152 Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 



nexion with their ancient names. But, to make this inquiry satisfactorily, it will 

 be necessary to extend it to the monuments now wholly destroyed, as well as to 

 those of which there are still vestiges remaining. 



The monument of first importance, both as to size and antiquity of construc- 

 tion, seems unquestionably to be the great Rath, or enclosure, marked in the 

 descriptions by the name of Rath na Riogh, or the Rath, or Fortress of the 

 Kings. This great enclosure seems to have been formed of two murs, or para- 

 pets, having a ditch between them, as described in the prose account. The 

 great or external diameter, taken north-west and south-east, is 853 f., the interior 

 775. It encircled the southern brow of the hill ; the northern side being on its 

 top, and the eastern, southern, and western, on its slopes. The rings have been 

 in most parts removed ; and, it is to be regretted that, the proprietor is yearly 

 removing more of them to spread on his land. A portion of the outer ring still 

 remaining is 2|f. above the natural hill ; and the ditch, or bottom, is 4f. below 

 it, so that from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the outer ring is 6^f. 



Independently of the superior importance, as to extent, of this great enclosure, 

 its situation on the apex of the hill is a strong evidence in favour of its priority 

 of origin to all the other remains. There is, however, in addition to these cir- 

 cumstances, the corroborative testimony of the poem of Cuan O'Lochain, in 

 which the Tea-mur appears to be clearly identified with the Rath na Riogh; and, 

 though the prose description makes the Tea-mur only a feature within this 

 enclosure, this notice must, and does obviously, only apply to the sepulchre, or 

 monumental mound, to which bardic tradition had given that name. Indeed, 

 as already observed, the legendary existence of the Spanish queen Tea, as a 

 portion of the Milesian story, must be left out of consideration in sober investi- 

 gations, till the truth of that national tradition be placed on a more solid foun- 

 dation. From the preceding documents it will have been seen that, as early as 

 the ninth century, this derivation of the name of Teamhuir from the Milesian 

 queen, was doubted by the learned Cormac Mac Cullenan ; who, in his valuable 

 etymological vocabulary, substitutes, as a more probable conjecture, a derivation 

 from the Greek, (deapeco,) " because," as he adds, " the Scots [meaning the Irish] 

 have a saying in common use, Teamuir na tuaithe agus Teamuir an toighe" 

 that is literally, " Teamuir of the country, and Teamuir of the house ;" of 

 which appellations he says, the former signifies a hill, and the latter a grianan, 



