Aobh. [I] Sometimes Aebh. The eldest daughter of Ailill of Aran and foster child to the Bodb Dearg. Her sisters were Aoife and Arbha.She was chosen to be the wife of the ocean god lir and had four children by him. The first were the twins Fionnuala and Aedh; the second were the twins Fiachra and Conn. But she died in childbirth. See Aoife.

Aoife. [I] There are three prominent characters who bear this name. The first Aoife, the daughter of Ard-Greimne and sister of Scathach, was a warrior princess of the land of Shadows. Her sister Scathach went to war with her but tried to leave Cuchulainn, who was her pupil at the martial arts academy she ran, behind. However . Cuchulainn followed Scathach to the land of Shadows. Aoife challenged him to single combat. By a ruse Cuchulainn won the contest and spared her on condition she make peace with Scathach. Aoife then fell in love with Cuchulainn and became his mistress. When he left he gave her a gold ring. She told him that she would bear his child. Years later a young warrior named Conlai arrived in Ulster . Cuchulainn challenged and slew him, not knowing, until the boy was dying, that he was his own son by Aoife. The second Aoife is the second daughter of Ailill of Aran. She was foster daughter of the Bodb Dearg. On the death of her elder sister, Aobh, she married the ocean god Lir and became stepmother to her sister's four children. She was jealous of them and ordered her attendants to slay them. When they refused she used magic to change them into swans. The children of Lir, in swan shape, had to spend a total of 900 years on various waters. According to the enchantment, when a southern princess married a northern prince, they would be released from the spell. When the Bodb Dearg found out what Aoife had done, he changed her into a demon of the air and no more was heard of her. See also Lir. The third Aoife was the lover of Ilbrec, son of Manannan Mac Lir. She was changed into a crane and while in this form was killed. Her skin was used to make the Treasure Bag of the Fianna, some- times called "The Crane Bag." See Treasure Bag of the Fianna.

Aoi Mac Ollamain. (I) See Ai.

Aonbharr. (I) A magical horse that could travel on land and sea.

Aoncos. (I)An Otherworld island that was supported on a single pillar of silver rising out of the sea. It was seen by Mael Duin on his fabulous voyage.

Aonghus. (I) Of the six prominent characters in Irish myth who bear the name Aonghus, it is the love god, Aonghus O'g, who first comes to mind. He was son of the Dagda and Boann and his palace was Brugh na Boinne at New Grange by the River Boyne. He was of beautiful appearance, and four birds, representing his kisses, always hovered around his head. In the story "The Dream of Aonghus," Aonghus Og saw a beautiful maiden in a dream and fell sick for the love of her. He asked his mother for help, and she enlisted the help of the Bodb Dearg, her brother. The girl was identified as Caer Ibormeith, daughter of Ethal Anubhail of the De Danaan of Connacht. Aonghus Og asked Ailill and Medb, rulers of Connacht, to persuade Ethal Anubhail to give him his daughter. But Ethal Anubhail said it was not in his power to do this because Caer lived in the shape of a swan and on the Feast of Samhain would be found with 150 other swans swimming on Loch Bel Dragon (Lake of the Dragon's Mouth). If Aonghus Og could identify her, it would be up to Caer to decide if she wanted to go with him. Aonghus Og identified Caer; they went to his palace by the Boyne and lived together. Aonghus Og was also foster father to Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (Of the Love Spot) and tried to save him and his lover Grainne from the vengeance of Fionn Mac Cumhail by the use of magical devices. When Diarmuid was slain by a magic boar (actu- ally the son of Aonghus Og's steward, Roc, by Diarmuid's own mother), it was Aonghus Og who placed his body on a gilded bier and transported it to his palace, where he was able to breathe a soul into it whenever he wanted a conversation with Diarmuid.
The second Aonghus, Aonghus of the Terrible Spear, was a chieftain of the Desi who killed Cellach, son of the High King Cormac Mac Art, with a spear and knocked out the eye of Cormac with its butt. This is the incident that results in "The Expulsion of the Desi."
Among the other characters bearing the name Aonghus are Aonghus Bolg, an ancestor of the Firbolg, also regarded as an ancestor of the Desi; a son of the Bodb Dearg; Aonghus Mac Aedh Abrat, brother of the goddess Fand, who sang to Cuchulainn on his sickbed and cured him from his sickness; and, lastly, Aonghus Mac Lamh Gabuid, a warrior who challenged Cet of Connacht during the bragging contest in the tale of Mac Da Tho's boar. He is described as tall and fair-haired. Cet cut off his father's hand and this is why Aonghus challenged him.

Arannan. [I] A son of Milesius born in Spain. He climbed to the top of the mast of his ship as the Milesians were invading Ireland, fell into the sea, and was drowned.

Aranrhod. [W] Also given as Arianrod. Daughter of Don and sister of Gwydion. Math, son of Mathonwy, who always had to sleep with his feet resting in a maiden's lap, "unless the turmoil of war prevent him." Gilfaethwy had abducted his foot holder, Goewin, and mar- ried her, so Math was looking for a new maiden to fulfil this role. Gwydion suggested his sister. She is brought before Math and asked to step over his magic wand as a test of her virginity. As she does so, two boy children drop from her womb. Gwydion manages to pick up one child and conceal it in a chest. The other, however, is a yellow-haired boy who immediately leaps into the sea and takes on its nature, being known thence forth as Dylan Eil Ton-Dylan, Son of the Wave. The other child, concealed by Gwydion and who seems to be his own child, is named LIeu Llaw Gyffes.

