Carney also ties Beowulf to Irish literature through the Táin Bó Fráech story.

** Táin Bó Cúailnge ( Old Irish )

The first of these contains part of the earliest known version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge (" The Driving-off of Cattle of Cooley ") and is housed in Trinity College.

Kenneth Jackson famously described the Ulster Cycle as a " window on the Iron Age ", and Garret Olmsted has attempted to draw parallels between Táin Bó Cuailnge, the Ulster Cycle epic, and the iconography of the Gundestrup Cauldron.

The revisionists would indicate passages apparently influenced by the Iliad in Táin Bó Cuailnge, and the existence of Togail Troí, an Irish adaptation of Dares Phrygius ' De excidio Troiae historia, found in the Book of Leinster, and note that the material culture of the stories is generally closer to the time of the stories ' composition than to the distant past.

The centrepiece of the Ulster Cycle is the Táin Bó Cúailnge.

* Joseph Dunn: The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúailnge ( 1914 )

When Cúchulainn lay wounded after a gruelling series of combats during the Táin Bó Cuailnge ( Cattle Raid of Cooley ), Lugh appeared and healed his wounds over a period of three days.

In Táin Bó Regamna ( The Cattle Raid of Regamain ), Cúchulainn encounters the Morrígan, but does not recognize her, as she drives a heifer from his territory.

In the Táin Bó Cuailnge queen Medb of Connacht launches an invasion of Ulster to steal the bull Donn Cuailnge ; the Morrígan, like Alecto of the Greek Furies, appears to the bull in the form of a crow and warns him to flee.

Category: Characters in Táin Bó Cúailnge

The invasion of Ulster that makes up the main action of the Táin Bó Cúailnge or " Cattle Raid of Cooley " begins on Samhain.

* Táin Bó Flidhais

This trend also is evident in many Celtic myths, such as the ( Welsh ) mabinogi stories of Culhwch and Olwen, or the ( Irish ) Ulster Cycle, most notably the key facts to the Cúchulainn cycle that Cúchulainn gets his final secret training with a warrior woman, Scáthach, and becomes lover both to her and her daughter ; and the root of the Táin Bó Cuailnge, that while Ailill may wear the crown of Connacht, it is his wife Medb who is the real power, and she needs to affirm her equality to her husband by owning chattels as great as he does.

According to Táin Bó Cúailnge ( the Cattle Raid of Cooley ), his wife is the beautiful goddess, Fand (" Pearl of Beauty " or " A Tear "-later remembered as a " Fairy Queen ", though earlier mentions point to her also being a sea deity ).

She also appears in Táin Bó Fraích as the maternal aunt and protector of the mortal Fróech.

Badb plays a similar role in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, terrorising and disorienting the forces of Queen Medb and causing many to fall on their own weapons.

She cursed the men of Ulster to suffer her labour pains in the hour of their greatest need, which is why none of the Ulstermen but the semi-divine hero Cúchulainn were able to fight in the Táin Bó Cuailnge ( Cattle Raid of Cooley ).

In the Táin Bó Cúailnge, for example, Macha and Morrígan appear as larger-than-life figures, but are never described as goddesses, very similar to the presentation of Rhiannon in the Mabinogion.

As king of the Munster síde with Lén as his smith, Bodb Sída ar Femen (' of the Mound on Femen ') plays a role in an important prefatory tale to Táin Bó Cuailnge, for it is his swineherd who quarrels with that of the king of the Connacht síde ; the swineherds are later swallowed and reborn as the magical bulls Donn Cuailnge and Finnbennach, of which the former was the object of the great cattle-raid.

Category: Characters in Táin Bó Cúailnge

He later fought against Ulster for Ailill and Medb in the war known as the Táin Bó Cúailnge ( the Cattle Raid of Cooley ), the Irish Iliad.

When Medb raises an army from four of the five provinces of Ireland and launches an invasion of Ulster to steal the bull Donn Cúailnge in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, Conchobar, like all the Ulstermen but Cú Chulainn, is unable to fight, disabled by the curse of Macha.

Category: Characters in Táin Bó Cúailnge

The old name of the town was Rath Celtair named after the fictional warrior of Ulster called Celtchar ( in modern Irish: Cealtachair ) who resided there and who fought alongside Ulster King Conchobar mac Neasa ( anglicised Conor Mac Nessa ) and is mentioned in the Ulster Cycle and, in particular, the Táin Bó Cuailgne.

