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Queen Scotia was the daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh and died in the battle of Sliabh Mish between the Celtic Milesians and the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Quest for the Grave of Scotia, the Pharaoh’s Daughter Who Founded Scotland and Ireland

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A short distance from the bustling Irish town of Tralee in County Kerry there is an otherworldly looking glen which is known as Scotia’s Grave. According to Irish folklore, the glen was the location of a battle known as Sliabh Mish which took place between the Celtic Milesians and a supernatural race called the Tuatha Dé Danann (tribe of the gods).

Although it was the Milesians who were victorious in battle it was a triumph at the expense of their queen, Scotia, who is reputed to have been buried in the glen.

Who Was Queen Scotia?

Queen Scotia appears in a chronical called the Book of Leinster, a medieval Irish manuscript which was compiled in around 1160 AD. The book was compiled by an abbot named Áed Ua Crimthainn who deeply respected the traditions and history of Ireland, even when they were at odds with his views as a Christian or his reasonable beliefs as a well-educated man.

She is described as the daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh, the wife of a Greek king, and a contemporary of the Biblical Moses who allegedly cured her husband after he was bitten by a venomous snake.

Queen Scotia was the daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh. (Rama / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Queen Scotia was the daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh. (Rama / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Both Scotia and her husband King Gaythelos were exiled from Egypt for unspecified reasons during a time of great upheaval, and it is after this that they traveled to Europe where they founded both the Scots in modern day Scotland and the Gaels in Ireland. Scotia gave her name to the Scots and to Scotland and Gaythelos gave his name to the Gaels.

Scotia’s death in battle was supposedly the result of the pregnant woman attempting to jump a bank on horseback.

A Traditional Interpretation of the Myth of Scotia

The myth of Queen Scotia has traditionally been regarded by historians as entirely fictitious. It was recorded by an abbot at a time where people in Christian countries wanted to assert their ancient roots, and links to important Biblical figures. It is particularly noteworthy that Scotia’s husband was said to have been healed by Moses.

The site of Scotia’s Grave itself could be a way for a place so remote from the original locations in the Bible to steak a believable claim to having Biblical links. ‘Burial place of the wife of a man who once met Moses’ is vague enough to be believable and unremarkable enough that it does not warrant extensive investigation to verify it, while still referencing one of the more important figures in the Old Testament.

The glen where Queen Scotia’s grave is said to be. (John M / CC BY-SA 2.0)

The glen where Queen Scotia’s grave is said to be. (John M / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Although the myth of Queen Scotia (also Scota) is fantastical it is not out of the realms of possibility and controversial historian Ralph Ellis believes he has found evidence that Scotia really did exist.

The History of Egypt

Ellis claims the myth of Scotia does not originate in the Book of Leinster but far earlier, in a text called The History of Egypt (Aegyptiaca) written in 300 BC by a Greco-Egyptian author called Manetho. Evidence in Aegyptiaca may point to Scotia being an identity of Ankhesenamun, a daughter of Akhenaton and Nefertiti, and both half-sister and widow of Tutankhamen

According to Ellis, Ankhesenamun went on to marry a Pharaoh named Ay, whom he claims is actually Gaythelos. After Ay’s reign was cut short, the couple were sent in to exile where they made their way to Europe and settled in Iberia. Rather than Scotia herself making the journey to Ireland, Ellis believes it was her descendants who migrated, four generations after she settled in Iberia. Of course, this interpretation does not explain the existence of Scotia’s Grave or the references to Queen Scotia in Medieval Irish literature.

"Queen Scotia unfurls the sacred banner", illustration from an 1867 book of Irish history. (Nicknack009 / Public Domain)

"Queen Scotia unfurls the sacred banner", illustration from an 1867 book of Irish history. (Nicknack009 / Public Domain)

Archaeological Evidence?

Although Ellis’ bold claims are extremely controversial, he is not the only one to find evidence the myth may be at least partially true. Lorraine Evans, who studied Egyptology at one of the world’s top universities, also believes the myth of Queen Scotia cannot be entirely debunked.

She points to the remains of an ancient boat found in Yorkshire, which is of a type found in the Mediterranean at around the time the myth is set, as just one piece of archaeological evidence proving a link between Egypt and ancient Britain and Ireland.

Signpost of Scotia’s grave by-road, south of Tralee. (Fenitharbour / Public Domain)

Signpost of Scotia’s grave by-road, south of Tralee. (Fenitharbour / Public Domain)

It is often the case that myths and legends have a kernel of truth at their core and there is no reason the story of Scotia should be any different. The legend may have grown up around the desire to find links to Biblical figures but if you strip back the layers it becomes more plausible. Maybe Scotia didn’t ever meet Moses and maybe she was not an exiled Egyptian queen. Perhaps, if she was real, she was just an extraordinary woman who made an exceptional journey across continents almost 4000 years ago.

Top image: Queen Scotia was the daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh and died in the battle of Sliabh Mish between the Celtic Milesians and the Tuatha Dé Danann. Source: Fernando Cortés / Adobe.

