legendary Gaelic warrior-bard of the 3d century ad (reputedly the son of the Irish hero Finn mac Cumhail) and the epic poetry ascribed to him. Ossian is known primarily through the work of the Scottish poet James Macpherson, who in the 1760s published several volumes purporting to be translations of Gaelic poems by Ossian. The descriptions of scenes of wild grandeur and the prevailing melancholy tone exerted great influence on the romantic poets and inspired the writing of Gaelic poetry in the Ossianic vein in late 18th- and early 19th-century Scotland. Most scholars now believe, however, that Macpherson’s translations were actually original compositions based on genuine Gaelic fragments.

The traditional Ossianic material, consisting of about 80,000 lines, deals with the exploits of Finn and of another legendary Irish hero, Cú Chulainn, and expresses nostalgia for the heroic pagan past. Of Irish origin, the poems in this tradition date from the 11th to the 18th century. Ossianic ballads are preserved both in Ireland and in the highlands of Scotland; 28 of them were included in the 16th-century Scottish anthology The Book of the Dean of Lismore.

See GAELIC LITERATURE,.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, section 837. Irish literature.