Above : Piece from Book Of Ballymote

It is evident that the reliability of our early traditions must depend greatly upon the time at which written records were first made and preserved. The period at which the use of letters was first introduced into Ireland is, however, yet another doubtful question. By some the introduction of writing is ascribed to St. Patrick : others believe that written records were kept in Ireland from much earlier times. The Irish words for everything connected with writing are derived directly from Latin. We have no manuscripts from the times before St. Patrick. On the other hand, neither are there manuscripts from the Romans who occupied Britain, although, of course, they were well acquainted with letters. There was much intercourse between Ireland and the Roman Empire : there are frequent references to books written before St. Patrick came, and to laws which were recorded before his arrival. The sudden general adoption of writing immediately after the time of St. Patrick suggests some knowledge of it before his time. The probabilities are that the use of letters was known in a certain degree to the Irish for some time prior to the introduction of Christianity, but was not generally known until after that event.

There was one form of writing, however, which was peculiar to the Gaelic race. This was OgAtn {Ogham, pronounced Owum.). The Ogham alphabet was simple and primitive, but ingenious. On each side or across a central line or stem, smaller lines were marked ; the number, position, and direction of these lines indicating the letter which it was intended to represent. Ogham was mostly inscribed on wooden tablets, but was also cut in stone. The latter are the only specimens that have been preserved. Two hundred of them have been collected : most have been found in the south-west of Ireland, some in Wales, and a few in Scotland. The key to the Ogham alphabet was found in the ” Book of Ballymote,” written in the 14th century. The antiquity of Ogham is uncertain, but it is evident that it was too laborious as a method of writing to be adapted to anything like continued narrative.

Oral tradition, handed down from generation to genera­tion, is, therefore, our only source of information about Ireland until after the Christian Era. As every clan had its specially trained historians, their tribal traditions may have been fairly well preserved. Especially would this be so respecting the genealogies of the tribal chiefs, although a false pride may have prefixed lists of spurious ancestors. Early tradition is, therefore, very limited in scope, and fails to give any comprehensive view of the development of the Irish people as a whole. The extent to which it may be considered as reliable has already been pointed out.

Although no literature has come down to us from this period it occupies, nevertheless, an important place in Irish literature. Later works and later writers during many centuries have narrated the strange adventures of tne early colonies and the exploits of their mysterious personages who igure at one time as gods and at another as kings and heroes. The literature referring to this period produced in later ages has been grouped as the “mythological cycle.” The ” LcAO^.p JaoaIa ” (Lour Gazvaula) or ” Book of Invasions,” fragments of which are preserved in the Book of Ballymote and Book of Leinster, tells of the early colonies. The ” First Battle of Moytirra ” describes the battle in which the Firbolgs were defeated, and King Nuadh lost his hand. The ” Second Battle of Moytirra ” narrates the defeat of the Fomorians, the slaying of ” Nuadh of the Silver Hand ” by the Fomorian ” Balor of the Evil Eye,” and the death of Balor by the spear of Lugh Lamh-fhada (” Lugh the Long-handed”). In the “Fate of the Children of Tuireann.” we learn how Lugh compelled his rivals to collect the eric or fine which enabled him to defeat the Fomorians. The ” Fate of the Children of Lir ” and the ” Destruction of Dinn Riogh ” are among the many other pieces which deal with events laid in this period.

The frequent references in our literature to the gods and goddesses of Pagan Ireland render necessary some knowledge of those mysterious deities. They do not hold the position held by the classical deities, their different attributes are not so definite, and their relations to each other are not so clear. The Dagda and his son Angus resided in Brugh na Boinne, where are situated the great sepulchral mounds of New Grange on the Boyne. Lugh and Ogma were brothers of the Dagda. Lugh gave its name to the city of Lyons in France, and in Irish to the month of August (Lughnas), in which month the Games of Taillte (Teltown) were celebrated in his honour. Mananndn, the son of Lir, was a sea-god ; Goibniu was the metal-worker ; Diancecht the healer. Amongst the goddesses were Dana or Ana, the ” mother of the gods ” ; Brigit, a daughter of the Dagda, and the goddess of poetry ; and the war-goddesses Macha and Mdr-rigu.

There is much in the relations of the various deities to suggest that the gods of different eras had become grouped into one Pantheon.