Editing Balor (section)

==Interpretations==
Some have interpreted Balor as symbolizing a solar deity of the old year, struggling with the solar god of the new year,<ref name="simmons"/> namely Lugh. Folklorist [[Alexander Haggerty Krappe]] subscribed to this notion. He suggests that the myth and others like it could be metaphors for yearly cycles of growth, death, and re-growth. Krappe hypothesized that the myth is of ancient origin, with Balor representing winter and the old year, confining the woman who represents the fertile earth.{{sfn|Krappe|1927|pp=18-22}}

[[Dáithí Ó hÓgáin]] interprets Balor as personifying the harmful aspects of the sun, such as the scorching sun that would bring crop failure and drought.<ref name="ohogain"/><ref name=ohogain1999/> He speculates that the imagery of Balor is a conflation of a Bronze Age Celtic sun god with the Greek [[Cyclopes|Cyclops]].<ref name="ohogain"/><ref name=ohogain1999/> Both Ó hÓgáin and [[Máire MacNeill]] believe that Lugh's slaying of Balor was originally a harvest myth associated with the festival of [[Lughnasa]] and the later tale of [[Saint Patrick]] overcoming [[Crom Dubh]].<ref name="ohogain"/><ref>[[Máire MacNeill|MacNeill, Máire]], ''The Festival of Lughnasa''. p.416</ref> Ó hÓgáin also believes that the hero [[Fionn mac Cumhaill|Fionn]]'s conflict with figures named [[Goll mac Morna|Goll]] (meaning "one-eyed"), Áed (meaning "fire") and Aillen (the burner) stems from Lugh's conflict with Balor.<ref name="ohogain-fionn"/>

===Parallels===
The parallel between Balor and [[Ysbaddaden]] from [[Welsh mythology]] has been noted by several commentators, but for different reasons. Each is a giant whose eyelid takes several men to lift (using a ring handle vs. lifting with forks);<ref>{{harvp|Krappe|1927}}, p. 4 and note 15, citing [[Ernst Windisch|Windisch. E.]] (1912), ''Das keltische Britannien bis zu Kaiser Arthur'', p. 159</ref> each has a spear cast at him and loses an eye;{{sfnp|Scowcroft|1995|p=144}} and each is unwilling to give away his daughter to the bridal-quester.<ref>{{harvp|Gruffydd|1928|p=101n}} <!--and Gerard Murphy, ''Duanaire Finn'' 3 (Dublin, 1953), p. --> apud {{harvp|Scowcroft|1995|p=144n}}</ref>

Since the mid-19th century, Balor has been likened to figures from [[Greek mythology]], especially the [[Cyclopes|Cyclops]].<ref name=crooke/> James O'Laverty noted the parallel with [[Acrisius]], the King of Argos who was fated to be killed by his grandson, the hero [[Perseus]].<ref name=olaverty/> This parallel has been pursued at length by others.{{sfnp|Krappe|1927|pp=10-16}}

O'Laverty also ventured that the name "Balor" may be linked to the name of the Greek hero [[Bellerophon]].<ref name=olaverty/> [[Arbois de Jubainville]] argued that the name "Bellerophon" means "slayer of Belleros" and that this is another name for the [[Chimera (mythology)|Chimera]]. He asserts that both the Chimera and Balor are monsters that spew flame or thunderbolts.{{sfnp|d'Arbois de Jubainville|1903|pp=115–116}}

However, de Jubainville (and others) also seized on another comparison: between Balor and [[Argus Panoptes|Argos]] the many-eyed watchman of the white cow [[Io (mythology)|Io]]. Since the destroyer of the former is Lugh, and of the latter is [[Hermes]], this neatly fits into the framework of identifying the Celtic Hermes<!--which the Romans spoke of--> with Lugh.{{sfnp|d'Arbois de Jubainville|1903|pp=113–114}}<ref name=westropp1917/>

Krappe lists six elements that are found in other myths: the prophecy of being slain by his own descendant; the precaution of locking the daughter in a tower; the seduction of the daughter by a stranger, who needs to use magic to gain access; the birth of a boy and the attempt to drown him; the fostering of the boy, and the fulfillment of the prophecy by the boy killing his grandparent.{{sfnp|Krappe|1927|pp=10-16}}<!--Krappe also compares the grandfather-killing to fratricide in the [[Osiris myth]] from [[Egyptian mythology]].{{sfnp|Krappe|1927|pp=27-32}}-->

Krappe drew parallel between Balor with the supposed Serbian ''vy'' mentioned by [[William Ralston Shedden-Ralston|W. R. S. Ralston]],<ref>{{harvp|Krappe|1927}}, p. 4 n15, p. 25.</ref> but unfortunately Krappe misreads Ralston and utterly confounds this "vy" with what is actually the "Aged One" character (or "old, old man", the witch's husband) in the Russian ''[[Russian fairy tale|skazka]]'' ''Ivan Bykovich'' ("Ivan the Bull's Son"<!--Иван Быкович-->).{{Refn|Krappe footnotes thus (p. 4 n15): "But Slavonic folk-lore knows of a similar monster, called Vy by the Servians. He 'lies on an iron couch.. and sends for 'twelve mighty heroes', and order them to take iron forks and lift up the hair about his eyes". But he erroneously made this an attestation of Serbian lore, when in fact Ralston was paraphrasing from the Russian ''Ivan Bykovich''.<ref name="ralston"/> Compare with a modern rendering of the Russian tale ''Ivan Bykovich'': "the witch's husband, who was lying on a bed of iron" et sqq. ("twelve mighty knights", "pitchfork").<ref name=afanasev1946-ivan_cows_son/>}}<ref>Sims-Williams, p. 138 n24: "Krappe seems to go further than Ralston in conflating the Russian and Serbian material".</ref> In actuality, the heavy eyelid/eyebrow motif occurs in ''Ivan Bykovich'',<ref name=afanasev1946-ivan_cows_son/><ref name="ralston"/> but not specifically ascribed to the ''vy'' by Ralston.

Parallels have also been noted in the etymologies and mythic structures between Lugh's slaying of Balor and Loki's slaying of [[Baldr]] with additional etymological parallels noted between the theonyms [[Belenus]] and Belin (Slovenian deity).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ginevra |first1=Riccardo |year=2020 |editor-last=Repanšek |editor-first=Luka |editor2-last=Bichlmeier |editor2-first=Harald |editor3-last=Sadovski |editor3-first=Velizar |title=Gods who shine through the millennia: Old Norse Baldr, Celtic Belinos, Old Irish Balar, and PIE *bʰelH- 'be white, shine' |url=https://publicatt.unicatt.it/handle/10807/187601 |journal=vácāmsi miśrā krṇavāmahai. Proceedings of the international conference of the Society for Indo-European Studies and IWoBA XII, Ljubljana 4–7 June 2019, celebrating one hundred years of Indo-European comparative linguistics at the University of Ljubljana. |location=Hamburg |pages=189–208}}</ref>