Nightbringer | The Arthurian Online Encyclopedia

Daghdha

‘Great God’

Daghdha was an earth and father god and one of the two greatest kings of the Tuatha dé Danann. He owned a harp that played by itself and that could invoke the seasons, a wondrous cauldron of plenty called Undry, and a massive club, one end of which brought death to the recipient of the blow, while the other would restore a dead person to life.

With a name meaning ‘Great God’, the Daghdha was destined, if only by name, to become the greatet of all Irish gods, although the description is principally meant to signify that he was not simply the master of one trade, but more a godly ‘Jack of all trades’ and master of all of them.

His principal association appears to have been with the Druids as the god of wisdom, a primal father deity of enormous power, combining elements of the sky father, war god and a chthonic fertility deity with those of a powerful sorcerer. His attributes of a club and and a cauldron are potent spiritual and magical icons to the Celts.

These two primal and pagan magical implements were later to resurface in the Arthurian legends, having been much refined, as the Holy Grail and the Lance of Longinus.


See also
Longinus’ Spear | The Legend of King Arthur
Tuatha dé Danann | Myths and Legends