Ireland in Very Early Times

                     I have a feeling that I could be moving into a greater coherence of  my dealings with Irish prehistory.

                   I'm not Irish, but my name is. I am Richard Carroll Sheehan. "Carroll" and "Sheehan" are each an Irish surname. Some early Sheehan immigrants to the US had a certain respect for the Carrolls already in America. Sheehan's in Ireland had a certain respect their because of certain happings and doings in a distant prehistory. 

                  In preCeltic time Sheehan had different names. They were probably renamed with the coming of the Milestian. I have heard that -han meant something like people so we became the shee people. Some of the why of that probable fact is becoming clearer to more than just me. "Shee" is a later day interptation of  andearly celtic word.

                "Aos Si" or something similar is an early celtic name for a real people of Ireland. They also been called Aes sidhe and the like. They have been named things that meant "people of the mounds" and that seems more useful than other names they have been given. There are remenants of mounds in Ireland today. Those mounds have been called sidhe. They have also been called shee. Shee may have been and be used as an ajective. People of the mounds have been called daoine sidhe. It has also been said that the mounds are shee. So the mound people ancestors of the Shee people, Sheehan. 

                Some say the Si or Sidhe are the Danann and that may be so. I belive it more likely that the Danann were called si, sidhe, or shee. They were more truly called "people of the goddess Danu." The Danann may have reated inland as more and more Celts arrived. They were few in the face of many newcommers. Still they  remained protective of their physical and mental culture. They tried to protect their "mounds" from the newcombers and came to be thought of  by them as the "mound people." Those newcomers were probably mostly Iron Age celts. Those Celts came to be called Milesians after their homeland Miletus. In time, perhaps by their very numbers, the Milesians so dominated the earlier people that the caused the language and culture to virtually disappear. 

                The Aos Si remained respected ancesters for a long time after the extended arrival of Iron Age Mikesians. A faint remenent of that respect seems to remain to this day. Those "shee people" may have seemed a bit fearsome to a few, but they were called ''good neighbors,'' "Fair Folk," and "people of peace." Aos si," "aes sidhe," and "daoine sidhe" all seem to mean people of peace.

                These shee, si, and sidhe were also known as defenders of the old Bronze Age culture which it seems they felt was well worth the effort. The festivals known to this day seem to have been theirs. Those festivals are Samhain, Beltane, and Midsummer. You may now know that the mounds were also theirs.

                The Sheehan of today are a tiny remenent of a part of the culture of pre-Cetic occupants of Ireland. I myself might be 1/4 of one infantismal remenant of  a largely forgotten preCetic culture of Ireland. How very much of that once dominent Celtic culture survives. Among some Highland Scots and others with fewer ties to the Irish Island, there remains some tiny memory of what I have just written. 

                The Bronze Age people I have just written of may be the Danann. I suspect that some Danann and Skithian may have been arriving on the Island an nearly the same time. What have been Skithians were probably Scythians, Scythians may be what who we have called Persians. As we know Iranians were Persians. I hope to be alive enought to write of this later.

                However, the Anatolian island of Miletus is an early home of the Milesians of Ireland. Miletus island and city have been called a famous font of Hellenic philosophy. Miletus was occupied by settlers from Create around 1,600 BC. Creare was the seat of a high prehellenic civilization. By about 600 BC Miletus had become a maritime empire. 

                It is said that the first Milasians, to appear on the shores of  the  western isle beyond the pillars of Hercules, were defeated by the powerful Tuatha De Danann nobility. Names of the Milesian leaders were Mac Cuil, Mac Cecht, and Mac Grein. Not much later other Milesias came and staye.d

                Conflict between the Danann and the Milesians is probably a source of the name Ere for the land which came tombe known as Ireland, 

            There is some evidence that Ireland was  well occupied by 7,500 BC.

                Scythia orobably once included an area around the Caspian sea and may have included what is now Kazakstan, Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Caspians of the area may be called Iranian, preIranians, or non-Indoeuropean people.

                Magos is said to have been a grandson of Noah and, perhaps, the father of Agnoman of Scythia.

                More probably there was Scythian/Irish contact during about 2350 BC  and 1730 BC.

