Caspian Sea, near Baku
Author: Roya Mehralizade. Source: Pixabay
Only 30 years later, a certain Nemed, his spouse Relbeo, daughter of the ‘king’ of Greece (according to Ó Cléirigh’s), and his people set foot on the island of Ireland. Compared to his ancestor Aitech, he is of the 9th generation. But where did Nemed come from? And why Ireland?
Nemed came from Scythia, in which he exercised an authority that is not specified in the Book. His point of departure was the Caspian Sea. At that time it was possible to sail between the Caspian Sea and the Cimmerian (Black) Sea. Nemed’s fleet consisted of thirty ships (between one thousand eight hundred and three thousand people). It is said to have strayed into the ‘Cod Sea’ (the North Atlantic?) to such an extent that it took one and a half years to reach Ireland.
For the rest, the reasons for this departure from Scythia are not specified. As Partholon was Nemed’s great-great-uncle, one or more of his ships may have sailed regularly between Ireland and Scythia. In this case, Scythia had not heard from Partholon for 30 years.
Nemed landed in Ireland. The Fomoraig did not occupy the island (probably because of their unsuitability for agriculture). But they occupied a fortified place on a promontory and were led by a certain Conaing, son of a Fomoraig ruler from Britain. So, before clearing plains, Nemed began to build ‘raths’, circular fortified ditches in the middle of which the Scythians built their habitats.
The confrontation with the Fomoraig is inevitable. Two Fomoraig kings come to Conaing’s aid. Despite numerous setbacks, Nemed is almost winning when a ‘plague’ (strangely reminiscent of the one that exterminated the Partholon population) takes the lives of him and three thousand of his subjects. And the surviving Scythians submit.
Tired of a long servitude (about 160 years), the descendants of the Scythians, whom we will call the Nemedians (for ease of reading), send an embassy to the descendants of Nemed’s Greek in-laws. And the Greeks are happy to come to the rescue. We can state that we are around 700 BC, several centuries after the Trojan War. And at that time, the Greek warriors may have needed action. So they charter a fleet of three hundred ships and there are thirty thousand of them (…) when they land in Ireland.
Afterwards, there is little suspense, although the Fomoraig put up a good fight. The Greeks sack the Fomoraig’ fortified place and the Nemedians return the honours and release them from their obligations. The Greeks set sail again with most (if not all) of the booty. And the Nemedians deal with their dead, who still litter the floor of the ancient fortress of Fomoraig.
But a fleet is pointing out to sea and it is not the Greek fleet but that of the Fomoraig’s ruler, More (that is his name). The Nemedians, who have lost many men, find themselves greatly outnumbered and defend the port at all costs to prevent Fomoraig from deploying. But the events do not end there. A violent storm arises and sweeps away the entire Fomoraig fleet (except for More’s ship). And it also sweeps away all the men who were fighting on the shore, except for thirty Nemedians. The Book explains that the ruler More was so thirsty for revenge that he did not put his fleet under cover and this forced all the protagonists on the shore to continue the fight.
For the thirty survivors, this is too much. They have paid too heavy a price on this land of Ireland, and they decide to leave it. As the three remaining leaders could not agree on the destination, they split into three groups. The first group will sail to Greece, the second will land on islands in northern Greece and the third will sail to the island of Britain, the land of the Fomoraig. The third group’s destination seems reckless (even unconscious) but the destruction of the Fomoraig ruler’s fleet could reinforce this bold choice. We can also specify that this group is led by Britan (Britain, Ó Cléirigh’s Breotan) and Fergus Red-Side, his father, two accomplished warriors.