{"id":43677,"date":"2019-12-06T09:21:23","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T09:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/?p=43677"},"modified":"2019-12-06T09:21:23","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T09:21:23","slug":"archive-3570-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlantipedia.ie\/samples\/archive-3570-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Archive 3570"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frontiers of Anthropology <\/strong><\/p>\n

This blog is to encorporate discussions on Lost Continents, Catastrophism, The origin of Modern Humans and the Out of Africa theory, Genetics and Human Diversity, The Origin and Spread of Civilization and Cultural Diffusion across the face of the Globe.<\/p>\n

Deluge of Atlantis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deluge of Atlantis<\/p>\n

Friday, March 16, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

More on Fomorians <\/strong><\/p>\n

I had posted here before about the fomorian pirates of ancient Ireland and I thought St. Patrick’s day was a good opportunity to add some more on the theory. My theory was that the Formorian giants were a specifically bred caste of warriors of very great size and strength, bred out of CroMagnonlike forebearers (likely the Canary Islander natives as a base), and trained by a life of ritual gladiatorial combats. The physica type I took to be best represented by the Adena “mound buildes” and they were the basis of reports of “Giant skeletons in the mounds” the giant mercenaries were themselves prized trade items and status symbols for thoe ones that commanded them, and they were shipped far and wide because of that. They were mosty especially associated with the Atlantic seaboard in Europe and ebventually some ended up in the Holy Lands in company of the Philistines (themselves a variety of the Peoples of the Sea) and hence you have the stories of Goliath and hs brothers. Being a highly inbred bunch, they ran to a greater-than-normal frequency of certain mutations such as polydactylity (six fingers on every hand and six toes on wevery foot) and the peculiarity of retaining thre milk teeth while the adult replacement teeth grew in (leading to a double tooth row)<\/p>\n

Fomorians<\/p>\n

A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology <\/strong>| 2004 <\/strong>| JAMES MacKILLOP | 700+ words | \u00a9 A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information)Copyright<\/p>\n

Fomorians, Fomoire, Fom\u00f3iri, Fomoraig, Fomh\u00f3raigh, Fomhoire, Fomorii, Fomor, Fomors, Fomor\u00e9, Fo-Muir, Foawr<\/strong> [Manx]. Malevolent euhemerized deities of the Irish Mythological Cycle, known chiefly from two texts, the *Lebor <\/u>Gab\u00e1la [Book of Invasions] and Cath Maige Tuired [The (Second) Battle of Mag Tuired], in which their portrayals are not coordinate. Although current scholarship agrees on their divine origin, earlier commentators often portrayed them as demonic pirates, probably reading the element m\u00f3r<\/em>– [phantom] as muir<\/em> [sea]. Early Christian commentators traced the Fomorians to the biblical Ham, son of Noah. Later ecclesiastical storytellers made them either giants or elves, with goat- or horseheads and other misshapen features. While the origins of the Fomorians dates from pre-Christian times, their characterization has been coloured by generations of sea-raiders from the north, first from the Scottish islands and more extensively from the Norse lands; they are often linked to Lochlainn [Scandinavia]. Rejected now is the earlier assumption that the Fomorians were primitive gods of fertility.<\/p>\n

When they first appear in the Lebor Gab\u00e1la<\/u>, under their ferocious leader Cichol against the beneficient Partholonians, the Fomorians are portrayed as monstrous and fearful, each having only one eye, one arm, and one leg; see the Irish FER CAILLE and the Scottish Gaelic FACHAN. Later in the text they are more anthropomorphic. While the Fomorians do not fit into the invasion sequence, they prey upon each successive invader, the Partholonians and the Nemedians, until they are defeated by the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann. Curiously absent are Fomorian attacks on the invaders between the Nemedians of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, the Fir Bolg, prompting some commentators to speculate that the two are identical; later commentators reject this assertion. While associated with several locations, the Fomorians never appear to be settlers in Ireland but instead make raids from their fortress on Tory Island, north of Co. Donegal. In general the Fomorians are wantonly cruel bullies, cutting the noses off those who would not pay them tribute. The Nemedians overcome the Fomorians in three battles until they themselves are defeated at Cn\u00e1mross (distinguish from Fenian battle on the same site). The subsequent humiliations visited upon the Nemedians, especially an exacting annual tribute, cause them to rise up against their Fomorian masters, storming the fortress of Tory Island; they attack Tor Conaind, and the Nemedian champion Fergus Lethderg slays the Fomorian chief Conand. But the Fomorians prevail, and the disappointed Nemedians are scattered around the world.<\/p>\n

