Chapter IV
Having thus disposed of the word “Cloic-teach,” which Dr. Ledwich so relied upon, as determining the character of these antique remains, I take leave, evermore, to discard the misnomer, and draw attention to a name which I have never seen noticed as applied to any of those pyramidal edifices. That which I allude to is “Cathoir ghall,” which means the “Cathedral or temple of brightness” (“and delight”60); not, I must premise, from any external daubing with which modern Vandalism may have thought proper to incrust it,—as happened to that at Swords,—but in evident reference to the solar and lunar light—the sources of life and generation—therein contemplated, at once, and interchangeably venerated.
The particular Tower to which this epithet had been assigned—and which it obtained, by way of eminence, for its colossal superiority—is not now standing.61 It rose about half a mile distant from the old castle of Bally Carbery, in the barony of Iveragh, and county of Kerry; a place where one would hope that the true designation of such phenomena would be preserved most pure, being aloof from the influence of exotic refinements, and, thus far, free from that maudlin scepticism and laboured doubt which a “little learning” too frequently superinduces.
“Dear, lovely bowers of innocence and ease,—
Seats of my youth, when ev’ry sport could please,—
How often have I loiter’d o’er thy green,
When humble happiness endear’d each scene!
How often have I paused on every charm,—
The shelter’d cot, the cultivated farm!
While all the village train, from labour free,
Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree.”62
No combination of letters could possibly approach closer, or convey to a discerning mind greater affinity of meaning to anything, than does the above name to the description given of them in the twelfth century by Giraldus Cambrensis, who calls them “turres ecclesiasticas, quæ, more patriæ, arctæ sunt et altæ, nec non et rotundæ.” This definition, vague as it may seem, affords ample illumination, when compared with the epithet which I have above adduced, to penetrate the darkness of this literary nebula. The word “turres” points out their constructional symmetry, and “ecclesiasticas” their appropriation to a religious use; and what can possibly be in stricter consonance with the tenor of this idea than “Cathaoir ghall,” or the Temple of Brightness, which I have instanced above as the vernacular appellation of one of those sanctuaries?
Should it be asked, why did not Cambrensis, at the time, enter more fully into the minutiæ of their detail? I shall unhesitatingly answer, it was because he knew nothing more about them. The Irish had at that moment most lamentably dwindled into a degenerate race. The noble spirit of their heroic ancestors, which had called forth those pyramids, for the twofold and mingled purpose of religion and science, had already evaporated; and all the historian could glean, in prosecuting his inquiries as to their era and cause, was that their antiquity was so remote, that some of them may be even seen immersed beneath the waters of Lough Neagh,63 which had been occasioned many ages before by the overflowing of a fountain.64
Let us now turn to the annals of the “Four Masters,” which record the destruction of Armagh, A.D. 995, by a flash of lightning, and see under what name they include the Round Towers in the general catastrophe. Here is the passage at full length, as given by O’Connor—“Ardmaeha do lose do tene saighnein, ettir tighib, 765 Domhuliacc, 7 Cloic teacha, 7 Fiadh-Neimhedh”; that is, Armagh having been set on fire by lightning, its houses, its cathedrals, its belfries, and its Fiadh-Neimhedh, were all destroyed.
The Ulster Annals have registered the same event in the following words:—“Tene diait do gabail Airdmaeha conafarcaibh Dertach, na Damliacc, na h Erdam, na Fidh-Nemead ann cen loscadh”; that is, Lightning seized upon Armagh, to so violent a degree, as to leave neither mansion, nor cathedral, nor belfry, nor Fiadh-Nemeadh, undemolished.
Here we find Fiadh-Nemeadh to occur in both accounts, while the belfries are represented in one place as Cloic teacha, and in the other as Erdam, and in both are opposed to, and contradistinguished from, the Fiadh-Nemeadh. Our business now is to investigate what this latter word conveys; and though I do not mean, for a while, to develop its true interpretation,—of which I am the sole and exclusive depositary,—yet must I make it apparent, that by it—whatever way it must be rendered—all before me have understood, were emphatically designated our Sabian Towers. Thus Colgan in his Acts, p. 297, referring to these words of the Four Masters, says: “Anno 995, Ardmaeha cum Basilicis, Turribus, aliisque omnibus edificiis, incendio ex fulmine generato, tota vastatur.”
O’Connor also, wishing to wrest its import to his favourite theory of there having been gnomons, while ignorant of its proper force, indulges in a conjecture of the most lunatic ostentation, and translates Fiadh-Nemeadh by celestial indexes.
