The Myths of Ireland dataset

Every story, being, and place in the library, offered as open data you are free to download and build on. Each entry appears here as a structured record in JSON and CSV, carrying its title and definition, its answer capsule, cycle, places and themes, and a note on how closely it follows its sources. The files are rebuilt whenever the site is, so the data never drifts from the pages it comes from.

Downloads

mythsofireland.json JSON, the full-fidelity form
mythsofireland.csv CSV, one flat row per entry

Both files currently hold 49 records, one per entry, in a fixed order: stories, then beings, then places, alphabetically by slug within each.

What the dataset contains

One record per published entry, of all three types: stories, beings, and places. The dataset is the openly licensed index of the library, and an index is what it will stay: it carries each entry's definitions, classifications, and apparatus, while the full retellings and their source citations are not in these files and live only at each record's canonical_url, the entry page, where they are read in context. That split is the design, not a gap to be filled later: the index travels freely under its licence, and the retellings stay on the pages that carry their sources. Cycle hub pages and editorial pages are not records; they are navigation, not entries.

Fields

A JSON record carries the fields below, always all of them: optional values are null rather than absent, so every record has the same shape.

Field	Type	Description
`slug`	string	The entry identifier, unique within its type; also the final URL segment.
`type`	string	One of story, being, or place: the three entry types of the library.
`title`	string	The entry title as published.
`one_line`	string	The one-sentence definition that opens the entry.
`capsule`	string	The direct-answer capsule: a 40 to 60 word summary answer rendered at the top of the entry.
`cycle`	string	The cycle classification: mythological, ulster, fenian, kings, folklore, or cross-cycle.
`pronunciation`	string or null	Pronunciation guidance for the entry name, where supplied.
`alternate_names`	list of strings	Other names and spellings the entry is known by.
`geographic_anchors`	list of strings	Real-world places the entry is anchored to.
`coordinates`	object (lat, lng) or null	Reserved for the myth map: a latitude and longitude (WGS84 decimal degrees) for entries anchored to one mappable location, where supplied. Not yet rendered on any page. In the CSV this field is replaced by lat and lng columns, empty when absent.
`counties`	list of strings	Reserved for phase 2 county features (place filters, the myth map, and the county lookup): lowercase county slugs the entry is associated with, where supplied. Not yet rendered on any page. In the CSV the list is joined with a semicolon and a space, empty when absent.
`related`	list of strings	Slugs of related entries, as cross-linked on the entry page.
`themes`	list of strings	Theme tags, the same ones the browse filters use.
`status`	string	Verification status: verified-ready or ready-for-verification. See the sourcing note below.
`updated`	date (YYYY-MM-DD)	The date the entry was last updated.
`source_fidelity`	string or null	A note on how closely the retelling follows its cited sources, where supplied.
`faq`	list of objects (q, a)	The question-and-answer pairs published on the entry page. In the CSV this field is replaced by faq_count, the number of pairs.
`misconceptions`	list of objects (claim, correction)	Common-misconception corrections published on the entry page. In the CSV this field is replaced by misconceptions_count, the number of pairs.
`sample`	boolean	True while the record is a placeholder used to test this pipeline. Filter on this field to exclude placeholders.
`canonical_url`	string	The permanent URL of the full entry, where the complete retelling and its sources live.

The CSV holds the same records, one flat row each, with the same column order as the table above. List fields are joined with a semicolon and a space ("; "); null values are empty cells; coordinates flattens to the two columns lat and lng; the two structured fields become counts, faq_count and misconceptions_count, in place of faq and misconceptions; and fields containing commas, quotes, or line breaks are quoted per RFC 4180.

Sourcing and verification

Every entry cites the translations and collections it follows; the sourcing policy explains how we work. The status field records where an entry sits between two states: verified-ready, meaning it has been checked line by line against an archived translation, and ready-for-verification, meaning its sources are cited, with that check still to come. The full citations live on each entry page, at the record's canonical_url.

Updates

The data comes from the same files as the entry pages, built in the same pass, so it stays in step on its own: when an entry is published or revised, the next build refreshes both the page and these files. The most recent entry update is dated 2026-06-12.

Licence

This dataset is released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

You may share and adapt the data for any purpose, provided you credit Myths of Ireland and indicate any changes you make.