Cathbad appears in the Ulster-cycle material as the chief druid and seer of King Conchobar mac Nessa's court. Two principal narrative variants concern the birth of Conchobar: one in which Cathbad pronounces an auspicious time for begetting a king on a queen, has sexual relations with Ness, and the child conceived becomes Conchobar; another in which Cathbad names and lifts the orphaned infant from the river and raises him as his son though alternative traditions attribute paternity elsewhere. These narrative variants are preserved in the medieval texts and summaries of the Ulster Cycle (sources summarised in the research notes).
The sources do not provide a sustained physical portrait. Narratives emphasize his actions rather than detailed features; one fragmentary episode describes Cathbad passing by Ness while she was bathing, standing between her and her dress and weapons and baring his sword above her head (Source 14 as cited in the research material).
Cathbad functions as an authoritative seer and ritual specialist: he pronounces auspicious times (for example telling Ness that it is an auspicious time 'for begetting a king on a queen'), delivers prophetic utterances that mark the fates of individuals (present at Deirdre's birth and prophesying her doom), names and raises the infant Conchobar (lifting the baby from the river and naming him after it), and in narrative variants can determine the timing of actions such as arming that confer both fame and the prospect of a short life. Some accounts also depict him as leader of a band of fianna and as capable of violent action (attacking and killing Ness's foster-fathers in one variant).
Abandinus
Abandinus is a locally attested Romano‑Celtic theonym known from a single inscribed bronze feather (votive object) dedicated at Godmanchester (the Roman fort Durovigutum) in Cambridgeshire. Scholars interpret him as a local god or male spirit tied to a specific place and possibly associated with a nearby spring or stream; this association is tentative and based on etymological readings of the name.
Abarta (Ábartach)
Abarta (also Ábartach) is a figure of Irish myth who, in surviving accounts, tricks Fionn mac Cumhaill's warriors by giving them a supernatural grey horse that bears them into the Otherworld. Sources variably identify him as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann or as a Fomorian; after the incident he is compelled to release the captured warriors and is refused entry to the Fianna.
Abcán (Abhcán)
Abcán (modern spelling Abhcán) is a named dwarf poet and musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth. He appears in a small number of narratives as a musician whose art has soporific power and as the ferryman who brings the goddess Ruad from the Otherworld to the human world.
Abhean
Abhean is a named poet of the Tuatha Dé Danann in medieval Irish literature, described as a poet in particular of Lugh and recorded as having been killed by Óengus before Midir in a poem by Fland Mainistreach preserved in the Lebor Gabála Érenn.
Abnoba
Abnoba is a Gaulish theonym and toponym attested in Roman-era sources and inscriptions: a localized deity associated with woods, springs and the sources of rivers (notably the Danube) and simultaneously the name applied to a mountain or mountain range in the Black Forest/Baar/Odenwald region. Roman altars equate her with Diana, reflecting syncretic cult practice in frontier provinces.
Accolon
Accolon is a mortal knight of the Arthurian court, presented in the Post-Vulgate Merlin tradition and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur as Morgan le Fay's paramour and instrument in a plot to supplant King Arthur; his tale centers on enchanted weapons (Excalibur and its scabbard), love-manipulation, and a tragic duel with Arthur.
Achall
Achall is an eponymous mortal woman in the Ulster Cycle of early Irish literature whose grief-induced death is given as the origin of the hill-name Achall (identified with the modern Hill of Skryne). She appears as a genealogical and etiological figure tied to Tara and later legendary events at the hill, rather than as a recurring supernatural agent.
Achtland
Achtland is a figure from Irish tradition who, according to the surviving account, was a mortal woman famed for rejecting mortal suitors who married a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann and crossed into the síde to become immortal as his wife.
Adar Llwch Gwin
Legendary large, intelligent birds from Welsh tradition said to understand human speech and obey their master's commands; best known for tearing their master Drudwas ap Tryffin to pieces when bound by a literal order in an Arthurian battle narrative. The term later came to be applied to raptors and metaphorically to brave men in medieval Welsh poetry.
Adar Rhiannon
Adar Rhiannon ('birds of Rhiannon') are a set of three magical birds in medieval Welsh narrative (the Mabinogi) whose song can 'wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.' They appear as otherworldly song‑beings tied to the figure Rhiannon and function within tales as providers of enchanted music that sustains and consoles characters.
Aderyn y Corff
Aderyn y Corff (literally 'bird of the corpse') is a bird-like death-porter in Welsh folklore said to call outside the door of a person about to die. Described as an avian portent that may lack feathers or wings and as existing on another plane when not manifesting, it is treated in Welsh ghost lore and sometimes naturalized as a screech owl in modern accounts.
Adhene
A class of Manx fairies (Cloan ny moyrn) described in Isle of Man tradition as a social people of beings said to be "fallen angels cast from heaven but too good for hell," who interact with human livelihoods and families, sometimes benevolent but often mischievous.
Community Record
- [1]Wikipedia: Cathbad. Wikipedia entry on Cathbad (summarising Ulster-cycle material)wiki
- [2]Ness (Irish mythology) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia entry on Ness summarising traditions including her encounter with Cathbadwiki
- [3]The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu, part 6 (The Birth of Conchobar). Medieval Ulster-cycle text (Exile of the Sons of Uisliu) and associated material recording Cathbad's presence at births and prophetic pronouncementsliterary
- [4]The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu (collection). Published Ulster-cycle material referenced in the research notesliterary
- [5]The Birth of Conchobar (modern translation/summary). Translation and summary of the Conchobar birth-episode showing Cathbad naming and raising the childliterary
- [6]Archive: The woman in blue (catalog entry referencing narrative materials). Archive reference included in the research notes (contextual literary material)other