If there is still magic in this world, it is in Ireland. – Anna Imagination

The áes dána, the men of art. Art, in this sense (and also, in the sense of Plato) consisted of elite scholars trained in druids, brehon (law men), poets and bards (there is a difference), historians, doctors, and craftsmen.

The áes dána were Irish Philosophers.

“Among the áes dána were the filid, or intellectual poets. They were much more than mere versifiers. They were thinkers, and in some instances, juridicial thinkers, and they crystallized into poetic form a wide range of important matters for oral transmission, like geneological tables of chiefs of tuatha, stories about leading men and women, past and present, mythological and real, language grammar and vocabulary, traditions, customs, aspects of law Brehon Law and so forth. As has been said, they were the voice of authority, but their poetic compositions were delivered not so much by themselves as another sector of the áes dána, the bards, who are the mouthpieces of the filid. Bards were orators and reciters who went through long training and bardic schools, which had intensive courses and memorizing.

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It is one of the earliest works of any kind in this form. It emerged at a time when scholars in Ireland were beginning to write things down, a landmark in communication in which the filid played the leading role and which was to have a lasting influence. Indeed, it had been said that the filid did more than any other agency to sustain the survival of the Gaelic language and tradition right down to the 17th century.

 

During the first quarter of the fifth century, there were enough practicing Christians in Ireland to attract the attention of headquarters at Rome. The number is not known, the Christians were under no sort of organization, and there were no leaders, unless some initiatives were taken by one or two Druids who found the faith intellectually interesting, but left no record.”