In medieval Irish and Scottish stories, Scota is the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh and is considered an ancestor of the Gaels. It is believed that she is the source of their Latin name, Scoti. However, historians say that Scota, along with her supposed ancestors and husbands, is not real. She was created to explain the name and to fit the Gaels into stories about the past.

Early sources

Edward J. Cowan found the first written mention of Scota in the 12th century. Scota is mentioned in the Irish historical text called the Book of Leinster, which is a version of the Lebor Gabála Érenn. An earlier version of this story, from the 9th century in the Historia Brittonum, describes a character named Goídel Glas but does not mention Scota.

The Lebor Gabála Érenn says Scota was the mother of Goídel Glas, the namesake of the Gaels. Scota was the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh named Cingris, likely referring to Pharaoh Chenchres from a list of kings recorded by Jerome (called Akenkheres in Egyptian records). She married Niul, the son of Fénius Farsaid, who is said to have invented writing and was a legendary ancestor of the Phoenicians.

Niul traveled to Babylon to study the confusion of languages. He was invited to Egypt by Pharaoh Cingris to marry Scota. Their son, Goídel, was saved from a snake bite by a prayer from Moses. Goídel is said to have created the Gaelic language by combining parts of 72 languages. In an early Scottish version by Fordun, Goídel Glas is described as the son of a Greek king named Neolus, who was exiled to Egypt and married Scota. The Lebor Gabála Érenn calls Goídel a Scythian, but John O'Hart, an Irish genealogist, notes that Niul's father was a Phoenician, the brother of the legendary Cadmus.

Other 12th-century sources describe Scota as the wife of Goídel Glas, not his mother, and say she founded the Scots and Gaels after they were exiled from Egypt. Some versions of the Lebor Gabála Érenn mention a woman named Scotia, the wife of Míl Espáine, a descendant of Goídel in ancient Iberia. Scotia’s Grave is a well-known landmark in Munster.

The Gaels, called Goídel in Gaelic and Scoti in Latin, are said to be named after Goídel and Scota. However, historians believe these figures were created to explain the names of the Gaels and to fit them into a historical story.

Scota and the Stone of Scone

Baldred Bisset is given credit for being the first person to link the Stone of Scone with the Scota foundation legends in his 1301 work Processus. He argued that Scotland, not Ireland, was the original homeland of Scota.

Bisset wanted to make official a Scottish claim to the throne instead of an English one after Alexander III of Scotland died in 1286. At his coronation in 1249, Alexander heard his royal family history recited, tracing his lineage back to Scota. Bisset supported the Scottish claim by emphasizing Scota’s role in bringing the Stone of Scone from Ancient Egypt to Scotland during the Exodus of Moses.

In 1296, the Stone was taken by Edward I of England and moved to Westminster Abbey. In 1323, Robert the Bruce used Bisset’s legend about Scota’s connection to the Stone to try to return it to Scone Abbey in Scotland.

In the 15th century, the English chronicler John Hardyng later tried to prove that Bisset’s claims were incorrect.

Later sources

The Scota legends are found in several historical writings. These include Andrew of Wyntoun's Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, John of Fordun's Chronica Gentis Scotorum (1385), and Thomas Grey's Scalacronica (1362). Hector Boece's 16th-century Historia Gentis Scotorum ("History of the Scottish People") also references the Scota foundation myth. Walter Bower's 15th-century Scotichronicon was the first to include illustrations of the legends. In the 16th century, Hector Boece included the story of Scota in his Historia Gentis Scotorum. William Stewart later translated the story into verse in the Scots language for the Scottish royal court.

Scota's Grave

"Scota's Grave" or "Scotia's Grave" is a rock feature located in Gleann Scoithín, also known as Glenscoheen, which is south of Tralee in County Kerry, Ireland. According to the National Monuments Service, an inspection of the site in 1999 found that there was not enough evidence to consider it an archaeological monument.