Míl Espáine

Míl Espáine, Mílid Espáine, Míl Espáne, Míl Easpáine, Míle Easpáin, Míled, Mílead, Míleadh, Miles, Mille Easpain [Ir., soldier of Spain; cf. L miles Hispaniae]. Eponymous founder of the Milesians, final mythic invaders of Ireland in the Lebor Gabála [Book of Invasions], and fictional ancestor of the Irish people. Born with the name Golam or Galam, Míl bore a distinguished pedigree, tracing his line through Bile, grandfather Breogan, twenty more Irish names, and thirteen Hebrew names back to Adam. Although his usual name, Míl Espáine (clearly a title), links him with Spain, descriptions of his early career place him in Scythia, a region the subject of much fanciful speculation in early Irish literature. His service initially so pleases the king of Scythia that Míl is made army commander and marries the king's daughter Seang, who bears him two sons, Donn and Erech Febria, before dying an early death. Discovering a plot against him, Míl murders Seang's father and flees from Scythia in sixty ships to Egypt. There he serves Pharaoh Nectanebus as army commander in a successful war against the Ethiopians; on this point the authors of the Lebor Gabála had studied their sources, as there are indeed two pharaohs of the Thirtieth Dynasty named Nectanebus, 380–363 BC and 360–343 BC. Míl marries the Pharaoh's daughter Scota (1) [L, Irish-woman], who bears him two sons while in Egypt, Éber Finn and Amairgin (1); a third son, Ír, is born near Thrace, and a fourth, Colptha, is born on an island in the Mediterranean. Remembering the druid Caicer's prophecy that he and his people would settle in Ireland, Míl departs from Egypt and sails west. But hearing that Spain is menaced by villains, he stops in his homeland and triumphs in many battles. Some time later Míl dies of unspecified causes, never reaching Ireland himself. His kin who do reach Ireland include his uncle Íth, his wife Scota [Irish woman] (1), and many of his sons. The number of sons attributed to him ranges as high as thirty-two, counting his by-blows from adventures in Spain and Scythia, but the most conventional number is eight, a distinction he shares with the Welsh Cunedda. Disregarding their mothers, his most important sons are Éber and Éremón, who later divide Ireland between themselves, and then Ír, Donn, Colptha, Amairgin (1), Erech Febria, and Erannán. See also TUATHAL TECHTMAR.