In Cath Maige Tuired<\/u>, the portrayal of the Fomorians draws more substantially on their divine origin. They intermarry freely with the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, the tribe of gods, implying that they are the marine counterparts of the latter. The Fomorian Elatha mac Delba\u00edth, for example, mates with \u00c9riu of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann to produce Bres, who inherits the leadership of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann from Nuadu Airgetl\u00e1m. The great champion of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, Lug L\u00e1mfhota, is the grandson of a Fomorian. Although the root of the conflict between the Fomorians and the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann in Cath Maige Tuired<\/u> is extraordinarily deep, the pre-text within the narrative is the unsuitableness of Bres as king: he insults poets and demands humiliating tributes from the race of the gods made subject. Nuadu returns to power and Lug L\u00e1mfhota presents himself in court to aid the cause. The central conflict pits Lug against the Fomorian menace, Balor of the Evil Eye, who is in fact Lug’s grandfather. In an unexpected turn of events, Lug’s sling stone drives Balor’s eye back through his head, directing it towards his Fomorian comrades in arms and thus debilitating them. In the remainder of the story, the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann rout the Fomorians and, amidst much slaughter, drive them back into the sea.<\/p>\n

Other often-cited Fomorians include: \u00c1gach, an enemy of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann; Cailitin, a wizard slain by C\u00fachulainn; Corb, a tribal deity; Delga, builder of the fortress of Dun Delgan [Dundalk]; Domnu, the mother of them all; Indech, a king killed at Mag Tuired; L\u00f3bais, druid of the Fomorians; Morc, who emigrated from Africa; N\u00e9it, the war-god; Searbh\u00e1n, the one-eyed keeper of rowan berries, who is sometimes a Fomorian; Tethra, a warrior-chief killed at Mag Tuired. The goat-headed Gaborchend may be derived from the Fomorians.<\/p>\n

Under different guises, as demonic pirates or as spirits of the earth, as earlier commentators described them, the Fomorians have appealed to the imaginations of several writers in English. W. B. Yeats spoke often of the Fomorians, whose name he spelled either Fomor or Fomoroh. His sorceress Orchil in The Shadowy Waters<\/u> (1905) and Dhoya (1891), the abandoned giant, are both Fomorians. The Foawr of Manx tradition, initially a local variant of the Fomorians, are stone-throwing giants. See also Alexander H. Krappe, Balor with the Evil Eye<\/u> (New York, 1927).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JAMES MacKILLOP. “Fomorians.” A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology<\/u>. 2004. Encyclopedia.com.<\/em> 16 Mar. 2012 <https:\/\/www.encyclopedia.com>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–At one point I mentioned that the Fomorians having one eye, one hand and one leg each was like the stereotyped pyrate with an eyepatch, hook and a claw. And on top of that, they were frequently redheaded or “Redbeards”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anymore I think that was a darn good and\u00a0sensible way of looking at the thing. And there is even some support for the notion they were associated with the sign of the Skull and Crossed bones, which of course predated the pirate age in Europe by several centuries and is also seen in Precolumbian Mesoamerica.
\nCrossbones as a Mayan Symbol of Ixchel<\/strong>:
\nBones crossed in an “x” is Mayan symbol of foreboding. Crossbones are a mortal Mayan symbol calling upon the concept of crossroads, which are considered ominous locations. Bones crossed are symbolic of a juxtaposition between god\/man, life\/death, dark\/light, etc. – there is a “meeting of duality” in this crossed bone gesture. Bones were often left at crossroad sites as a gesture to discard contaminants. For example: If you died of a disease within the community, your bones might have been left at the crossroads as a gesture to “excommunicate” the disease that took your body. Crossbones have been identified as adornments on the Ixchel’s clothing (in some of her renditions). This would imply she could be a sin-eater of sorts. It may also suggest Ixchel morphed into a warrior goddess at some point in the Mayan culture. She has been seen holding a spear and a shield too. These Mayan symbols along with crossbones might reinforce a vengeful attitude, and would suggest Ixchel as fully capable of reaping shrewd judgment in times of tribal war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This incidentally parallels the crossed spears of the Egyptian Goddess Neith (Greek Athena)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fomorians<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Formorians<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Irish mythology, the Fomoire<\/strong> (or Fomorians<\/strong>) are a semi-divine race said to have inhabited Ireland in ancient times. They may have once been believed to be the beings who preceded the gods, similar to the Greek Titans. It has been suggested that they represent the gods of chaos and wild nature, as opposed to the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann who represent the gods of human civilization. Alternatively, they may represent the gods of a proposed pre-Goidelic population of Ireland.<\/p>\n

