Cu Chulainn: An Iron Age Hero.
Author: SMYTH, Daragh.
Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2005. x, 206 pages. Paperback.
Cu Chulainn was the greatest hero of an heroic age centred on Ulster and North Leinster. He is in the European tradition of heroes, from Ajax to Achilles to King Arthur. He was a demi-god, having both a solar deity, Lug, and Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, for his father.
All that we know of him comes from a collection of ancient writings that fuse history, myth and biography. Working from his own translations from the Old Irish and from edited manuscript sources, Daragh Smyth has crafted a fascinating and scholarly account of the life of Cu Chulainn and of aspects of social life in Ulster during the Iron Age.
This book follows Cu Chulainn from his birth to his initiation in arms, his various romances in Ireland and Scotland, and his marriage to Emer at Emain Macha.
An underlying theme in this period was the struggle between the men of Ulster and the men of the rest of Ireland. This conflict is epitomised in the Tain Bo Cuailnge, the great epic of early Irish literature, in which Cu Chulainn is a central figure. He is most frequently portrayed as a warrior defending Ulster in single combat.
Cathbad the Druid told Cu Chulainn his life would be brief. His answer was: ‘Better to live but for a day and a night, provided my fame lives after me’Â (Do marat m’airscela agus m’imthechta dimm esi).
That Cu Chulainn’s wish has been fulfilled is an indisputable fact.
ISBN: 071653326X
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