glencoe02 Ossian The year is ... AD 300 Ossian is a legendary figure who is said to have lived about AD 300. He was the son of Fionn mac Cumhail, the central figure in Gaelic tales, celebrating the exploits of Fionn and his band of warrior-heroes, the Fianna. The lore about Ossian and Fionn mac Cumhail is shared with Ireland and has strong associations with the landscape of the Highlands. In Glencoe, the dark gash high up in the rockface of Aonach Dubh above Loch Achtriochtan is known as Ossian's Cave. In the 1760s, James Macpherson, reworked these Gaelic stories in English, publishing them as the Poems of Ossian. His work was a literary sensation in Europe and led to the translation of the Poems into over twenty-five languages. In some of the poems, there are references to 'Cona', the River Coe, which flows through Glencoe, and Achnacon, close the Visitor Center, meaning the Field of Dogs, was said to commemorate the hunting hounds of the Fianna.