An Chraobh Airgid

God or goddess

Banba

Banba · Keating spells it Banbha

The first of the three queens who asked that Ireland bear her name.

Open it on the full site There every name opens, and a web shows who is kin to whom.

A queen of the Tuatha Dé Danann, wife of Mac Cuill, one of the three sons of Cermait who were kings of Ireland when the sons of Míl came. She met them on Sliabh Mis with her women and her druids, and told Amairgen that if they had come to take Ireland they had no right on their side. Then she asked that the island be called by her name, and he promised it. Keating says she fell at Tailtiu. Her name, Lady Gregory writes, was often given to Ireland in the time after, with the names of Fódla and Ériu.

Kin and bonds

In the tales

  • The Song of Amairgen A poet sets his right foot on Ireland and sings that he is the wind on the sea. Three queens of the old gods meet him, and each asks for the island’s name.

See also

  • Amairgen The poet of the sons of Míl.
  • Ériu The woman whose name became Ireland’s.
  • Fódla The second of the three queens who asked that Ireland bear her name.
  • Sliabh Mis The Slieve Mish Mountains. The mountains where the sons of Míl met Banba, the first of the three queens.
  • The sons of Míl The last invaders in the Book of Invasions: the Gaels.
  • Tailtin Teltown. Where the sons of Míl beat the Tuatha Dé, and the old gods lost Ireland.
  • Tuatha Dé Danann The old gods of Ireland.

Sources

Medieval manuscript. Written down by Irish scholars between the eighth and seventeenth centuries.

Each tale above lists the sources it is retold from. Every source the site draws on is listed on the full site.