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{{Short description|Figure of Irish mythology}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=October 2010}}
[[File:Myths and legends; the Celtic race (1910) (14760452906).jpg|thumb|"Tuan watches Nemed", an illustration of [[Tuan mac Cairill|Tuán]] watching the Nemedians arriving in Ireland, by [[Stephen Reid (artist)|Stephen Reid]] in T. W. Rolleston's ''Myths & Legends of the Celtic Race'', 1911]]
'''Nemed''' or '''Nimeth''' ({{langx|ga|label=[[Modern Irish]]|'''Neimheadh'''}})  is a character in medieval Irish legend. According to the ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'' (compiled in the 11th century), he was the leader of the third group of people to settle in Ireland: the ''Muintir Nemid'' (or ''Muintir Neimhidh'', "people of Nemed"), ''Clann Nemid'' (''Clann Neimhidh'', "offspring of Nemed") or "Nemedians". They arrived thirty years after the [[Partholón|Muintir Partholóin]], their predecessors, had died out. Nemed eventually dies of [[Plague (disease)|plague]] and his people are oppressed by the [[Fomorians]]. They rise up against the Fomorians, attacking their tower out at sea, but most are killed and the survivors leave Ireland. Their descendants become the [[Fir Bolg]].<ref name="Jones">{{cite web |title=Lebor Gabála Érenn: Book of Leinster redaction |url=http://maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor1.html |website=Corpus of Electronic Texts |publisher=Mary Jones |access-date=13 December 2019}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The word ''nemed'' means "privileged" or "holy" in [[Old Irish]],<ref>''[[Uraicecht Becc]]'' ("Little Primer") (transl. 1881).</ref> and "seems to have been a designation of a [[druid]]".<ref name="ohogain">Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth, Legend & Romance: An Encyclopaedia of the Irish Folk Tradition''. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p.&nbsp;318</ref> The reconstructed [[Proto-Celtic language]] root ''nemos'' means "sky" or "heaven". In the [[Celtic polytheism|ancient Celtic religions]] a [[nemeton]] was a [[place of worship]] (which included temples, shrines and sacred natural places).<ref name=Koch1350>Koch, John T. ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2006. p.&nbsp;1350.</ref><ref name=Green>Green, Miranda. ''The Celtic World''. Abdingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, 1996. p.&nbsp;448.</ref><ref name=Dowden134>Dowden, Ken. ''European Paganism: The Realities of Cult from Antiquity to the Middle Ages''. Abdingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2000. p.&nbsp;134.</ref> Similar roots are found in place names across [[Celts|Celtic culture]].<ref name=Green/> For example, there was a [[Nemetes]] tribe of the central [[Rhine]] area, who had a goddess [[Nemetona]].<ref name=Koch1350/>

== Legend ==
According to the ''Lebor Gabála'', Nemed, like those who settled Ireland before him, had a genealogy going back to the Biblical [[Noah]]. Nemed was the son of Agnoman of [[Scythia]], the son of Piamp, son of Tait, son of Sera, son of Sru, son of Esru, son of Friamaint, son of Jobhath, son of [[Magog (Bible)|Magog]], son of [[Japheth]], one of the [[sons of Noah]].

Ireland had been uninhabited since the Muintir Partholóin died of plague. The Muintir Nemid set sail from the [[Caspian Sea]] in 44 ships, but after a year and a half of sailing, the only ship to reach Ireland is Nemed's. In one version, the fleet come upon a tower of gold in the sea. They try to take the tower, but all the ships except Nemed's are wrecked by the waves.<ref name="ohogain"/> Also on board are his wife [[Macha]], his four chieftain sons (Starn, Iarbonel, Annind, and Fergus 'Red-Side'), their wives and others.<ref name="ohogain"/>

His wife Macha dies twelve days after they arrived and is buried at ''Ard Mhacha'' ([[Armagh]]). Two quite different dates are given for the arrival of Muintir Nemid: 2350 BCE, according to the ''[[Annals of the Four Masters]]''; or 1731 BCE in [[Seathrún Céitinn]]'s chronology.

Four lakes [[lake-burst|burst from the ground]] in Nemed's time, including [[Lough Ennell|Loch Annind]], which flowed up when Annind's grave was being dug. The other three lakes are [[Loughgall|Loch Cál]] in [[Oneilland|Uí Nialláin]], [[Lough Ramor|Loch Munremair]] in Luigne, and [[Lough Derravaragh|Loch Dairbrech]] in [[Kingdom of Meath|Mide]].

The Muintir Nemid clear twelve plains: Mag Cera, Mag Eba, Mag Cuile Tolaid and Mag Luirg in [[Connacht]]; Mag Seired in [[Tethbae]]; Mag Tochair in [[Tír Eoghain]]; Mag Selmne in [[Dál nAraidi]]; Mag Macha in [[Airgíalla]]; Mag Muirthemne in [[Kings of Brega|Brega]]; Mag Bernsa in [[Leinster]]; Leccmag and Mag Moda in [[Munster]].

They also build two royal forts: Ráth Chimbaith in Semne and Ráth Chindeich in Uí Nialláin. Ráth Chindeich was dug in one day by Boc, Roboc, Ruibne, and Rotan, the four sons of Matan Munremar. Nemed kills them before dawn the next morning.

