Éogan mac Durthacht
Éogan mac Durthacht is king of Fernmag (Farney, County Monaghan) in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.[1] At the feast given by Mac Da Thó, Cet mac Magach relates how he blinded Eogan's eye by casting back the spear that struck his shield.[2]
Eogan was an enemy of Ulster and its king, Conchobar mac Nessa, but later made his peace with them. He murdered Deirdre's husband, Naoise, on Conchobar's orders.[3] Later the bereaved Deirdre is asked by Conchobar whom she detests the most, and she replies Conchobar himself and Eogan mac Durthacht, whereby Conchobar decided she should go live with Eogan for a year. But the heroine chooses death over this fate.[4]
Footnotes
[edit]- ^ Meyer 1894, pp. 51–64, The Story of Mac Dáthó's Pig and Hound, ¶14 "Eógan Mór mac Durtachta.. rí Fernmaighi"(p.53); tr. "Eogan Mór son of Durthacht,.. king of Fernmag" (p.61).
- ^ Meyer 1894 ¶14 (loc. cit.)
- ^ Kinsella 1969, "Chapter: Exile of the Sons of Uisliu", p.14-15 "Eogan mac Durthacht, king of Fernmag.. Eogan welcomed Noisiu with the hard thrust of a great spear that broke his back"; and various other editions and versions
- ^ Kinsella 1969, p.19-20
References
[edit]- Meyer, Kuno, ed. (1894), "The Story of Mac Dáthó's Pig and Hound", Hibernica Minora, Anecdota Oxoniensa, Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 51–64 (ed. & tr.) [Rawl. B 512, f. 105v.-]
- Kinsella, Thomas (1969), "Chapter: Exile of the Sons of Uisliu", the Táin, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 8–20, from text of V. Hull, Longes mac n-Uislenn (1949)