To celebrate the 200th episode of the Live Irish Myths series, we held a special quiz night on Zoom. If you missed it, why not try your hand at the 100 questions that were asked in the quiz? Here are all one hundred questions. See how many you can get right.
The winners of our quiz were as follows: First prize, Carol Barrett; second prize, Peter Kennedy; third prize, Joan McHugh. First prize is a Kerb 67 pendant made by Tom King, An Gobha. Second prize is a €50 voucher for Mythical Ireland. Third prize is a 2023 Mythical Ireland calendar.
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| 1 What is the name of the Irish Minister for Heritage? (Also for Housing and Local Government) |
| 2 One of the old names for Newgrange is Síd in what? Síd in BLANK. Fill in the blank. |
| 3 The excavations of Newgrange and Knowth began in the same year. What year was that? |
| 4 The famous Tara High King Niall Naoígiallach was Niall of the how many Hostages? |
| 5 In Tochmarc Étaín, the jealous Fuamnach turned Étaín into a fly. What colour was the fly? |
| 6 In August, in the company of Tom King, I discovered that what cairn/mountain in Sligo is visible from Cairn S at Loughcrew? |
| 7 There are two standing stones at Baltray in Co. Louth. One is oriented to winter solstice sunrise, which coincides with which islands? |
| 8 What happened at 8.47pm on Tuesday 10th July 2018? |
| 9 According to Lebor Gabála Érenn, the Book of Invasions, who was the first person to arrive in Ireland? |
| 10 What famous Biblical character was she related to? |
| 11 The white quartz stones at Newgrange are said to have been brought to the monument from where? |
| 12 In what year was the Mythical Ireland website established? |
| 13 Who is the author of the book Thirty-Two Words for Field? |
| 14 In what year was St. Patrick said to have lit the Paschal Fire in Ireland? |
| 15 And where did he light it? |
| 16 Who was the High King of Tara when the fire was lit? |
| 17 Who led the excavations of Knowth at Brú na Bóinne? |
| 18 My book about Newgrange, first published in 2012, was called 'Newgrange: what?' (three words). |
| 19 What does the word 'Neolithic' mean? |
| 20 What era came immediately before the Neolithic, according to archaeologists? |
| 21 The river Boyne rises in which county? |
| 22 Most of the river Boyne's course is situated in which county? |
| 23 What prominent monument in Drogheda is believed in local folklore to be part of the Brú na Bóinne complex? |
| 24 What famous bard is said to be interred beneath its great mound? |
| 25 The destruction of whose hostel was the subject of a four-part Live Irish Myths series? |
| 26 Who was the healer or physician of the Tuatha Dé Danann? |
| 27 What was the name of the great monster said to have been slain and dismembered at Newgrange? |
| 28 According to the Dindshenchas, how many heads did the monster have? |
| 29 What was the name of the boy who killed the hound of Culainn? |
| 30 Who excavated the Fourknocks mounds in the 1950s? |
| 31 Who began the excavations of the Mound of the Hostages at Tara but did not complete them because he passed away? |
| 32 How many kerb stones does Newgrange have? |
| 33 How many kerb stones did Knowth originally have? (Hint: Three are missing) |
| 34 What type of stone are most of the kerbs of Newgrange made of? |
| 35 Where did these stones come from? (Hint: It's the name of a modern fishing village) |
| 36 The best-known of the cairns at Slieve na Calliagh, Loughcrew, is aligned towards sunrise on what days? |
| 37 What is the name of the cairn? |
| 38 Who excavated some of the Loughcrew cairns in the 1860s? |
| 39 Who was said in myth to have formed the Loughcrew cairns by dropping stones from her apron? |
| 40 What is the highest passage-tomb in Northern Ireland? |
| 41 What astronomical event does its passage point to? |
| 42 What monuments does its passage point to? One or other or both will do. |
| 43 Who is the legendary Scottish warrior woman who trained Cúchulainn? |
| 44 In Tochmarc Étaín, what implement was Elcmar wielding atop Síd in Broga when Oengus Óg visited? |
| 45 At what time of year did this visit occur? |
| 46 What was the name of the pool in the River Boyne in which the Salmon of Knowledge was caught? |
| 47 Who caught the Salmon of Knowledge? |
| 48 What was the original name of the boy who helped him cook it? |
| 49 Who was the American artist and researcher who wrote The Stars and the Stones, later reprinted as The Stones of Time? |
| 50 In what year was the Brú na Bóinne complex inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage site list? |
