Page "Irish mythology" Paragraph 4

When using these sources, it is, as always, important to question the impact of the circumstances in which they were produced.

Most of the manuscripts were created by Christian monks, who may well have been torn between the desire to record their native culture and their religious hostility to pagan beliefs resulting in some of the gods being euhemerized.

Many of the later sources may also have formed part of a propaganda effort designed to create a history for the people of Ireland that could bear comparison with the mythological descent of their British invaders from the founders of Rome that was promulgated by Geoffrey of Monmouth and others.

There was also a tendency to rework Irish genealogies to fit into the known schema of Greek or Biblical genealogy.