The Proto-European Cosmogonic Battle Theme
2 Comments | August 28, 2007 at 12:37 pm by mahud
Filed under Brendan Myers, Roman Mythology, Norse Mythology, Celtic Mythology
In deos Shadow’s latest podcast The Celtic Creation Story, Brendan Myers explains why he believes that the battle between the Fomorians and Tuatha De Danann at the The Second Battle of Mag Tuired, was originally a Celtic creation myth.
I’d like to expand upon this idea with a theory of my own concerning the duel roles of Lugh Lamhfhada and Nuadu Airgetlam, in comparison with other European myths that seem to be derived from a common Proto-European theme.
The Second Battle of Mag Tuired (Moytura)
Initially, the Tuatha De Danann allied with the Fomorians, and the Fomorian champion Balor married his daughter Ethne to Cian the son of the divine physician Dian Cecht, and she gave birth to the champion Lugh (Footnote: Another myth retelling of Lugh’s birth).
It is during the first battle of Mag Tuired that Nuadu, the King of the Tuatha De Danann, lost his hand against the Fir Bolg, later replaced by a hand of silver, fashioned by the physician Dian Cecht. However, the Tuatha De Danann successfully defeated the Fir Bolg, and so began their rule of Ireland.
Because a King must be without blemish, Bres was appointed their new leader. Under his leadership the people of Ireland were forced to pay tribute to the Fomorians, and the Tuatha De Danann became their slaves. Bres brought hardship and affliction to his people, and after ruling for seven years he was deposed.
Nuadu regains kingship, but the Fomorian armies (which had been gathering for the last seven years), threatened to take Ireland by force. It was during Ireland’s most vulnerable period that the mysterious Lugh appeared to lead the Tuatha De Danann in battle against the Fomorians. Through a combination of Lugh’s skill (a totality of the divine powers), and imitative magic, the Fomorians are finally overcome.
The Encounter of Ludd and Llefelys
Nuadu and Lugh are the central figures in a Welsh myth (a minor tale in the Mabinogion) called Cyfranc Lludd a Llefelys (The Encounter of Ludd and Llefelys), that first appeared in a thirteenth century translation of Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the British Kings) by Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Ludd (Nuadu) Llaw Eraint (of the silver hand), King of Briton, seeks the aid of the king of France, his brother Llefelys (Lugh), to rid his kingdom of three gormesoedd (variously translated as oppressions, plagues, afflictions, etc). The theme mirrors the oppression of the Tuatha De Danann by the Fomorians. Llefelys uncovers the cause of each affliction and emancipates Ludd’s kingdom from his enemies, much like Lugh in ‘Mag Tuired.
Temporal and Eternal Champions
It is my belief that the two figures Nuadu and Lugh represent two mythological aspects of the divine. Nuadu represents the temporal and imminent aspect, that is often related to the cycle of the moon, and upon which the mythological cosmic cycle (aeon) is based. This is further symbolized by the loss of Nuadu’s hand, a wound motif, representing the waning/dying/wounded moon, while the replacement hand of silver symbolizes the waxing moon of cosmic rebirth.
“Nuadu represents the temporal and imminent aspect, that is often related to the cycle of the moon. Lugh represents the eternal and transcendent aspect of the divine, that is often related to the undying power of the sun.”
Lugh represents the eternal and transcendent aspect of the divine, that is often related to the undying power of the sun. The sun is the indestructible emblem of the unseen force within the threshold of the old cosmic-lunar cycle and the new, symbolized both by the Cyclopean eye of Balor and Lugh, a trait also inherited by Lugh’s son Cuchulain.
A basic reconstruction of the myth is that of a god who according to his cosmic-lunar nature dies, while according to his indestructible solar nature simultaneously penetrates the gateway of the sun (the eternal reality that the solar god embodies), thereby obtaining the power to reanimate his cosmic self, who is also an embodiment of the entire cosmic order of things.
Scaevola and Cocles
There is also another euhemerized version of the cosmic battle of destruction and recreation in the Roman tradition, that again centres on two heroes that are largely responsible for defeating an oppressive enemy. Livy (History of Rome), and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Roman Antiquities) both acknowledge Publius Horatius and Gaius Mucius for their exceptional heroics, during the Roman Etruscan war in the 5th century B.C.
