The History of Princess Scota (ESI 1999)

= Irish history records the story about Scota, the daug= hter of Pharaoh of Egypt who arrived in the southern part of Ireland between 4,000 and 3,5= 00 years ago. She took on the trade route, sailing in search of the new world.= She travelled to Spain from the Delta, by mean= s of an Egyptian ship. She settled in the country of Kerry (south-western part o= f Ireland= ) and married Milesius and gave him eight sons. =

Milesius, an invader from Spain, came to Ireland to conquest the ancient tribes and to take the kingdoms from Tuatha-De-Danaans. MacCuill, Mac Ceacht and Mac Greine fou= ght in a long bloody battle about three miles from Tralee. Not only did the Danaan princes die in the battle of Tr= alee but also Scota the warrior Queen of the invader= s was also killed. It seems that her sons Heremon and= Heber were the only surviors of = Milesius ruling family and that they divided the country between them. One took the north and the other the south. Then they inevitably qu= arrelled and Heber was slain.

Scota is buried on the sloped mountains in view o= f Tralee Bay at a place call= ed Glenscoheen (Scota's Glen= n). Irish archaeologists have not yet carried out any investigation on the site, which consists of woodland and natural rocks. The Ordnance Survey of Ireland has shown the actual location of the burial of Scota.

= Other references records;<= br> The Shell Guide to Ireland, J. Mitchell (1989)

.......Alias Scota's Glen; a bogus ogham inscription and a flagstone marks Scota's grave. Scota according to a pedantic fiction wa= s the widow of Milesius whose people - the prehistoric Gaelic invaders of I= reland, waged a great battle with the mythological Tuatha De Danaan at the foot of Slieve Mish. Scota and another Mi= lesian princess Fais were among the slain.

On Ireland The Land and the People - Tour One, Donald Cowie (1994)

= ........ The road continued to Tralee, and on the way a visit can be ma= de to Scots's Glen. Thousands of years ago according to tra= dition but nothing else, the Milesius came from Spain h= eaded by their fierce Queen Scota maybe daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh. Her name eventually christened Scotland, some of whose inhab= itants may similarly have descended from those early invaders. The nature and magi= cal Danaans of Ireland were utterly defeated by the Milesius in a battle at the foot of these Slieve Mish mountains but = Scota herself lost her life and was buried here, pres= umably under a flagstone that is still shown.

= Please see -<= span style=3D'font-family:Arial'> The History of th= e Kingdom of Kerry published= in 1890, which refers to this story.

= It is stated here that there is a great tradition in Kerry of both written and or= al accounts and the earliest mention of this story appears the "Annals of t= he Four Masters" (compiled at a Franciscan monastery in Donegal by Franciscan friars).=

"The age of the world 3500. The fleet of the sons of Milidh came t= o Ireland= at the end of this year, to take it from the Tuatha-De-Dannan= s, and they fought the battle of Sliabh Mis with them on the third year after landing. In this battle fell Scota, the daughter of Pharaoh, wif= e of Milidh; and the grave of Scota is (to be seen) between Sliabh Mis and the sea. Therein also fell Fas, the wife of Un, son of Uige= , from whom is (named) Glenn-Faisi. After that th= e sons of Milidh fought a battle at Tailtenn, against the three kings of the Tuatha-De-Dannans, Mac Cuill, Mac Ceacht, = and Mac Greine. The battle lasted a long time, until Mac Ceacht fell by Eiremhon, = Mac Cuill by Eimhear, and Mac= Greine by Amhergin".=

= In the "Chronicum Scotorum" the same account is given but in greater detail.

