GALICIA, SPAIN
Breogan, son of Brath, was a mythical king in Galicia. In Gallaic, the Galician language, his name was Briganos Maccos Brattae. He was the mythic father of the Galician nation. His sons were Ith and Bile (Belenus). Galicia is sometimes poetically described as “the home of Breogan,” as in the Galician anthem Os Pinos.
The Book of the Taking of Ireland, which is also known as The Book oj Conquests and The Book of Invasions, is a compilation of Gaelic legends made in the eleventh century. According to this book. King Breogan built a colossal tower in the city of Brigantium, so high that from the top his sons could see a distant green shore. The sight of that distant green shore lured them to sail off to the north toward it. In this way they reached Ireland, where they were met by the ancient tribe who lived there, the Tnatha de Danann. The Tuatha were hostile. They ambushed the Galicians and succeeded in killing Ith. It was some decades later that one of Breogan’s grandsons, the nephew of Ith, Mil Espaine, took revenge on the Tuatha de Danann. He invaded Ireland, with the intention of defeating them and taking their island for himself; he would settle there.
This story is mostly told in the final chapter of the book, where we hear of the Sons of Mil who, according to Irish myth, were the last wave of invaders.
A very similar story was written in the ninth or tenth century in Galicia. The manuscript is entitled Trezenzonii de Solistitionis Insula Magna, “Trezenzon the Monk and the Great Island.” This has a monk seeing a distant green island from the top of the high tower of Brigantia.
World History
