User:Patrick Brown

The account of this former contributor was not re-activated after the server upgrade of March 2022.

"The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be."
Douglas Adams

I was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1969, and with a few breaks have lived there ever since. For several years I researched, wrote and maintained the Ulster Cycle website, currently bring reconstructed here, collecting the stories from this fascinating series of stories from Irish heroic legend. From there I developed interests in other mythologies, early Irish and British history, and from Roman Britain to Roman history generally. I'm also a cartoonist, with interests in illustration and comics art, and my webcomics, including the current one, The Cattle Raid of Cooley, an adaptation of the Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, can be seen here.

Contributions

Classical history and mythology

•  Achilles: Greek hero who fought and died in the Trojan War. ^[e]
•  Actaeon: Legendary hunter in Greek myth, killed by the goddess Artemis after he saw her naked. ^[e]
•  Acusilaus: Ancient Greek historian and mythographer. ^[e]
•  Asclepiodotus of Alexandria: Pagan Greek Neoplatonist philosopher. ^[e]
•  Cassius Asclepiodotus: Bithynian nobleman with influence in the courts of the Roman emperors Nero and Galba. ^[e]
•  Asclepiodotus of Heraclea: Macedonian commander of a contingent of Gauls in the Third Macedonian War of the 2nd century BC. ^[e]
•  Julius Asclepiodotus: A Roman praetorian prefect who served under the emperors Aurelian, Probus and Diocletian and was consul in 292. ^[e]
•  Asclepiodotus of Lesbos: Ally of Mithridates VI of Pontus in his wars against the Romans in the 1st century BCE. ^[e]
•  Asclepiodotus (physician): A physician, mathematician and musician of the late 5th century AD, who was best known for promoting the medicinal uses of white hellebore. ^[e]
•  Asclepiodotus (Stoic): A Greek Stoic philosopher of the 1st century BCE. ^[e]
•  Boudica: Queen of the British Iceni who led a revolt against the Roman occupation in AD 60 or 61. ^[e]
•  Carausius: Roman officer of Gaulish origins who declared himself emperor of a short-lived breakaway empire in Britain and Gaul in the 3rd century. ^[e]
•  Julius Caesar: Roman general and politician who conquered Gaul, won a civil war, and was assassinated in 44BC. ^[e]
•  Cunobelinus: British king of the early 1st century AD. ^[e]
•  Aulus Didius Gallus: Roman senator, general and engineer of the 1st century BC, who governed Sicily and Britain and was curator of Rome's aqueducts. ^[e]
•  Mamurra: Roman military officer and engineer who served under Julius Caesar. ^[e]
•  Lucius Cornelius Merula (consul 87 BC): Politician and priest of the late Roman Republic. ^[e]
•  Venutius: A 1st century king of the Brigantes of northern Britain. ^[e]

Comics and illustration

•  Eddie Campbell: (born Glasgow, 10 August 1955) A Scottish-born comics artist who lives in Australia, best known as the illustrator of Alan Moore's Jack the Ripper graphic novel From Hell. ^[e]
•  Comics: A graphic medium where information is conveyed through pictorial images, or by a combination of images and text. ^[e]
•  Charles Keeping: 20th century British illustrator and children's author ^[e]
•  Mike McMahon: British comics artist, best known for his work on 2000 AD. ^[e]
•  Alan Moore: British comics writer best known for Watchmen, V for Vendetta and From Hell. ^[e]

Early Irish history and mythology

•  Cairpre Nia Fer: A legendary prehistoric Irish king ^[e]
•  Conaire Mór: Legendary prehistoric High King of Ireland, surrounded by contradictory traditions. ^[e]
•  Conall Cernach: A hero of the Ulaid in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. ^[e]
•  Conn Cétchathach: Legendary prehistoric Irish king, said to be the ancestor of many important medieval dynasties. ^[e]
•  Connacht: Western province of Ireland. ^[e]
•  Connachta: A group of early Irish dynasties who gave their name to the province of Connacht. ^[e]
•  Cormac mac Airt: Legendary prehistoric Irish king famed for his just judgements, counted as an ancestor of many medieval dynasties. ^[e]
•  Cú Chulainn: The teenage hero of the Ulaid in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, sometimes referred to as "the Irish Achilles" for his choice of a short but glorious life. ^[e]
•  Curadmír: The "champion's portion", an early Irish literary motif, paralleled by ancient Celtic customs, whereby warriors contended at feasts for the right to the best cut of meat. ^[e]
•  Eochu Feidlech: According to medieval Irish legends and historical traditions, a High King of Ireland of the 1st or 2nd century BC. ^[e]
•  Fian: An early Irish paramilitary institution, according to which groups of landless young men would live apart from society by hunting and banditry. ^[e]
•  Ireland, protohistory: The period between prehistory and true Irish history, when foreign literate cultures are taking notice of Ireland, and native literacy is beginning to develop. ^[e]
•  Irish Mythological Cycle: A body of early Irish literature which includes origin stories and tales of the supposed gods of pre-Christian Ireland. ^[e]
•  Irish mythology: The remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Irish, preserved in altered form in Christian times. ^[e]
•  Labraid Loingsech: Legendary prehistoric Irish king, considered the ancestor of the Laigin of Leinster. ^[e]
•  Laigin: A population group of early Ireland who gave their name to the province of Leinster. ^[e]
•  Lug mac Ethlenn: Evident deity from Irish mythology, perhaps equivalent to the Roman Mercury. ^[e]
•  Medb: Legendary queen of the Connachta and antagonist of the Ulster Cycle. ^[e]
•  Morrígan: Apparent goddess from Irish mythology, associated with war, death, cattle and prophesy. ^[e]
•  Niall Noígiallach: Legendary and probably historical Irish king of the 5th century, and eponymous ancestor of the Uí Néill dynasties. ^[e]
•  Nuadu Airgetlám: Silver-handed Irish mythological hero and apparent deity, related to the Romano-British god Nodens. ^[e]
•  Táin Bó Cúailnge: "The Cattle Raid of Cooley", central epic of the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. ^[e]
•  Ulaid: A people of prehistoric and early historical Ireland, who gave their name to the province of Ulster. ^[e]
•  Ulster: The northernmost of the four provinces of Ireland. ^[e]
•  Ulster Cycle: A body of early Irish heroic sagas set in prehistory during the reign of Conchobar mac Nessa over the Ulaid. ^[e]

Others

• Britain, history: Add brief definition or description
•  Geoffrey of Monmouth: Add brief definition or description
•  Great Britain: Add brief definition or description
•  Nodens: Add brief definition or description