Myths of Ireland

Cycles

The library is organised into five cycles. Each hub introduces its cycle, its manuscripts, and its tales.

  1. The Mythological Cycle The Mythological Cycle is the body of medieval Irish literature about the Tuatha Dé Danann, the gods of pre-Christian Ireland recast by monastic scribes as a wonder-working race of invaders, settlers and, finally, dwellers in the hollow hills.
  2. The Ulster Cycle The Ulster Cycle is the heroic literature of medieval Ireland: the wars of Ulster and Connacht, the boy-warrior Cú Chulainn, queen Medb of Cruachan, and the great cattle raid of the Táin Bó Cúailnge.
  3. The Fenian Cycle The Fenian Cycle is the literature of Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna, Ireland's roving warrior bands: hunting tales, love stories and laments for a lost heroic age, crowned by the great frame-tale Acallam na Senórach.
  4. The Cycle of the Kings The Cycle of the Kings is the medieval Irish literature of kingship: tales of legendary and semi-historical rulers from Conaire Mór to Suibhne Geilt, where a king's truth keeps the land fruitful and his broken oaths destroy him.
  5. Irish Folklore and the Aos Sí Irish folklore is the living oral tradition that continued after the medieval manuscripts fell silent: the banshee, the púca, changelings, fairy forts and the aos sí, recorded from the mouths of ordinary people by collectors from Yeats and Lady Gregory to the Schools' Collection.