Nechtan

The Dagda is an important god of Irish mythology. His name means "The Good God", (Old Irish- "deagh dia"; Mod. Irish- "dea-Dia") not good in a moral sense, but good at everything, or all-powerful. The Dagda is a father-figure (he is also known as Eochaid Ollathair, or Eochaid All-Father) and a protector of the tribe. In some texts his father is Elatha, in others his mother is Ethlinn. Irish tales depict the Dagda as a figure of immense power, armed with a magic club and associated with a cauldron. The club was supposed t ...

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In Irish mythology, Boann or Boand ("white cow") was the goddess of the river Boyne. She was the wife of Nechtan or Elcmar. Her lover was the Dagda, by whom she was the mother of Aengus. In order to hide their affair, the Dagda made the sun stand still for nine months; therefore, Aengus was conceived, gestated and born in one day. To atone for this adultery, Boann bathed in the deadly water of the river Segais, in which she lost an arm, a leg, and an eye. Her flig ...

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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. Although many of the manuscripts have failed to survive, and much more material was probably never committed to writing, there is enough remaining to enable the identification of four distinct, if overlapping, cycles: the Mythological Cycle, The Ulster Cycle, th ...

Including:

• Irish mythology - The sources
• Irish mythology - Mythological cycle
• Irish mythology - Other important Tuatha Dé Danann figures
• Irish mythology - Ulster cycle
• Irish mythology - Fenian cycle
• Irish mythology - Historical cycle
• Irish mythology - Other tales
• Irish mythology - Adventures
• Irish mythology - Voyages
• Irish mythology - Folk tales

Read more here: » Irish mythology: Encyclopedia - Irish mythology

In Irish mythology, Aengus (Áengus, Óengus, Angus, Anghus) aka Aengus Óg ("Aengus the Young"), Mac ind Óg ("son of the young"), Maccan or Mac Óg ("young son") was a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and probably a god of love, youth and beauty. He was said to have four birds symbolizing kisses flying about his head (whence, it is believed, the xxxx's symbolizing kisses at the end of lovers' letters come ...

Including:

• Aengus - Etymology
• Aengus - Texts
• Aengus - Namesakes

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In Hinduism, Apam Napat is the god of fresh water, such as in rivers and lakes. He is sometimes (for example in Rigveda book 2 hymn 35 verse 3) described as a fire-god who originates in water: see Agni. "Apām Napat" is Sanskrit and Avestic for "son of waters". This may have originally referred to flames from natural gas or oil seepages surfacing through water. See this link about a fire temple at Baku in Azerbaijan. There is a theory that the word naphtha came (via Greek, where it meant any sort of petroleum) from the name Apam Napat. The name Apam Napat is likely cognate with that the Celtic god ...

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717 - Events. March 25 - Leo III usurps the throne of Byzantium August 15 - Muslama begins the Second Arab siege of Constantinople. The siege lasts for three months. December 24 - An earthquake shakes many places in northern Syria, and destroys the Old Church of Edessa. The Pictish king Nechtan expels the monks from the Scottish island of Iona Umayyad caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik succeeded by Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz 717 - BirthsIncluding:

• 717 - Events
• 717 - Births
• 717 - Deaths

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Philological reconstructions of some PIE theonyms: *Dyeus Ph2ter is believed to have been the original name of god of the daylit sky and the chief god of the Indo-European pantheon. He survives in Greek Zeus (also Dias), Latin Jupiter (Deus Pater), Sanskrit Dyaus Pita, Baltic Dievas, Slavic Div, Germanic Tyr (also Tiwaz), and Armenian Astwatz (c.f. also deus pater in the Vulgate, e. g. Jude 1:1) *Plth2vih2 Mh2ter (Dg'hōm ...

See also:

Proto-Indo-European religion, Proto-Indo-European religion - Priests, Proto-Indo-European religion - Pantheon, Proto-Indo-European religion - Mythology, Proto-Indo-European religion - Development, Proto-Indo-European religion - Notes

Read more here: » Proto-Indo-European religion: Encyclopedia II - Proto-Indo-European religion - Pantheon

The following table is based on the genealogies given by Seathrún Céitinn and in the Lebor Gabála Érenn, and references in Cath Maige Tuireadh. It is not clear whether the various Elathas and Delbáeths are meant to be different figures of the same name or different traditions regarding the genalogy of the same figure. It is also notable that Fomorians such as Elatha and Balor are closely related to the Tuatha Dé. Nemed | ...

See also:

Tuatha Dé Danann, Tuatha Dé Danann - The Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Tuatha Dé Danann - Tuatha Dé Danann High Kings of Ireland, Tuatha Dé Danann - Tuatha Dé Danann family tree, Tuatha Dé Danann - Tuatha Dé Danann as the Tribe of Dan, Tuatha Dé Danann - References in Fiction

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The three main manuscript sources for Irish mythology are the late 11th/early 12th century Lebor na hUidre which is in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, the early 12th century Book of Leinster in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and the Rawlinson manuscript B 502 (Rawl.), housed in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. Despite the dates of these sources, most of the material they contain predates their composition. The earliest of the prose can be dated on linguistic grounds to the 8th century, and some ...