It is mentioned in the ancient Irish epic, the Táin Bó Cuailgne, as being one of the places where Queen Medb and her army stopped on their journey to take the Donn Cuailnge ( the Brown Bull of Cooley ).

Cú Roí appears in the side-tale " Comlond Munremair & Con Roi " (" The combat of Munremar and Cú Roí ") included in Recension I of Táin bó Cúailnge.

The episode appears as Aislinge n-Aimirgin (" The trance of Amairgin ") in Recension I of the Táin.

At the age of seventeen he defended Ulster single-handedly against the armies of queen Medb of Connacht in the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (" Cattle Raid of Cooley ").

She is the enemy ( and former wife ) of Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster, and is best known for starting the Táin Bó Cúailnge (" The Cattle Raid of Cooley ") to steal Ulster's prize stud bull.

Vivid descriptions of the Western capital are given in Fled Bricrenn (" Bricriu's Feast "), and this one in Táin Bó Fraích: " Of pine the house was made ; it is a covering of shingle it had externally.

There is reason to suspect that the Táin had a considerable oral history before any of it was committed to writing: for example, the poem Conailla Medb michuru (" Medb enjoined illegal contracts ") by Luccreth moccu Chiara, dated to c. 600, tells the story of Fergus ' exile with Ailill and Medb, which the poet describes as sen-eolas (" old knowledge ").

Two further 7th century poems also allude to elements of the story: in Verba Scáthaige (" Words of Scáthach "), the warrior-woman Scáthach prophesies Cú Chulainn's combats at the ford ; and Ro-mbáe laithi rordu rind (" We had a great day of plying spear-points "), attributed to Cú Chulainn himself, refers to an incident in the Boyhood Deeds section of the Táin.

In Irish mythology, the Donn Cuailnge (" Brown Bull of Cooley ") plays a central role in the epic Táin Bó Cuailnge (" The Cattle-Raid of Cooley ") which features the hero Cú Chulainn, which were collected in the 7th century CE Lebor na hUidre (" Book of the Dun Cow ").

The name of the town is itself so ancient as to be unclear even in Irish ; the 11th-century writers of the Lebor na hUidre ( containing the oldest written version of the Táin ) refer to it by means of a gloss as " Gránairud Tethba tuaiscirt. i. Gránard indiu " (" Gránairud of northern Teathbha, i. e. Gránard of today ").

* Táin bó Dartada (" The Driving of Dartaid's Cattle ", opening four lines only )

* Táin bó Flidais (" the Driving of Flidais ' Cattle, incomplete )

* Táin Bó Cúailnge (" The Cattle Raid of Cooley ": the oldest version of the central epic of the Ulster Cycle, incomplete, contains passages interpolated by H )

The Táin Bó Flidhais (" The Driving off of Flidais's Cattle "), set in Erris, Co. Mayo tells how Fergus carried her and her cattle away from her husband, Ailill Finn.

Seventeen years later, when queen Medb of Connacht launches the Táin Bó Cúailnge ( Cattle Raid of Cooley ) against Ulster, Cúchulainn and Súaltam are watching the border at Iraird Cuilenn ( Crossakiel, County Meath ).

When Ailill and Medb raise a huge army and launch the Táin Bó Cúailnge ( Cattle Raid of Cooley ) to steal Ulster's stud bull, Donn Cúailnge, Fergus ' knowledge of the terrain means he is chosen to lead the way.

This was the starting point of the Táin Bó Cúailnge, or Cattle Raid of Cooley, an epic tale in Irish mythology.

* Táin Bó Fraích: The Cattle Raid of Fráech

* Táin Bó Regamain: The Cattle Raid of Regamon

* Táin Bó Dartada: The Raid for Dartaid's Cattle

* Táin Bó Flidhais or The Mayo Táin: The Driving of Flidais's Cattle

* Táin Bó Cuailnge: The Cattle Raid of Cooley Recension 1, Recension 2

(; " the driving-off of cows of Cooley ", more usually rendered The Cattle Raid of Cooley or The Táin ) is a legendary tale from early Irish literature, often considered an epic, although it is written primarily in prose rather than verse.

The chief hero is Conchobar's nephew Cú Chulainn, and the central story is the proto-epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, " The Cattle Raid of Cooley ".

Later, Bricriu recovered but died at Cruachan at the end of the Táin Bó Cuailnge ( Cattle Raid of Cooley ), trampled to death by the two bulls as they fought.

Cethern mac Fintain is an Ulster warrior who aids Cúchulainn in the Táin Bó Cuailnge ( Cattle Raid of Cooley ), according to the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.