 cessair or cesair (spelt ceasair in modern irish; anglicized kesair) is a character from the lebor gabÃ¡la Ãrenn, a medieval christian pseudo-history of ireland. according to the lebor gabÃ¡la, she was the leader of the first inhabitants of ireland, before the biblical flood."cesair 1," a dictionary of celtic mythology. james mckillop. oxford university press, 1998 the tale may be an attempt to christianize an earlier pagan myth, but may alternatively be the product of post-conversion pseudohistory. ==overview== according to the lgÃ, cessair was daughter of noah's (non-biblical) son bith and his wife birren. in some versions of the tale, noah tells them to go to the western edge of the world to escape the oncoming flood. in other versions, when their people are denied a place on noah's ark, cessair tells them to make an idol to advise them. this idol tells them to escape the flood by sailing to ireland. they set out in three ships and reach ireland after a long journey. however, when they attempt to land, two of the ships are lost. the only survivors are cessair, forty-nine other women, and three men: fintan mac bÃ³chra, bith and ladra. they land in ireland at dÃºn na mbarc (on bantry bay) forty days before the flood, in age of the world 2242annal 2242 [the annals do not attempt to ascribe bc dates to these events.] according to the annals of the four masters, or 2361 bc according to seathrÃºn cÃ©itinn's chronology. the women are shared out evenly among the men. each also takes one as his primary wife: fintÃ¡n takes cessair, bith takes bairrfhind and ladra takes alba. however, bith and ladra soon die (ladra becoming the first man buried in ireland). fintÃ¡n is left with all the women but is unable to cope and so he flees. when the flood comes, fintÃ¡n is the only one to survive. he becomes a salmon and later an eagle and a hawk, living for 5,500 years after the flood, whence he becomes a man again and recounts ireland's history. according to legend, cessair died at cÃºil ceasra(ch) in connacht and a cairn, carn ceasra(ch), was raised over her body. it has been said that this cairn is near boyle in county roscommon, or alternatively that it is cnoc meadha in county galway (lynch, 2006). an earlier version of the tale, apparently found in the cÃ­n dromma snechtai, says that it was banba who first came to ireland with her two sisters, three men and fifty women.koch, john t.. celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia. abc-clio, 2006. p.165 banba, fÃ³dla and Ãriu were a trio of land goddesses and their husbands were mac cuill (son of hazel), mac cecht (son of the plough) and [[mac
Ancient_Irish_women Flood_myths Gaelic-language_given_names Irish-language_feminine_given_names Irish_feminine_given_names Mythological_cycle