(Irish) Milesians
The Milesians represent the Irish people. They’re Gaels who sailed from Iberia (Hispania) after spending hundreds of years travelling the Earth. When they landed in Ireland, they contend with the Tuatha De Danann, who represent the Irish pantheon of gods.
The 2 groups agree to divide Ireland between them: the Milesians took the world above, while the Tuatha De Danann took the world (the Otherworld).
The 9th century Latin work Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) says that Ireland was settled by 3 groups of people from the Iberian Peninsula. The 1st are the people of Partholon, who all died of plague.
The 2nd are the people of Nemed, who eventually return to Iberia. The last group is led by 3 sons of a warrior or soldier from Hispania (miles Hispaniae), who sail to Ireland with 30 ships, each carrying 30 wives.
They see a glass tower in the middle of the sea with men on top of it. But the men don’t answer their calls. They set out to take the tower, but when they reach it, all but 1 of their ships are sunk by a great wave.
Only 1 ship is saved, & its passengers are the ancestors of all the Irish. In later Irish texts, it’s the people of Nemed who are drowned while trying to capture a tower by the sea.
The Labor Gabala Erenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland), an Irish work which was 1st compiled in the 11th century AD by an anonymous writer, purports to be a history of Ireland & the Irish (the Gaels).
It tells us that all mankind is descended from Adam through the sons of Noah, & that a Scythian king named Fenius Farsaid (descendant of Noah’s son, Japheth) is the forebearer of the Gaels. Fenius, a prince of Scythia, is described as 1 of 72 chieftains who built the Tower of Babel. His son, Nel, Weds Scota (daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh). They have a son named Goidel Glas.
Goidel crafts the Goidelic (Gaelic) language from the original 72 languages that arose after the confusion of tongues. Goidel’s offspring, the Goidels (Gaels), leave Egypt at the same time as the Exodus of the Israelites & settle in Scythia.
After some time, they leave Scythia & spend 440 years wandering the Earth, undergoing a series of trials & tribulations similar to those of the Israelites, who were said to have spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness.
In some versions of the Lebor Gabala, there was a succession dispute between Refloir & Mil (also called Galam) over the kingship of Scythia. Mil kills Refloir, & is exiled for this kin-slaying. Eventually, Mil & his followers reach Iberia/Hispania by sea & conquer it.
There, Goidel’s descendant Breogan founds a city called Brigantia, & builds a tower from the top of which his son, Ith, glimpses Ireland. Brigantia refers to Corunna (then known as Brigantium) in modern-day Galicia in Spain, & Breogan’s tower is likely to have been based on the Tower of Hercules, which was built at Corunna by the Romans.
Ith sails to the island with a group of men. He’s welcomed by its 3 kings: Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht, & Mac Greine. These 3 are members of the Tuatha De Danann, which ruled Ireland at the time. With is then killed by unnamed attackers Ith’s brother, Mil (also called Mil Espaine, “of Hispania”), lead an invasion force to avenge his death & take Ireland.
After they land, they fight against the Tuatha De Danann & make for Tara, the royal capital. The hill of Tara is a hill & ancient ceremonial & burial site near Skryne in County Meath, Ireland. Tradition identifies the hill as the inauguration place & seat of the High-Kings of Ireland.
On the way, they are met on 3 mountains by Banba, Fodla, & Eriu, the wives of Ireland’s 3 kings. They’re believed to have been a trio of land goddesses. Each woman says that the Gaels will have good fortune if they name the land after her. One of the Gaels, Amergin, promises that it shall be so.
At Tara, they meet the 3 kings, who defend their claim to the joint kingship of the land. They ask that there be a 3-day truce. During which the Gaels must stay a distance of 9 waves from land. The Gaels agree. But once their ships are 9 waves from Ireland, the Tuatha De Danann conjure up a great wind that prevents them sailing back to land.
However, Amergin calms the wind by reciting a verse. The surviving ships return to land & the 2 groups agree to divide Ireland between them. The Gaels take the world above, while the Tuatha De Danann take the world below (the Otherworld) & enter the sidhe, the ancient burial mounds the dot the Irish landscape.
Amergin divides the kingship between Eremon, who rules the northern 1/2 of Ireland, & Eber Finn, who rules the southern 1/2. The Lebor Gabala then traces Ireland’s dynasties back to Milesian Gaels such as Eremon & Eber.
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