Lebor Gabala Erenn: the book of the taking of Ireland

by Robert Alexander Stewart Macalister

Lebor Gabála Érenn, known in English as The Book of Invasions, is a collection of poems and prose narratives in the Irish language intended to be a history of Ireland and the Irish from the creation of the world to the Middle Ages.

Genres: Poetry, History, Ireland, Mythology, Classics, Irish Literature

72 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1941

About the author

Macalister was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Alexander Macalister, then professor of Professor of Zoology, University of Dublin. His father was appointed professor of anatomy at Cambridge in 1883, and he was educated at The Perse School, and then studied at Cambridge University.

Although his earliest interest was in the archaeology of Ireland, he soon developed a strong interest in biblical archaeology. Along with Frederick J. Bliss, he excavated several towns in the Shephelah region of Ottoman Palestine from 1898 to 1900. Using advances in stratigraphy building on the work of Flinders Petrie, they developed a chronology for the region using ceramic typology. Upon Bliss' retirement, Macalister became director of excavations for the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) in 1901.


From 1902 to 1909 he was responsible for the excavations at Gezer, in the modern state of Israel, just west of Jerusalem. This was one of the earliest large-scale scientific archaeological excavations in the region. The Gezer calendar found there is a very early paleo-Hebrew calendrical inscription. However, in most respects Macalister's work in Biblical archaeology is considered to have been a failure due to the poor quality of his excavation techniques and his shoddy record-keeping[citation needed]. Because Macalister was the only professional archaeologist involved in the excavation, managing a project of such complexity was essentially an impossible task[citation needed].

Macalister left the field of Biblical archaeology in 1909 to accept a position as professor of Celtic archaeology at University College, Dublin, where he taught until his retirement in 1943. During this period, he worked at the ancient Irish royal site at the Hill of Tara and was responsible for editing the catalogue of all known ogham inscriptions from Great Britain and Ireland. Many of his translations of Irish myths and legends are still widely used today. He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 1910 and served as their president from 1926 to 1931. He was also president of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland from 1924 to 1928.

He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife Margaret A. M. Macalister.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._A....]

Reviews

[Lulu]

Mythological cycle

There are a number of versions, the earliest of which dates to the late 11th century (after c. 1072). a single anonymous scholar appears to have brought together these and numerous other poems and fitted them into an elaborate prose framework – partly of his own composition and partly drawn from older, no longer extant sources (i.e. the tochomlaidh referred to above by O'Curry), paraphrasing and enlarging the verse.

Macalister's version (which is hated & ridiculed by many modern scholars) is the closest thing to a coherent & consistent narrative.

[Ángel Espino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro imprescindible para conocer el origen mitológico de Irlanda. Se hace un poco farragoso al incluir todos los nombres de las tripulaciones mencionadas, así como los linajes de cada uno, pero la historia me encantó.

[Tessa]

This was an interesting read. I appreciated the poetic sections the most.