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 ost of us seem to generally view our mythology as one large panorama of glorious wonder tales. We seldom consider the wide panoply of action and telling of the tale that must have taken centuries or perhaps millennia to unfold. We lack the ability to bring our Hero's of the past into any kind of historical context. Such a short-sighted view limits our understand of the marvelous mystery of our myth, and occludes much of the glory of our Irish Celtic heritage.
Of course, myth is generally vague by its' nature. Usually it embodies the stories of ostensibly historical events in a manner which attempts to describe the world view of a people in a specific period or explain cultural practices, beliefs (including religious) and natural phenomenon. Thus it is partially a product of bias on the part of its authors and even more subject to the bias of its reviewers. Over a period of time, when old and fading copies of manuscripts are being written in fresh intelligible print, the re-recording scribes could, and frequently did, make certain "corrections" of the original to fit their current belief system. Major alteration is especially apparent in the available recordings of Pre-Christian Irish myth. An early redaction might include "explanatory" glosses in the margin which, in a later redaction still, would become part of the body of text. Even worse, some scribes in their Christian zeal would alter the copy to reflect their own privately held convictions. Others eliminated material they disagreed with or worse, created new material that vastly altered the content. During the centuries that the Christian scribes were rewriting the myth, the old Pagan documents were being systematically destroyed. In his biography, "St. Patrick" is credited with the burning of 400 books at Tara. What the Christian zealots and the Viking raiders missed were systematically destroyed by the conquering Normans as they attempted to obliterate a culture and the literacy of its' people. The "myth" handed to us by the Monastic scribes tell us in glowing terms that St. Patrick entered a backward heathen land to bring the illumination of Christianity. The tales go on to tell us that in the matter of a few years, all Ireland was "Christianized," the snakes driven out and literacy was established. The facts are that Patrick invaded Ireland for revenge and personal gain with a well equipped army. The only converts were temporary and made at the point of a sword. Further, there is no hard evidence that Patrick ever traveled outside of the northern portion of the land. Additionally, there is considerable reference by noted travelers such as Aethicus, Pliny and others that Ireland possessed libraries of books and manuscripts in the 2nd century, three hundred years before Patrick's invasion. Finally, it is scientific fact that the only serpent to ever have inhabited Ireland is the Lacerta vivipara a lizard. However, in spite of their religious zeal, Monastic scribes were fascinated by the glorious tale of old, and to them we actually owe our gratitude for, in spite of their bias and their attempts at re-writing, they did keep the myth alive, though barely. Ireland's history was treated in much the same manner. |
