Eithne
deity earth Irish single tradition · 2
Eithne is the only daughter of the Fomorian warrior Balor, imprisoned in a tower on Tory Island to prevent her from bearing a grandson who would kill her father. She is seduced by Mac Cinnfhaelaidh with Biróg's help and gives birth to triplets. One of her sons survives Balor's attempt to drown them and grows up to kill Balor.
↻ synthesized from 2 sources
When
- First attested
- 0 CE
- Attested period
- 0 – 2020
- Historical notes
- Recorded in folktale by John O'Donovan in 1835.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- Glas Gaibhnenn, Dagda, Donn, Crom Dubh, Crom Cruach, Tailtiu, Nás, Bói, Biróg
- parent of
- Lugh
- consort of
- Mac Cinnfhaelaidh
- allied with
- Lugh
- child of
- Balor
Mentioned by
Sources
wikipedia (2)
Source passages
“imprisons his only daughter Eithne in the tower of Tory Island, away from any contact with men...to gain access to the tower and seduce her. Eithne gives birth to triplets”
#5911 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“Sometimes, this was portrayed as a struggle over a woman called Eithne, who represents the grain.”
#41710 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001