Name<\/p>\n

The race are known as the Fomoire<\/em> or Fomoiri<\/em><\/strong>, names that are often Anglicised as Fomorians<\/em>, Fomors<\/em><\/strong> or Fomori<\/em><\/strong>. Later in Middle Irish they are also known as the Fom\u00f3raig<\/em><\/strong>. The etymology of the name Fomoire<\/em> (plural) has been cause for some debate. Medieval Irish scholars thought the name contained the element muire<\/em> “sea”, owing to their reputation as sea pirates.[1]<\/sup> In 1888, John Rhys was the first to suggest that it is an Old Irish word composed of fo<\/em> “under\/below” and muire<\/em> “sea”, concluding that it may refer to beings whose (original) habitat is under the sea.[2]<\/sup> Observing two instances of the early genitive form fomra<\/em>, Kuno Meyer arrives at the same etymology, but takes it to refer to land by the sea.[3]<\/sup> Whitley Stokes and Rudolf Thurneysen, on the other hand, prefer to connect the second element *mor<\/em> with a supposed Old English cognate mara<\/em> “mare” (which survives today in the English word night-mare<\/em>).[4]<\/sup>[5]<\/sup> Building on these hypotheses, Marie-Louise Sjoestedt interprets the combination of fo<\/em> and the root *mor<\/em> as a compound meaning “inferior” or “latent demons”.[6]<\/sup><\/p>\n

Characteristics<\/strong><\/p>\n

They are sometimes said to have had the body of a man and the head of a goat, [ie, they are stereotyped devils]\u00a0according to an 11th century text in Lebor na hUidre<\/em> (the Book of the Dun Cow), or to have had one eye, one arm and one leg, but some, for example Elatha, the father of Bres, were very beautiful. Bres himself carries the epithet “the Beautiful.”<\/p>\n

Irish mythology<\/strong><\/p>\n

The medieval myth of Partholon says that his followers were the first to invade Ireland after the flood, but the Fomorians were already there: Seathr\u00fan C\u00e9itinn reports a tradition that the Fomorians, led by C\u00edocal, had arrived two hundred years earlier and lived on fish and fowl until Partholon came, bringing the plough and oxen. Partholon defeated C\u00edocal in the Battle of Magh Ithe, but all his people later died of plague.<\/p>\n

Then came Nemed and his followers. Ireland is said to have been empty for thirty years following the death of Partholon’s people, but Nemed and his followers encountered the Fomorians when they arrived. At this point C\u00e9itinn reports another tradition that the Fomorians were seafarers from Africa, descended from Noah’s son Ham. Nemed defeated them in several battles, killing their kings Gann and Sengann,[7]<\/sup> but two new Fomorian leaders arose: Conand son of Faebar, who lived in Conand’s Tower on Tory Island, County Donegal, and Morc son of Dela (note that the first generation of the Fir Bolg were also said to be sons of Dela).<\/p>\n

