MacNkii.i. — An Ir ink Historical Travl dalcd A.D. l.il. I4i 



aborigines is but a duplication of their traditional victory over the hostile 

 god-race of the Fomori ; all this has been long established quite conclusively 

 by the great antiquary and historian who, within these last few weeks, 

 has ceased to live among us, except in his achievements and in liis 

 inspiration, D'Arbois de Jubainville.' 



Notwithstanding that the Tuatha De Danann were not a race of men, 

 their story was intimately blended with the story of the Irish Celts. A 

 place had to be found for them. They could not come later than the Gaedhil, 

 their worshippers. They could not come earlier than the aborigines, for then 

 they would be separated from the Gaedhil, and would appear to have been 

 worsted by an alien people. They could only come between. The synchronist 

 had already planned that the Fir Bolg period should coincide with the 

 Persian world-kingdom. He looked down through the Persian dynasty for 

 an appropriate break at which the Tuatha De Danann could be introduced. 

 The only such break was the temporary usurpation of Smerdis, and it 

 sufficed. 



The artificial character of this arrangement is emphasized by its effect 

 on the scheme. It assigns 37 years to the Fir Bolg, and 197 to the Tuatha 

 De Danann— figures worth noting, as we shall afterwards see. Eight reigns 

 of the Fir Bolg are compressed into the 37 years. The 197 of the Tuatha 

 De Danann contain only seven reigns. 



This disposition pouits to a yet older version of Z than Flaun's original. 

 Of the five invasions, there are two which still do not coincide with definite 

 world-periods. We should have expected to find that coincidence in the 

 oldest version ; and we shall see whether any traces of it have been preserved 

 elsewhere. Omitting the Tuatha De Danann, there are four great legendary 

 invasions or settlements of Ireland. In the world-history of the synchronists, 

 there are also four great world-kingdoms in continuous succession down to 

 the Koman Empire — the Assyrian, the Median, the Persian, and the Greek. 

 The last two are accounted for in Z as we have it. There should have been 

 a document, older than Z, in which the coming of Partholon coincided with 

 the foundation of the Assyrian Empire, and the coming of Nemed with the 

 foundation of the Empire of the Medes. 



6. Z Compared with other Synchronistic Accounts. 



According to Synchronism B, Ninus, the founder, as was believed, of the 



Assyrian monarchy, began to reign 21 years before the birth of Abraham. 



Keating, relying on some Irish computation, not now in evidence, teaches tiiat 



Partholon came to Ireland 22 years before the birih of Abraham. The 



' For the silence of Nennius about the Tuatha D. D., seeiS'ewHtiis ViitdicaCus, pp. 221, 222. 



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