The chronology of Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn dates his reign to 226-219 BC, that of the Annals of the Four Masters
Annals of the Four Masters
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland or the Annals of the Four Masters are a chronicle of medieval Irish history...

to 320-313 BC. His name means "sister's son or champion of Segamon", and is perhaps related to Segomo
Segomo
In Gallo-Roman religion, Segomo was a war god worshipped in Gaul. In Roman times he was equated with Mars and Hercules. He may be related to Cocidius, a similar god worshipped in Britain. He is commonly associated with the eagle or hawk...

, an ancient Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

ish deity equated in Roman times with Mars
Mars (mythology)
Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...

 and Hercules
Hercules
Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...

. A slightly more historical Nia Segamain occurs in early Eóganachta
Eóganachta
The Eóganachta or Eoghanachta were an Irish dynasty centred around Cashel which dominated southern Ireland from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of Desmond, and its offshoot Carbery, well into the 16th century...

pedigrees, and this is sometimes interpreted as evidence for the Gaulish origins of the dynasties.
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