But though the word does not literally signify either “Towers”—as Colgan, for want of a better exposition, has set forth—or “celestial indexes”—as O’Connor, equally at a loss for its proper meaning, has ventured to promulgate, yet is it indisputable that it stood as the representative of those enigmatical edifices, as well as that both writers had the same structures in view as comprehended under the tenor of this mysterious denomination.66
These annals I look upon in three different lights as invaluable documents—firstly, as they prove the existence of those edifices at the date above assigned; secondly, as they show that they were distinct things from the belfries—whether cloicteach or erdam—which shared their disaster; and, thirdly, because that, even admitting of O’Connor’s mistranslation, it gives us an insight into their character more fortuitous than he had anticipated. Celestial indexes!67 Could any one be so silly as for a moment to suppose that this was a mere allusion to the circumstance of their height? No; it was no such casual epithet, or witty effort of hyperbole; but it was, what Sallust has so truly said of the Syrtes, “nomen ex re inditum.”
The identity between this island and the “Insula Hyperboreorum” of Hecatæus being to be completely established in an ensuing chapter,—the bungling of natives and the claims of externs notwithstanding,—I shall not hesitate to assume as proved, that ours was the “island” described.
Allow me then to draw your attention to an extract from Diodorus’s report thereof:—“They affirm also,” says he, “that the moon is so seen from this island, that it appears not so distant from the earth, and seems to present on its disk certain projections like the mountains of our world. Likewise that the God Apollo in person visits this island once in nineteen years, in which the stars complete their revolutions, and return into their old positions; and hence this cycle of nineteen years is called, by the Greeks, the great year.”
Who is it that collates this description with the “celestial indexes”68 above produced, that is not, at once, struck with the felicity of the coincidence? On earth, what could celestial indexes mean but such as were appropriated to the contemplation of the heavenly bodies?—just as the name of “Zoroaster”—which, in the Persian language, signifies “cœlorum observator,” that is, star-gazer, or observer of the heavens—was given to Zerdust, the great patriarch of the Magi, from his eminence and delight in astronomical pursuits.
Now, “the moon being so seen from this island that it appears not so distant from the earth,” is so obvious a reference to the study of astronomy that it would be almost an insult to go about to prove it; but when it is said that “it presents on its disk certain projections like the mountains of our world,” it not only puts that question beyond the possibility of dispute, but argues furthermore a proficiency in that department, which it is the fashion now-a-days to attribute only to modern discoveries.
But have we any evidence of having ever had amongst us, in those “olden times,” men who by their talents could support this character? Hear what Strabo says of Abaris, whom “Hecatæus and others mention” as having been sent by his fraternity from the “island of the Hyperboreans” to Delos, in Greece, in the capacity of a sacred ambassador, where he was equally admired for his knowledge, politeness, justice, and integrity. “He came,” says Strabo, “to Athens, not clad in skins like a Scythian, but with a bow in his hand, a quiver hanging on his shoulders, a plaid wrapt about his body, a gilded belt encircling his loins, and trousers reaching from the waist down to the soles of his feet. He was easy in his address, agreeable in his conversation, active in his despatch, and secret in his management of great affairs; quick in judging of present occurrences, and ready to take his part in any sudden emergency; provident withal in guarding against futurity; diligent in the quest of wisdom; fond of friendship; trusting very little to fortune, yet having the entire confidence of others, and trusted with everything for his prudence. He spake Greek with a fluency, that you would have thought he had been bred up in the Lyceum, and conversed all his life with the Academy of Athens.”69
This embassy is ascertained to have taken place B.C. 600; and from what shall be elsewhere said of the “island of the Hyperboreans”—coupled with the circumstance of the orator Himerius having called this individual a Scythian, which Strabo would seem to have insinuated also—we can be at no loss in tracing him to his proper home.
“Far westward lies an isle of ancient fame,
By nature blessed, and Scotia is her name;
An island rich—exhaustless in her store
Of veiny silver and of golden ore;
Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow,
Her woolly fleeces vie with virgin snow,
Her waving furrows float with verdant corn,
And Arms and Arts her envied sons adorn.”
Such is the description of Ireland given by Donatus, bishop of Etruria, in 802; and I have selected it among a thousand other authorities of similar import, to show that Scotia or Scythia was one, and the last, of the ancient names of this country;70 while the name of “Hyperborean” was the distinctive character assigned thereto, not only as descriptive of its locality towards the north, but as worshipping the wind Boreas.
