irish mythology
Kill the wrong dog in early medieval Ireland and it could cost you ten cows and a replacement hound. Let your own dog foul a neighbour's land and you might…
Myles Dillon spent fifty years arguing that early Ireland and ancient India shared more than a distant ancestor — this is his story, and his case
Muirbretha, the "sea-judgements," is the main surviving Brehon law text on maritime affairs, and it survives only because a handful of scribes thought it worth copying fragments of it into…
Auraicept na n-Éces, or The Scholars' Primer, is one of the most important and fascinating surviving texts from medieval Ireland. It stands as the earliest known native Irish treatise on grammar, poetics, and the philosophy of language.
When people imagine early Irish law, they usually picture the brithem — the brehon — weighing evidence and handing down a careful judgement based on precedent. That's true enough for…
There's a passage that turns up in a lot of anthologies of Irish myth, usually just a page or two, that starts with a strange young man walking up to the King of Tara carrying a branch of silver with three golden apples on it...
Imagine a political idea so old and so serious that a king who told a lie could, in theory, cause the harvest to fail.
Osborn Joseph Bergin (1873–1950) was a towering figure in Celtic studies. Read on to learn more about this veritable master of the Irish language, in all its historical forms, a brilliant philologist, an exacting editor of manuscripts, and a dedicated teacher who helped shape the next generation of scholars, including Myles Dillon.
A guide to the principles of Ireland's ancient legal tradition, told through myth and legend. The Demise of the Brehon Laws? Sir John Davies wrote the following in a treatise…
Step into the captivating and mystical world of acclaimed Irish visionary artist Maria Johnston. In this intimate and revealing interview, Maria generously shares the fascinating evolution of her creative journey…