Orpen — Dun Galiou and the 'Dunwn ' of Ptolemy. 53 



a swelling upland the large space of eighteen acres, and having in its 

 immediate vicinity another strong enclosure of large size, and a pre-Christian 

 burial-place, that we might expect to recognize the remains of Ptolemy's 

 inland -kqXuq of Ireland, and that we should not necessarily, or even probably, 

 expect them to have been on the sites of medieval towns, which grew up in 

 very different conditions. So of Ptolemy's other inland towns, the 'Vrjjia of 

 the OvoXowtioi is in all probability the Emain Macha of the Ulaid, and 

 'Priy'ia kripa is perhaps represented by the group of stone forts which exist 

 or formerly existed at Mag Tuired Cunga. 1 



The dry-stone walling at Eathgall indeed looks so little ruined that some 

 visitors, I am told, are inclined to doubt its great antiquity. But, as has often 

 been observed, you cannot tell the age of a fort, or indeed of any antiquity, 

 by merely looking at it. You must in some way directly or indirectly bring 

 it, or at least the class to which it appears to belong, into relation with 

 record, before you can make even a plausible guess as to its age. Now the 

 class to which Eathgall appears to belong is the dry-stone cathairs of Ireland, 

 and these have justly been regarded from various indications, such as finds, 

 traditions, early notices, &c, as belonging to a very early age. Indeed, it is 

 noteworthy that many of them are traditionally associated with non-Milesian 

 peoples. I have elsewhere observed that they were in all probability the 

 castella murata which Giraldus tells were antiquities in his time, adhuc Integra, 

 vacua tamen et deserta. 1 I have also noticed that very probably Gerald's 

 observant eye had actually seen Eathgall when he wrote the passage referred 

 to, for Eathgall is only four miles from Castlemore Mote, the castle of 

 Eaymond le Gros near Tullow ; and Gerald, when in Ireland, can hardly have 

 failed to visit his favourite cousin there. 3 



Of course, such an ancient fortress must have been scores of times breached 

 and destroyed, and again repaired and rebuilt. In the case of Eathgall it is 

 probable that the dry-stone walling has been repaired — perhaps largely 



1 Indeed I venture to suggest that the actual name given by Ptolemy may be traced to 

 this spot. In the Chronicon Scotorum (p. 5), referring to the plains cleared by Partholan, 

 the first mentioned is Mag Tuired no nedara la Gonnachtaibh, that is to say, Mag uEdara 

 is given as an alias for Mag Tuired. In the Four Masters, a.m. 2550, the name appears, in 

 the same connexion, as Magh nEitrighe. According to Keating (I. T. S., vol. i, p. 173) 

 Eitrighe was the name of one of Partholan's four oxen. Now 'V-qyla erepa, meaning 

 ' altera Regia,' is impossible as the actual name of a town ; but if the Irish name for the 

 district or people in or among which the town was situated resembled the Greek word 

 erepa, the fact that there was another 'Pijyia in the list of towns wotild tend to fix the 

 spelling as eripa, and the meaning as 'altera.' Thus some such name as Cathir Rigda 

 na hEtara may have produced Ptolemy's 'v-qyi* Irepa — and even possibly hmapoi, 

 the name of the people (according to some mss.) whose chief town it was. 



8 For different views as to this passage see Journal R. S. A. I., 1907, pp. 148-150. 



3 " See " Ireland under the Normans," vol. i, p. 140. 



