Ulster had its ancient capital at Emain Macha, near the modern city of Armagh. An ancient capital, cultural center for the Ulaid was at Emhain Macha, in modern county Armagh and Monaghan, before being driven east by the incursion of the three Collas to Navan Fort, three miles north-west of modern Armagh. An ancient territory in Ulster, referred to in these texts as Uladh, Ulaid and Ulidia, was noted to be the home of the Ulaid and the Cruithne tribes. The Leabhar na gCeart [Book of Rights] describes Uladh originally including the whole province of Ulster, from Bun Drobhais, the river Drowse, county Donegal, to Inbher Colpa, the mouth of the river Boyne, but after the destruction of Eamhain Macha by the 3 Collas, A.D. 332, it was restricted to the territory east of the river Bann, Lough Neagh, and the Newry river.


The Corca Luighe were a pre-Milesian race and the name Luighe was common among their early chiefs. One of those, Lughaidh Mac Con was High King of Ireland. According to the Book of Ballymote, Corca Luighe extended from Beann Finn westward to Tragumina and Lough Ine and from Beal Atha Buidhe to Tragh Claen at the rock. Each tuath of Corca Luighe was governed by a taoiseach and beneath him were the hereditary leaders. Tuatha O Fitcheallaigh and O Dunghalaigh merged in Clonakilty. O'Fehilly and O'Dunlea were the taoiseacha. Oglaigh or Leaders are represented by names which still survive, i.e. Duggan, Keady, Eady, Anglin, Kennedy, Cagney, Hennessy, Leary, Dineen, Cronin, Hayes or O'Hea, Murray, Dulea, Coffey, Cowhig, Cullinane, Downey, Lahiffe, Shinnick, Deady and Muintir Oh Illigh or Hill. The O'Driscolls were the ruling race. These races had been gradually pushed south of the Bandon river by the Eoghanachta of which the ruling families were the O'Mahony's and the O'Donoghues.

Army: The Red Branch of Ulster

The sept since its inception has had a strong literary tradition, providing a long line of hereditary bards and historians to the chief septs of their territory, the MacCarthy Mor and the O’Sullivans. Even after the demise of the native Gaelic order, this tradition was carried on by such men as Tadgh O’Dinneen, poet to the earl of Clancarty and a prominent member of the seventeenth century school of poetry at Blarney They are also noted as being chiefs of Uaithne, now the barony of Owneybeg in Limerick.

John O'Donovan, in his notes to the yeare 1178 of his edition of the Annals of the Four Masters, describes the territory of the Airghialla: "Keating, Duald Mac Firbis, O'Flaherty, and all the ancient Bardic writers of the history of Ireland, state that the three Collas, who formed the territory of Oriel, deprived the Ultonians of that portion of their kingdom extending from Gleann Righ, and Loch n-Eatach, westwards. The general opinion was that the territory of Oirghiall, or Oriel, comprised the present counties of Louth, Armagh and Monaghan, and that Uladh or Ulidia, the circumscribed territory of the Clanna Rury, was, when formed into shire-ground, styled the County of Down, from Down, its principal town. This having been established, the editor, during his examination of the ancient topography of Ulster, was led to look for Glenree somewhere on the boundary between the counties of Armagh and Down; and, accordingly, on examining the documents, he found that, on an ancient map of the country lying between Lough Erne and Dundalk, preserved in the State Papers' Office, the vale of the Newry River is called 'Glenree,' and the river itself 'Owen Glenree fluvius.' He also found that in the Ulster Inquisitions the remarkable place near Newry called Fathom, is denominated Glenree Magafee.

Oriel, or Oirghialla, anciently extended from this Glenree to Lough Erne, and comprised the counties of Louth, Armagh, Monaghan, and in later ages the whole of the County of Fermanagh, as we learn from O'Dugan, who, in his topographical poem, places Tooraah, the country of O'Flanagan, in the north-west of Fermanagh; Lurg, the country of Muldoon, in the north of the same County; and the entire of Maguire's country in it. That the County of Fermanagh was considered a part of Oriel, at least since the Maguires got possession of it, is further corroborated by the fact, that throughout these Annals Maguire is called the pillar and prop of the Oriel. It is stated in a manuscript in Trinity College, Dublin (H.3, 18. p.783), that the boundary between Oriel and Ulidia, or the Clann Colla and the Clann Rury, or ancient Ultonians, was made in the west side of Glenree from Newry upwards, and that the Clanna Rury never extended their boundaries beyond it. This boundary, which consists of a fosse and rampart of great extent, still remains in some places in tolerable preservation, and is called by the strange name of the Dane's Cast, in English, and ... Valley of the Black Pig in Irish. For a minute description of the ancient boundary the reader is referred to Stuart's Historical Memoirs of the City of Armagh, Appendix, No. III., pp. 585, 586."

