What is the name of the Irish epic about the cattle raid of Cooley?
Answer
Táin Bó Cúailnge
What is the name of the Irish epic about the cattle raid of Cooley? It is the Táin Bó Cúailnge.
The Táin Bó Cúailnge, often shortened to The Táin, is the central epic of the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Its title is commonly translated as “The Cattle Raid of Cooley” or “the driving-off of the cows of Cooley.”
The story begins when Queen Medb of Connacht tries to obtain the great bull Donn Cuailnge so that her wealth will equal that of her husband, King Ailill. Their campaign against Ulster is complicated by a supernatural debility affecting the province’s warriors, leaving the young hero Cú Chulainn as the principal defender.
The work survives in medieval manuscripts and combines prose with passages of verse, a form called prosimetrum. It is sometimes compared with the Iliad because of its heroic warfare, legendary champions, and large-scale conflict, though the comparison is modern rather than an ancient classification.