148 



and Abraham, respectively mentioned in Genesis, xxxv, ip, 20, and 

 2 Samuel, xviii. 18. Such also was Absalom's pillar in the King's 

 Dale, and such possibly were the pillars of the sons of Seth, as men- 

 tioned by Josephus ;* such also were the pillar stones which, Homer 

 seems to intimate in the Iliad, were raised over the ashes of Hector, 

 and in the Odyssey, over those of Elpenor. Of the second class were 

 Jacob's pillar at Bethel, (Genesis, xxviii. 18 and 19,) and the pillars 

 erected by Joshua in Gilgal, (Joshua, iv. 20.) The famous Crom- 

 Cruach, which, after Christianity had prevailed in Ireland, was so jea- 

 lously represented as an idol, appears properly referrible to this class 

 of pillar stones. It stood in the midst of a circle of twelve small pil- 

 lars on a hill in BrefFny, a district of ancient Leitrim, and was said to 

 have been covered with gold and silver, and to have received all the 

 homage of idolatry ; but if this was the case, as seems more than 

 doubtful, •!• this solitary instance rather confirms the opinion, that the 

 religion of ancient Ireland was the pure Magian, for the very autho- 

 rities, that record this instance of idolatry, view the innovation as so 

 abhorrent, that they mention in the same context, how the monarch 

 Tighermas, and a large portion of his subjects, were supernaturally 

 slain while paying adoration to this idol. 



Sir William Ouseley notices a stone of the nature of the pillar 

 stones, which, he says, according to the tradition of the Persians, and 

 the name given by them, " Stone of the fire temple," was dedi- 

 cated to the uses of that worship. He mentions it as enclosed by 

 stones, and says that the whole " brought to his recollection various 

 remains generally supposed Druidical, which he had seen in Wales 

 and Ireland." He gives a drawing of this pillar stone. ;|; The same 



* Antiquities, lib. I. c. 2. f See ante, pp. 83-4. 



1 Travels, vol. 2. p. 82. It is very curious, that near this stone, according to Sir William 

 Ouseley, was a tree, " the branches of which were thickly hung with rags, as high as a man 