After Nemed’s death, Conand and Morc enslaved his people and demanded a heavy tribute: two thirds of their children, grain and cattle. Nemed’s son Fergus Lethderg gathered an army of sixty thousand, rose up against them and destroyed Conand’s Tower, but Morc attacked them with a huge fleet, and there was great slaughter on both sides. The sea rose over them and drowned most of the survivors: only thirty of Nemed’s people escaped in a single ship, scattering to the other parts of the world.<\/p>\n

The next invasion was by the Fir Bolg, who did not encounter the Fomorians.<\/p>\n

Next, the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, who are usually supposed to have been the gods of the Goidelic Irish, defeated the Fir Bolg in the first Battle of Magh Tuiredh and took possession of Ireland. Because their king, Nuada, had lost an arm in the battle and was no longer physically whole, their first king in Ireland was the half-Fomorian Bres. He was the result of a union between \u00c9riu of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann and the Fomorian prince Elatha, who had come to her one night by sea on a silver boat. Both Elatha and Bres are described as very beautiful. However Bres turned out to be a bad king who forced the Tuatha D\u00e9 to work as slaves and pay tribute to the Fomorians. He lost authority when he was satirized for neglecting his kingly duties of hospitality. Nuada was restored to the kingship after his arm was replaced with a working one of silver, but the Tuatha D\u00e9’s oppression by the Fomorians continued.<\/p>\n

Bres fled to his father, Elatha, and asked for his help to restore him to the kingship. Elatha refused, on the grounds that he should not seek to gain by foul means what he couldn’t keep by fair. Bres instead turned to Balor, a more warlike Fomorian chief living on Tory Island, and raised an army.<\/p>\n

The Tuatha D\u00e9 also prepared for war, under another half-Fomorian leader, Lug. His father was Cia<\/p>\n

Frontiers of Anthropology <\/strong><\/p>\n

This blog is to encorporate discussions on Lost Continents, Catastrophism, The origin of Modern Humans and the Out of Africa theory, Genetics and Human Diversity, The Origin and Spread of Civilization and Cultural Diffusion across the face of the Globe.<\/p>\n

Deluge of Atlantis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deluge of Atlantis<\/p>\n

Friday, March 16, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

More on Fomorians <\/strong><\/p>\n

I had posted here before about the fomorian pirates of ancient Ireland and I thought St. Patrick’s day was a good opportunity to add some more on the theory. My theory was that the Formorian giants were a specifically bred caste of warriors of very great size and strength, bred out of CroMagnonlike forebearers (likely the Canary Islander natives as a base), and trained by a life of ritual gladiatorial combats. The physica type I took to be best represented by the Adena “mound buildes” and they were the basis of reports of “Giant skeletons in the mounds” the giant mercenaries were themselves prized trade items and status symbols for thoe ones that commanded them, and they were shipped far and wide because of that. They were mosty especially associated with the Atlantic seaboard in Europe and ebventually some ended up in the Holy Lands in company of the Philistines (themselves a variety of the Peoples of the Sea) and hence you have the stories of Goliath and hs brothers. Being a highly inbred bunch, they ran to a greater-than-normal frequency of certain mutations such as polydactylity (six fingers on every hand and six toes on wevery foot) and the peculiarity of retaining thre milk teeth while the adult replacement teeth grew in (leading to a double tooth row)<\/p>\n

Fomorians<\/p>\n

A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology <\/strong>| 2004 <\/strong>| JAMES MacKILLOP | 700+ words | \u00a9 A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information)Copyright<\/p>\n

