Tara

Tara, a prehistoric complex associated with the high kingship of Ireland. The Hill of Tara is a lowlying ridge situated midway between Navan and Dunshaughlin in Co. Meath. The principal monuments consist of a neolithic passage tomb, a cursus or linear earthwork, a hillfort, a stone pillar reputed to be the inauguration stone known as the Lia Fáil, numerous barrows, and other enclosures of uncertain date. Limited archaeological excavations were conducted in the 1950s and in 1997. The original meaning of the Irish name Temair is obscure. It has been explained as meaning ‘a height with a view’, ‘a sacred space’, or ‘the gates to the otherworld’.

Tara has been regarded traditionally as the seat of the high kings of Ireland. A recurring theme in early Irish mythology is that of the exalted status of the kingship of Tara. The god Lug, the most potent god in the Irish pantheon, becomes the king of Tara in the tale Cath Maige Tuired (The Battle of Moytura). The goddesses Medb and Eithne, renowned goddesses of fertility and sovereignty, represent the female aspect of the kingship of Tara. The universal principles of kings ruling justly, peacefully, prosperously, and truthfully, summed up in the phrase fír flathemon (‘the justice of a ruler’), govern the actions of heroic kings of Tara such as Conaire Mór mac Etarscéla and Cormac mac Airt. The king of Tara was bound by taboos, some of which are literary fictions, but others of which are probably genuine axioms devised to safeguard this concept of fír flathemon.

In political terms, it is unlikely that any king had sufficient authority to dominate the whole of Ireland prior to the 9th century. However, the title rí Temro or rex Temro (‘king of Tara’) was always accorded a special status. Early historical references to Tara, in documents dated primarily to the 7th and 8th centuries but which reflect vaguely events of earlier centuries, describe contention for the kingship between rival dynasties from the Laigin, the Ulaid and the Uí Néill. The latter attempted to dominate Tara, both politically and conceptually, from the 7th century to the 11th century. When the high kingship of Ireland became a more realistic institution in the early 11th century, control of Dublin and other coastal towns, such as Limerick or Waterford, was more important to an aspiring high king than dominance over Tara. The old capital retained its symbolic significance, however, by continuing to evoke associations of strength, nobility, and legitimacy of power.

Of the many popular tales associated with Tara, the most renowned tale is the dramatic account of St Patrick lighting the Paschal fire on the Hill of Slane and of his confrontation with Lóegaire, king of Tara, and his druids at Tara. It is contained in a biography of Patrick written in the 7th century by Muirchú moccu Machtheni. Tara, according to legend, was abandoned when St Rúadán of Lorrha cursed it and its king, Diarmait mac Cerbaill (d. c.565), the last king of Tara to celebrate the old fertility rite Feis Temro. While this tale was probably composed to explain the official adoption of Christianity by the kings of Tara, archaeological evidence suggests that Tara's monuments are prehistoric in date, predominantly late neolithic and Bronze Age, with little indication of activity taking place into the historic period.

Tara's potency as a site of symbolic importance persisted into the modern period, mainly reflected in the custom of gathering there as part of military or political campaigns. The hill was the focus of activity during the rising of 1641 and of a skirmish during the 1798 insurrection. It was also the scene of one of Daniel O'Connell's ‘monster meetings’ held on 15 August 1843, a meeting reputedly attended by 1 million people.

Bibliography

Bhreathnach, E. , Tara: A Select Bibliography (1995)
Macalister, R. A. S. , Tara: A Pagan Sanctuary of Ancient Ireland (1931)
Newman, C. , Tara: An Archaeological Survey (1997)
Petrie, G. , ‘On the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill’, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, 18 (1839)

Edel Bhreathnach