Who or What is Menapia?
The area in and around Wexford was known as Menapia - in and around the time that Ireland (or Éire) was known as Hibernae.
The Menapii, were a Gaulish maritime tribe
inhabiting the dense forests of the Rhine Estuary on the North Sea Coast, were
first mentioned by Julius Caesar in 57 B.C. During the Gallic War he singled
them out as the only tribe never to surrender to his legions.
The Menapii are the only known Celtic tribe
specifically named on Ptolemy's 150 A.D. map of Ireland, where they located
their first trading colony -- Menapia -- on the Leinster coast circa 216.D.
They later settled around Lough Erne, becoming known as the Fir Manach, and
giving their name to Fermanagh and Monaghan.
As mentioned, the Menapii had to resist the
encroachments of marauding Germanic tribes and then Caesar's Roman Legions
(invaded circa 57BC), but through their use of guerilla tactics, he was never
able to totally conquer them.
