Nemed

Nemed, Nemed mac Agnomain, Nemhedh, Neimheadh, Nemedius [cf. OIr. neimed, holy, sacred; privilege, sanctity]. Eponymous leader of the Nemedians, third mythic invaders of early Ireland, according to the pseudo-history Lebor Gabála [Book of Invasions]. A Scythian descended from the biblical Magog and son of Japheth, Nemed landed in Ireland with only his wife Macha (1), four sons and their wives, and twenty others. Macha died after twelve years and was buried at Ard Macha [Armagh], which in this text is named for her. Another wife is named Cera. Three of his sons are Fergus Lethderg, Iarbonél the soothsayer, and Starn. After building his fortress at Rath Chinneich in south Armagh in one day, he slaughtered the scions who helped him lest they build a better one for someone else. Nemed led his people in three victories over the hated Fomorians, after which the Fomorians made vassals of them, exacting heavy tribute. Nemed died of the plague on Ard Nemid, now called Great Island, in Cork Harbour; tradition implies that Ard Nemid commemorates Nemed, but T. F. O'Rahilly (1946) asserts that the place-name derives from Nemed's shadowy namesake Nemed mac Sroibcinn.

Bibliography

See Vernam E. Hull , ‘The Invasion of Nemed’, Modern Philology, 23 (1935), 119–23.