28 Mr, Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 



ment in Ireland under Slalnge, the first monarch of the Flr-bolgs or Belgae, and 

 continued so till its abandonment in the year 563, 



"Slainje oPeapaiB bolj co mblas, gap cocbao ap cuip Ceaniaip." 

 Slainge of the Fir-bolgs of fame (was he) by whom Temur was first raised. 



Poem ascribed to Caoilte Mac Ronain in MS. T.C.D. Class H. 1. 15. y! 58. 



The Bardic history of Ireland states, that there reigned within these periods 

 one hundred and forty-two monarchs, viz. one hundred and thirty-six Pagan, 

 and six Christian. Of these, nine are stated to have been of the Belgic colony ; 

 nine of the Tuatha De Dannan ; one hundred and twenty-three of the Scotic or 

 Milesian ; and one a Plebeian : and the time assigned to this interval, according 

 to the corrected chronology of O'Flaherty, amounts to one thousand eight hun- 

 dred and fifty-five years. Of the one hundred and thirty-six Pagan monarchs, and 

 the manner of their deaths, O'Flaherty gives the following amusing summary ; 



" Ex his porro 136, centum ferrum sustulit : septemdecim naturae concesserunt : sex pestis 

 absumpsit : tres fulmine percussi ; et decern diversis ahis modis singuH e vivis excesserunt : unus 

 quippe idolatriee vitam devovit ; alter membris dilaceratis extinctus, ahus in patibulum actus ; alius 

 sine vi, sine morbo, sine coloris mutatione animara exhalavit ; hie aquis obrulus ; ille igni in 

 cineres versus ; animi moerore confectus alius ; alium equus quem regnum non valuit sessorem 

 deturbavit ; huic spina piscaria faucibus inhsesit, atque alium per artus serpens pessumdedit vene- 

 num." — Ogygia, pp. 420, 421, 



It is not necessary to the subject of this memoir to enter upon any minute 

 investigation of the truth of historical traditions referring to times so remote : 

 they are adduced here solely as evidences of the extreme antiquity assigned by 

 the Bards to Tara as a regal residence ; and that this antiquity was really very 

 great may, perhaps, be safely concluded from the notices of several of its ancient 

 kings, given in the Annals of Tighearnach, which are now generally regarded 

 by the learned as trustworthy. In these annals the name of a king of Tara 

 occurs in the very first notice, as follows : 



"In anno xviii, Ptolemcei initiatus est reg- In the eighteenth year of Ptolemy, Cimbaoth, 



nare in Gmain, C\mbaoi Jilius pincain qui the son of Fintan, began to reign in Emania, who 



regnavit annis xviii. Tunc in Uemaip Ga- reigned eighteen years. Then in Temur, Eochy 



chach buaohar.h acuip Ujaine." the Victorious, the father of Ugonj'. 



The commencement of the reign of Cimbaoth, the seventy-fifth monarch of 

 the Irish lists, which is assigned to the year 305 before Christ, is the period 

 which Tighearnach regards as the limit of authentic Irish history : " Omnia 



