Breogán (also spelt
Breoghan or
Breachdan) is a character in the
Lebor Gabála Érenn, a medieval Christian pseudo-history of Ireland and the Irish (or
Gaels). He is described as a king of
Galicia and an ancestor of the Gaels. The
Lebor Gabála purports to be an account of how the Gaels descend from
Adam through the
sons of Noah and how they came to Ireland. It tells us that they spent 440 years wandering the Earth and underwent a series of trials and tribulations, which is based on the tale of the
Israelites in the Old Testament. Eventually, they sail to
Iberia and conquer it. There, one of their leaders, Breogán, founds a city called Brigantia and builds a great tower. From the top of the tower, his son Íth glimpses Ireland. The Gaels—including some of Breogán's sons—sail to Ireland from Brigantia and take it from the
Tuatha Dé Danann, the Irish pagan gods. Brigantia likely refers to
A Coruña in Galicia (which was then known as Brigantium) and Breogán's tower is likely based on the
Tower of Hercules (which was built at A Coruña by the Romans). The idea that the Irish Gaels came from Iberia may be based on the similarity of the names
Iberia and
Hibernia and the names
Galicia and
Gael. Medieval pseudo-historians made similar claims about other nations based on their names. A similar story about a monk who voyaged to a marvelous island he saw from the top of the
tower of Brigantia was written in the first years of the eleventh century in Galicia. The story, preserved in two 14th-century manuscripts, is known as
Trezenzonii de Solistitionis Insula Magna ("Trezenzonius' Great Island of the Solstice"). His son was
Bile, who was in turn the father of
Milesius, said to be the ancestor of the
Irish people.