Horatius was named Cocles, ‘one-eyed’ (the solar champion), due to losing an eye in battle (Roman Antiquities 5.23), while Mucius (the lunar champion), after plunging his arm into the fire in defiance of the Etruscan King Lars Porsenna (who Mucius had failed to assassinate), was afterwards named Scaevola ‘left-handed’ (History of Rome 2.12).
Tyr and Odin
In Norse mythology the cosmic battle of destruction and recreation appears at the end of the current cosmic cycle, rather than the beginning. However the mythological representation of cosmic reality as a great wheel binds together the beginning and the end of time-bound reality within the lunar-cosmic threshold (waxing and waning moons), beyond time into solar-eternal reality. The beginning and end, creation and destruction, life and death, and all the mythological oppocites are combined in a single transcending totality, and ruled over, in the Norse tradition, by Odin, who is (much like Lugh) the divine totality of all things, both of the sun and the moon.
The myth of Odin’s sacrifice upon the Cosmic tree, and of his ‘lunar’ eye (that is the mythical equivalent of Lugh encircling his army hopping on one leg with one eye closed), derives from a much older and widespread mythological theme of a primordial being (who in Nordic tradition is, of course, Ymir), who gives birth to the cosmic order through physical injury or death.
Alone, Odin embodies both solar-eternal and lunar-temporal realities. When paired with a twin, these lunar-solar attributes are divided into two personalities. It is possible that in the Nordic mythological tradition, the temporal twin of the one-eyed Odin, became the god Tyr, who sacrificed his hand to the wolf Fenrir (Footnote: Jamshid). Fenrir (like the Fomorian army) embodies the principle of chaos that threatens to dissolve the universal order of things. Through Tyr’s sacrifice (like Odin’s) the cosmic order is maintained.
Conclusion
The battle between the Fomorians and Tuatha De Danann most likely evolved from a Proto-European cosmogonic battle theme, representing the destructive-chaotic forces that gave birth to creative power that generates cosmic order. The fate of the cosmic order was bound up in the nature of a divine being, who was mythologically symbolized as two separate personalities representing both the cosmic and trans-cosmic realities.
Footnotes
For easy reference click on the footnote link and the page will scroll down to the footnote entry. To return to the article, click the (Return) link that follows each footnote.
- Another myth retelling of Lugh’s birth: In Gods and Fighting Men by Lady Augusta Gregory, a different myth relating to the birth of Lugh is told. A Druid foretold that Balor would be killed by his own Grandson, and so Balor confines his daughter in the tower of glass (Balor’s Crystal tower on Tory Island). Cian manages to gain entrance to the tower with the help of a female druid named Birog, who disguised him as a woman. Ethne has sex with Cian, and Cian is transported away by a blasting wind. When Lugh (according to another version of this myth Ethne gave birth to triplets) was born, Balor had him (and his siblings who drowned) cast into the sea. Lugh was rescued by the druid Birog, who gave the child to his father. Cian passed Lugh over to Tailtiu, who became his foster mother. According to yet another version of the myth, Lugh was raised by Manannan mac Lir, the god of the sea. (Return)
- Jamshid: Jaan Puhel, in Comparative Mythology, Compared Tyr with the Persian hero Jamshid who rescued his brother Taxmoruw from the bowls of Ahriman, via the anus. As a consequence the hero’s hand withered. In the Ram Yasht (v.12) and Zam Yasht (v.29), Taxma Urupa (Tahmuras) is said to transform Ahriman into a horse and ride him across the ends of the earth for thiry years. According to a late Persian tradition, Taxmoruw had managed to bind Ahriman, and ride him like a horse across the earth, three times a day. Ahriman bribes Taxmoruw’s wife with jewels to reveal her husband’s weakness, and is able to threw Taxmoruw from his back, and swallow him. In Norse cosmology Odin is likewise swallowed by the wolf fenir, after escaping from the inescapable Gleipni, at Ragnarok. (Return)
