322 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



and Classical synchronisms, tliey fitted their materials thereto artificially. 

 These materials were threefold, namely, 



A. Folk-lore collected from oral tradition, 



B. Folk-lore written down at an earlier time. 



I . Historical record written down at an earlier time, 



— the earlier writings being in the obscure archaic language mentioned on a 

 previous page, which the historians probably knew very imperfectly. Of 

 class A we hav< _ example in the dynasty-record that we have in 

 this chapter been analysing; the last relic of the ancient cosmogonic 

 epic. Of class li we have an illustration in such romances as Tain Bo 

 which in their present literary form preserve the record of 

 modes of life older than the time when they were written down. Of 

 the preservation of record, class V, I can give no better 



example than the List of chieftains "I the district now known as the 

 Deciee of Waterford, wh icitj is attested by their Ogham-written 



monuments, but who are woven into the roll of the kings <>i Teniair. 1 The 

 hisl slieved that Temair had always held the central place that it 



enjoyed in Irish politics in their own time, and tbey framed their history in 

 this belief; thus they supposed that tin- numerous names "t kings which they 

 found in their authorities wen II gl Kings of Ireland. In point of fact, 

 some of them were gods, others mere creations of folk-lore, others actual 

 human chieftains . I in one part or anothei in Ireland. Many 



of them were d up] ■ I from different authorities, but really referring 



t" I _ . haracter. The theory of the central 



i t into the pie-Celtic period, so that 



tine rulers oi Ireland. Thus Ungust, 

 B ■• uated to the storm-god Geide. 



and lie in his turn "humanized" into a hei th>- founder of the whole 



Pictish in 



In a w.,rd, the ah lal mention of the obscure Geide of the Great 



Voice as husband of I ' j these devious ways to tin- conclusion 



thai Temair, and the personage in whose honour the 



•re one and the same. 



1 I called ■ . the remarkaV these Ogham i- 



and one group of ilie Temair k ftoy.Soc.of int. of IreUod, xxxviii, 1). 



The paper referred to contain* a number of mistakes, now obvious to no one more than 

 to myself ; but the actuality of these correspondence* still holds in most, though ii"t in 

 all. of the cases brought forward. 



. his own form later in the li-' ' I fish kiiiys ; for rte," 



iption of •■ I iigunt oi the Urug " or palace. 



