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The Mythological Cycle is a conventional division within Irish mythology, concerning a set of tales about the godlike peoples said to have arrived in five migratory invasions into Ireland and principally recounding the doings of the Tuatha Dé Danann.〔 "..principal family of euhemerized pre-Christian Deities".〕 It is one of the four major cycles of early Irish literary tradition, the others being the Ulster Cycle, the Fenian Cycle and the Cycles of the Kings.〔, loc. cit.〕 The term "Mythological Cycle" seems to have gained currency with Arbois de Jubainville, c. 1881-1883; usage predating this applies the term generically, e.g. to Norse mythology.〔The Irish form (アイルランド語:na Scéalta Miotaseolaíochta) given on (focal.ie ) has rarely if ever been used in any publication.〕 In the opinion of Mackillop (1998), use of the term is "somewhat awkward today".〔 "Somewhat awkward today, the phrase 'Mythological Cycle' was coined to describe those early stories that, in the absence of a Celtic cosmology, deal most with origins and the discernible remnants of pre-Christian religion; its first usage pre-dates the currency of 'Celtic Mythology'"〕 == Overview == The characters appearing in the cycle are essentially gods from the pre-Christian pagan past in Ireland. Commentators exercising caution, however, qualify them as representing only "godlike" beings, and not gods. This is because the Christian scribes who composed the writings were generally (though not always) careful not to refer to the Tuatha Dé Danann and other beings explicitly as deities. The disguises are thinly veiled nonetheless, and these writings contain discernible vestiges of early Irish polytheistic cosmology .〔, loc cit.〕 Examples of works from the cycle include numerous prose tales, verse texts, as well as pseudo-historical chronicles (primarily the ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' (LGE), commonly called ''The Book of Invasions'') found in medieval vellum manuscripts or later copies. Some of the romances are of later composition and found only in paper manuscripts dating to near-modern times (''Cath Maige Tuired'' and ''The Fate of the Children of Tuireann''). Near-modern histories such as the Annals of the Four Masters and Geoffrey Keating's ''History of Ireland'' (=Seathrún Céitinn, ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'') are also sometimes considered viable sources, since they may offer additional insights with their annotated and interpolated reworkings of LGE accounts. Orally transmitted folk-tales may also be, in a broad sense, considered mythological cycle material, notably, the folk-tales that describe Cian's tryst with Balor's daughter while attempting to recover the bountiful cow Glas Gaibhnenn. The god-folk of the successive invasions are "euhemerised", i.e., described as having dwelt terrestrially and ruling over Ireland in kingship before the age of mortal men (the Milesians, or their descendants).〔, "The Tuatha De Danann, also, after having been with visible body, sole masters of the earth, assume in a later age invisibility, and share with men folk the dominion of the world"〕 Afterwards, the Tuatha Dé Danann are said to have retreated into the sídhe (fairy mounds), cloaking their presence by raising the ''féth fiada'' (fairy mist).〔, the story of the assigning by Mananán of the sidhe to individual TDD is found in the tale ''Altrom Tighe Dá Medar''. But cf. De Gabáil in t-Sída (cited below). The LGE explains away the magic fog as smoke from the ships the TDD burnt upon arrival.〕 Having disappeared but not died, the deities oftentimes make "guest appearances" in narratives categorized under other cycles. (e.g., Lugh's appearance as the divine father and Morrígan as nemesis to the Ulster hero Cuchulainn;〔Lugh appears in the Compert Con Cúlainn, the Great Queen in the Táin Bó Cúailnge proper and possibly, under a different moniker, in the ''Táin Bó Regamna''.〕 encounters of Finnian characters with dwellers of the sidhe; Cormac mac Airt's, or his grandfather's visits to the otherworldly realms.) Collected #lore literature, while they do not belong to the cycle in entirety, nevertheless capture tidbits of lore about the deities. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mythological Cycle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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