See also:

Irish mythology, Irish mythology - The sources, Irish mythology - Mythological cycle, Irish mythology - Other important Tuatha Dé Danann figures, Irish mythology - Ulster cycle, Irish mythology - Fenian cycle, Irish mythology - Historical cycle, Irish mythology - Other tales, Irish mythology - Adventures, Irish mythology - Voyages, Irish mythology - Folk tales

Read more here: » Irish mythology: Encyclopedia II - Irish mythology - The sources

It was part of the duty of the medieval Irish bards, or court poets, to record the history of the family and the genealogy of the king they served. This they did in poems that blended the mythological and the historical to a greater or lesser degree. The resulting stories form what has come to be known as the Historical Cycle, or more correctly Cycles, as there are a number of independent groupings. The kings that are covered range from the almost entirely mythological Labraid Loingsech, who became High King of Ireland around 431 BC t ...

See also:

Irish mythology, Irish mythology - The sources, Irish mythology - Mythological cycle, Irish mythology - Other important Tuatha Dé Danann figures, Irish mythology - Ulster cycle, Irish mythology - Fenian cycle, Irish mythology - Historical cycle, Irish mythology - Other tales, Irish mythology - Adventures, Irish mythology - Voyages, Irish mythology - Folk tales

Read more here: » Irish mythology: Encyclopedia II - Irish mythology - Historical cycle

The Mythological Cycle, comprising stories of the former gods and origins of the Irish, is the least well preserved of the four cycles. 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 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 The Tragedy o ...

See also:

Irish mythology, Irish mythology - The sources, Irish mythology - Mythological cycle, Irish mythology - Other important Tuatha Dé Danann figures, Irish mythology - Ulster cycle, Irish mythology - Fenian cycle, Irish mythology - Historical cycle, Irish mythology - Other tales, Irish mythology - Adventures, Irish mythology - Voyages, Irish mythology - Folk tales

Read more here: » Irish mythology: Encyclopedia II - Irish mythology - Mythological cycle

The Ulster Cycle is set around the beginning of the Christian era and most of the action takes place in the provinces of Ulster and Connacht. It consists of a group of heroic stories dealing with the lives of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, the great hero Cúchulainn, the son of Lug, and of their friends, lovers, and enemies. These are the Ulaid, or people of the North-Eastern corner of Ireland and the action of the stories centres round the royal court at Emain Macha, close to the modern city of Armagh. The Ulaid had close links with the Irish colony in Scotland, and part of C� ...

See also:

Irish mythology, Irish mythology - The sources, Irish mythology - Mythological cycle, Irish mythology - Other important Tuatha Dé Danann figures, Irish mythology - Ulster cycle, Irish mythology - Fenian cycle, Irish mythology - Historical cycle, Irish mythology - Other tales, Irish mythology - Adventures, Irish mythology - Voyages, Irish mythology - Folk tales

Read more here: » Irish mythology: Encyclopedia II - Irish mythology - Ulster cycle

Like the Ulster Cycle, the Fenian Cycle is concerned with the deeds of Irish heroes. The stories of the Fenian Cycle appear to be set around the 3rd century and mainly in the provinces of Leinster and Munster. They differ from the other cycles in the strength of their links with the Irish-speaking community in Scotland and there are many extant Fenian texts from that country. They also differ from the Ulster Cycle in that the stories are told mainly in verse and that in tone they are nearer to the tradition of romance than the tradition of epic. The stories concern the doings of Fionn m ...

See also:

Irish mythology, Irish mythology - The sources, Irish mythology - Mythological cycle, Irish mythology - Other important Tuatha Dé Danann figures, Irish mythology - Ulster cycle, Irish mythology - Fenian cycle, Irish mythology - Historical cycle, Irish mythology - Other tales, Irish mythology - Adventures, Irish mythology - Voyages, Irish mythology - Folk tales

Read more here: » Irish mythology: Encyclopedia II - Irish mythology - Fenian cycle

The main functionaries of the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European religion would have been maintained by a class of priests or shamans. There is evidence for sacral kingship, suggesting the tribal king at the same time assumed the role of high priest. This function would have survived as late as 11th century Scandinavia, when kings could still be dethroned for refusing to serve as priests (see Germanic king). Many Indo-European societies know a threefold division of a clerical class, a warrior class and a class of peasants or husbandmen. Such a division was suggested ...

See also:

Proto-Indo-European religion, Proto-Indo-European religion - Priests, Proto-Indo-European religion - Pantheon, Proto-Indo-European religion - Mythology, Proto-Indo-European religion - Development, Proto-Indo-European religion - Notes

Read more here: » Proto-Indo-European religion: Encyclopedia II - Proto-Indo-European religion - Priests

There seems to have been a belief in a World tree, which in Germanic mythology was an ash tree (Norse Yggdrasil; Irminsul), in Hinduism a banyan tree, in Lithuanian mythology Jievaras and an oak tree in Slavic mythology. Although this concept is absent from Greek mythology, there is also a later folk tradition about the World Tree, which is being sawed by the Kallikantzaroi (Greek goblins), perhaps a reborrowing from other peoples. One common myth which can be found among almost all Indo-European mythologies is a battle ending with th ...

See also:

Proto-Indo-European religion, Proto-Indo-European religion - Priests, Proto-Indo-European religion - Pantheon, Proto-Indo-European religion - Mythology, Proto-Indo-European religion - Development, Proto-Indo-European religion - Notes

Read more here: » Proto-Indo-European religion: Encyclopedia II - Proto-Indo-European religion - Mythology