TOO-ah-ha day DAH-nan
The Tuatha Dé Danann, "the peoples of the goddess Danu", are the divine race of Irish mythology, who won Ireland from the Fir Bolg and the Fomorians before the Milesians drove them into the sídhe.
The Tuatha Dé Danann are the fifth people to take Ireland in the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the medieval "Book of Invasions". The name is usually translated "the peoples of the goddess Danu". They are skilled in craft, druidry and war, and many of their members, among them the Dagda, Lugh, Brigid, Nuada, Ogma and Dian Cecht, are the old gods of Ireland.
According to the texts, they came from four northern cities, Falias, Gorias, Murias and Finias, where they learned lore and crafts. From each they carried a treasure: the Stone of Fál, the spear of Lugh, the cauldron of the Dagda and the sword of Nuada. They landed in Ireland and defeated the Fir Bolg at the First Battle of Mag Tuired. In that fight Nuada lost his arm and so, by law, his kingship, until Dian Cecht and his son made him a silver arm.
The Second Battle of Mag Tuired set them against the Fomorians, ruled by Balor of the evil eye. Lugh, the many-skilled, killed Balor and the Tuatha Dé won. Later the Milesians, the ancestors of the Gaels, arrived. After a contest of wits with the poet Amergin, the Tuatha Dé agreed to withdraw, and they went underground into the hills and mounds. These are the sídhe, and the people who live there are the aos sí, the "fairies" of later folklore.
Medieval Christian scribes wrote these texts down, and they framed the Tuatha Dé as a gifted early people rather than as gods. Their divine character still shows through, and scholars generally see in them the remnants of pre-Christian Irish religion.
| Cycle | Entries here | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| The Mythological Cycle | 21 | The oldest of the four cycles, telling of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the successive invasions of Ireland. |
| The Fenian Cycle | 7 | Tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill and his band of warriors, the Fianna, set generations after the Ulster Cycle in a world of hunting, romance, and roaming adventure. |
| The Ulster Cycle | 12 | The heroic tales of Conchobar mac Nessa's court at Emain Macha, centered on Cú Chulainn and the great cattle raid of the Táin Bó Cúailnge. |
| The Historical Cycle | 1 | Also the Cycle of the Kings — legendary and semi-legendary tales of Ireland's High Kings, treated by medieval scribes as genuine national history. |