THE FIR BOLG.

The Nemedians who settled in Greece prospered and multiplied; but once more they were oppressed, this time by the Greeks, which suggests they were, perhaps, more Scythian than Greek.

They were persecuted by the Greeks who feared they might rebel against their government so eventually they returned to Ireland in a great fleet. They came in three groups known as the Fir Bolg, the Fir Domhnann and the Gaileoin and landed without opposition.

They gathered their forces later at Uisneach in County Meath, divided the country into five provinces and introduced the kingship and the concept of its sacred character to Ireland.

It is significant that the Fir Bolg are the first of the Labor Gabála invaders with a definite place in history, however uncertain that place might be. The Gaileoin are identified with the Laighin, the tribe who gave their mane to Leinster(Laighean), and the Fir Domhnann of Connacht are no doubt related to the Dumnonii of Cornwall in Britain and the Damnonii of Scotland.

T.F. O'Rahilly links the Érainn, a historical people, with the Fir Bolg and further asserts that they were in origin an off shoot of the Belgae of Continental Europe.