332 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



we cannot pass over the coincidence of a horse deity at Alicia and a totemistic 

 horse-ritual at Teniair. 



There is another explanation of the chariot-rite possible. Mr. Cook has 

 referred me to his valuable articles in the Classical Review, vols, xvii, xviii, 

 in the course of which he brings evidence to show that the chariot-races at the 

 Olympic games and at similar celebrations were originally intended as tests 

 for the selection of a god-king. It might therefore be suggested that at 

 Teniair there was also a chariot-race, whereby the king was selected; or, 

 preferably, that the king, already selected by the incubation, was required to 

 prove his ability to control wild horses (sun-horses?). In the concluding 

 section we shall see how the rites of Teniair are linked to other rites 

 recorded froni elsewhere in Europe; and the analogies which the passages 

 brought Forward by Mr. <',i,ik present must be accorded their full weight. 

 We must also not forget the remarkable horse-racing, feasting, sacrificial, 

 and military Bcenes represented on tin- well-known series of early iron age 

 Venetian sUulae, which have every appearance of referring to similar cele- 

 brations, lint the Cenel Conaill rite blocks the way t" a complete acceptance 

 of this alternative explanation. We here plumb a yet deeper stratum of 

 primitive custom ; and, perhaps, we see enacted before us the ceremonies 

 which later developed into the Olympic horse-race — just as the gracious 

 figure of Hippolytus may have developed out of a savage who tore a horse 

 to pieces and devoured it raw and half alive! 



The second rite, that of the magic mantle, can best be understood in the 

 light of the third, which we accordingly shall consider first of the two. 



The third rite was that of the Btones Blocc and Bluicne. It will be 



remembered thai these were two of three Bt ss Bet ovei certain druids of the 



same Dames. Now then- j- ., very remarkable expression used about these 

 stones in 1'1> 21, i" wined we have not yet referred. We there read of them 

 •,, forma druidib, " the three stones that were placed upon 

 the druids." In the descriptions of other Btanding stones, Buch are called 

 the Ucht di gravestone of So-and-so; but this expression is not used here. 

 VD iii 75 70 tu ^ually curious expression ; form atdii na hi clocha 



dusfarlaic Mrfl rtufr-Macha, "on them (i.e. on the three druids) are the three 

 stones which Mai of gi I M icha flung." These passages point to some deed 

 of violence; v\e maj perhaps be nol fai wrong if we infer that Mod and his 

 fellows wen- buried alive uudei the Btones. 1 Ihia is confirmed by what 



bike the hostages ••!' Fiachra, Reme etUiqiie, xxn. i.-i > ompare also the sentence 



I upon thu daughter of the Ulidian kim.- in Togffl Bruidnt Dd Dtrga, ibid., xxii, 



18, 10. Mr r....k Huggeota to me a i ipariaon with the myth of the invulnerable 