Did I not apprehend it might be considered irrelevant to the scope of this work, I could easily prove that the amity, said by Hecatæus to have been cemented on the occasion of the visit above alluded to, was not that of a mere return of courteous civilities for a casual intercourse, but one of a far more tender and familiar nature, viz. the recognition on both sides of their mutual descent from one common origin: the same people who had settled in this country, and imported the mysteries of their magic priesthood, being akin to the first settlers on the coasts of Greece, which they impregnated with similar initiation. I am anticipated, of course, to have meant the Pelasgi, who, under another name, belonged to the same hive as the Indo-Scythæ, or Chaldean Magi, or Tuath-de-danaan,—as the head tribe thereof were called,—who, having effected an establishment on this happy isle, aloof from the intrusion of external invasion or internal butcheries, were allowed to cultivate the study of their favourite rites, the fame and eminence of which had obtained for its theatre, of all nations, the designation of “sacred.” But I fear it would be encroaching upon the patience of my readers, and besides anticipating, in point of order, what may by and by follow.
An inconsistency, however, appears in the details, which I cannot here well overlook. It is this. Himerius has called this our ambassador a “Scythian”; and Strabo has affirmed, that he was “not clad like a Scythian.” How, then, shall I cut this knot? Thus. Abaris, as his name implies, was one of the Boreades, or priests of Boreas, belonging to the Tuath-de-danaan colony in this island, who were subdued about six hundred years before this event by the Scythians, whose dress, as well as manners, differed in all particulars from those of their religious and learned predecessors.
But though the Scythians, from state policy, had suppressed the temple-worship when they deposed from the throne their antecedent Hyperboreans, they were but too sensible of their literary value not to profit by their services in the department of education. Hence it came to pass, that the Boreades were still indulged with their favourite costume, while the inferior communities were obliged to conform to the rules and the fashions of the ascendant dynasty. In a short time, however, the Scythian Druids superseded the Danaan Boreades, by the influence of their own instruction; and the consequence was that of that graceful garb, in the folds of which our ancient high priests officiated at the altar, or exhibited in the senate, not a single vestige is now to be traced except in the word God, Phearagh, whom I shall anon introduce, and in the highlands of Scotland, where a remnant of those Hyperborean or Danaan priests took shelter from the ruthless Picts, resigning to those remorseless and intolerant persecutors the ground of the only two temples which they were able there to raise, as the last resort of their hopes, and the solace of their exile.71
Nor is it alone as accounting for the circumstance of costume that the above explanation deserves the reader’s regard. An additional insight is afforded, by its enabling us to account for that boundless superiority which, the Irish Druids possessed over all other bodies of the same denomination all over the world. Originally, the Druids were an humble set of men, without science, without letters, without pretensions to refinement; but having succeeded here to the fraternity of the accomplished Danaan Boreades, who, in the revolution of affairs, were forced to communicate their acquirements to the opposite but prevailing priesthood, those latter so far profited by the ennobling opportunity, as to eclipse all other Druids, as well in Europe as in Africa.
Cæsar, in his Commentaries, bears direct testimony to their astronomical research, saying: “Multa præterea de sideribus atque eorum motu, de mundi ac terrarum magnitudine, de rerum naturâ ac deorum immortalium vi ac potestate disputant ac juventuti transdunt.”—De Bel. Gal. lib. 1-6, c. xiv. Pomponius Mela, also confirming the fact, says: “Hi terræ mundique magnitudinem ac forman, motus cœli ac siderum, ac quid Dii velint scire, profitentur.”—De Situ Orbis, lib. 3, c. ii. These two latter authorities, I admit, were more immediately directed to the Druids of Britain; but as it is agreed on all hands that that body of religionists had received the seeds of their instruction from the Irish Magi, who were infinitely their superiors in all literary accomplishments, I think we may be warranted in extending the commendation to Ireland also, as the writers indubitably included it under the general name of Britain.
But were all external testimonies silent on the matter, and mercenary vouchers even assert the reverse, the internal evidence of our language itself, a language so truly characterised as “more than three thousand years old,” would afford to the ingenious and disinterested inquirer the most convincing proof of the ground which I have assumed. In that language—and the writer of this essay ought to know something of it—there is scarcely a single term appertaining to time, from la a day, derived from liladh, to turn round,—in allusion to the diurnal revolution,—up to bleain, a year, compounded of Bel, the sun, and Ain, a circle, referring to its annual orbit, that does not, in its formation and construction, associate the idea with the planetary courses, and thereby evince, not only an astronomical taste, but that astronomy was the “ruling passion” of those who spoke it.
