Cruvamendica (Goidilic Cavalry) Description Incorrect

[oudysseos]

By the way, CP, Ireland has, according to Wikipedia, 12k square kilometers of bog, a great deal of which however is man-made, either from forest clearances dating back to the bronze age or more recent attempts by Bord na Mona (not including my back yard which is a big fecking swamp). The island is ca. 85k square kilometers, which makes me guesstimate that in the EB period as much as 10 percent of the land may have been bog. This doesn't seem to preclude chariot combat on the face of it, no matter what might make sense to you or me. And indeed Riastradh was right to an extent: there are numerous literary references to chariots in Ireland, even if one leaves out the Tain. Also there are some carved reliefs, mostly on crosses, such as Clonmacnoise and the Ahenny High Cross. So I don't think that you can dismiss Irish chariots so quickly. Of course, all of the evidence for Irish chariots comes from a much later period than EB.

Róda, cis lir-side? n i, a .u. .i. slighi 7 ród 7 lamraite 7 tograide 7 bothar. caide int slige? n i, discuet da carput sech in aile, doronad fri imairecc da carpat .i. carpat rig 7 carrpat espuic ara ndichet cechtar nai sech araile. Ród: docuet carpat 7 da oeneoch de imbi, doronad fri echraite mendoto a medon (CIH iii 893. 22-25).

[Roads, how many are there? Not hard: five, that is the highway, the road, the byroad, the winding road and the cow path. What is a highway? Not hard: two chariots can pass on it. It is made for the meeting of two chariots, that is the chariot of a king and the chariot of a bishop, that they can pass by each other. Road: a chariot and two riders can pass on it. It is made for riding on a road within a territory.]

BLA CARBAT AENACH .i. Slan donti beires in carbat isin naenach; slan do ce bristir in carbat isinn ænach 7 narabg tre borblachas, 7 mad ed on is fiach fo aicned a fatha air; 7 slan d'fir in carbait ce foglaid in carbat risium 7 na raib fis crine na etallais na haicbeile, 7 da raib is fiach fa aicned a fatha air (CIH i 283.28).

[Exceptions regarding chariots at yearly gatherings. This is, who brings a chariot to a gathering is exempt from compensation. He is exempt from paying compensation even if the chariot is broken at the gathering, provided the damage is not due to unreasonable use of force. If this is the case, he is liable to the full compensation. The owner of the chariot is also exempt from compensation if the chariot damages anyone, provided he had no knowledge of it being in bad repair, its looseness or its dangerousness. If he had knowledge of it, he has to pay compensation according to the damage inflicted.]

Facts are nice.

Oh, and I'm wondering, Riastradh- in this thread you characterize the Irish as famous for their chariots and in the next paragraph say that the Celts were great chariot-makers. But in another thread you claim that the Irish had nothing to do with Celts. WTF?