Fomorians, Fomoire, Fom\u00f3iri, Fomoraig, Fomh\u00f3raigh, Fomhoire, Fomorii, Fomor, Fomors, Fomor\u00e9, Fo-Muir, Foawr<\/strong> [Manx]. Malevolent euhemerized deities of the Irish Mythological Cycle, known chiefly from two texts, the *Lebor <\/u>Gab\u00e1la [Book of Invasions] and Cath Maige Tuired [The (Second) Battle of Mag Tuired], in which their portrayals are not coordinate. Although current scholarship agrees on their divine origin, earlier commentators often portrayed them as demonic pirates, probably reading the element m\u00f3r<\/em>– [phantom] as muir<\/em> [sea]. Early Christian commentators traced the Fomorians to the biblical Ham, son of Noah. Later ecclesiastical storytellers made them either giants or elves, with goat- or horseheads and other misshapen features. While the origins of the Fomorians dates from pre-Christian times, their characterization has been coloured by generations of sea-raiders from the north, first from the Scottish islands and more extensively from the Norse lands; they are often linked to Lochlainn [Scandinavia]. Rejected now is the earlier assumption that the Fomorians were primitive gods of fertility.<\/p>\n

When they first appear in the Lebor Gab\u00e1la<\/u>, under their ferocious leader Cichol against the beneficient Partholonians, the Fomorians are portrayed as monstrous and fearful, each having only one eye, one arm, and one leg; see the Irish FER CAILLE and the Scottish Gaelic FACHAN. Later in the text they are more anthropomorphic. While the Fomorians do not fit into the invasion sequence, they prey upon each successive invader, the Partholonians and the Nemedians, until they are defeated by the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann. Curiously absent are Fomorian attacks on the invaders between the Nemedians of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, the Fir Bolg, prompting some commentators to speculate that the two are identical; later commentators reject this assertion. While associated with several locations, the Fomorians never appear to be settlers in Ireland but instead make raids from their fortress on Tory Island, north of Co. Donegal. In general the Fomorians are wantonly cruel bullies, cutting the noses off those who would not pay them tribute. The Nemedians overcome the Fomorians in three battles until they themselves are defeated at Cn\u00e1mross (distinguish from Fenian battle on the same site). The subsequent humiliations visited upon the Nemedians, especially an exacting annual tribute, cause them to rise up against their Fomorian masters, storming the fortress of Tory Island; they attack Tor Conaind, and the Nemedian champion Fergus Lethderg slays the Fomorian chief Conand. But the Fomorians prevail, and the disappointed Nemedians are scattered around the world.<\/p>\n

In Cath Maige Tuired<\/u>, the portrayal of the Fomorians draws more substantially on their divine origin. They intermarry freely with the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, the tribe of gods, implying that they are the marine counterparts of the latter. The Fomorian Elatha mac Delba\u00edth, for example, mates with \u00c9riu of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann to produce Bres, who inherits the leadership of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann from Nuadu Airgetl\u00e1m. The great champion of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, Lug L\u00e1mfhota, is the grandson of a Fomorian. Although the root of the conflict between the Fomorians and the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann in Cath Maige Tuired<\/u> is extraordinarily deep, the pre-text within the narrative is the unsuitableness of Bres as king: he insults poets and demands humiliating tributes from the race of the gods made subject. Nuadu returns to power and Lug L\u00e1mfhota presents himself in court to aid the cause. The central conflict pits Lug against the Fomorian menace, Balor of the Evil Eye, who is in fact Lug’s grandfather. In an unexpected turn of events, Lug’s sling stone drives Balor’s eye back through his head, directing it towards his Fomorian comrades in arms and thus debilitating them. In the remainder of the story, the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann rout the Fomorians and, amidst much slaughter, drive them back into the sea.<\/p>\n