“The Irish language,” says Davies, an intelligent and respectable Welsh writer, “appears to have arrived at maturity amongst the Iapetidæ, while they were yet in contact with Aramæan families, and formed a powerful tribe in Asia Minor and in Thrace. It may, therefore, in particular instances, have more similitude or analogy to the Asiatic dialects than what appears in those branches of the Celtic that were matured in the west of Europe. Those who used this language consisted partly of Titans, of Celto-Scythians, or of those Iapetidæ who assisted in building the city of Babel, and must have been habituated, after the dispersion, to the dialects of the nations through which they passed, before they joined the society of their brethren.” We thank this learned author for the flattering notice which he has been pleased to take of us; and though, in his subsequent remarks, he steers far wide of our true pedigree, yet a concession so important as that even here adduced, must command at least our becoming acknowledgments.
The splendid examples which we have had of primitive teachers of Christianity in this kingdom, and whom Ledwich himself, reluctant as he was to afford ordinary justice to Irish merit, is obliged to praise, were not more remarkable for the sanctified zeal and enthusiastic devotion with which they propagated the Gospel, than they were for the diversified range of their literary acquirements, and the moral sublimity of their ideas and conceptions.72 Speaking of a production belonging to one of these worthies, Ledwich remarks: “In this tract we can discover Cumman’s acquaintance with the doctrine of time, and the chronological characters. He is no stranger to the solar, lunar, and bissextile years, to the epactal days, and embolismal months, nor to the names of the Hebrew, Macedonian, and Egyptian months. To examine the various cyclical systems, and to point out their construction and errors, required no mean abilities: a large portion of Greek and Latin literature was also necessary.”73
Here I would have it distinctly noticed, that the above-mentioned individuals who shone in the galaxy of our early Christian constellations, had been but just converted from paganism by St. Patrick, and consequently were not indebted for this “learned lore” to the Romish missionaries, but to the more elevated genius of their native institutions. This it was that enabled them to make those astronomical observations which our annals commemorate; and who can say, amidst the decay of time, the ravages of persecution, and the fury of fanaticism, what tomes of such labours has not the world lost? Some few, however, remain, of which we shall adduce some by way of specimen. Solar eclipses of 495, 664, 810, 884; lunar, of 673, 717, 733, 807, 877; solar and lunar, 864; a comet 911, are recorded in our annals.
Those of the “Four Masters” additionally record certain extraordinary celestial phenomena in 743:—“Visæ sunt stellæ quasi de cœlo cadere.” Again, in 744, they observe: “Hoc anno stellæ item de cœlo frequentes deciderunt”; while it cannot be too diligently noted, “that, when the rest of Europe, as Vallancey so justly remarked, through ignorance or forgetfulness, had no knowledge of the true figure of the earth, in the eighth century, the rotundity and true formation of it should have been taught in the Irish schools,” which we shall by and by more pointedly advert to.
It thus appears manifest that the Irish must, at one time, have not only possessed, but excelled in, the science of astronomy. How did they acquire it? is the next question. “Ad illa mihi pro se quisque acriter intendat animum.” In that passage of Diodorus, to which I have already referred, we find the following appropriate characteristic:—“It is affirmed that Latona was born there, and that, therefore, the worship of Apollo is preferred to that of any other God; and as they daily celebrate this deity with songs of praise, and worship him with the highest honours, they are considered as peculiarly the priests of Apollo, whose sacred grove and singular temple of round form, endowed with many gifts, are there.”
Now, it is universally known that Apollo, which, “according to the learned Pezron, is no other than Ap-haul, or the son of the Sun,” was understood by the ancients only essentially to typify that powerful planet, “which animates and imparts fecundity to the universe, whose divinity has been accordingly honoured in every quarter by temples and by altars, and consecrated in the religious strains of all nations” and all climes.
His being peculiarly worshipped in this island only shows the intimate knowledge it possessed of the mysteries of the solar system; and that near converse which we have been already told it possessed with the moon, is confirmation the most positive of this explanation.
Let me here again recall to the reader’s mind the name of Cathaoir Ghall, or temple of brightness, which I have before adduced, and when we compare all with the celestial indexes recorded in our annals, the conclusion is inevitable, that the Round Towers of Ireland were specifically constructed for the two-fold purpose of worshipping the Sun and Moon—as the authors of generation and vegetative heat—and, from the nearer converse which their elevation afforded, of studying the revolutions and properties of the planetary orbs. Let me, however, before elucidating the era of their actual erection, with their Phallic form and their further use, revert to the Mosaic history for the groundwork of my development.
“And chiefly thou, O Spirit! that dost prefer
Before all temples th’ upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for thou know’st; thou from the first
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread,
Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast abyss,
And mad’st it pregnant. What in me is dark,
Illumine! what is low, raise and support!
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to man.”74