差分

マッハはトゥアハ・デ・ダナーンのエルンマスの娘で、多くの初期文献に登場する。マッハは姉妹である「[[バズヴ]]とモルリグ、その名はアナンド」と一緒に語られることが多い<ref name=LGE-62,64>''[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html Lebor Gabála Érenn §62, 64] , https://web.archive.org/web/20100715225248/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html, 15 July 2010</ref>。この3人（名前は様々）は、戦争に関連する三重の女神とされることが多い<ref>James MacKillop, ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology'', Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 281–282</ref>。レカンの黄色い本に保存されている中世の写本から13世紀に編纂されたO'Mulconry's Glossaryは、マッハを「3つのモリグナ（[[モリガン]]の複数形）の一つ」とし、「マッハのマスト」と呼ばれるMesrad Machaeは「虐殺された人間の頭」を指すとしている。MS H.3.18に収録された同解説では、マッハと[[バズヴ]]を同一視し、戦いを仕掛ける3人を「鴉の女」と呼んでいる<ref>Angelique Gulermovich Epstein, ''War Goddess: The Morrígan and her Germano-Celtic Counterparts'', September 1998, pp. 49–52.</ref>。キーティングは彼らを明確に「女神」と呼んでいるが<ref>Geoffrey Keating, ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'' [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/text021.html 1.11]</ref>、中世アイルランドの伝統は、キリスト教以前の宗教の痕跡をすべて取り除くことに熱心であった。マッハは、フォモールとの戦いでバロールに殺されたと言われている<ref name=LGE-60,62,64>''[http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html Lebor Gabála Érenn §60, 62, 64] , https://web.archive.org/web/20100715225248/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html, 15 July 2010 </ref><ref name=stokes>Whitley Stokes (ed & trans), ''[http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T300011.html The Second Battle of Moytura]'', p. 101</ref>。

Macha Mong Ruad ("red hair"), daughter of [[Áed Rúad]] ("red fire" or "fire lord" – a name of [[the Dagda]]), was, according to medieval legend and historical tradition, the only queen in the [[List of High Kings of Ireland]]. Her father Áed rotated the kingship with his cousins [[Díthorba]] and [[Cimbáeth]], seven years at a time. Áed died after his third stint as king, and when his turn came round again, Macha claimed the kingship. Díthorba and Cimbáeth refused to allow a woman to take the throne, and a battle ensued. Macha won, and Díthorba was killed. She won a second battle against Díthorba's sons, who fled into the wilderness of [[Connacht]]. She married Cimbáeth, with whom she shared the kingship. Macha pursued Díthorba's sons alone, disguised as a [[leper]], and overcame each of them in turn when they tried to have sex with her, tied them up, and carried the three of them bodily to [[Ulster]]. The Ulstermen wanted to have them killed, but Macha instead enslaved them and forced them to build [[Emain Macha]] (Navan Fort near Armagh), to be the capital of the [[Ulaid]], marking out its boundaries with her brooch (explaining the name ''Emain Macha'' as ''eó-muin Macha'' or "Macha's neck-brooch").<ref>Eugene O'Curry, ''Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History'', 1861, [https://www.google.com/books?id=li02AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA527&vq=macha Appendix No. XXXVIII]</ref> Macha ruled together with Cimbáeth for seven years, until he died of plague at Emain Macha, and then a further fourteen years on her own, until she was killed by [[Rechtaid Rígderg]].<ref>Geoffrey Keating, ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'' [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/text037.html 1.27]-[http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/text038.html 1.28]</ref><ref>''Annals of the Four Masters'' [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100005A/text017.html M4532]-[http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100005A/text018.html 4546]</ref> The ''Lebor Gabála'' synchronises her reign to that of [[Ptolemy I Soter]] (323–283 BC).<ref>R. A. Stewart Macalister (ed. & trans.), ''Lebor Gabála Érenn: The Book of the Taking of Ireland Part V'', Irish Texts Society, 1956, pp. 263–267</ref> The chronology of Keating's ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'' dates her reign to 468–461 BC, the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' to 661–654 BC.