All posts tagged: Ireland

The Tomb of Poulnabrone: A Portal to the Past

Published by Timeless Travels

Today we have another contribution from Timeless Travels Magazine in which Joshua Mark writes about his visit to Poulnabrone, Ireland. The Neolithic Age is a quiet time for the history enthusiast. There are no great epics, no legends, not even king’s lists but only the moss covered sites, standing stones, sometimes with enigmatic carvings, and sombre, stone monuments. These sites do have their stories however, whispered in soft tones, and if one listens carefully one can sense their stories in the presence of the past. Poulnabrone, a dolmen in the region known as the Burren in County Clare, Ireland, is one such site. In January of 2015 I visited Poulnabrone with my wife, Betsy. It was a cold day with a strong wind coming down from the highlands across the strange, cratered, rock slabs which make up the Burren.

Exploring the Depth and Beauty of Anglo-Saxon Literature

Published by James Wiener

When we hear the words “Anglo-Saxon literature,” Beowulf is probably the first thing that comes to mind. Then we might think of the beauty of illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Durrow or the Lindisfarne Gospels. In this exclusive interview, James Blake Wiener talks with Professor Larry Swain of Bemidji State University about these works, as well as Norse and Irish influences on Anglo-Saxon literature and the significance of the Byzantines, Theodore and Hadrian, who came to Northumbria in the seventh century CE. Professor Swain recommends learning Old English in order to be able to read works in Old English, of course, but equally intriguing, to allow us to better express ourselves in modern English.

Ireland’s Exquisite Insular Art

Published by James Wiener

While much of Europe was consumed by social disarray in the centuries following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, a remarkable golden age of scholasticism and artistic achievement began in Ireland. Untouched by centuries of Roman rule, Ireland retained an ancient cohesive society characterized by rural monastic settlements rather than urban centers. From c. 400-1000 CE — an era more popularly known as the “Age of Saints and Scholars” — Irish missionaries spread Christianity, bringing monastery schools to Scotland, England, France, the Netherlands, and Germany. In doing so, they also transmitted a new, effervescent style of art throughout western Europe: Insular art. In this exclusive interview, James Blake Wiener of Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE) speaks to Dr. Dorothy Hoogland Verkerk, Associate Professor of Art History at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about the astonishing history of Insular art.

Interview: Linking Ancient Rome and Ireland

Published by James Wiener

The Discovery Programme is an Irish public institution for advanced research in Irish archaeology. Its sole activity is to engage in full-time archaeological and related research, in order to enhance our understanding of Ireland’s complex past. Recently, the Discovery Programme has initiated a project of geophysical investigations as part of the Late Iron Age and Roman Ireland (LIARI) Project. In this interview, James Blake Wiener of the Ancient History Encyclopedia speaks with Dr. Jacqueline Cahill-Wilson, Principal Investigator for the LIARI Project. This project seeks, amongst other things, to shed light on settlement and society in Ireland during the first five centuries CE, and will involve a critical reappraisal of the nature and impact of interaction with the Roman world.