"Tara had various names in ancient
times." - Annals of the Four Masters, p. 293 (note).
"The Hill of Tara is large, verdant,
level at the top, and extremely beautiful; and, though not very high, commands
extensive and most magnificent prospects over the great and fertile plains of
Meath" (p. 296). "It was for many ages the seat of the Irish
monarchy, the chief royal residence being, at Teamhair, or Tara, hence called
Teamhairna-Riogh, or Tara of the Kings, being the chief seat of the Ard-Righ:
that is, the high king or monarch who presided over the five provincial kings
and kingdoms of Meath, Ulster, Connaught, Leinster, and Munster, forming the
Irish Pentarchy " (p. 292, note).
"Tara became deserted as a Royal
residence in the sixth century, owing to a quarrel between the King Dermot and
St. Ruadham, Abbot of Lothra. The latter having cursed the former and the
residence for his sake, from the death of Dermot, A.D. 565, no other king
resided at Tara. The Stone of Destiny had already been removed to Scotland.
What were the convulsions which led to the ruin of Tara, are little known;
but somewhat of their character may be guessed at from the fact, that "in
one of the earthen ramparts there were discovered, in the year 1810, two of the
ornaments called Torques; a sort of golden collar of spiral or twisted
workmanship, and of a circular form, open at one side, worn on the necks of
ancient kings and chiefs; and similar to those which were worn by the ancient
kings and chiefs of Gaul, and were called torc in the Celtic language.
One of the torques discovered at Tara is five feet seven inches in length, and
something more than twenty-seven ounces in weight, and all formed of the purest
gold; the other torque is beyond twelve ounces in weight, and they form some of
the most interesting remains of ancient Irish art " (p. 293, note).
F.R.A. Glover: As it is somewhat the custom to imagine that the supposed extensiveness
of the settlement at Tara, and almost its very existence, is a fable, - even
Moore's mention of it is of the most meager character, - the above fact is here
recorded to satisfy the reader of the contrary. Phantoms and fictions are not
usually dressed up in robes of solid metal. Tara was a very large settlement,
as sufficient remains even now attest. And though ridiculous stories are told
of its vastness and riches and goblets of gold, that all is not fable is proveable
by what remains above ground, as well as what has been found under it; and, not
less, by the various names under which it has established its reality in
history. It is with the last of these, and with the fact of this change of its
name, that we have to do.
We learn then that it was called
successively Hazel-Wood (Annals of the Four Masters, p.294); Liath Druim, or
the Hill of Liath; Drum Cain; and, subsequently, Cathair Crofinn, or the
Fortress of Crofinn, from one of the Danan queens; and on the coming of a
certain princess from over the sea, it acquired the name of Teamair; a word
which people will insist upon being the same as Tara. As thus, - "Tamhar,
a tower, the great tower of Tamhra, now Tara, is much celebrated in Irish
history" (Vallancey's Prospectus of a Dictionary, p.78). In a book called
the 'Chronicles of Eri', the change of name is made to be the result of setting
up the Lia Fail; for, Eocaid-Ollam-Fola-Heremon-Ardri, the king, is made to say
to the heralds, "From this day forth, what if this mount be called 'the
Hill of Tobrad?' [later corrupted to Tara, Vol ii p.92, 95] and all said 'Yea.'
But, that which is the chief point to be
considered in all this, is, that The Nine Laws were established at this
time, against murder, theft, false witness, perjury, and neglect of
parents; and that every one should do to others as they would wish others to do
to them, &c., by the authority of the great Ollam, together with a
house and endowment for the order of Ollams." (Chronicles of Eri, vol. ii.
pp. 2. 100. 102. 108 (note). 112. 114-5. 140.)
But granting all this, Why should
the name of Crofinn have been changed to Tura, at the time that the Ollam Fola
set Heremon on the Lia Fail as a throne? The answer is apparent. Clearly
because at that time also, he set up the Laws of God, in conformity, - even as
that enemy of Hebrew Revelation, Mr. O'Connor (Chronicles of Eri, passim:
especially pp. 499. 501, vol. ii), admits, - with the requirements of the
Social Law of the Two Tables, in charge of the Ollams, and, in opposition to
the priesthood of Baal. For the word, which seems to have bad numerous supposed
derivations, all equally unsatisfactory, - as Tamra, Tahmair, Tobrad,
"Tea-mur, hence was derived the name of Tara." (Annals of the Four
Masters, p. 294.) - is itself the best explanation of itself, and, as to what
it means. The name of Tara, adopted at that time, is, in itself, an evidence
that the Law of the Two Tables, called by the Hebrews Torah, (pronounced
taw-rab,) was there set up at that time. (The Hebrews call, The Teaching of
God, Torah).
Jeremiah, it is to be remembered, had
received a commission as "ordained prophet to the nations" (Jer. 1:5)
as well as to his own people. The setting up the Law of the Two Tables, with
distinction, there, where he had had those other duties to go through of which
mention has been made, is clearly what he ought to have done (Deut. 4:10). If
he set up any system of teaching, - and that, he would, certainly, do, - what
could Jeremiah set up but the 'teaching of God?' .. that is, the Torah. If,
then, Words and Names can teach any thing, this name Tara seems clearly to
point to this great needful fact; and also, as clearly, as to why an order of
Ollams should have been founded at the same time; viz. to perpetuate
The Torah, and to expound its requirements, as the basis of that law, upon
which each subsequent Jodhan Moran was to rule his decisions. And the Hill and
Settlement, where " the Teaching of God" was a known and
well-proclaimed fact, would from that time, naturally be, preeminently, the
Hill of Torah.
Tara, they say, is the Hill of Conventions.
It is, it was, the Hill where was set up, there, at that time, by the man who
had the power, the means, and the authority to do it, the Great Convention made
between God and His people at the giving of the law (Exod. 19:8, 24:3, 7). The
same, which another great Sage and Lawgiver, but who was a King, Alfred of
Britain, also set up, in his time, as the convention between God and Man. The
First Chapter of Alfred's Code of Laws, is, The Two Tables of GOD'S
Commandments.
It is very evident, from considerations
which will later be set before the reader (chap. xiv.), that this occasion was,
indeed, a grand National Convention; at which, in all probability, the
triennial meetings and other needful institutions may have been determined
upon.
P.S. - It is interesting to note, as
connecting the ancient grandeur of Tara with present existing and recognized
dignities, that the Bishops of Meath take precedence of all other Irish
Bishops, and have the ducal Coronet to their Mitres; are styled Most Reverend,
and assume other archi-episcopal style, because the ancient Regal Settlement of
Tara is within the Diocese of Meath.
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