Eblana as Dublin
If the reference to a settlement in Ireland called ''Eblana'' is in fact the earliest reference to Dublin, this would seem to give Dublin a just claim to nearly two thousand years of antiquity, as the settlement must have existed a considerable time before Ptolemy became aware of it. Eoin MacNeill writes that Eblana "cannot be Dublin, for no trace has been found in Irish records or tradition of anything approaching in character to a city on the site occupied by Dublin until the Norsemen fortified themselves here in 841" and speculates that Eblana "is certainly farther north than Dublin, probably on the coast of Louth".Phases of Irish History Early Irish antiquarians, such as Sir John Ware and Walter Harris (historian), Walter Harris believed that the name ''Eblana'' in Ptolemy's ''Geographia'' was in fact a corruption of ''Deblana'', itself a version of the Gaelic name ''Dubh Linn'' (Black Pool), from which the modern English language name ''Dublin'' derives. This is not the only instance where Ptolemy truncated the initial letters of place names. For example, instead of ''Pepiacum'', and ''Pepidii'' (in Wales), Ptolemy writes ''Epiacum'' and ''Epidii''; and for ''Dulcinium'' (now Ulcinj, in Montenegro), he writes ''Ulcinium''. There are several problems with this theory: * The earliest Gaelic settlement on the site of Dublin is referred to in local sources as Áth Cliath ("Ford of Hurdles"). ''Duiblinn'' first appears as the name of a Christian ecclesiastical settlement which could not have existed before the 5th century. * Ptolemy's description of Ireland shows no trace of either the Goidelic or Laginian occupations of the country (T.F. O'Rahilly, pp. 39-42), both of which probably took place some centuries before Ptolemy's time. O'Rahilly (1946) therefore concludes that Ptolemy's description is probably based on data collected in the 4th century BC by the early explorer Pytheas. * The coordinates on Ptolemy's map indicates for Eblana places the settlement in the north of County Dublin, several kilometres from the site of the modern city of Dublin. * Ptolemy's Eblana did not stand on a river. In the ''Geographia'', Eblana sits between the mouths of two rivers: the ''Buvinda'' (i.e. the River Boyne) and the ''Oboka''. Because early antiquaries believed that Eblana was Dublin, they identified the ''Oboka'' with the river which enters the sea at Arklow in County Wicklow, which they consequently dubbed the Ovoca (now the River Avoca). In fact, Ptolemy's ''Oboka'' seems to be the River Liffey, and his ''Modonnos'' probably represents the Avoca. Eblana, thus, is located somewhere between the mouths of the Boyne and the Liffey.Eblana as other sites
When Ptolemy wrote the ''Geographia'' there were two significant areas of activity in north County Dublin. One was at the mouth of the river Delvin where two substantial groups of chamber tombs would have been clearly visible from the sea for several thousand years. As noted above, Ptolemy often dropped the initial letters of names and a shift from "Ebhlana" to "Delvin" could be seen as a phonic shift possibility. The second area of international activity was based around the promontory fort of Drumanagh south of present-day Loughshinny, which was probably a trading post but may have been used as a potential bridgehead by Agricola. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that the identity of Ptolemy's ''Eblana'' is yet unknown, and identification with the city of Dublin is at best problematic and highly speculative.See also
*History of Dublin *Eblana TheatreReferences
External links
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eblana Prehistoric Ireland History of County Dublin