Other often-cited Fomorians include: \u00c1gach, an enemy of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann; Cailitin, a wizard slain by C\u00fachulainn; Corb, a tribal deity; Delga, builder of the fortress of Dun Delgan [Dundalk]; Domnu, the mother of them all; Indech, a king killed at Mag Tuired; L\u00f3bais, druid of the Fomorians; Morc, who emigrated from Africa; N\u00e9it, the war-god; Searbh\u00e1n, the one-eyed keeper of rowan berries, who is sometimes a Fomorian; Tethra, a warrior-chief killed at Mag Tuired. The goat-headed Gaborchend may be derived from the Fomorians.<\/p>\n

Under different guises, as demonic pirates or as spirits of the earth, as earlier commentators described them, the Fomorians have appealed to the imaginations of several writers in English. W. B. Yeats spoke often of the Fomorians, whose name he spelled either Fomor or Fomoroh. His sorceress Orchil in The Shadowy Waters<\/u> (1905) and Dhoya (1891), the abandoned giant, are both Fomorians. The Foawr of Manx tradition, initially a local variant of the Fomorians, are stone-throwing giants. See also Alexander H. Krappe, Balor with the Evil Eye<\/u> (New York, 1927).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JAMES MacKILLOP. “Fomorians.” A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology<\/u>. 2004. Encyclopedia.com.<\/em> 16 Mar. 2012 <https:\/\/www.encyclopedia.com>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–At one point I mentioned that the Fomorians having one eye, one hand and one leg each was like the stereotyped pyrate with an eyepatch, hook and a claw. And on top of that, they were frequently redheaded or “Redbeards”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anymore I think that was a darn good and\u00a0sensible way of looking at the thing. And there is even some support for the notion they were associated with the sign of the Skull and Crossed bones, which of course predated the pirate age in Europe by several centuries and is also seen in Precolumbian Mesoamerica.
\nCrossbones as a Mayan Symbol of Ixchel<\/strong>:
\nBones crossed in an “x” is Mayan symbol of foreboding. Crossbones are a mortal Mayan symbol calling upon the concept of crossroads, which are considered ominous locations. Bones crossed are symbolic of a juxtaposition between god\/man, life\/death, dark\/light, etc. – there is a “meeting of duality” in this crossed bone gesture. Bones were often left at crossroad sites as a gesture to discard contaminants. For example: If you died of a disease within the community, your bones might have been left at the crossroads as a gesture to “excommunicate” the disease that took your body. Crossbones have been identified as adornments on the Ixchel’s clothing (in some of her renditions). This would imply she could be a sin-eater of sorts. It may also suggest Ixchel morphed into a warrior goddess at some point in the Mayan culture. She has been seen holding a spear and a shield too. These Mayan symbols along with crossbones might reinforce a vengeful attitude, and would suggest Ixchel as fully capable of reaping shrewd judgment in times of tribal war.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This incidentally parallels the crossed spears of the Egyptian Goddess Neith (Greek Athena)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fomorians<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Formorians<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Irish mythology, the Fomoire<\/strong> (or Fomorians<\/strong>) are a semi-divine race said to have inhabited Ireland in ancient times. They may have once been believed to be the beings who preceded the gods, similar to the Greek Titans. It has been suggested that they represent the gods of chaos and wild nature, as opposed to the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann who represent the gods of human civilization. Alternatively, they may represent the gods of a proposed pre-Goidelic population of Ireland.<\/p>\n

Name<\/p>\n

The race are known as the Fomoire<\/em> or Fomoiri<\/em><\/strong>, names that are often Anglicised as Fomorians<\/em>, Fomors<\/em><\/strong> or Fomori<\/em><\/strong>. Later in Middle Irish they are also known as the Fom\u00f3raig<\/em><\/strong>. The etymology of the name Fomoire<\/em> (plural) has been cause for some debate. Medieval Irish scholars thought the name contained the element muire<\/em> “sea”, owing to their reputation as sea pirates.[1]<\/sup> In 1888, John Rhys was the first to suggest that it is an Old Irish word composed of fo<\/em> “under\/below” and muire<\/em> “sea”, concluding that it may refer to beings whose (original) habitat is under the sea.[2]<\/sup> Observing two instances of the early genitive form fomra<\/em>, Kuno Meyer arrives at the same etymology, but takes it to refer to land by the sea.[3]<\/sup> Whitley Stokes and Rudolf Thurneysen, on the other hand, prefer to connect the second element *mor<\/em> with a supposed Old English cognate mara<\/em> “mare” (which survives today in the English word night-mare<\/em>).[4]<\/sup>[5<\/sup> Building on these hypotheses, Marie-Louise Sjoestedt interprets the combination of fo<\/em> and the root *mor<\/em> as a compound meaning “inferior” or “latent demons”.[6]<\/sup><\/p>\n

