In Celtic mythology

Celtic mythology

Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...

, Ecne (Wisdom, Old Irish ecna, ecne, wise, enlightened) was one of the Tuatha Dé Danann

Tuatha Dé Danann

The Tuatha Dé Danann are a race of people in Irish mythology. In the invasions tradition which begins with the Lebor Gabála Érenn, they are the fifth group to settle Ireland, conquering the island from the Fir Bolg....

 and was the god of wisdom, or knowledge.

Ecne had three fathers, Brian

Brian (mythology)

In Goidelic mythology, and especially in Scotland, Brian was a pompous man who helped Cailleach rescue Deò-ghrèine. He was a son of Tuireann, and brother to Iuchar and Iucharba ....

, Iuchar

Iuchar

In Irish mythology Iuchar was one of the sons of Tuireann, of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and Danand. He and his two brothers Brian and Iucharba murdered Cian, the father of Lugh, one of the greatest of the Tuatha Dé Danann. They also dismembered his body and tried to cover up their crime...

, and Iucharba

Iucharba

In Irish mythology, Iucharba was one of the sons of Tuireann, of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and Danand. He and his two brothers Brian and Iuchar murdered Cian, the father of Lugh, one of the greatest of the Tuatha Dé Danann. They also dismembered his body and tried to cover up their crime...

, who were all sons of Brigid

Brigid

In Irish mythology, Brigit or Brighid was the daughter of the Dagda and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She was the wife of Bres of the Fomorians, with whom she had a son, Ruadán....

 and Tuireann

Tuireann

In Irish mythology, Tuireann was the father of Creidhne, Luchtaine and Giobhniu by Brigid.His other sons, by his daughter Danand, included Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba, who killed Lugh's father Cian...

, also known as Delbáeth

Delbáeth

In Irish mythology Delbáeth was the son of either Aengus or Ogma of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and Ethniu of the Fomorians. He succeeded his grandfather Eochaid Ollathair, aka the Dagda, as High King of Ireland. He was the father, by Ernmas, of the three eponymous Irish goddesses Ériu, Banba and Fodla...

. They are called the tri dee Donand, meaning the three gods of Danu

Danu (Irish goddess)

In Irish mythology, Danu is the mother goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann . Though primarily seen as an ancestral figure, some Victorian sources also associate her with the land.-Name:...

, which can also be read as the three gods of dán, or knowledge. Related attributes are personified as their descendants, and Wisdom is the son of all three.

For Ecne to be the son of three brothers also recalls the early Celtic practice of fraternal polyandry

Polyandry

Polyandry refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time. The form of polyandry in which a woman is married to two or more brothers is known as "fraternal polyandry", and it is believed by many anthropologists to be the most frequently encountered...

.

Ecne's three fathers killed Cian

Cian

In Irish mythology, Cían , son of Dian Cecht of the Tuatha Dé Danann, is best known as the father of Lug by the Fomorian princess Ethniu.He was born with a caul on his head, and was turned into a pig as a boy when struck by a druid's wand. Thereafter he could transform into a pig at will...

, the father of Lugh

Lugh

Lug or Lugh is an Irish deity represented in mythological texts as a hero and High King of the distant past. He is known by the epithets Lámhfhada , for his skill with a spear or sling, Ildánach , Samhildánach , Lonnbeimnech and Macnia , and by the...

, and Lugh's deadly revenge is recounted in The Fate of the Children of Tuireann

Tuireann

In Irish mythology, Tuireann was the father of Creidhne, Luchtaine and Giobhniu by Brigid.His other sons, by his daughter Danand, included Brian, Iuchar and Iucharba, who killed Lugh's father Cian...

.

In Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions, James Bonwick reports Ecne as female and as the goddess of poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

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