Women in Irish mythology

thumb|A painting of Deirdre in A book of myths (1915), by Helen Stratton Deirdre ( , ; ) is a tragic heroine in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. She is also known by the epithet "Deirdre of the Sorrows" ().

thumb|Scáthach, illustrated by Beatrice Elvery, from Heroes of the Dawn, 1914 Scáthach () or Sgàthach () is a figure in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. She is a legendary Scottish warrior woman and martial arts teacher who trains the legendary Ulster hero Cú Chulainn in the arts of combat. Texts describe her homeland as Scotland (Alpeach); she is especially associated with the Isle of Skye, where her residence Dún Scáith ("Fortress of Shadows") stands. She is called "the Shadow" and "Warrior Maid" and is the rival and sister of Aífe, both of whom are daughters of Árd-Greimne of Lethra.

thumb|Painting of Aoife by John Duncan (painter)|John Duncan ' (Old Irish), spelled ' () in Modern Irish and Scots Gaelic, is a character from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. She appears in the sagas Tochmarc Emire ("the wooing of Emer") and Aided Óenfhir Aífe ("the death of Aífe's only son"). In Tochmarc Emire she lives east of a land called Alpi, usually understood to mean Alba (Scotland), where she is at war with a rival woman warrior, Scáthach. In Aided Óenfhir Aífe she lives in Letha (the Armorican peninsula), and is Scáthach's sister as well as rival – they are both daughters of Árd

female figure in Irish mythology

Cessair or Cesair (, meaning 'sorrow, affliction') is a character from a medieval Irish origin myth, best known from the 11th-century chronicle text Lebor Gabála Érenn. According to the Lebor Gabála, she was the leader of the first inhabitants of Ireland, arriving before the Biblical flood. The tale may have been an attempt to Christianise an earlier pagan myth.

thumb|Illustration of Sadhbh by Arthur Rackham, 1910

In Celtic mythology, Carman (Carmán) or Carmun was a warrior and sorceress from Athens who tried to invade Ireland in the days of the Tuatha Dé Danann, along with her three sons, Dub ("darkness"), Dother ("evil") and Dian ("violence"). She used her magical powers to destroy all the fruit of Ireland.

Bláthnat ("Little flower"), sometimes Bláthíne, is a character in early Irish literature, a king's daughter, wife of the warrior Cú Roí and the lover of his rival Cú Chulainn.

Fúamnach, or Fuamnach, is Midir's first wife and a witch of the Tuatha Dé Danann in the medieval Irish text Tochmarc Étaíne ("The Wooing of Étaín"). The text describes her as being intelligent (gáeth), cunning (trebar) and "versed in the knowledge and power of the Túatha Dé Danand", explaining that her fosterfather had been the wizard druid Bresal Etarlám. She is said to be of the progeny (clann) of Béothach son of Iardanél, who is probably identical with Béothach son of Iarbonel, the father of the Túatha Dé Danann in the Lebor Gabála Érenn.

Creidne was a woman warrior of the Fianna in Irish mythology. She became the champion of a warrior band after fleeing from an incestuous relationship with her father, which produced three sons.