ABSTRACT
Irish sagas set in the pre-Christian period feature some very masterful heroines, notably Medb, queen of Connacht, who has equal property and power with her husband, King Ailell, and leads a great army to invade the province of Ulster in the famous saga Táin Bó Cúailnge (the Cattle-raid of Cooley), from the Ulster cycle. This can give people the impression that women had greater freedom and control in pagan Ireland before the norms of Christianity redefined their role in society. However, there are two problems with this interpretation. First, most sagas were actually written between the ninth and the twelfth centuries or later, by Christian scribes adapting their rich inheritance of old traditions to suit the taste of their own times. Second, a number of their female protagonists, Queen Medb in particular, were based on goddesses or female symbols of sovereignty, whose extensive powers reflect their own supernatural attributes rather than the role of ordinary women at any date.
