Without a doubt, Cuchulain is the ‘rock star’ of Celtic mythology whose legend has gone platinum several times over. The story of his divine birth, his cunning leadership, magnificent exploits, and tragedy of his death are all legends in themselves. Just mentioning his name allows our imaginations to roam across rugged terrains shouting our battle cries as we raise our supernatural swords in his honor.

     It is the Irish we have to thank for providing us with the best surviving records of Celtic mythology. Among the several collections of heroic myths, the Ulster cycle is deemed the most important. Chronicled by Fergus, who is also one of the Ulster chieftains, it is in this cycle where we first meet Setanta, who will later be given the name Cuchulain (pronounced koo-hull-in, and in some areas, koo-kull-in). The tale of Cuchulain can be dated back to the 1st century BC, and is a mixture of historical fact and mythological fiction. Setanta’s uncle was King Conchobar MacNessa, who held his court at Emain Macha. It is interesting to note that the remains of Navan Fort, near Armagh in northern Ireland, are rumored to be directly connected to Conchobar. Archaeologists have dated the site to around 90 BC, and in both Old and Modern Irish, Navan Fort translates as Emain Macha.

     Like all heroes, Setanta had a divine birth. Setanta’s mother, Dechtire, half-sister to Conchobar, was about to be married to Sualtam, another wealthy Ulster chieftain, when she inadvertently swallowed a mayfly while supping at the wedding feast. After consuming the fly, she fell into a deep sleep. Lugh, the Celtic sun-god, appeared to her in her dream state and told her that he had taken the form of the fly she had swallowed. As if this wasn’t enough to shock her, he then turned her and her fifty maidens into a flock of birds and off they flew to Brugh Na Boyne; the home of all the gods and goddesses of the land. After searching for them for months, Sualtam’s men found themselves lured to Brugh Na Boyne by that same flock of birds. They were greeted by the chieftain and given food and shelter. At some point during the night, they heard the cry of a newborn baby. They thought nothing of it and returned to sleep, but in the morning they were greeted by the same chieftain who had welcomed them the night before. He told them that he was the god Lugh, and that the woman who had just given birth was Dechtire, Conchobar’s half-sister. Lugh then gave instructions that all of the women and the newborn babe were to return to Emain Macha immediately, and that the boy was to be reared amongst the greatest warriors, bards, Druids and poets of the Ulster court.

     Due to the divine and magical circumstances of his birth, Setanta was the strongest of all the young boys in Emain Macha. One day his uncle Conchobar witnessed his skills and asked him to come to a feast at the house of Culann, the blacksmith. Setanta said he would attend when he was finished with his lessons. But because he was so gifted, he finished them quickly, and ended up catching up to the King’s retinue. The King did not know the boy had followed, and upon entering the blacksmith’s home, gave permission for the blacksmith to release his prized watch dog. The beast was known to be stronger than, and as ruthless as, a hundred hunting dogs. Upon entering the blacksmith’s home, Setanta was attacked by the hound. A struggle ensued. Setanta ended up slaying the hound with his bare hands. The loss of the dog presented a problem for Culann the blacksmith. The dog guarded the blacksmith’s home. In response to this, Setanta offered his own services in place of the dog until another one could be found. Thus his name was changed from Setanta to Cuchulain, which means ‘The Hound of Culann’.

     With his fiery red hair, gift of beauty, and passion for war, Cuchulain drew the eye of women from many a neighboring court, making his fellow warriors quite jealous. He was encouraged to take a wife but he would not just have ‘any wife’. He wanted Emer, “daughter of Forgal the Wily, who had the best of the six gifts of maidenhood: chastity, wisdom, needlework, sweet speech, singing, and of course, beauty.”1  Emer was thoroughly amused by Cuchulain’s attempt to woo her, after all, he was still a young boy. Not to be deterred, he swore an oath that his name would become the greatest of all heroes. Emer agreed to marry him on the condition that he live up to that promise and take her away from the burden of her warring family. Emer’s father, Forgal, did not approve of Cuchulain and, by devious means, had the boy sent away to learn the art of combat from Scathach, the warrior woman who lived on the island of Skye. It was well known that those who pursued Scathach’s tutelage were often met with either instant death or were maimed for life. Forgal’s plan backfired. Cuchulain surpassed all of the obstacles Scathach had thrown at him and forced her to teach him her famous skill. Returning to Forgal’s stronghold, Cuchulain slew him and his warriors and married Emer.

