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[I] The magic cow stolen by the Fomorii Balor of the Evil Eye and taken to Tory Island. Cian pursued and rescued it.
[I] Conan’s Tower. A tower of glass or crystal built by the Fomorii on Tory Island. The Nemedians stormed it and slew Conan Mac Febar, the Fomorii king. Balor of the Evil Eye is said to have imprisoned his daughter there. Glass towers tend to be often one of the sights encountered in the Irish voyage myths. In Welsh mythology Caer Wydyr, a glass castle, seems a synonym for the Otherworld.
[W] “Of the Mighty Grasp.” A doorkeeper at Arthur’s fortress.
[W] Son of Taran. One of the seven survivors of the ill-fated battle between Bran and Matholwch. Is Taran cognate with the Gaulish god Taranis and is there a similarity between him and “Etirun,” which is recorded in Irish sources as a pagan god of the Britons?
[W] The place where Pwyll encountered Arawn, king of Annwn (the Otherworld).
[W] The spot where St. David lit the sacred fire after a ritualistic encounter with the druids, which bears a strong similarity to St. Patrick’s encounter with druids and the lighting of a sacred fire at Tara.
An unlocated kingdom in northern Britain during the sixth century.
[W] A synonym for the “otherworld.”
The name of a poem ascribed to Aneurin in the sixth century. It contains the first literary mention of Arthur. It describes how the Gododdin tribe (obviously the Votadini of the Roman occupation), under their king Mynyddawg Mwynfawr, send 300 picked warriors south to retake Catraeth (Catterick) from the Anglo-Saxons. They all meet defeat and death. The capital of the tribe was at Dineiddyn (Edinburgh).
There is considerable confusion about the gods of the ancient Celts because of the fact that the myths were first set down by Christian monks who often altered things to fit their religious sensibilities. The Tuatha Dé Danaan are clearly the “immortals” of the world of Irish myths. In Celtic perception, the gods and goddesses are not creators of the people, they are the ancestors of
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