Nia Segamain, son of
Adamair, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a
High King of Ireland
High King of Ireland ( ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and was later sometimes assigned anachronously or to leg ...
. He took power after killing his predecessor,
Conall Collamrach.
Geoffrey Keating
Geoffrey Keating (; – ) was an Irish historian. He was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, and is buried in Tubrid Graveyard in the parish of Ballylooby-Duhill. He became a Catholic priest and a poet.
Biography
It was generally believed unt ...
says his mother was the presumed woodland goddess
Flidais of the
Tuatha Dé Danann
The Tuatha Dé Danann (, meaning "the folk of the goddess Danu"), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"), are a supernatural race in Irish mythology. Many of them are thought to represent deities of pre-Christian Gaelic ...
, whose magic made wild
does give milk as freely as domesticated cattle during his reign. He ruled for seven years, until he was killed by
Énna Aignech. The ''Lebor Gabála'' synchronises his reign with that of
Ptolemy VIII Physcon
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II Tryphon (, ''Ptolemaĩos Euergétēs Tryphōn'', "Ptolemy the Benefactor, the Opulent"; c. 184 BC – 28 June 116 BC), nicknamed Physcon (, ''Physkōn'', "Fatty"), was a king of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. He was ...
in
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
(145–116 BC). The chronology of Keating's ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'' dates his reign to 226–219 BC, that of the ''
Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...
'' to 320–313 BC. His name means "sister's son or champion of Segamon", and is perhaps related to
Segomo, an ancient
Gaul
Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
ish deity equated in Roman times with
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
and
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
. A slightly more historical Nia Segamain occurs in early
Eóganachta
The Eóganachta (Modern , ) were an Irish dynasty centred on Rock of Cashel, Cashel which dominated southern Ireland (namely the Kingdom of Munster) from the 6/7th to the 10th centuries, and following that, in a restricted form, the Kingdom of De ...
pedigrees, and this is sometimes interpreted as evidence for the Gaulish origins of the dynasties.
Francis John Byrne
Francis John Byrne (1934 – 30 December 2017) was an Irish historian.
Born in Shanghai where his father, a Dundalk man, captained a ship on the Yellow River, Byrne was evacuated with his mother to Australia on the outbreak of World War II. A ...
, ''Irish Kings and High-Kings'', Four Courts Press, 2nd revised edition, 2001
See also
*
Deirgtine
*
References
Legendary High Kings of Ireland
3rd-century BC legendary monarchs
Irish regicides
Usurpers
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