Characteristics<\/strong><\/p>\n

They are sometimes said to have had the body of a man and the head of a goat, [ie, they are stereotyped devils]\u00a0according to an 11th century text in Lebor na hUidre<\/em> (the Book of the Dun Cow), or to have had one eye, one arm and one leg, but some, for example Elatha, the father of Bres, were very beautiful. Bres himself carries the epithet “the Beautiful.”<\/p>\n

Irish mythology<\/strong><\/p>\n

The medieval myth of Partholon says that his followers were the first to invade Ireland after the flood, but the Fomorians were already there: Seathr\u00fan C\u00e9itinn reports a tradition that the Fomorians, led by C\u00edocal, had arrived two hundred years earlier and lived on fish and fowl until Partholon came, bringing the plough and oxen. Partholon defeated C\u00edocal in the Battle of Magh Ithe, but all his people later died of plague.<\/p>\n

Then came Nemed and his followers. Ireland is said to have been empty for thirty years following the death of Partholon’s people, but Nemed and his followers encountered the Fomorians when they arrived. At this point C\u00e9itinn reports another tradition that the Fomorians were seafarers from Africa, descended from Noah’s son Ham. Nemed defeated them in several battles, killing their kings Gann and Sengann,[7<\/sup> but two new Fomorian leaders arose: Conand son of Faebar, who lived in Conand’s Tower on Tory Island, County Donegal, and Morc son of Dela (note that the first generation of the Fir Bolg were also said to be sons of Dela).<\/p>\n

After Nemed’s death, Conand and Morc enslaved his people and demanded a heavy tribute: two thirds of their children, grain and cattle. Nemed’s son Fergus Lethderg gathered an army of sixty thousand, rose up against them and destroyed Conand’s Tower, but Morc attacked them with a huge fleet, and there was great slaughter on both sides. The sea rose over them and drowned most of the survivors: only thirty of Nemed’s people escaped in a single ship, scattering to the other parts of the world.<\/p>\n

The next invasion was by the Fir Bolg, who did not encounter the Fomorians.<\/p>\n

Next, the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann, who are usually supposed to have been the gods of the Goidelic Irish, defeated the Fir Bolg in the first Battle of Magh Tuiredh and took possession of Ireland. Because their king, Nuada, had lost an arm in the battle and was no longer physically whole, their first king in Ireland was the half-Fomorian Bres. He was the result of a union between \u00c9riu of the Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann and the Fomorian prince Elatha, who had come to her one night by sea on a silver boat. Both Elatha and Bres are described as very beautiful. However Bres turned out to be a bad king who forced the Tuatha D\u00e9 to work as slaves and pay tribute to the Fomorians. He lost authority when he was satirized for neglecting his kingly duties of hospitality. Nuada was restored to the kingship after his arm was replaced with a working one of silver, but the Tuatha D\u00e9’s oppression by the Fomorians continued.<\/p>\n

Bres fled to his father, Elatha, and asked for his help to restore him to the kingship. Elatha refused, on the grounds that he should not seek to gain by foul means what he couldn’t keep by fair. Bres instead turned to Balor, a more warlike Fomorian chief living on Tory Island, and raised an army.<\/p>\n

