her stories dealing with mythological and historical
personages will be mentioned in their turn.

Ulster cycle.

The "Tain."

The Ulster cycle may be regarded as Ireland's most important
contribution to the world's literature. The chief and at the same time
the lengthiest romance in which the heroes of this group figure is the
great epic, the _Tain Bo Cualnge_ or the Cattle-raid of Cooley (Co.
Louth). Here we find ourselves in a world of barbaric splendour, and we
are constantly reminded of the Iliad, though the Irish epic from a
purely literary point of view cannot bear comparison with the work of
Homer. The main actors in the drama are Conchobar, king of Ulster, the
great warrior Cuchulinn (see CUCHULINN), Ailill and Medb, king and queen
of Connaught, and Fergus, Conchobar's predecessor as king of Ulster, now
in exile in Connaught. These persons may or may not have actually lived,
but the Irish annalists and synchronists agree in placing them about the
beginning of the Christian era. And there cannot be any doubt as to the
antiquity of the state of civilization disclosed in this great saga. It
has been repeatedly pointed out that the Irish heroes are equipped and
conduct themselves in the same manner as the Gauls described by the
Greek traveller Posidonius, and Prof. W. Ridgeway has shown recently
that several articles of dress and armour correspond exactly to the La
Tene types of the continent. To mention a few primitive traits among
many--the Irish champions of the _Tain_ still fight in chariots,
war-dogs are employed, whilst the heads of the slain are carried off in
triumph and slung round the necks of the horses. It may also be
mentioned that Emain Macha, Conchobar's residence, is reported by the
annalists to have been destroyed in A.D. 323, and that portions of
Meath, which is stated to have been made into a separate province in the
2nd century A.D., are in the _Tain_ regarded as forming part of Ulster.
Noteworthy is the exalted position occupied by the druid in the Ulster
sagas, showing how little the romances were influenced by Christianity.
No Roman soldier ever set foot in Ireland, and this early epic
literature is of supreme value as a monument of primitive Celtic
civilization. Ireland has always been a pastoral country. In early times
no native coins were in circulation: the land belonged to the tribe.
Consequently a man's property consisted mainly of cattle. Cattle-raids
were an event of daily occ