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Миф об избранности ирландцев: от «Книги Захватов Ирландии» до Сильвестра О’Хэллорана
The author examines the evolution of the myth of chosenness of the Irish as one of the most crucial aspects of the Irish identity and analyses its content. The representation of the myth of chosennness in Lebor Gabála Érenn, the source which displaced other interpretations of the Irish past, is in the centre of his attention. Addressing the texts by Geoffrey Keating (1570-1644), Charles O’Conor(1710-1790), and Sylvester O’Halloran (1728-1807) who reinterpreted the myth of chosenness, he emphasises thatthe narrative of Lebor Gabála Érenn was transformed and adapted by each author. The author concludes that the myth of chosenness served different functions: it was a legitimizing myth of the forming Irish monarchy in the X-XII centuries, whereas it turned into an attribute of the discourse of particularity in the XVI-XVIII centuries. In the historical tradition described in the articles the Irish past was devoid of dichotomy: in fact, there was a fine line between the pagan and the Christian Irish past. The chosennes of the Irish was conceptualized in primordial cultural characteristics of the Irish community before they inhabited Ireland. They were represented as sacral community with inherent moral values.