     Because of this new found fame and reputation, Cuchulain was called upon by several chieftains to settle disputes. One of these infamous disputes was the cattle raid of Cooley, which had blossomed from an argument between Queen Medb (also known as Maeve) and her husband, Ailill, to a deadly contest over a prized bull. Medb raised a large army to fight against Ulster. Medb thought she had the upper hand due to the men of Ulster being stricken by a curse laid upon them by a goddess who had been insulted by a relative of King Conchobar. All of the men were suffering except for Cuchulain. Medb sent her warriors, one by one, to kill Cuchulain but none of them returned. Medb herself went to see him and offered herself up to him in return for his support against Ulster, but Cuchulain refused. And he kept refusing her until she managed to distract him by sending more warriors to challenge him to single combat, and this was how she was able to steal the prized bull from Ailill. The connection between Medb and Cuchulain did not end there. Medb would prove herself to be the antagonistic barb in Cuchulain’s heel.

     The death of Cuchulain was unfairly achieved. Because he had survived the trial of gaining entrance to Scathach’s tutelage, in return, Scathach had made him promise to conquer Aoife, another warrior woman of equal status as Scathach. Cuchulain kept his promise and did so; however, there are some writers who state that he forced Aoife to bear him a child. This is difficult to understand as he had promised to take no one but Emer to his bed. If we are to accept the fact that Aoife did in fact bear him a child, it was this child, Conloach, who was the initial catalyst that was to bring about Cuchulain’s untimely end. Supposedly, after Aoife had heard that Cuchulain was to marry Emer, out of jealous rage she decided to train her son to kill Cuchulain. When he was deemed ready to take up the challenge, she gave him three orders to follow: 1. Once he started his quest, he could not turn back, 2. He should never refuse a challenge, and 3. He never tell anyone his name. As he approached his father’s home, he was approached by the warrior guarding the gate, Conall who, as is custom, asked the boy his name and lineage. The boy refused the information, which is deemed an insult, and so Conall challenged him to a duel in which Conall was killed. Conloach was then greeted by Cuchulain himself who asked him the same question, but again Conall was forced to refuse. Cuchulain challenged him to a duel. When Cuchulain’s infamous battle-halo appeared, his son cried out that he recognized his father, and so purposefully threw his spear so that it would miss him. Cuchulain was too far into his battle rage to stop, and although he had heard his son cry out the truth of his lineage, he ended up killing his son.

     Out of grief for being tricked into killing his son, Cuchulain went mad. It was the druid Cathbad who saved the men of Ulster from being slain by Cuchulain’s rage. Cathbad cast a spell so that Cuchulain would see the waves of the ocean as an invading army. This ensuing exercise helped to exhaust his rage until he collapsed and gave in to sleep. But Medb’s revenge did not end there. She had three daughters who possessed great skill with the dark arts. In order to draw him out to battle, they appeared to him three times in different guises. Twice it was an open battle field with his village crying out to him to save them. The third time the daughters took the form of a lover of Cuchulain who was begging for his help against the invaders. At the sight of this Cuchulain could not resist. He fled into the illusion with his three magical spears. These spears also had a prophecy attached to them that each of them would kill a king. As he went into battle, Cuchulain was tricked by three Druids to give up his spears or they would satirize him and destroy the whole of Ulster. Cuchulain each time gave up one of the spears, but not before killing each of the Druids who has asked for the spear. The final spear unfortunately was taken by one of his enemies, Lugaid. Lugaid threw the spear back and wounded Cuchulain, the king of all champions.

     So that he could continue fighting, Cuchulain asked to be tied upright to a stone. He managed to still kill thousands of men before succumbing to his fate. His enemies cut off his head, ending the reign of Emain Macha. And because they had lost their champion of champions, Cuchulain, the power of Ulster ultimately fell.

     And here ends the legend of Cuchulain.   

Sources: Celtic Myths and Beliefs, New Jersey, Chartwell Books, ©1998 by Quantum Books Ltd.

Matthews, John & Stewart, Bob, Celtic Warrior Chiefs, Dorset, UK, Firebird Books, 1993

1: Emer’s six attributes: Matthews, John & Stewart, Bob, Celtic Warrior Chiefs, page 16, Dorset, UK, Firebird Books, 1993