                In Ireland an ancient king of Scythia known as Fenius Farsaidh, Fenius Farsa, and Farsi had something to dowith the intoduction of the Ogham alphabet to Ireland.

                It has been said that Japheth, one of the three sons of Noah, and an ancester of the peoples of the Agean Sea, Anatolia and more. A son of Japheth is Magog. Why would a christian have said such things?

                By about 1,300 BC  many were experiencing a Bronze Age. Ireland had been heard of around the Baltic Sea and the mediterranian and further abroad. At the same time Egypt had come under Egyptian control again. Also about this time the people of a small Greek island near the coast of present Turkey came to know of Ireland. That Island was Miletus know to peoples of the Mediterranian world and to quite a few in Ireland. 

                

  

It is Good to Know Your Sources

 Some Sources for Irish History and Prehistory         

              Labor Gabala Erenn, In English The Book of Invasions, from Cessair to Danann is a literary work of the taking of Ireland. It is not just a pack of lies, but is best taken with a grain of salt. It has been influenced by the church, by conaurers, and by Roman works.

            If it becomes your principal source for early Irish history you may stray far from reality.

            There is information on pre-Roman Ireland and it is being studied and clarified. But even our timeline of those early days and centuries is as faulty as our timeline of Egyptian early history and prehistory.

Historians:

            There are English translations of early Irish histories. I would like to see well translated works by Roderick O'Flaherty. I have heard of his work Ogygia. He is an Irish historian born in 1629 AD and who died in about 1717. He seems to have been the last recognized chief of clan Flaherty. He inherited Muycullen Castle and lost it tp Cromwell in the 165os. His son helped him lose another 200,000 acres. He became a highly regarded historian with neither Castle nor 200,000 acres. Seems a fine man for coming from as far north as he did.

            His teacher was Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh, who has been known ad Duald MacFirbis, Dudly Ferbisie. He was known to be alive in 1643 and died in January of 1671. He was an Irish scribe, translator, historian, and genealogist. He was one of the last traditionally trained Irish Gaelic scholars. His best known work is the Leabhar na nGenealach which was published in 2004 as The Great Book of Irish Genealogies.

            Who is Eamonn Burca

            Dudly may have received his training at Mac Aohagain bardic school located at Ballymaceagan Lough Derg, County Tipperary.

Prehistory and myth   

            Remember when we say prehistory we usually mean that solid documentation is lacking. And that often we say myth we speak of another

 man's religion or history.

 

            Ogygia is a name for the mythical Greek island of  Calypso. The Nymph Calypso lived on an island called Calypso. It is said that the name Calypso refers to "hidden knowledge" or "concealing the knowledge." Calypso's father may have been Atlas and her mother Tethys.

            Dudly in Ogyia credits Milesius as the father of the Goidelic people. Sounds right.  The people of  the island of Milesius may be those who caused my name to be changed to Sheehan. It  may well be a truth passed on by Dudly that each letter of ancient Ogham is the name of a given tree.

            There is a lot to enjoy and a lot to learn about Ireland's wide ranging ancient connections with a significant part of the world.

            Thank you for reading.

                                                                                rcs

It's About Ireland to Before it Was

             Tir na nOg has been called shee. Some have called it Land of youth. More have called it Land of Our Youth or Our earlier Land, or  the Land We Came From, or Our Home Land. I have called it the shee land across the sea.

             We can call the above, About Ireland. I hope to add more about Ireland just below.

           

             Can "sidhe" and ''shee" be synonymous or nearly so?

9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

            Here, I will begin to write about the people of Ireland.

            One of these people are the Fomorians. They are probably one of the very first people in and around Ireland as the ice melted. They were probably a pre flood people of advanced culture. They were seamen, navigators, and perhaps sea raiders. Some of them were among the very first immigrants to the Emerald Island. There is strong evidence of Fomorians before 600 BC. I believe that they were there very long before that time.

            They have been described as bad, dark, Danann, good, light. It is said that Partholon won a battle against them. It seem that they lost few battles.

            Lugh was half Fomorian. Balor was a leader of Fomorians and built a fort for Bres. Indech mac de was king of Fomorians at the time.

            There is more to say about these sea  going people and I will try to add more about them right here.

