Emain Macha

The seat of the Ulaid

In the tales of the Ulster Cycle, Emain Macha is the court of Conchobar mac Nessa, home of the Red Branch warriors and the place from which the young Cú Chulainn sets out. Its name is explained in more than one way: as 'the twins of Macha', from the story of Macha's race, or from a Macha who marked out the fort with her brooch.

Macha's curse

In the tale Noínden Ulad ('The Debility of the Ulstermen'), Macha, a woman of the otherworld, lives with a farmer who boasts at the king's assembly that his wife can outrun the king's horses. Though she is heavily pregnant, she is made to race; she wins, gives birth to twins at the finish, and curses the men of Ulster to suffer the pains of childbirth for days in their time of greatest need. That curse explains why, in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, the Ulstermen lie helpless as Medb's army invades, and only Cú Chulainn can defend the province.

The archaeology

Navan Fort is a large ringed enclosure on a drumlin west of Armagh. Excavations found a remarkable structure of about 95 CE: a circular building of rings of posts, filled with stones, then deliberately burned and covered with a mound, apparently a ritual act. A Barbary ape skull from the site shows long-distance contacts. The site was a royal and ritual centre long before the tales were written down, but it cannot be tied to any individual in them.