Lia Fáil

The (; meaning "Stone of Destiny" or "Speaking Stone" to account for its oracular legend) is a stone at the Inauguration Mound ( ga, an Forrad) on the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland, which served as the coronation stone for the High Kings of Ireland. It is also known as the Coronation Stone of Tara. According to legend, all of the kings of Ireland were crowned on the stone up to Muirchertach mac Ercae, .

Mythical origin

There are several different, and conflicting, legends in Irish mythology describing how the is said to have been brought to Ireland. William Forbes Skene: The Coronation Stone. Edmonston & Douglas, 1869. p. 23 The Lebor Gabala, dating to the eleventh century, states that it was brought in antiquity by the semi-divine race known as the Tuatha Dé Danann. The had travelled to the "Northern Isles" where they learned many skills and magic in its four cities Falias, Gorias, Murias and Findias. From there they travelled to Ireland bringing with them a treasure from each city – the four legendary treasures of Ireland. From Falias came the . The other three treasures are the or Sword of Light, the or Spear of Lugh and the or The Dagda's Cauldron.

Some Scottish chroniclers, such as John of Fordun and Hector Boece from the thirteenth century, treat the the same as the Stone of Scone in Scotland. According to this account, the left Tara in AD 500 when the High King of Ireland Murtagh MacEirc loaned it to his great-uncle, Fergus (later known as Fergus the Great) for the latter's coronation in Scotland. Fergus's sub-kingdom, Dalriada, had by this time expanded to include the north-east part of Ulster and parts of western Scotland. Not long after Fergus's coronation in Scotland, he and his inner circle were caught in a freak storm off the County Antrim coast in which all perished. The stone remained in Scotland, which is why Murtagh MacEirc is recorded in history as the last Irish King to be crowned on it.

However, historian William Forbes Skene commented: "It is somewhat remarkable that while the Scottish legend brings the stone at Scone from Ireland, the Irish legend brings the stone at Tara from Scotland."

The , recording a tradition from early Irish literature and echoing ancient legends, reports that Lia Fáil would roar in the presence of a false king pretending to hold dominion in Ireland.

According to one version of Gaelic Myth surrounding the stone, a myth more associated with the Stone of Scone, the sacred stone arrived by ship belonging to the Iberian Danaan into the ancient port of Carrickfergus about 580 BC. On board was Eochaidh, son of a High King and a descendant of Érimón, Princess Tea Tephi and the scribe Simon Brauch. Princess Tea also had in her possession an ancient harp, whose origins some believe lie in the House of David. The stone was delivered to the Hill of Tara by the three. Scota later married High King Eochaidh, both had previously met each other in Jerusalem. Eochaidh recovered the ancient stone in Jerusalem before the invasion of the Babylonians. It is said all future Irish High Kings/British Monarchs inaugurated by the stone have tried to prove lineage back to the Royal Sage and his wife, Tea Tephi, the original bearers of the stone. Eochaidh's resting place is said to be in the Neolithic passage tomb, Cairn T at Loughcrew.

Mythical powers

The was thought to be magical: when the rightful High King of Ireland put his feet on it, the stone was said to roar in joy. The stone is also credited with the power to rejuvenate the king and also to endow him with a long reign. According to , Cúchulainn split it with his sword when it failed to cry out under his protégé, Lugaid Riab nDerg — from then on it never cried out again, except under Conn of the Hundred Battles and according to legend, at the coronation of Brian Boru in 1002.

It is from this stone the

metonymically named Ireland ( meaning island), and from this became an ancient name for Ireland. ''Fál ''in Old Irish means several things like hedge, enclosure or king, ruler. In this respect, therefore, came to mean 'Stone of Ireland'. appears as a synonym for in some Irish romantic and nationalist poetry in English in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Aubrey Thomas de Vere's 1863 poem is an example.

The term ("the Fianna, warriors, or army of Ireland"; sometimes rendered "the soldiers of destiny") has been used as a sobriquet for the Irish Volunteers; on the cap badge of the Irish Army; in the opening line of the Irish-language version of , the Irish national anthem; and as the name of the political party, one of the main parties in Ireland.

Vandalism

Sometime in June 2012, the stone was vandalised. The stone was damaged in 11 places by a hammer. It was vandalised again in May 2014 when green and red paint was poured on the stone covering at least 50% of its surface.

See also

* Stone of Scone – the "Stone of Destiny" for coronation of Scottish, English, and British monarchs
* Stones of Mora – where the Swedish kings were elected
* Prince's Stone – where the princes of Carantania and dukes of Carinthia were installed
* Sword in the stone (King Arthur) – which also revealed the rightful king
* Blarney Stone – a tourist attraction said to endow those kissing it with the "gift of the gab"

References

Further reading

*FitzPatrick, Elizabeth. ''Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland c. 1100–1600''. Woodbridge, 2004.
*Nitze, William A. "The ''Siege Perilleux'' and the ''Lia Fáil'' or 'Stone of Destiny'." '' Speculum'' 31 (1956): 258 ff.
*Ó Broin, Tomás. "Lia Fáil: fact and fiction in tradition." '' Celtica'' 21 (1990): 393–401.
*Bondarenko, Grigory. "Lia Fáil and other stones: symbols of power in Ireland and their origins".

External links

''The History of Ireland'', Geoffrey Keating, pp. 205–212

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lia Fail
Archaeological sites in County Meath
Coronation stones
Irish mythology
Irish words and phrases
Megalithic monuments in Ireland
Sovereignty
Tuatha Dé Danann
Names for Ireland