The Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúailnge) is the oldest vernacular myth in Western history. In one of its versions, the entire cycle of conflict, heroic deeds and ultimately disaster, is precipitated by Ailil's casual remark to Medh, that, 'she is a well-off woman that is a rich man's wife'. This occurs in story's first episode, known as the 'pillow talk', which is wonderfully depicted by de Brocquy in the above evocative image.
The full text of the Táin is available here.
BILL (Bibliography of Irish Linguistics and Literature) is a bibliography of publications in scholarly journals and periodicals published since 1972, including 277 works relating to the Táin story. Some of the more significant publications not included in this bibliography include:
T. Kinsella, (1969) The Táin, Dolmen Press, Dublin.
J. P. Mallory (ed) (1992), Aspects of the Táin, December Publications, Belfast
The events surrounding the Táin conclude in the area around Cooley, where our conference is situated.
Gene Haley has recently produced a comprehensive Google map of the topography of the Táin tale, including GPS coordinates of many of the locations in the story. It is available here.
Paul Gosling has written a short paper about the Táin trail in Louth: The Táin March 2012: on the trail of Táin Bó Cúailnge in Louth.
The full text of the Táin is available here.
BILL (Bibliography of Irish Linguistics and Literature) is a bibliography of publications in scholarly journals and periodicals published since 1972, including 277 works relating to the Táin story. Some of the more significant publications not included in this bibliography include:
T. Kinsella, (1969) The Táin, Dolmen Press, Dublin.
J. P. Mallory (ed) (1992), Aspects of the Táin, December Publications, Belfast
The events surrounding the Táin conclude in the area around Cooley, where our conference is situated.
Gene Haley has recently produced a comprehensive Google map of the topography of the Táin tale, including GPS coordinates of many of the locations in the story. It is available here.
Paul Gosling has written a short paper about the Táin trail in Louth: The Táin March 2012: on the trail of Táin Bó Cúailnge in Louth.