Cathair the Great was a High King of Ireland. The Lebor GabĂĄla Ărenn synchronises his reign with that of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (161â180). The chronology of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Ăirinn dates his reign to 113â116, that of the Annals of the Four Masters to 119â122.
He is said to have had thirty sons, but only ten of them had children; several medieval dynasties of Leinster traced their ancestors to them. His daughter Cochrann was said to have been the mother of the fenian hero Diarmuid Ua Duibhne.
He features in the saga "The Melody of the House of Buchet". Cathair's daughter Eithne Thåebfhota is fostered by a hospitable Leinsterman named Buchet who has many herds of cattle, but Cathair's sons so exploit Buchet's hospitality that he is left with only one bull and seven cows, and the king, now old and enfeebled, is unable to restrain them. Buchet and his family, including Eithne, are reduced to living in a hut in the forest in Kells, County Meath. Later, when Cormac mac Airt is king, he marries Eithne and restores Buchet's fortunes (in other stories the king who marries Eithne is Cathair's successor Conn Cétchathach).





