MACkhwriM—Tematr Brer/ : Remains and Traditions of Tara. 331 



pieces ; and that, like Dionysos, Zagfeus, Adonis, Pentheus, Orpheus, Actaeon, 

 the tale told about his being' thus dismembered had its origin in a custom 

 wherein a totem animal suffered the treatment ((TTropay/loe) and was devoured 

 whole (wpuQar/ia). Just such a rite is clearly to be seen in Giraldus's account 

 of the CeneT Gonaill ceremonies. The purpose of the rite is to quicken the 

 life of the clan by feeding on the totem animal : that the chief par excellenct 

 was to be steeped (literally as well as metaphorically) in the being of the 

 totem is indicated by the custom which required him to immerse himself in the 

 animal's broth and to drink of it without the intervention of any vessel, even 

 his hand. If anything was wanting to confirm the substantial accuracy of 

 Giraldus's account, it is this important detail. Just as in Greek legend the 

 horse torn in pieces became the chaste youth Hippblytus, slain by his chariot- 

 horses, so in Irish legend the horse torn in pieces became the unsuccessful 

 candidate for monarchy, " at whom the horses would spring.'' '1 be totem 

 animal rejected the illegitimate aspirant. But il may perhaps lie, that the 

 report of the rite in the text before us is due to a confusion with another 

 rite, probably (though not certainly) independent of inauguration ceremonies 

 such as we are discussing. We must not omit to compare the Thracian rite of 

 sacrificing men to secure fertility for the land, the victims being put to death 

 by being trampled by horses. 1 Possibly a sacrifice of this kind took place on 

 the occasion of the inauguration of a monarch of Temair, and the author who 

 reported the ceremony mixed the victim with the king. The king, having 

 been chosen for office by the solemn incubation, would hardly himself be the 

 victim. 



The successful candidate, probably by devouring the flesh of the horse, 

 passed into a state of " horse-ship "; and it is not for nothing that so many 

 kings of Temair, in the official history, bore the name Eochu, a derivative from 

 cch, "a horse." Eochu Oll-athair and Eochu Oll-1'laith, who, as we have seen, 

 are avatars of the founder of the monarchy, bore the name ; we may perhaps 

 conjecture that all the kings, as a matter of course, originally were railed 

 Eochu, as a sign of their partaking of the divine horse. Erenum himself 

 appears later in the roll of kings as Eochu Airem. 



Here again we have a most remarkable parallel between the worship of the 

 Arician grove and that of Temair. Tor one of the divinities enshrined at 

 Nemi was the ancient Italian god Virbius; and a legend bad it that this 

 Virbius was no other than the young Greek hero Hippolytus. 2 We may refer 

 the reader to Frazer's discussion of this equation and its probable basis: but 



1 See Cook's Zeus, vol. i, p. 75, iiud references in foot-note 7 on the Bame i 



2 Frnzer, The Magic Art, i, 19. 