            Another early people of Ireland may be call Fir Bolg, Fir Blog may be translatable as bag men. The Fir Bolg may have known Greece. Nemid is said to have "fathered" them. 

            These Bolg divided the Island into provinces, like counties. We can begin to know the names of these people as we speak of these provinces. For example, Gan takes North Munster, Sengann takes south Munster, Genann takes what becomes Connacht, Rudraige takes what becomes Ulster, Slanga takes Leinster. The first High Kings of Ireland were the five takers of provinces.

            Some have said that their father was related to Nemid. Their father may have been called Della.

            Of  the brothers Slaine may have rued in Leinster 1748 BC to 1703 BC. Ganann, son of Dela, and his brother Genann are said to have landed  at Iber Dubglaaise and to have split Munster between them.

            Gann and Genann were followed by Sengann, who was followed by Fiacha Cennfinnan. Sengann ruled from between about 1927 BC and 1507 BC to between 1921 BC and 1502 BC.

            I intend to write more about Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Danann, Milesians, and perhaps others right here, updating these notes.

            Some miscellany that it may be worth remembering are that Bress was a Danann king with Fomorian relatives. Prince Elatha of the Fomorians was the father of Bress.

            Bress or Bres was High King of Ireland either from 1897 BC to 1890 BC or from 1477 Bc to 1470 BC. He was proceeded by Eochaid and succeeded Nuada.

 

            They were in Ireland just before a people called the Danann.

            The Fir Bolg left captivity in Greece and headed west via Iberia and continued to their ancient land of Ireland. 

              I know I am rambling about early Irish history and will probably continue to do so. I could ramble into some curious and interesting doings and happenings.

                This may be a good place to begin to write about the Dan people. I'll call them Danann for now while I do some speculation.

                I am beginning to believe that Irish and Dan fought on the side of the Phoenician against the advance of Roman legions. It seems impossible not to believe that the Danann were so real and alive that many Bronze Age Irish were related to them. I would like to know if there is anyway the Judaic tribe of Dan can be related to the Irish Danaan. And I am even suspecting connections between the Danes of Denmark and the great blue Danube. Help me out if you can and will.

                I could use some company in trying to understand some of these relationships. It seems certain that Phoenician and Irish early became well known to one another.

                There is a lot to learn we could go on to see if there is more evidence of the Scythian being known to Scot and Irish; Could Scott and Irish be pre-Celtic relatives who retained a conscious from before and through the Iron Age. There is a lot to learn and lots of dates to firm up.

                I have lots of related areas I would like to know more about. Like how did the Iberian Peninsula come to be called the Iberian Peninsula and what could that have to do with Irish and Hebrew? 

                It will be interesting to get more clarifying info about early connections between Ireland and and Eastern Med cultures and beyond.

                Here I may try t4o put together a few bits of information connected to that which the early Irish had to say about the early Irish.  The Fomorian might prove interesting.

Here is a first attempt to list the groups of people who came to the Island.

Greeks were among the early comers and the came long before the Phoenicians were comers, but I do not know where to put them in the following list. I am not proud of this list, but I offer it as my first try at useful names and realistic order:

Fomorian

Nenidian

Fir 

Dannan

Milesian

            That's it my first list. I do want  Milesian to stay as my most recent comer and the Tuatha De Dannan to come just before them. But what should I do with people of Cessair, people of Partholon, and people of Nemed?

            

                                                                                    rcs

            

            

James Hoban of Kilkenny

 James Hoban knew the White House well.

He was born in Ireland in 1758 and died in Washington, DC in 1831.

He did important architectural work in the Mid Atlantic and Southern states.

He was the designer and architect of the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Mr. Hoban also supervised the reconstruction  of the White House after it was destroyed in the War of 1812. 




by Richard Sheehan
for Mago Bill

History Timelines

             For those interested in history timelines, now may be a good time to check out our timelines. Among those timelines there are many dealing with very early prehistoric times.

            If you have never been interested in time lines, try checking out three or four of them here now. You may find yourself putting some interesting info together. 

            On the first page of any of our blogs you will find a list of "Associated Blogs" to click on and visit. On those lists you will find a few of the "History Timelines" available to you here.

            Explore!

                                                                            rcs