Page 23 - Demo

Chapter One 23
ships, that their leader ‘Míleadh’, died before they set out, and that his wife queen Scotia, and her sons led the expedition. They landed in two separate parties, one at Inbhear Scéine, Kenmare Bay in county Kerry, the other on May Ist, or Bealtainne, at the estuary of the Boyne at Inbhear Colptha, or as it is known today, Baltray in county Louth, and that they de- feated the Dé Dananns in two great battles. Part of the story of the coming of the Milesians also refers to a Milesian prophesy which foretells that descendants of Milesius would one day reside in a country not inhabited by snakes!
In any case, our most ancient writers agree that the Milesians, in their irst expedition to Ireland were accompanied by a druidic harper, astronomer and warrior-poet named Am- hairghin /Amergin. One of the eight sons of Milesius, Amergin who had the epithet Glúngeal- he of ‘the Fair or Bright Knee,’ a noted scholar and astronomer, was reputed to have been the irst Milesian to set foot upon the soil of Ireland. It is maintained that once ashore he chanted the irst poem or lay ever composed in Ireland: known as Amergin’s Challenge it is also sometimes called The Mystery. Hence, his name Amhairghin mac Míleadh (Amhair meaning sing- ing, Ghin giving birth) a clear indication that in ancient Irish mythology he was regarded as the originator of the arts of song, poetry and music
Of ancient Irish poetry, the world renowned Celtic scholar Kuno Meyer wrote: “what- ever may be its intrinsic merit, its importance as the earliest voice from the dawn of west European civilization cannot be denied”, while Douglas Hyde maintained that this particu- lar poem which comes from Leabhar Gabhala, The Book of Invasions, may well be the oldest surviving lines of any vernacular tongue in Europe except Greece. According to the an- cient chroniclers, Amergin is buried at Millmount, on the south bank of the river Boyne in Drogheda, county Louth.
Here then, as the old people used to say, ‘in all its full throated ease’, is the oldest re- corded Irish poem-Amergin’s Challenge.
Duan Amhairghine
Am gáeth tar na bhfarraige Am tuile os chinn maighe Am dord na daíthbhe
Am damh seacht mbeann Am drúchtín rotuí ó ngréin Am an fráich torc