ORIGIN: Celtic [Irish]
TYPE: Collective name for the pantheon.
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Prehistoric times u ntil Christianization circa 400 CE.
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Various throughout Ireland, but chiefly Tara
ART REFERENCES: Various stone sculptures and reliefs.
LITERARY SOURCES: Books of Invasions; Cycles of Kings; Votive inscriptions.
INFORMATION: An association of deities probably going back to pretribal times. The deities include the Dagda, Lug, Gobniu, Nuadu Argatlam and others and represent a possibly nontribal hierarchy of the supernatural joined against a common foe, the powers of destruction and misfortune, the Formoire and the Fir Bolg who were allegedly an agricultural tribe from Greece. These were prehistoric invaders of Ireland who were defeated in two battles fought at Moytura.