Scota

"Queen Scota unfurls the sacred banner", illustration from an 1867 book of Irish history

In medieval Irish and Scottish legend, Scota is the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh and ancestor of the Gaels.[1] She is said to be the origin of their Latin name Scoti, but historians say she (and her alleged ancestors and spouses) was purely mythological and was created to explain the name and to fit the Gaels into a historical narrative.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b Lennon, Joseph (2008). Irish Orientalism: A Literary and Intellectual History. Syracuse University Press. pp. 11–12, 36. ISBN 9780815631644. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  2. ^ Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí (1991). Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition. Prentice Hall Press. pp. 296–297.