Ireland

Ireland's oldest monuments, such as the passage tomb at Newgrange (about 3200 BCE), are older than the pyramids of Giza. The island was never part of the Roman Empire, and its own laws, poetry and stories were passed on by learned classes of poets and judges.

After Christianity arrived in the fifth century CE, monks began writing those stories down. The Lebor Gabála Érenn, the "Book of Invasions," puts together a history of the peoples who took Ireland in turn, ending with the Tuatha Dé Danann and the sons of Míl.

Tales such as Cath Maige Tuired tell of the war between the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomorians, with Balor and his deadly eye. These stories are the Irish files on this site.