THE PARTHOLÓN, or PARTHOLÓNIANS.

According to Lebor Gabála the first invasion of Ireland after the Deluge was led by Partholón, a descendant of Magog, son of Japhet. His tribe fought a great battle with the Fomor, a race of demonic beings, and finally won possession of Ireland. his race instituted many crafts and practices for the first time(including the making of ale and beer!) and established legal suretyship.

The Rev. Geoffrey Keating quotes other manuscript sources to assert that Partholón as his name suggests, was of Greek origin and that he slew his mother and father in order to obtain the crown and prevent his elder brother's succession to the throne.

According to Keating, in his monumental work Forus Feasa ar Éirinn:
"…the vengeance of God overtook the inhuman parricide and destroyed sometime after nine thousand of the posterity of his colony by the pestilence: they were carried off…and buried at Binnéadir (Howth, near Dublin).