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



ference will be also perceived in the form of the thin rod, which springs from the 

 extremity at one side. 



Torques of similar size, and generally of the same pattern, have been fre- 

 quently found in Ireland, and are often accompanied by Armillce, or bracelets, 

 of the same description. A model of such a Torque is preserved in the museum 

 of Trinity College, and smaller specimens in gold may be seen in the cabinets 

 of several collectors of Irish antiquities. 



The term Torques, by which antiquarians usually designated these ornaments, 

 is one of frequent occurrence in the classic authors, and is generally derived from 

 the. Celtic Tore, a twisted collar ; or, perhaps, more correctly, a twisted circular 

 ornament of any kind, as the ancient Irish called a collar, or neck-chain, Mun- 

 torc. And since the Latin verb torqueo has no cognate in Greek, it is probably 

 formed from the same Celtic root. 



Collars of this kind seem to have beea common to all the Celtic nations, as 

 appears from ancient writers. Livy tells us, that Publius Cornelius, in his 

 triumph over the Boii, a Gallic nation, collected, among the spoils, no less than 

 fourteen hundred and seventy Torques : and Propertius states, that Virdumarus, 

 king of the Gauls, wore such an ornament. Dio Cassius notices a Torque of this 

 description, as ornamenting the person of the British queen, Boadicea; and even 

 within a few centuries of the present time, a Welsh prince was called Llewellin 

 aur dorchag, or Llewellin of the Golden Torque. The Torques found in France 