Nemed wins four battles against the mysterious [[Fomorians]] (Fomoire). Modern scholars believe the Fomorians were a group of deities who represent the harmful or destructive powers of nature: personifications of chaos, darkness, death, blight, and drought.<ref name=macculloch>MacCulloch, John Arnott. ''The Religion of the Ancient Celts''. The Floating Press, 2009. pp.&nbsp;80, 89, 91</ref><ref>Smyth, Daragh. ''A Guide to Irish Mythology''. Irish Academic Press, 1996. p.&nbsp;74</ref> These battles are at Ros Fraechain (in which Fomorian kings Gann and Sengann<ref>Note that there were also two Fir Bolg kings called [[Gann mac Dela|Gann]] and [[Sengann mac Dela|Sengann]]</ref> are killed), at Badbgna in Connacht, at Cnamros in Leinster (in which Artur, Nemed's first son born in Ireland, dies), and at Murbolg in [[Dál Riata]] (where his son Starn is killed by the Fomorian [[Conand (mythology)|Conand]]).

However, nine years after arriving in Ireland, Nemed dies of plague, along with three thousand of his people. He is buried on the hill of ''Ard Nemid'' on [[Great Island]] in [[Cork Harbour]].<ref name="ohogain"/>

The remaining Muintir Nemid are oppressed by the Fomorians Morc and Conand, who lives in Conand's Tower, on an island off the coast. Each [[Samhain]], the Nemedians must give two thirds of their children, their corn and their milk to the Fomorians. This [[tribute]] may be "a dim memory of sacrifice offered at the beginning of winter, when the powers of darkness and blight are in the ascendant".<ref>MacCulloch, p.&nbsp;80</ref> After many years, the Muintir Nemid rise up against the Fomorians and attack Conand's Tower with 60,000 warriors (30,000 on sea and 30,000 on land), defeating Conand. Morc then attacks, and almost all of the Nemedians are either killed in the fighting or swept away by the sea. Only one ship of thirty men escapes.<ref name="ohogain"/>

Some of the survivors go "into the north of the world" and become the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]], some go to Britain and become the ancestors of all [[Britons (Celtic people)|Britons]], and some go south to Greece and become the [[Fir Bolg]].<ref name="ohogain"/>  The island would be empty for another 200 years.

The ''[[Historia Brittonum]]''—which is earlier than the ''Lebor Gabála''—says there were only three settlements of Ireland, with the Nemedians being the second. It says that the Nemedians came from [[Iberia]] and stayed in Ireland for many years, but returned to Iberia and the continent. The ''Lebor Gabála'' says that there were six settlements and classifies the Nemedians as the third group. The number may have been increased to six to match the "[[Six Ages of the World]]".<ref>[[Marie-Louise Sjoestedt|Sjoestedt, Marie-Louise]]. ''Celtic Gods and Heroes''. Dover Publications, 2000 [1949]. p.&nbsp;3</ref>

Irish mythology mentions another Nemed, namely ''Nemed mac Nama,'' who may or may not be the same as the Nemed mentioned in the ''Lebor Gabála''. This Nemed is described as a famous warrior king who raised two horses with the Fairy Folk of Síd Ercmon. When the horses were released from the Síd, a stream called ''Uanob'' ("Foam River") or ''Oin Aub'' chased them from the Síd and released foam over the entire land for a year. [[Cúchulainn]] later referred to this river thus: "Over the foam of the two horses of Emain am I come".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T106500D/index.html|title=The Metrical Dindshenchas}}</ref>

==Analysis==
[[Dáithí Ó hÓgáin]] writes that Nemed himself "is probably drawn from genuine tradition" and that his name (and his wife's name) suggests "he originally belonged to the context of the divine pantheon known as the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]]".<ref name="ohogain"/>  He notes that the clash between the Nemedians and Fomorians echoes the primordial clash between the Tuath Dé and Fomorians, commenting that "the medieval scholars were more concerned with devising a chronological pseudo-history than with avoiding duplication".<ref name="ohogain"/>

In one version of the ''Lebor Gabála'', the Nemedians are drowned while trying to take a golden tower at sea, while in the ''Historia Brittonum'' it is the [[Milesians (Irish)|Milesians]] who attack a glass tower at sea.<ref>[[John Carey (Celticist)|Carey, John]]. [https://sulis.ucc.ie/cdi/wp-content/uploads/textarchive/Carey_QuigginPamphletsI.pdf ''The Irish National Origin-Legend: Synthetic Pseudohistory''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426123429/https://sulis.ucc.ie/cdi/wp-content/uploads/textarchive/Carey_QuigginPamphletsI.pdf |date=26 April 2021 }}. [[Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge]], 1994. pp.&nbsp;5–6</ref> The Nemedians later battle the Fomorians at a tower by the sea, while the Tuath Dé battle the Fomorians at a place called the "plain of towers" or "plain of pillars" (the ''[[Cath Maige Tuired|Battle of Mag Tuired]]'').<ref>Ó hÓgáin, p.&nbsp;315</ref>

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Partholón]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Lebor Gabála Érenn|Mythical settlers of Ireland]]|years=[[Annals of the Four Masters|AFM]] 2350 BC<br />[[Seathrún Céitinn|FFE]] 1731 BC}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Fir Bolg]]}}
{{s-end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite web |first=John |last=O'Donovan (ed) (1848-1851) |title=Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters |volume=1 |url=http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100005A/index.html |publisher=ucc.ie}}
*{{cite web|last1=Keating|first1=Geoffrey|title=The History of Ireland|url=http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100054/index.html|website=CELT: The Corpus of Electronic Texts|publisher=University College Cork|access-date=21 March 2016}}
*{{cite book |last=MacKillop|first=James|title=Dictionary of Celtic Mythology|year=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-860967-4|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198609674.001.0001/acref-9780198609674}}
*{{cite web |last=Hull|first=Vernam|title=The Invasion of Nemed|year=119–123|url=http://www.ucd.ie/tlh/text/vh.mp.33.001.text.html}}

{{Celtic mythology (Mythological)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nemed}}
[[Category:Legendary Irish people]]
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[[Category:Mythological peoples]]
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