Macha

The sailors saw a tower of gold on the shore and turned their ships towards it. They hoped to seize its wealth, but the sea resisted them. Every vessel was dashed to pieces except the ship carrying Nemed and his wife, Macha. They survived the wreck and continued towards Ireland.

Nemed, also called Neimheadh, had left Scythia with an armada. The Book of Invasions places him in Ireland’s mythological history as an early settler of the island. He was said to descend from Noah through Japheth and from Magog, the monster god of Britain. His voyage began after the people of Partholón had been destroyed by an unknown plague. Nemed arrived three decades after their disappearance, while the Fomorians still raged through the land.

The journey lasted eighteen months. Nemed and Macha eventually reached Ireland, where the Nemedians settled. Macha died soon after their arrival. Nemed named a height Ard Macha in her memory. The name means “the heights of Macha” and gave its name to Armagh in present-day Northern Ireland.

This Macha is Nemed’s wife. She is distinct from the other figures called Macha in Irish tradition. One Macha lived with the farmer Crunniuc and was forced to race while pregnant, dying after giving birth to twins. Another, Macha Mong Rua, or Red-Haired Macha, was a warrior who took power after her father’s death. Macha is also counted among the three Morrigna, the war goddesses. These figures are connected with Emain Macha, Ulster, and different strands of Irish myth.

Áed Ruad drowned in a waterfall. Macha Mong Ruad, his daughter, then attempted to take his place in the succession. Dithorba and Cimbáeth, her father’s colleagues and co-rulers, opposed her claim. Macha waged war against them. She killed Dithorba and defeated Cimbáeth, then joined herself to him through marriage.

Dithorba’s five sons escaped after their defeat. Macha pursued them and disguised herself as an ancient hag. The sons attempted to rape her, but she overcame all five. She brought them back to Emain Macha, where her warriors tried to execute them.

Macha chose another punishment. She forced Dithorba’s sons to dig the great earthworks later known as Navan Fort. The site contains a large artificial mound, several sacred wells, a racecourse, and other ritual places. Macha’s connection with Ulster and Emain Macha links her story with traditions of the Ulster Cycle. In this account, she fights to succeed her father as ruler of Ireland. Her victory over Dithorba and Cimbáeth gives her control of the succession, while her treatment of Dithorba’s sons establishes the earthworks associated with her name. The account presents her as a warrior woman who takes the throne after defeating those who opposed her claim.