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Scotia's Grave or Scota's grave is a large natural boulder located just south of Tralee in County Kerry beside the Finglas rivulet. It marks what is reputed to be the grave of a daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh known as Scota.[1] The traditional name of the location is Glenn Scoithin, 'vale of the little flower'. "Scoithin here is obviously a diminutive of Scota, and the 't' being aspirated, it proves that the name 'Sgota' meant, as heretofor suggested, not 'Scythian woman', but was the Gaelic synonym for Rosa or Flora, usual names of women."[2]
According to medieval Irish mythology Scotia, wife of the former Milesius and mother of six sons, was killed in battle with the legendary Tuatha Dé Danann on the nearby Slieve Mish mountain. Scotia had come to Ireland to avenge the death of her husband, the King who had been wounded in a previous ambush in south Kerry.
She was an accomplished horsewoman, but, while pregnant, attempted to jump a bank that would not normally have presented a problem. However, the extra mass of her pregnancy caused her to fall and die.
References
- ^ Friel, Maeve Here Lies: A Guide to Irish Graves Poolbeg, 1997 ISBN:1853717134 p. 156
- ^ Keating, Geoffrey; John O'Mahony; Michael Doheny Foras feasa ar Eirinn do reir an athar seathrun ceiting, ollamh re diadhachta. The history of Ireland, from the earliest period to the English invasion P.M. Haverty, New York, 1857 p.202 [1]
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