230 Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities ofTara Hill. 



and apparently proceeded in the direction of Duleek and Drogheda. There is, 

 therefore, every reason to believe that the road still pointing in that direction is, 

 to a certain distance at least, identical with that ancient road. The Slighe Dala 

 led from the southern side of the hill in the direction of Ossory and East 

 Munster, and it is most probable, that its track at its junction with Tara is still 

 preserved in the southern road from the hill. There remains then only the 

 Slighe Asail, and this, there can be little doubt, was a continuation of the 

 ancient Fan na g-carbad, or Slope of the Chariots, which still remains, though 

 little used, as it appears from a passage in the Leahhar na h- Uidhre, that Fan 

 na g-carbad was on the line of road leading from Tara to Brugh na Boinne, 

 which is situated on the Boyne to the east of Navan. 



The monuments of Tara, described in the documents in the Dinnseanchus, 

 have been all now illustrated ; but, to make this memoir as satisfactory and com- 

 plete as possible, it will be proper to include a notice of two remarkable 

 similar monuments in its immediate vicinity, and particularly as one of them at 

 least is of the same age, and is most intimately connected with its history. The 

 monument here alluded to is that called Rath Meadhbha, or the Rath of Meve, 

 which is situated on a height about a mile to the south-east of Tara Hill, as seen 

 from which it is a striking object. This Rath appears to have been an inclosure 

 with a single circular rampart, and without any ditch. A section from north 

 to south, on a scale of 150 f. to an inch, gives the following measurements : — 



The Meadhbh, or Meve, from whom this Rath was named, was, according 

 to all the ancient Irish authorities, the wife of Art, the father of Cormac, as 

 O' Flaherty thus writes, p. 324 : " Mauda filia Cananl de Cualann, a qua Rath- 

 meadhbha Temorla2 regla nomen sumpslt, e Lagenia genus trahens, fuit Arturi 

 regina, sed Cormaci fllil genitrlx non fuit. Hanc diversam a Mauda Niacorbi, 

 et Cormaci Cucorbi regis LagenliB fillorum matre, ut superius attlgl, satis 

 evincunt dlversa tempora." 



The remaining feature to be noticed is that called Rath Miles, which is situ- 

 ated about a mile from the summit of Tara Hill to the north. The measure- 



