Book of Invasions

[Squire]

This is a subject that I am beginning to develop an interest in but can anyone tell me if any of the peoples and events contained within (Fir Bolg, Tuatha De Danann, Milesians etc.) are in anyway linked to fact and should they be used as reference point for ancient Irish history? All opinions welcome

[Catalpa]

This is a subject that I am beginning to develop an interest in but can anyone tell me if any of the peoples and events (Fir Bolg, Tuatha De Danann, Milesians etc.) are in anyway linked to fact and should they be used as reference point for ancient Irish history? All opinions welcome

Well the Milesians came from Spain and there seems to be a link to there OK.

They are probably based on truths that turned over time into myths and legends.

You want to be studying the Annals which are in the main recording historical events - to be read with caution though!

IMO The Annals of Ulster are the best place to start.

Most historians take anything before 431/2 AD as problematical drifting off into legend the further back you go.

Cut your teeth on these:

http://www.ucc.ie/celt/transpage.html

https://www.cs.tcd.ie/Dan.McCarthy/

[toxic avenger]

According to Stephen Oppenheim and Bryan Sykes, both of whom are experts in the field of DNA analysis and its relation to migratory patterns since the Ice Age, the legend of the Milesians chimes with their analysis of a migratory origin for the Irish in northern Spain, particularly in what is now the Basque region. This means that the Book of Invasions is closer to the truth about our origins, assuming Gaelic antecedents, than archaeologists and historians have been up until very recently, with their mistaken assertion that we are Celts from Central European La tene and Halstatt origins. This has been discussed ad nauseam on the 'Did the Celts really exist?' thread, though there is more heat than light there...

[constitutionus]

its great fun either way. ive been dipping in and out of this stuff for years. you'll be amazed how much tolkien ripped our culture off , not to mention a certain character in 2000ad

and there are elements that definetly run true. particularly in relation to place names in ireland.

[Squire]

Thank for the advice lads, I'll be checking some of those references out. Part of the reason I developed an interest because the link with Spain, perhaps explaining why I, my ancestors and many Irish people like us have dark skin, dark eyes and don't burn in the sun, unusual (you would think) for a country with such a damp, mild climate.

[Akrasia]

so basically, there's just as much evidence for Cuchulain as there is for Jesus.

I'm pretty happy about that

[toxic avenger]

Thank for the advice lads, I'll be checking some of those references out. Part of the reason I developed an interest because the link with Spain, perhaps explaining why I, my ancestors and many Irish people like us have dark skin, dark eyes and don't burn in the sun, unusual (you would think) for a country with such a damp, mild climate.

No neither do I. My origins are Atlantic coast Sligo and Atlantic Coast Donegal, which chimes with Barry Cunliffe's thesis of an Atlantic continuum from North-West Africa, Spain, up to the Western parts of the Isles. And everyone thinks I look like a Spaniard and can't, as I tell them, be Gaelic Irish through and through...

[joel]

Thank for the advice lads, I'll be checking some of those references out. Part of the reason I developed an interest because the link with Spain, perhaps explaining why I, my ancestors and many Irish people like us have dark skin, dark eyes and don't burn in the sun, unusual (you would think) for a country with such a damp, mild climate.

Have you? - I thought most Irish were pale-skinned, with blue eyes..

[toxic avenger]

so basically, there's just as much evidence for Cuchulain as there is for Jesus.

I'm pretty happy about that

Cu Chulainn wasn't testified to in independent Roman and Jewish sources...

[toxic avenger]

Thank for the advice lads, I'll be checking some of those references out. Part of the reason I developed an interest because the link with Spain, perhaps explaining why I, my ancestors and many Irish people like us have dark skin, dark eyes and don't burn in the sun, unusual (you would think) for a country with such a damp, mild climate.

Have you? - I thought most Irish were pale-skinned, with blue eyes..

The Atlantic Seaboard, areas like Cork, Kerry, Galway, Sligo, Donegal, have an unusual preponderance of dark-skinned, dark-haired, Spanish-looking types...