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Cuchulain

Ireland is well-known for its deep and rich mythology that extends far back into the days of old.

The country holds countless stories of hero and villains triumphs and tragedies but none of them are

!uite so famous as the legend of Cuchulain.

Many scholars view the Irish Cuchulain as an analogous figure to the "reek #chilles. $%Irish

Mythology.&' (oth of these heroes were the greatest warriors of their time and both were considered

descendents of gods. Cuchulain is most revered in )lster the northern most cluster of Irish counties

because that was his homeland. *ike many mythological figures he is featured in many works of art

such as poems and painting.

#ccording to legend +,tanta which was Cuchulains birth name was the son of the god *ugh

and the human woman echtire the sister of Conor the /ing of )lster. +,tanta was raised by his uncle

and throughout early childhood displayed exceptional talent when it came to feats of strength so much

so that he was declared a warrior at the young age of seven. It was prophesied by his tutor Cathbad the

ruid that %If any young man take arms to-day his name will be greater than any other name in

Ireland but his span of life will be short.0 $0Chapter I2 Cuchulain the Champion of Ireland.0' (ut

+,tanta did not heed this warning and !uickly became famous. (y age seventeen he was regarded as

the greatest warrior in all of Ireland.

3ne of the most remembered tales of Cuchulain is how he earned his name which when

translated to 4nglish means %5ound of Culain.& $5ull' The story goes that there once was a smith

named Culain who had invited /ing Conor to a ban!uet6 as it was custom to honor your leader by

bringing them into your home. /ing Conor knowing that +,tanta would rise to importance in the

future invited the young boy who at this time was seven or eight years old to come with him. 7anting

to continue playing +,tanta told Conor that he would come later. (y the time +,tanta arrived at

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Culains home Culain had already released his guard dog. Culains dog was known as one of the

fiercest and most viscous guard dogs around. ue to his inhuman strength +,tanta was easily able to

defeat and kill this dog. #s self punishment for killing Culains dog he promised to defend Culains

home by himself until a new guard dog could be put in place. 8rom then on the name Cuchulain stuck

to him.

#nother famous tale of Cuchulain is that of his death. Through many of his myths Cuchulain

was fighting against 9ueen Medbh $transliterated as Meave' the !ueen of Connacht. 9ueen Medbh

was planning to attack )lster and therefore cast a curse that incapacitated all the warriors of )lster

except Cuchulain. /ing Conchobar didnt want Cuchulain to fight alone because he knew he would

die so he tried to keep Cuchulain from going to battle. 4ventually Cuchulain disobeyed Conchobar

and left to fight Medbhs army. :arious omens appeared as he was leaving such as wine turning to

blood in his mouth his horse weeping tears of blood and being forced to eat his own totem animal $a

dog'.

Cuchulains three spears were prophesied to kill three kings Medbh knew this and wanted to

relieve Cuchulain of them as soon as possible so she sent three ruids to ask for them. It was

considered dishonorable to refuse a ruid. Cuchulain %gave& his spears to the ruids by killing them

with them. +omeone threw the first spear back at Cuchulain killing his driver6 the second was thrown

back by someone else killing Cuchulains horse6 and the third was thrown back by the first man

wounding Cuchulain himself. In this the prophecy was fulfilled %for *aeg was the king of charioteers

the "ray of Macha was king of the horses and Cuchulain was king of the champions.& $%The eath of

C;chulainn&' #s he was dying Cuchulain tied himself to a rock so to act like a scarecrow warding off

the enemy. Medbhs army only knew they were safe when a crow a symbol of the goddess of death

landed on his shoulder.