By Sarah P Young

References

Atkinson, R. 1880. The Book of Leinster, sometimes called the Book of Glendalough. Royal Irish Academy Facsimile edition.
Ellis, R. 2006. Scotia: Egyptian Queen of the Scots. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Evans, L. 2001. Kingdom of the Ark. Pocket Books
Koch, J. 2006. Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO.
Lydon, J. 1998. The Making of Ireland: From Ancient Times to the Present. Routledge.
Stair na hÉireann. 2016. Queen Scotia – from Egypt to Ireland. [Online] Available at: https://stairnaheireann.net/2016/03/21/queen-scotia-from-egypt-to-ireland/
The Scotsman. 2006. The pharaoh’s daughter who was the mother of all Scots. [Online] Available at: https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/the-pharaoh-s-daughter-who-was-the-mother-of-all-scots-1-466985
Waweru, N. 2018. Queen Scotia, the Egyptian pharaoh’s daughter who became the mother of modern-day Scotland. Face2Face Africa. [Online] Available at: https://face2faceafrica.com/article/queen-scotia-the-egyptian-pharaohs-daughter-who-became-the-mother-of-modern-day-scotland

 

Comments

GlynHnutuhealh's picture

Scotia is more anciently known as Scota.  Scota and Scotia are the names given to the mythological daughters of two different Egyptian pharaohs in Irish mythology, Scottish mythology, and pseudohistory.  Though legends vary, all agree that a Scota was the ancestor of the Gaels, who traced their ancestry to Irish invaders, called Scotti, who settled in Argyll and Caledonia, regions which later came to be known as Scotland after their founder.  Edward J Cowan traced the first mention of Scota in literature to the 12th century.  Scota appears in the Irish chronicle Book of Leinster (containing a redaction of the Lebor Gabála Érenn).  However, a text found in the 11th-century Historia Brittonum contains an earlier reference to Scota.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scota

Tuatha Dé Danann (tribe of the gods) is an incorrect translation.  Tuatha Dé Danann means People of Danu.

Danu is the most ancient of the Celtic gods.  She was referred to as the mother of the Irish gods, which indicates that she was a mother goddess.  In this guise she probably represented the earth and its fruitfulness.  Many place names in Ireland are associated with her, most notable the Paps of Anu in Kerry, which resemble the breasts of a large supine female, part of the land.  She is the ‘beantuathach’ (farmer), which reinforces the fertility aspect of the goddess.  Rivers are associated with her, and represent the fertility and abundance in a land.  There is a suggestion that Danu might have had dual characteristics, one being the beneficent, nurturing mother goddess, and another being the strong, malevolent side of the warrior goddess.  The root “dan” in ancient Irish means art, skill, poetry, knowledge, and wisdom.

Not many stories of the goddess Danu survive, but there are several allusions to her that help us to piece together her personality.  She is associated in one story with Bile, the god of light and healing. Bile was represented as a sacred oak tree that was fed and nurtured by Danu. This union resulted in the birth of Daghdha.  The strength and stability of this male figure needed the nurturing nature of the land in order to flourish.

She is most associated with the Tuatha Dé Danaan, the people of the goddess Danu.  These were a group of people, descended from Nemed, who had been exiled from Ireland, and scattered.  It is thought that Danu offered them her patronage, under which they succeeded in rebanding, learning new and magical skills, and returning to Ireland in a magical mist.  The mist is thought to be the loving embrace of Danu herself.  She is seen as having influenced them, nurturing these broken people back to strength, and imparting magic and esoteric wisdom to them.  The Tuatha Dé Danaan are the clearest representatives in Irish myth of the powers of light and knowledge. In this story we can identify aspects of the nurturing mother goddess, the teacher imparting wisdom, as well as the warrior goddess who does not give up.

The Tuatha Dé Danaan were associated with Craftsmanship, music, poetry and magic, as was Danu herself.  Danu was clearly a very powerful and fundamental earth goddess, from which all power, wisdom and fecundity of the land poured forth.  She was a wisdom goddess of Inspiration and intellect (In this case she is very similar to the goddess Brigit, who is thought to be the same goddess with a different title).  She was also a teacher, as she passed many of her skills on to the Tuatha Dé Danaan.  She also had aspects of the warrior goddess. In Danu we find traces of the triple goddess, so commonly associated with Irish goddesses.

https://bardmythologies.com/danu/

Just so you know, 1160 AD is the wrong denotation for AD dates.  It is correctly stated as AD 1160.  It derives from the original meaning of AD as Anno Domini (in the year of Our Lord).  Therefore it goes before an AD date, not after.  Thank you.

 

Bible to steak a believable claim

Was likely meant to be

To stake the claim.

As in put stakes in the ground to claim land

Seems to me that the myths should be taken seriously as likely having a kernel of truth. The fact that there is a country called Scotland makes you ask where that name came from, and we may always discover new facts as things get dug up in future times ! I take the view that we cannot simply mock concepts that some try to fit into so-called 'expert' timeframes - there are way too many things that they simply refuse to admit are not understood. If they don't know they will simply bury the fact, put it into the museum's basement, and pretend their story of the facts still stands. If someone had predicted Gobekli Tepe's discovery they would have been sneered at - now that site's 12,000 yr age is something they simply cannot explain by the usual story !

Sarah P Young's picture

Sarah P

Sarah P Young is undertaking her masters in archaeology, specializing in early human behavior and in particular evidence of interaction between humans and Neanderthals. She hopes to continue her studies further and complete a doctorate.

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