The Tuatha D\u00e9 also prepared for war, under another half-Fomorian leader, Lug. His father was Cian of the Tuatha D\u00e9, and his mother was Balor’s daughter Ethniu. This is presented as a dynastic marriage in early texts, but folklore preserves a more elaborate story, reminiscent the story of Zeus and Cronus from Greek mythology. Balor, who had been given a prophecy that he would be killed by his own grandson, locked Ethniu in a glass tower to keep her away from men. But when he stole Cian’s magical cow, Cian got his revenge by gaining entry to the tower, with the help of a druidess called Bir\u00f3g, and seducing her. She gave birth to triplets, which Balor ordered drowned. Two of the babies either died or turned into the first seals, but Bir\u00f3g saved one, Lug, and gave him to Manannan and Tailtiu to foster. As an adult Lug gained entry to Nuada’s court through his mastery of every art, and was given command over the army.<\/p>\n

The Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh was fought between the Fomorians under Balor and the Tuatha D\u00e9 under Lug. Balor killed Nuada with his terrible, poisonous eye that killed all it looked upon. Lug faced his grandfather, but as he was opening his eye Lug shot a sling-stone that drove his eye out the back of his head, wreaking havoc on the Fomorian army behind. After Balor’s death the Fomorians were defeated and driven into the sea.<\/p>\n

The Tuatha D\u00e9 Danann and the Fomorians are closely related. Neit, a war god, is an ancestor of both.<\/p>\n

The Training of C\u00fa Chulainn<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Fomorians were still around at the time of C\u00fa Chulainn. In the medieval Irish tale entitled The Training of C\u00fa Chulainn<\/em>, preserved as a copy by Richard Tipper in British Library, Egerton 106, it gives the following mention:<\/p>\n

Then they parted from each other, and C\u00fachulainn went and looked forth on the great sea. As he was there he beheld a great assembly on the strand nearest to him, to wit, a hundred men and a hundred women seated in the bosom of the haven and the shore, and among them a maiden shapely, dear and beautiful, the most distinguished damsel of the world’s women, and they a-weeping and lamenting around the damsel. C\u00fachulainn came to the place and saluted them. \u2018What is this sorrow or the misery upon you?\u2019 says C\u00fachulainn. The damsel answered and this she said: \u2018A royal tribute which the tribe of Fomorians carry out of this country every seventh year, namely, the first-born of the king’s children. And at this time it has come to me to go as that tribute, for to the king I am the dearest of his children.\u2019\u2018What number comes to lift that tribute?\u2019 asks C\u00fachulainn. \u2018Three sons of Alatrom of the Fomorians,\u2019 she answers, \u2018and Dub, Mell and Dubros are their names.\u2019 Not long had they been at those talks when they saw the well-manned, full-great vessel approaching them over the furious waves of the sea. And when the damsel’s people saw the ship coming, they all fled from her, and not a single person remained in her company save only C\u00fachulainn. And thus was that vessel: a single warrior, dark, gloomy, devilish, on the stern of that good ship, and he was laughing roughly, ill-fatedly, so that every one saw his entrails and his bowels through the body of his gullet. \u2018What is that mirthfulness on the big man?\u2019 asks C\u00fachulainn.\u2018Because,\u2019 says the damsel, \u2018he deems it excellent that thou shouldst be an addition to his tribute in this year rather than in any other year.\u2019 \u2018By my conscience,\u2019 says C\u00fachulainn, \u2018it would not be right for him to brag thus regarding me if he knew what would come of it.\u2019 Then the big man came ashore to them into the strand, and stretched forth his long, sinewy, hideous arm to seize C\u00fachulainn in the very front of his royal tribute. Straightway C\u00fachulainn raised his right hand, and bared his sword, and gave a blow to the big man and struck off his head, so that he was the first that fell by C\u00fachulainn after having completed his training. And thereafter the other two fell by him, and he left them thus, neck to neck.[8]<\/sup><\/p>\n

In later times any settled pirates or seaborne raiders were labeled Fomorians and the original meaning of the word was forgotten.<\/p>\n