The Táin (Cú Chulainn)

Irish epic · c. 1100 CE · Myth / Legend · Celtic / Irish · Medieval

Queen Medb of Connacht raises an army to take the great brown bull of Cooley, and the men of Ulster lie helpless under an ancient curse. Only the seventeen-year-old Cú Chulainn is exempt, and he holds a ford alone, taking the invaders in single combat day after day. The boy-warrior monstrous in his battle-frenzy; Ireland's oldest epic and its most quoted.

Open The Táin (Cú Chulainn) in the archive — filters, lineage graph and full facet browsing.

Lineage

• ↓ Ulysses
  James Joyce · 1922 CE · Novel — alludes to this

Attributes

Closest analogues

• The Iliad
  Homer · c. 750 BCE · Poem

  71% · 14 shared
  EpicWarWar & ViolenceDuty & HonorFame & GloryHeroGlory / FameThe BeastBloodvs Personvs Fate / GodsMythicEpicTragic
• The Battle of Maldon
  Anonymous · c. 1000 CE · Poem

  65% · 13 shared
  EpicWarWar & ViolenceDuty & HonorFame & GloryMedievalHeroBloodThe Rivervs Personvs Fate / GodsEpicTragic
• The Song of Roland
  Anonymous · c. 1100 CE · Poem

  58% · 12 shared
  EpicWarWar & ViolenceDuty & HonorFame & GloryMedievalHeroGlory / Famevs Personvs Fate / GodsEpicTragic
• The Book of Dede Korkut
  Anonymous · c. 1400 CE · Poem

  57% · 11 shared
  EpicWar & ViolenceDuty & HonorFame & GloryMedievalHeroThe Beast WithinOvercoming the Monstervs PersonMythicEpic
• The Epic of King Gesar
  Tibetan oral epic · c. 1200 CE · Poem

  54% · 11 shared
  EpicWar & ViolenceDuty & HonorFame & GloryMedievalHeroOvercoming the Monstervs Personvs Fate / GodsMythicEpic
• Beowulf
  Anonymous · c. 1000 CE · Poem

  53% · 11 shared
  EpicDuty & HonorFame & GloryMedievalHeroOvercoming the MonsterGlory / FameThe Beastvs PersonMythicEpic