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50 free Celtic Mythology trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Celtic mythology survived mostly by accident. The Gauls' gods vanished with their language, so what we have comes from Ireland and Wales, where Christian monks wrote down the old stories centuries after the druids stopped telling them. The result is a mythology of shape-shifting war goddesses, a hero who turns into a monster in battle, a god with a club that kills and revives, and four magical treasures carried in from cities in the north. These 50 questions walk through the Irish cycles and the Welsh branches: the Tuatha Dé Danann and their Fomorian rivals, Lugh killing his grandfather Balor, Cú Chulainn's boyhood name and his barbed spear, Queen Medb's cattle raid, the Morrígan as a crow, the Dagda's cauldron and harp, Fionn's thumb of knowledge and the Giant's Causeway, the Children of Lir's 900 years as swans, Samhain and Imbolc, and Pwyll, Branwen, Blodeuwedd and the Mabinogion's Arthur. There are manuscript questions too: the Book of the Dun Cow, the Red Book of Hergest and Lady Charlotte Guest. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and each explanation adds one more detail. Play it solo or print it for a quiz night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which branch of Celtic mythology has the largest surviving body of written myths?
Irish
Continental Celtic myth was lost with Roman conquest; Welsh comes second.
Q 02The name Tuatha Dé Danann is usually translated as 'folk of' which goddess?
Danu
The earlier name was simply Tuath Dé, 'tribe of the gods'; they later became the fairy-folk of legend.
Q 03Who were the Tuatha Dé Danann's traditional rivals, defeated at Mag Tuired?
The Fomorians
They may represent the destructive powers of nature.
Q 04The Tuatha Dé Danann came from four northern cities. Which was NOT one of them?
Emain
The fourth was Finias; each city supplied one of the Four Treasures.
Q 05Which of these is one of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann?
Lia Fáil
The Stone of Fal joined the Dagda's Cauldron, the Spear of Lugh and the Sword of Light.
Q 06Which invaders, descended from Míl Espáine, drove the Tuatha Dé into the sídhe?
The Milesians
They came from the north-west of Iberia and are thought to represent the Goidelic Celts.
Q 07Which king of the Tuatha Dé Danann lost his arm and, being blemished, his throne?
Nuada
He was replaced by the half-Fomorian Bres, who turned out to be a tyrant.
Q 08The Dagda's club killed nine men with one blow; what did its handle do?
Revived the slain
He also had a cauldron that never ran empty and a harp that flew to him when called.
Q 09The Dagda is said to dwell in which ancient monument?
Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange)
His lover Boann, namesake of the Boyne, lived there with her husband Elcmar.
Q 10Besides 'great queen', the name Morrígan is also translated as which kind of queen?
Phantom
She often appears as a crow, the badb, and is described as the Dagda's envious wife.
Q 11In which bird's form does the Morrígan typically appear?
Crow
In the Táin she appears as a crow to the bull Donn Cuailnge and warns him to flee.
Q 12The Morrígan is described as the envious wife of which god?
The Dagda
She keeps a tryst with him at Samhain before the battle against the Fomorians.
Q 13Lugh is the maternal grandson of which Fomorian tyrant, whom he kills?
Balor
Balor's great eye wreaked destruction when opened; he called Lugh a 'babbler'.
Q 14Which harvest festival bears Lugh's name?
Q 21What is the Irish term for Cú Chulainn's terrifying battle frenzy?
Ríastrad
In it he becomes an unrecognisable monster who knows neither friend nor foe.
Q 22Who trained Cú Chulainn in arms and gave him the spear Gáe Bulg?
Scáthach
The barbed spear was thrown with the foot and had to be cut out of its victim.
Q 23In which land did Cú Chulainn train with the warrior-woman Scáthach?
Alba (Scotland)
The Ulstermen hoped the ordeal would kill him.
Q 24Which foster-brother did Cú Chulainn kill in a three-day duel at a ford?
Lughnasadh
He founded games at Tailtiu's town, now Teltown in Meath, in memory of his foster mother.
Q 15Lugh's epithet Samildánach means what?
Equally skilled in many arts
His other common epithet, Lámfada, means 'long hand' or 'long arm'.
Q 16What is the name of Lugh's hound?
Failinis
He also wields an unstoppable fiery spear and a sling stone.
Q 17Lugh's father Cian gave him in fosterage to Tailtiu, queen of which people?
Fir Bolg
The Lebor Gabála Érenn records the fostering.
Q 18In 19th-century folklore, where is Balor said to live?
Tory Island
He locks his daughter Eithne in a tower to stop the prophecy of his grandson coming true.
Q 19What was Cú Chulainn's birth name?
Sétanta
He killed Culann's guard dog and offered to take its place, becoming the 'Hound of Culann'.
Q 20Which god is Cú Chulainn believed to be an incarnation of, and the son of?
Lugh
His mother was the mortal Deichtine, sister of King Conchobar mac Nessa.
Ferdiad
The ford became Áth Fhir Diadh, now Ardee in County Louth.
Q 25Who is Cú Chulainn's wife?
Emer
He has many other lovers; in his youth the Ulstermen feared he would steal their wives.
Q 26Queen Medb of Connacht invades Ulster in the Táin to steal which bull?
Donn Cuailnge
Her husband Ailill already owned the white bull Finnbhennach, which had deserted her herd.
Q 27The oldest partial text of the Táin survives in which manuscript?
Book of the Dun Cow
Lebor na hUidre was compiled at Clonmacnoise in the late 11th or early 12th century.
Q 28Which poet published an influential English translation of the Táin in 1969?
Thomas Kinsella
Ciarán Carson followed with his own version in 2007.
Q 29How did Fionn mac Cumhaill gain his wisdom?
Eating the Salmon of Knowledge
He burned his thumb on the fish and ever after sucked it for knowledge.
Q 30What are the names of Fionn's two hounds?
Bran and Sceólang
They were born of a woman enchanted into the form of a hound.