Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

134 Old Irish Religions.
This led N. O'Kearney to observe— "From this passage
it is evident that the pure monotheism of the Druids had
dwindled down into a vulgar polytheism, previous to the
date of the Fenian era. Historians assert that Tighernmas
monarch who introduced polytheism, and that
was the first
a great multitude of people were struck dead on the
worship of strange gods. The sun, moon, stars, elements,
and many animals that were adored by the Egyptians,
were introduced as deities."
Jocelin, an interesting romancer, speaking of Legasius,
son of King Neal, tells the reader that " he swore by
an idol called Ceaneroithi, or the head of all the gods,
because he was believed by the foolish people to give
answers."
A periodical called the Harp of Erin, which appeared
in i8i8, has the following argument from an old
tradition :
—
" That the Ancient Irish were not idolaters, we have
sufficient evidence to convince any person who is possessed
of common understanding. We are informed that Tighernmas,
the King, was the first who paid divine honors to an
idol, and that having been struck by lightning, his death
was considered as a judgment. Surely, if idolatry had
been a common practice of the people, their bards and
history w^ould neither have represented the act of the
monarch as a crime, nor his death punishment from heaven
for the offence."
The quotations from Bardic chronicles and poems, made
by Prof. Rhys and others, would not sanction the views of
the Harp of Eriji. Their Nuada, Diarmait, Conchobar,
&c., were assuredly sun-deities. Rhys says of the lastnamed,
" Conchobar was doubtless not a man
;
his sister
Dechtere, the mother of Cuchulainn, is called a goddess."
He was known in the Book of the Dun as Diaalmaide^ or