Mug Ruith

In Irish mythology, Mug Ruith (or Mogh Roith, "slave of the wheel") was a powerful blind druid of Munster who lived on Valentia Island, County Kerry. He could grow to enormous size, and his breath caused storms and turned men to stone. Wearing hornless bull-hide and a bird mask, he would fly. He had an ox-driven chariot in which night was as bright as day, a black, star-speckled shield with a silver rim, and a stone which could turn into a poisonous eel when thrown in water.

He was said to have been the student of Simon Magus, with whom he built a flying machine, the roth rámach or "oared wheel", and to have been the executioner who beheaded John the Baptist. He lived through the reign of nineteen kings. His powers and longevity have led some to conclude he was a euhemerised deity, and his powers and attributes suggest he may have been a solar or storm god.

In Lebor Gabála Érenn he is said to have died in the reign of Conmael, nearly two thousand years before Cormac's time.

In return for land in County Cork, he helped Fiacha Muilleathan, king of southern Munster, defeat the High King Cormac mac Airt, who was trying to impose taxation on his kingdom.

His daughter was Tlachtga, a powerful druidess, who gave her name to a hill in County Meath and a festival celebrated there.

Sources

• Seán Ó Duinn (translator) (1993), Forbhais Droma Dámhgháire: The Siege of Knocklong
• James MacKillop (1998), Dictionary of Celtic Mythology

External links

• A summary of the Siege of Knocklong – the story of Mug Ruith's battle against Cormac