"Milidh, son of Bile, proceeded then from Spain to Scythia to Egypt, after the slaying of <= span class=3DSpellE>Reflor, son of Neman (as = it is found in the Invasions of Erinn); and understan= d not that it was soon after the death of Nel in Egyp= t, but many years, indeed, after, after it, that Milidh departed from Scythia, after the slaying of Reflor, contending for the sovereignty of Scythia. His great fleet consisted of one hundred ships, as the vellum relates from which this copy has been drawn; fifteen families in each ship, and soldiers without wives in it besides. Th= ey remained three months in the island of Taprobane (now Sri Lanka). Three months more, also, they were on the Red Sea, until they came to Phara= oh, the king of Egypt. They remained eight years with Pharaoh in <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Egypt, where they propaged their various arts and various actions. Scota's Pharaoh's daughter, married Milidh, son of Bile. After that Milidh went with his host on the great sea (and Scota, Pharaoh's daughter, along with him), past the = island of Taprobane, in which they stayed a month. They rowed afterwards round Scythia to the "= ;Inbher" of the Caspian Se= a. The remained three nomada motionless on the Caspian Sea, through the chanting of mermaids, unti= l Caicher, the druid, rescued them. They voyaged afterw= ards past the point of Sliabh Rife, from the north, = until they landed in Dacia. They stayed a month there. Caicher, the druid, = said to them, "we shall not stay until we reach Erinn<= /span>".

They subsequently passed by Gothia, by Germany, to Bregaun, until they occupied Spain. It was uninhabited on = their arrival. They remained there thirty years, and fought fifty-four battles against Frisians, and Longobards, and Backru; and they were all gained by Milidh, son of Bile. For the right of Spain these battles were fought, and hence he was called "Milidh of Spain". And it was in it Milidh's two s= ons, Eremon and h-Erennan, wer= e born. These were the two youngest. The two eldest were Donn<= /span> and Ebhir; for in the east, in Scythia, Donn was born, and Ebhir = in Egypt.<= o:p>

Twelve families died of the plague in one day i= n Spain, = together with their three kings, viz, Milidh, son of Bile, Uige, and Oig= e. Forty-seven families and four soldiers went with the sons of Milidh, and with Scota, P= haraoh's daughter, on the sea to Erinn. They subsequently proceeded to land in Erinn at Inbher Slaini. They sailed round = Erinn thrice, until they finally came to Inbher Sgene. Erenan, the younge= st of Milidh's sons, went up into the mast to see how far t= hey were from land. He was drowned there, so that his limbs were severed on the rocks, and, in dying, his head was placed on his mother's breast and gave f= orth a sigh. "No wonder" said his mother "Er= enan's going between two Inbhers; but he reached not t= he Inbher to which he came; he separated from the Inbher from which he came". In that day there wa= s a terrible storm, and the ship which was Donn, so= n of Milidh, with fifty men, twelve women, and four soldie= rs, was cast away, so that they were drowned at the Dumach= a in the western sea called Tech n-Duinn, on Thur= sday, the kalends of May, on the 17th of the moon. The fleet of the sons of Milidh occupied Erinn at Inbher Sgene, and the wife of Aimergin<= /span> Gluingel, i.e. Sgene Davilsir, died there, and her grave was made there; h= ence it was called Inbher Sgene= . Erannan's grave was placed on the other side. T= he third day after the occupation of Erinn by the = sons of Milidh, they fought the battle of Sliabh Mis against demons= and Fomerians, and the sons of Milid= h gained it, and they assumed the sovereignty of Erinn very soon afterwards.

= The above relates to the written tradition but what of oral tradition?

The grave of Scota = still remains, and has been pointed out from age to age by unlettered country fol= k, who knew nothing about written records and whose orally transmitted knowled= ge is their tithe of evidence to the great events of long past ages. The grave lies between Slieve Mis and the sea at Glenscoheen, in the townland of Clahane, in the parish of Annagh and the borony of Troughan= acmy.

Fas = the wife of Un also died in Kerry in the valley of Gleann Faisi, now called Glenafaish. Don= n and his companions were shipwrecked in Kenmare Bay (Inver Sceine); and still Irish speaking people= will show you a range of rocks which they call Teach-Dhoinn= or Donn's house.

D. Breslin.

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