482 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



ringed him round, all prepared for a death fight, when Ferchis "liurled " over 

 tlieir lieads and smote Mac Con full on tlie forehead ;' thus the sons of 

 Oilioll were avenged. Oilioll died on the summit of Dun Claire, from a 

 seizure brought on by grief,' in a.d. 234. The five-fold division of Munster, 

 attributed to him, was only made by his successors.^ His chief fort, we are 

 told, was at Bruree (Brughrigh) on the Maig, a great water which, though 

 muddy, was sweet and wholesome to drink, because it flowed past the side 

 of the Liss of the poet, Aedan, the son of Mellan.^ 



As to the name hriigli the meaning is doubtfiil. In the Brehon Laws it 

 means " plain " or " farmers' land " ; O'Clery's Glossary and the Four Masters 

 render it a " place " or '■ town." It may have been a sidh irugh, like Brugh 

 of the Boyne (the great Brugh of the god Aenghus, now Newgrange). If 

 so, it may have been a centre of pagan worship, like the sidh of Aine, that of 

 Cragliath, or the more famous sidh of Cruachan in Roscommon. These usually 

 occurred along with a residential fort. Tara itself is an outstanding example, 

 consisting of palaces, a great dining-hall, lesser forts, an inauguration 

 mound and pillar, and places for religious rites like the Deisiol, " the shield 

 of Cuchulliu," the " Head and neck of Cuchullih," and the " Three-ringed 

 mound of Nesi." The fact that the latter have been effaced, while the 

 residential and ceremonial works remain, is eloquent of their pagan character. 

 The human sacrifices at Emania, Tara, and Tailti' suggest similar usage. 

 As to the deisiol, it was usual to perform this ceremony at such spots — " the 

 hosts which proceed round the cairns," " round the hrugh, let him walk 

 deisiol," say old poems in the Annals." It is more than probable that this 

 meaning is involved in Brugh riogh ; but even if it only means a residence, 

 then it asserts itself to be the pre-eminent "palace" of the Dal Cais, above 

 Dun Claire, Duntrileague, or the Treada na righ. Some have supposed it 

 (rather than Limerick or Athenry) to be the Eegia hetera of Ptolemy, but 

 this is as pure conjecture as the identification of Kilmallock with Maliolilion 

 or variant identifications of various forts with his Dounon. As to the Bruree 

 forts, the " Book of Rights " (pei-haps ci7'ca a.d. 900) mentions Dun Eochair 



'See also "Poem on Deaths of Nobles," Revue Celtique, vol. xxiii, p. 311- 



^Agallamh (Silva Gadel., ii, p. 130). He was ninety years old. 



^ I omit other traditions of him, such as his reception of the fugitive Nan Deisi, &c. 

 See, however, Keating's History of Ireland (ed. Irish Texts Society), vol. ii, pp. 270-296, 

 313. The mearing Oilean Ui Bhric marks the partition tale in its present form 

 as not older than the eleventh century ; see ibid., vol. i, p. 127, and supra, vol. xxxii (A), 

 p. 220, for that place. 



■■Silva Gadelica, ii, p. 348, Revue Celtique, vol. xiii, pp. 435-437- 



'^ Cormac's Glossary (ed. W. Stokes), " Four Ancient Glossaries." "Eriu," vol. iii, 

 p. 155. 



'^ Four Masters and chose in Silva Gadelica. 



