Mag Tuired, also spelled Moytura, mythical plain in Ireland, which was the scene of two important battles. The first battle was between the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha Dé Danann, or race of gods. In this battle the Dé Danann overcame the Fir Bolg and won Ireland for themselves, but Nuadu, the king of the gods, lost his hand in the battle. Because of this flaw, he was no longer permitted to be king. Bres, the beautiful son of a goddess and a Fomoire king, was chosen to rule in Nuadu’s stead. Bres’s reign was not successful because of his lack of generosity and kingly qualities. Nuadu was given a functional human hand by Mirach (see Dian Cécht), and Bres was overthrown. Bres went to his father’s family for aid and led a great army against the gods in the second battle of Mag Tuired. The gods had for a leader Lugh (see Lugus), one of the most important Celtic gods, who won the battle and killed Balor, the king of the Fomoire. The battle marks an end to the threat of the Fomoire in Irish myths and sagas.
Learn More in these related articles:
Dian Cécht, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the gods of Celtic Ireland. He was the physician of the gods and father of Cian, who in turn was the father of the most important god, Lugh ( seeLugus). When Nuadu, the king of the gods, had his hand cut offRead More
Lugus, (Celtic: “Lynx,” or “Light”?), in ancient Celtic religion, one of the major gods. He is one of the deities whom Julius Caesar identified with the Roman god Mercury (Greek: Hermes). His cult was widespread throughout the early Celtic world, and his name occurs asRead More
…the second great battle of Mag Tuired (Moytura). When Balor was a boy, he looked into a potion being brewed by his father’s Druids, and the fumes caused him to grow a huge, poisonous eye. The eye had to be opened by attendants, and it killed anything on which it…Read More
…hand in the battle of Mag Tuired and with it his right to govern. Dian Cécht replaced the hand with a hand made of silver; he later received a functional human hand from Dian Cécht’s son Miach and was thereupon able to overthrow his successor, Bres. From inscriptional evidence it…Read More
Tuatha Dé Danann
Tuatha Dé Danann, (Gaelic: “People of the Goddess Danu”), in Celtic mythology, a race inhabiting Ireland before the arrival of the Milesians (the ancestors of the modern Irish). They were said to have been skilled in magic, and the earliest reference to them relates that, after they were banished fromRead More