PAGAN ANTIQUITIES. 
The Medes being obedient to him, Dejoces, in all these matters; he (Deioces) built wall*! 
Loth great and strong these which are now called Ecbatana, each one in circuit surrounding 
the other and each wall so artfully constructed, that the one surpassed in height the other° 
only by its battlements : the very nature of the enclosed area aided this mode of 
and" HI ° n a , high P °, inted hiI1 ’ 80 that such a design nndit be w ll execute 
and still more did the pains bestowed effect it 6 S executed, 
“ All the surrounding walls being in number seven, within the last was (were) the roval 
apartments and treasures ; the greatest of the walls answers (somewhat) to the greatest circuit 
of the walls of Athens ; (this circuit was inferior to that of the hill of Aileach) : and of the fir 
(or outermost) surrounding wall the battlements are white. But of the second they are black 
Of the third surroundmg wall, they are all Phoenician purple. Of the fourth’ blue Of the 
I artificially^irepared n f F ““ ^ ^ ^ “T",? ** battlements are adorned whh 
«f» “'f "o fcSSto to 
seen^ofno oil" ‘ “ b “““ SS “ “" Id b “ tr ““ cted lj ->' mmgaB, and that the King should be 
Ml '' Kln ?’ “ must unquestionably be made for the vast difference in 
p magnitude between one of the first and most sumptuous patterns of those find nf t 
e 4 .P e f r ™ a t r 1 ks are e <l uall y applicable to the Belgic fort of Dun Aengus and the Danin one 
of chance'’ ^ ®? lllar1 ^ ln both instances is such as could hardly have been the result 
origin ’ d aff ° rdS a r ° ng P resum P tlon m favour of their asserted Scythian or eastern 
wic^ ethiS ’ h0WeVe n’ aS ! tm , a y> tlle not i c es of Aileach preserved in the authentic annals andhis 
of the l?° emS ’ffv, We 1 a l ln thellves ofsamts ’ and genealogical tracts, shew that it was the seat 
the kmgs ofthe northern portion of Ireland, as Tara was of the southern from a period con 
er ? b fhe nt f C - ede ? t ‘r? 6 “^odnction of Christianity down to the close of’the 12th P C entury 
Pvi,, 1 " ^ tripartite life of St. Patrick, which is said to have been originally written bv St 
befor P Vt P 1C v ! 7, Aileach is spoken of as the remotely ancient seat of {he Irish khS 
efore St. Patricks time; and an historical poem, preserved in the hook nfTpnn _ 
g^ve^^hst^/^ts fort^fou^^ ^ ^^f.h^n unquestionably composed in the 11th century— 
t ■*--- 
the following.notices appear in the various Irish annals 
(king of I'reknd) Fngreann WaS plundered b ? Fin “eachta, the son of Donchadh 
937. Aileach Frigreann was plundered by the Danes 
ssSsSm BBBS £ 
demolition a ^’ cZnntZ°[iSncort] b? D® nndM^L^hl'“ 
^jardSasE 
the kings of the southern Hy Niall did that of the deserted t 1 „T “*t lr . tltle I as 
was removed to Inis-Eanaigh, in the parish of Urnev in TvrZ Z ‘hen- palace 
to be their residence after the arrival of the Enslish ’ It miv h’ ' v , lcb P robabl y continued 
Oi..™,™ of Aileach, like .f Emania" ^21 S\f “ *1“ 
d 
