Hill of Tara -
Sources
Ireland’s written tradition can be traced back to approximately the fifth century A.D. The earliest form of writing in Irish survives in the form of a cipher known as ogam found inscribed on stones. Ogam inscriptions consist of nothing more than personal names. The gradual introduction of Christianity into Ireland at this time added a great impetus to the use of Latin and to writing and composition in Ireland. The earliest surviving Latin texts associated with Christianity in Ireland are Saint Patrick’s Confession and his Letter to Coroticus. The earliest surviving texts in the Irish language may date to the seventh century A.D. The range of texts in Irish and Latin composed in the early medieval period is extensive - annals (chronological accounts of events in Ireland and elsewhere), genealogies, heroic sagas and tales, poetry, legal texts, saints’ lives, biblical exegesis, grammatical, philosophical, theological and topographical texts. Whereas many of the Latin texts are found in manuscripts written prior to 1000 A.D., the texts in Irish are known to us from manuscripts written around 1100 A.D. and much later. There are references to Tara in many of these early medieval texts, but most especially in the annals, genalogies, sagas, poetry and topographical texts. Tara is depicted as caput Scotorum ‘the capital of the Irish’ in the Latin Life of Saint Patrick written by Muirchú maccu Machtheni in the late seventh century A.D. Baile Chuinn Chétchathaig ‘The Vision of Conn of the Hundred Battles’, composed circa 680 to 720 A.D., is the earliest list of the kings of Tara, some of whom are mythical or heroic, others genuinely historical.
Information concerning the more recent history of Tara can be gleaned from an extensive range of sources - Anglo-Norman charters and deeds, visitations by churchmen, historical and topographical accounts and surveys, newspapers, letters and descriptions of events which happened there in 1641, 1798 and throughout the nineteenth century.
The name Tara and the names of the monuments on the Hill of Tara
Tara is an Anglicised form of the Irish Temair. Medieval texts describe the hill variously as Temair na ríg ‘Tara of the kings’ and Temair Breg ‘Tara of Brega’ [the name of the plain in which Tara is situated]. Temair may have originally meant ‘a height with a view’ or ‘a sacred space’, both of which are eminently appropriate for this particular hill.(See title image). It is not the only instance of the place-name in Ireland. There are up to twenty examples elsewhere, as at Tara Hill, Co. Wexford or Taur Hill, Co. Cork.
The names of the individual monuments on the hill come from an account of the site Dindgnai Temra ‘The Remarkable Places of Tara’ compiled in its present form circa 1000A.D. This account describes the monuments visible at the time and ascribes each of them at least one name. Some of these names are literary fictions as in the cases of Tech Cormaic ‘Cormac’s House’, Múr Tea ‘Tea’s Wall’ or Ráith na Senad ‘The Rath of the Synods’. Other names may reflect genuine ceremonial use in the medieval period, as suggested by names such as Duma na nGíall ‘The Mound of the Hostages’ (where hostages may have been exchanged)and Forrad ‘The Inauguration Mound’ (where kings may have been inaugurated). These names did not survive in local tradition and were revived in the nineteenth century by John O’Donovan and George Petrie as part of their surveys of the Hill of Tara.
The Gods and Goddesses of Tara
Tara is portrayed in the earliest Irish sagas as the domain of gods and goddesses and heroic, semi-divine kings. The god Lug and the goddess Medb are particularly associated with Tara. Lug was the greatest of the Celtic gods. He was the divine manifestation of the kingship of Tara, whose voice was heard through the utterances of the Lia Fáil. He was the samildánach or master of all crafts. A king’s reign was blessed if crops and stock (cattle and pigs) flourished. The fertility of the land was symbolized by an earth or mother goddess whom the king ‘married’ during his inauguration ceremony. Medb, whose name is associated with intoxication, was the goddess of Tara. She dispensed intoxicating drink to the king as part of the rite of fertility and the union between the king and his land. In the absence of a suitable candidate for the kingship of Tara, Medb ruled Tara herself until the rightful king was found. Memory of Lug and Medb survives in the names of two large enclosures in the vicinity, Rath Lugh to the north-east and Rath Maeve to the south.