| 51 Whose labourers "rediscovered" the passage and chamber of Newgrange in 1699? |
| 52 Who was given ownership of the mound of Cleitech after being evicted from Síd in Broga / Newgrange? |
| 53 By what name in local folklore was the large satellite mound of Newgrange, Mound B, known? |
| 54 What feature of the night sky is Bealach/Bóthar na Bó Finne? |
| 55 According to my own theory, what constellation of the night sky is the Newgrange chamber modelled on? |
| 56 What is the name of Oengus's lover in the tale Aislinge Oengusso? |
| 57 Where was Oengus Óg fostered for the first years of his life? |
| 58 Who was he fostered by? |
| 59 Who were the parents of Oengus? |
| 60 The king who ordered the building of Dowth was Bresail Bó-Dibad. What does Bó-Dibad mean? |
| 61 How many bulls and cows were left after the cattle famine of his time, according to myth? |
| 62 What does Dowth's name - Dubhadh - mean in English? |
| 63 What happened to bring the endless day to an end in the Dowth myth? |
| 64 What was unusual about the DNA profile of the man called NG10 (buried in Newgrange 5,200 years ago) whose genome was sequenced in 2020? |
| 65 Who led the excavations of some of the cairns at Carrowkeel, Co. Sligo, in 1911? |
| 66 His friend and co-excavator Robert Lloyd Praeger wrote which book? |
| 67 What is the oldest Neolithic monument in Ireland that we have a date for? |
| 68 What was unusual about the DNA profile of a boy interred there? |
| 69 Newgrange is a name derived from the Cistercian presence in the area. In what year was Mellifont Abbey founded? |
| 70 In what year was the Treaty of Mellifont signed? |
| 71 What war came to an end as the result of the signing of the treaty? |
| 72 Who was Earl Tyrone, one of the signatories? |
| 73 Which English Royal did he submit to? |
| 74 What was unusual about her condition at the time the treaty was signed? |
| 75 A giant megalithic monument at Carnbeg, near Dundalk, was recorded by antiquarian Thomas Wright in 1748. By what name do archaeologists call this monument? |
| 76 Can you visit this monument today? |
| 77 The monument was described by historian Henry Morris as a "school of WHAT"? |
| 78 Which well-known photographer and archaeological researcher recently discovered megalithic art on one of the stones of Grange Stone Circle, Lough Gur? |
| 79 In 2018, the Georgian country house at Dowth Hall, which was built in the 18th century for the Netterville family, was found to have been built on top of what? |
| 80 The OPW runs visitor services at the Brú na Bóinne monuments. What does OPW stand for? |
| 81 In 1999, I discovered the winter solstice alignment of the Baltray Standing Stones with two others. Name one of the others. |
| 82 Who is the famous Irish storyteller who caused a road to be rerouted around a fairy tree? |
| 83 Which really bright star would have been visible from the chamber of Newgrange when it was built? |
| 84 Which planet was said in folklore to be visible in the chamber of Newgrange once every eight years? |
| 85 Name two of the four mysterious objects said to have been brought to Ireland by the Tuatha Dé Danann |
| 86 Two of what animal were kept in Newgrange by Dagda, one cooking on a spit and the other fattened for the slaughter? |
| 87 The two bulls in the Irish saga Táin Bó Cuailnge are Donn Cuailnge and BLANK. Name the white bull. |
| 88 Who were the first Milesian kings who divided Ireland into two territories, one ruling the north and the other the south? |
| 89 Who was the foster-mother of the god Lúgh? |
| 90 Which constellation appears to "carry" the sun across the sky at summer solstice? |
| 91 Which High King of Tara was gifted the Silver Branch brought from the otherworld by Manannán mac Lir? |
| 92 According to the annals, who raided the tombs of Brú na Bóinne in the 9th century AD? |
| 93 The archaeologist who excavated Newgrange was Michael J. O'Kelly. By what first name was he known to family and friends? |
| 94 Which friend of Mythical Ireland wrote the books 'A Legacy of Wisdom' and 'Call to Crone'? |
| 95 Name the husband and wife team who excavated at Newgrange Farm and Beaubec monastery in recent years |
| 96 Who did the Tuatha Dé Danann defeat at the Second Battle of Moytura? |
| 97 Who was the leader of their enemies? |
| 98 What giant cairn sits atop the mountain of Knocknarea in Co. Sligo? |
| 99 Give the names of the two men who are The Prehistory Guys. |
| 100 Apart from kerb 1, which two other kerb stones at Newgrange are heavily decorated? |
I will provide the answers in a separate blog post!