Editing Irish mythology (section)

==Mythological Cycle==
[[File:Lugh spear Millar.jpg|thumb|Lugh's Magic Spear; illustration by H. R. Millar]]
{{main|Mythological Cycle}}
The [[Mythological Cycle]], comprising stories of the former gods and origins of the Irish, is the least well preserved of the four cycles. It is about the principal people who invaded and inhabited the island. The people include Cessair and her followers, the Formorians, the Partholinians, the Nemedians, the Firbolgs, the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]], and the Milesians.<ref name=Frehan-2012/> The most important sources are the ''[[Metrical Dindshenchas]]'' or ''Lore of Places'' and the ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'' or ''Book of Invasions''. Other manuscripts preserve such mythological tales as ''[[Bodb Derg|The Dream of Aengus]]'', ''[[the Wooing of Étain]]'' and ''[[Cath Maige Tuireadh]]'', ''the (second) Battle of Magh Tuireadh''. One of the best known of all Irish stories, ''Oidheadh Clainne Lir'', or ''[[Children of Lir|The Tragedy of the Children of Lir]]'', is also part of this cycle.

''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' is a pseudo-history of Ireland, tracing the ancestry of the Irish back to before [[Noah]]. It tells of a series of invasions or "takings" of Ireland by a succession of peoples, the fifth of whom was the people known as the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]] ("Peoples of the Goddess Danu"), who were believed to have inhabited the island before the arrival of the [[Gaels]], or [[Milesians (Irish)|Milesians]]. They faced opposition from their enemies, the [[Fomorians]], led by [[Balor]] of the Evil Eye. Balor was eventually slain by [[Lugh|Lugh Lámfada]] (Lugh of the Long Arm) at the second battle of Magh Tuireadh. With the arrival of the Gaels, the Tuatha Dé Danann retired underground to become the [[fairy]] people of later myth and legend.

The ''Metrical Dindshenchas'' is the great [[onomastic]]s work of early Ireland, giving the naming legends of significant places in a sequence of poems. It includes a lot of important information on Mythological Cycle figures and stories, including the Battle of Tailtiu, in which the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by the Milesians.

By the Middle Ages, the Tuatha Dé Danann were not viewed so much as gods as the shape-shifting magician population of an earlier [[Golden Age]] Ireland. Texts such as ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' and ''Cath Maige Tuireadh'' present them as kings and heroes of the distant past, complete with death-tales. However, there is considerable evidence, both in the texts and from the wider Celtic world, that they were once considered [[deity|deities]].

Even after they are displaced as the rulers of Ireland, characters such as [[Lugh]], the [[Mórrígan]], [[Aengus]] and [[Manannán mac Lir|Manannán Mac Lir]] appear in stories set centuries later, betraying their immortality. A poem in the Book of Leinster lists many of the Tuatha Dé, but ends "Although [the author] enumerates them, he does not worship them". [[Goibniu]], [[Creidhne]] and [[Luchta]] are referred to as ''Trí Dé Dána'' ("three gods of craftsmanship"), and the [[Dagda]]'s name is interpreted in [[medieval]] texts as "the good god". [[Nuada]] is [[cognate]] with the [[Prehistoric Britain|British]] god [[Nodens]]; [[Lugh]] is a reflex of the pan-[[Celt]]ic deity [[Lugus]], the name of whom may indicate "Light"; [[Tuireann]] may be related to the [[Gaulish]] [[Taranis]]; [[Ogma]] to [[Ogmios]]; the [[Badb]] to [[Catubodua]].