Texts
How Samson slew the Gesteda
Incoming data
The catalogue entry for this text has not been published as yet. Until then, a selection of data is made available below.
Late Middle Irish tale in which Jewish traditions about Samson are combined with Greek traditions about the Trojans. Ferann na nGeisteda, the homeland of the pagan Gesteda in the tale, has been identified as a reference to the Land of Goshen in Egypt.
Manuscript witnesses
Text
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS D iv 2
incipit: [R]o boi ri amra for geistedhaibh .i. Cainnill a ainm ... Ro scrib iarsin in sacart .i. Neimias in scel sin ina n-altaib na nEbraidhi co mairenn fos isna lebraib amal atclos
ff. 69(61)vb.i, 70(62)r–v, 71(77)ra.i
Sources
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
[ed.] Meyer, Kuno [ed.], “Mitteilungen aus irischen Handschriften. VI. Aus dem Stowe MS. D. 4. 2. [fo. 61 b 2] and [fo. 64 b 2]”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 4 (1903): 467.
Internet Archive: <link>
First line only, followed by a summary of the text.
Secondary sources (select)
Borsje, Jacqueline, “Human sacrifice in medieval Irish literature”, in: Jan N. Bremmer (ed.), The strange world of human sacrifice, Leuven: Peeters, 2007. 31–54.
UvA Digital Academic Repository – eprint: <link>
44–45