Arawn. [W] King of Annwn. Pwyll of Dyfed is hunting in Glyn Cuch when he sees a strange pack of hounds bringing down a stag. He drives them off and sets his own hounds onto the stag. A strange hunter appears and rebukes him for his discourtesy. He is Arawn, king of Annwn-the Otherworld. To redeem his friendship, Pwyll has to agree to swap forms with him for a year and then slay Arawn's enemy, Hafgan. He can only strike Hafgan once, for a second blow would restore his strength. Additionally, he must not make love to Arawn's queen during the year he shares her bed in the guise of Arawn. Pywll accomplishes his tasks and returns to Dyfed, hailed not only as lord of Dyfed but "head" of Annwn.

Arbeth. [W] Sometimes given as Narbeth. Chief court of Pwyll, lord of Dyfed, where Pwyll holds a great feast and gorsedd on his return from Annwn. The gorsedd mound at Arbeth is the centre of the mysterious adventures of both Pwyll and Pryderi. Whoever sat there would see wonders or, alternatively, suffer wounds and blows. It was here that Pwyll first saw his future bride, Rhiannon; here that Pryderi sat when an enchantment fell on Dyfed; and here that Manawydan was about to execute a thieving mouse, which turned out to be the wife of the magician Llwyd, who had enchanted the land. Llwyd, in return for his wife's freedom, was forced to disen- chant the land.

Arca Dubh. [I] He slew Cumal, father of Fionn Mac Cumhail, chief of the Fianna. In other versions of the tale the killer is named as Goll Mac Morna, who became the new leader of the Fianna. There are two versions featuring Arca Dubh. One is that Cumal could only be slain by his own sword while lying with his wife, and this was done by Arca Dubh, who was his servant. The other is that Arca Dubh was hiding in the grass by a river and threw his spear at Cumal while he was swimming.

Ardan. [I] A son of Usna and one of Naoise's brothers who followed him into Alba and was killed at the Red Branch Hostel. See Naoise.

Arddu, Black Stone of. [W] On the Llanberis side of Snowdonia.There is a belief that whosoever spent a night under the haunted stone emerged in the morning either an inspired bard or insane.

Ard-Greimne. [I] The name means "High Power." He is lord of Lethra and father of two famous female warriors-Scathach and Aoife.

Ard Macha. [I] (Armagh.) Capital of Ulster, founded in 370 B.C. byMacha Mong Ruadh. The story is interwoven with another Macha who is goddess of battles. Armagh (The Height of Macha) was a short distance from Emain Macha, which throughout the Ulster Cycle is the seat of the kings. See Emain Macha. St. Patrick founded his religious centre there, and it is now the seat of the primacy of the Catholic Church in Ireland. The Book of Armagh, completed by Derfdonnach at Armagh in A.D. 807, is now in Trinity College, Dublin.

Ard Ri.[I] Old spelling Ard Righ, "the High King." According to the ancient bardic king lists, Slaigne the Firbolg was the first High King of Ireland, and from his accession until A.D. 1 there were 107 High Kings: 9 Firbolg, 9 De Danaan, and 89 Milesians. From A.D. 1 until the last High King of Ireland, Ruaraidh 6 Conchobhar (A.D. 1161- 1198), there were 81 High Kings listed. Ruaraidh 6 Conchobhar , signed the Treary of Windsor in October A.D. 1175, accepting Henry II of the Angevin Empire as suzerain of Ireland. There is evidence that a High King system also existed in Alba, with Coinneach Mac Alpin recognised as the first High King of Alba in A.D. 844. With the overthrow of MacBeth (A.D. 1040-1057) by Callum a' chinn mhor (Malcolm Canmore), the structure of the monarchy changed. Malcolm was the first to use the non-Celtic theory of kingship and claim kingship "by hereditary right." He had been brought up in England under a different system. In Celtic society, kings were elected to office by their chieftains and clan assemblies. There is a good argument for the existence of the High Kingship as an institution elsewhere in the Celtic world, for the Celtic tribal and provincial systems of government produced petty kingdoms over which "High Kings" ruled. Vortigern, the king of Britain at the time of the first Anglo-Saxon invasions, bears a name that actually means "High King" or "overlord."

Argadnel. [I] "Silver Cloud." One of the islands of earthly paradise seen during Bran's fabulous voyage.

Argetlamh. [I] See Nuada.

Arianrod. [W] See Aranrhod.

Art. [I] High King of Ireland. Son of Conn of the Hundred Battles..Known as Art Aenfer (Solitary).. According to the king lists he ruled at Tara from A.D.. 220 to 250. He wins the love of Delbchaem (Fair Shape), and his son by another maiden becomes the famous Cormac Mac Art, patron of Fionn Mac Cumhail and the Fianna. In one tale Conn has taken the goddess Becuma Cneisgel as his concubine. She had been expelled from the Otherworld, and because of her the country grew infertile and miserable. She was also jealous of Art and, while playing fidchell with him, contrived to force him into a journey involving terrible dangers. Art succeeds in his journey, returns with Delbchaem, and is able to banish Becuma. Art eventually perishes at the battle of Moy Muchruinne. On his way there he passes the night at the house of Olc Acha, a smith. There he sleeps with the smith's daughter, Achtan, and gives her his sword, golden ring, and ceremonial clothing for safekeeping so that her child woUld claim the inheritance. The child is Cormac Mac Art.

Artaius. A Gaulish god whom the Romans identified as Mercury and who seems to be a pastoral deity.

Artepomaros. Gaulish, an epithet for Caesar's identification of the Gaulish "Apollo." It means "he who possesses a great horse." An epithet for Belenus.