Emania ABBEY ASSAROE, CO. DONEGAL. -Near the old town of Ballyshannon, on the Erne, are the ruins of the time-honored, but hopelessly decayed, abbey of Assaroe, founded in the early twilight age of Christianity in Ireland. The name is derived from the circumstance that Aedh-Ruaidh, father of Mocha, founder of the royal fortress of Emania. These were called after him Eas-Aedha-Ruadh, pronounced Assayroo, and shortened in English to Assaroe. The abbey churchyard, which contains many venerable tombs, is even yet after the lapse of ages, a favorite burial place. The decay of the holy place has been called Gray.


About the time of Ptolemy (c.150 AD) the tribes of the Vennicnii and the Rhobogdii are translated to be near the modern county of Donegal, prior to the arrival of the sons of Niall in the 4th century. The Dal nAriade and the Dal Fiatach were the ruling dynasties for much of Uladh's history. By the 4th and 5th centuries much of the western and central portions of Ulster began to be dominated by the tribes of the northern Uí Neill and the Oirghialla. Provinces became 5 kingdoms in 8th century, Uí Néill dynasty lead until the 11th cent.


Ptolemy also mentions the country of the Darnii, or Darini, possibly in the present county of Derry, prior to the rise of the O'Cathains, a branch and tributary to the O'Nialls (Northern Úí Neill). In the present county of Antrim the Darnii or Darini are also inferred from Ptolemy, prior to the rise of the Dál Riata in that area. In the present county of Tyrone, the Scoti and sometimes the Erdini are said to be translated from Ptolemy's early map, prior to the rise of power of the Cineal Eoghain (Tir Owen, Tyrone). The present county of Down and southern Antrim has traditionally been known under the name Ulagh, with the Voluntii or Uluntii inferred from Ptolemy, prior to the rise of the Dál Fiatach and Dál nAraide branches of Ulidia. The Uí Eathach Cobha were also prominent in Down in descent from the Dal nAriade.Modern county Armagh, the home of the ancient capitol of Ulidia (Uladh), that is Emhain Macha, was mentioned by Ptolemy as home to the Vinderii and Voluntii, prior to the establishment of Oirgialla by the three Collas in the 4th century. It has also been translated from Ptolemy that the Scoti inhabited modern county Monaghan, and that the Erdini(Ernaigh) may have inhabited modern counties Fermanagh and Cavan.

 

"LORD ANTRIM'S PARLOR," GIANT'S CAUSEWAY.-This massive natural apartment, in which "once upon a time," the Antrim peasantry assert, the "lord" of that title gave "a great feast," is situated on the west side of the grand Causeway. The basaltic pillars, are entirely the work of the greates of architects, Nature, guided by the almighty hand. Like a diamond, there is no manmaking of it. The great natural edifice is older than Athens, than Pompeii, than Nineveh or Nippur-it dates from the foundation of the world. Travellers call Lord Antrim's Parlor comparable to the mighty temples of ancient Greece and Italy, excavated by antiquaries, after the lapse of ages, at Athens and Pompeii.

Bushmills straddles the townlands of Bushmills or Magheraboy and Bushmills or Ballaghmore, on the east and west banks of the River Bush respectively, one of the north’s finest salmon rivers. The village’s Bushmills distillery is the oldest legal whiskey distillery in the world, established in 1608. Visitors today can take a guided tour of the distillery and of course receive a complimentary glass to round off their visit. Bushmills is also only a mile from Giants Causeway.

The Lacedaemonians (the Spartans), with their neighbors the Tegeans, faced the combined armies of Argos, Athens, Mantinea, and Arcadia. In medieval times, Laconia was a chief part of the Byzantine Empire of the Palaeologus ruling family who were from Macedonia. The cadet branch of the succession passed to the Austrian Dukes of Lorraine, progenitor of the Habsburg-Lorraine emperors. The democratic alliance was broken up, and most of its members were reincorporated into the Peloponnesian League. With its victory at Mantinea, Sparta pulled itself back from the brink of utter defeat, and reestablished its hegemony throughout the Peloponnese. Following the destruction of the Sicilian Expedition, Lacedaemon encouraged the revolt of Athens's tributary allies, and indeed, much of Ionia rose in revolt against Athens. The Ionian states that rebelled expected protection, and frequently rejoined the Athenian side. The League, based around the Ionian and Aegean Sea, was by its very nature reliant on ships for trade and to fend off pirates and Persian fleets. This increase in Athenian military power allowed it to challenge the Lacedaemonians (commonly known as the Spartans), who, as leaders of the Peloponnesian League, had long been the sole major military power in Greece. An oligarchical revolution occurred in Athens, in which a group of 400 seized power.

According to Clan legends, the MacNeils descended from Niall (or Neil) of Scythia /Scotland, who like Joseph was minister to the Pharoah of Egypt, gave his name to the River Niall, or Nile, and married the Princess Scota, the daughter of the Pharoah who rescued Moses from the bulrushes, by whom he had a daughter Gaedhal, or Gael. Whether you credit legends or not, here you have the origins of the MacNeils, the Scots and the Gaels.