https___100objects.ie_trumpa-loch-na-sead__lang_ga_1.xml
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READ MORE Loughnashade Trumpet One of the most famous pieces of ancient sculpture is The Dying Gaul, until recently regarded as a Roman copy of a lost Greek original of c. 220 BC from Pergamon in Asia Minor. It may in fact be an original. It is an arresting and deeply moving image of a naked warrior lying on his shield, a gaping wound in his side, his head bowed, awaiting death. The original was almost certainly commissioned to commemorate a Greek victory over the Celtic Galatians, and as such it provides easily the most memorable visual image of the Celts. The Dying Gaul is sometimes called ‘The Dying Trumpeter’: coiled around the warrior’s legs is a large, curved, bronze trumpet. Trumpets such as this were used in battle by Celtic peoples. The Roman historian Polybius wrote of one battle that ‘the noise of the Celtic host terrified the Romans; for there were countless trumpeters and horn blowers and…the whole army was shouting its war cries at the same time’. This splendid bronze trumpet, one of four found in a dried-up lake at Loughnashade (‘lake of the treasures’), near the important royal centre of Emain Macha, in Co. Armagh, is similar to the one at the feet of The Dying Gaul and to those that so terrified the Romans. It is an outstanding piece of Celtic art. The main section of the tube is a masterpiece of skilled riveting. The bell end is superbly decorated with a lotus-bud motif, the origins of which lie in Mediterranean art. The style, with elaborate curved patterns, is that of high Celtic art, called La Tène after a site in Switzerland, and it would dominate Irish art for many centuries. The Loughnashade trumpet is thus strong evidence of Celtic influence in Ireland. Does it mark what is still referred to as ‘the coming of the Celts’? La Tène objects of this period are rare and heavily associated with a warrior aristocracy. There is simply no evidence of a largescale invasion of Ireland by new peoples. What about the Irish language, which is part of the Celtic linguistic family? There is no reason to suppose that it arrived in Ireland with invaders during the Iron Age. It is probably much older. Barry Cunliffe suggests that contacts between what he calls the communities of the ‘Atlantic zone’ were intensified in the period 1300–800 BC. ‘It would not be surprising to find the development of broadly similar languages evolving out of the common Indo-European’ with which they all started. What the Loughnashade trumpet tells us, therefore, is that there were strong contacts between Ireland and the European continent in the last century BC, as had been the case for thousands of years, and that over the course of that time some Irish elites adopted influences from the latest European style.
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Léigh Níos Mó Trumpa Loch na Séad Ceann de na míreanna dealbhóireachta ársa is cáiliúla dá bhfuil ann is ea An Gallach i mBéal an Bháis ar measadh ina leith go dtí le déanaí gur chóip Rómhánach é de mhír bhunaidh Ghréagach, c. 220 RC, as Pergamon san Áise Bheag. Ach, le fírinne, d’fhéadfadh sé gur mír bhunaidh é. Íomhá shuaithinseach an-tochtmhar atá ann, is é sin, íomhá de laoch nocht ina luí ar a sciath, agus créacht mhór ina thaobh, agus a cheann cromtha agus é ag saothrú an bháis. Is féidir a bheith measartha cinnte gur coimisiúnaíodh an leagan bunaidh chun comóradh a dhéanamh ar bhua na nGréagach ar Ghallaigh Cheilteacha agus, dá bharr sin, is cinnte go dtugann sé amharc-íomhá de na Ceiltigh den chineál is suntasaí dá bhfuil ann. Uaireanta, tugtar ‘An Trumpadóir i mBéal an Bháis’ ar an nGallach i mBéal an Bháis: tá trumpa mór cuarach cré-umha lúbtha thart ar chosa an laoich. D’úsáid na Ceiltigh trumpaí den sórt sin le linn cathanna. Dúirt an staraí Rómhánach, Polybius, faoi chath áirithe ‘gur chuir torann na sluaite Ceilteacha scéin sna Rómhánaigh; mar go raibh líon as cuimse trumpadóirí agus séidirí adhairce ina measc agus …go mbeadh gáir chatha á ligean ag an arm ar fad ag an am céanna’. Tá an trumpa breá cré-umha seo, a bhí i measc ceithre cinn a aimsíodh i loch a bhí imithe i ndísc ag Loch na Séad, gar don suíomh tábhachtach ríoga darb ainm Emain Macha (Eamhain Mhacha) i gContae Ard Mhacha, cosúil leis an gceann atá le feiceáil ag cosa an Ghallaigh i mBéal an Bháis agus leo sin a chuir an oiread sin scéine sna Rómhánaigh. Mír shármhaith ealaíne Ceiltí atá ann. Is sárshaothar é a bhfuil seamú oilte le feiceáil ann sa phríomhchuid den fheadán. Tá an foirceann spréite, ar déanamh cloig, maisithe go híontach le móitíf bhachlóige loiteoige, ar móitíf de chuid ealaín cheantar na Meánmhara í. Baineann an stíl, ina bhfuil pátrúin chuartha mhionsaothraithe, le hardealaín Cheilteach ar a dtugtar La Tène agus atá ainmnithe as láithreán san Eilvéis agus is stíl í a bheadh go mór chun tosaigh in ealaín na hÉireann leis na céadta bliain. Dá bhrí sin, tugann Trumpa Loch na Séad fianaise ar thionchar láidir Ceilteach in Éirinn. An ionann é agus comhartha ar an tráth dá dtagraítear ‘tráth theacht na gCeilteach’? Ní ionann. Tá réada La Tène de chuid na tréimhse seo tearc agus tá baint mhór acu le huasaicme trodairí. Níl aon fhianaise ann, dáiríre, go ndearna pobail nua gabháil mhórscála ar Éirinn. Céard faoin nGaeilge, ar cuid den ghrúpa teangacha Ceilteacha í? Níl aon chúis lena cheapadh gur tháinig sí go hÉirinn in éineacht le hionraitheoirí le linn na hIarnaoise. Is dócha go bhfuil sí i bhfad níos sine ná sin. Tugann Barry Cunliffe le fios go ndearnadh na teagmhálacha idir pobail ‘réigiún an Atlantaigh’, mar a thugann sé air, a neartú sa tréimhse 1300-800RC. ‘Níorbh aon ionadh é forbairt teangacha den chineál céanna, a bheag nó a mhór, ón teanga Ind-Eorpach chomhchoiteann’ ar tháinig siad ar fad uaithi. Is é a insíonn trumpa Loch na Séad dúinn, dá bhrí sin, ná go raibh teagmháil thréan ann idir Éire agus mór-roinn na hEorpa san aois deiridh RC, de réir mar ab amhlaidh leis na mílte bliain, agus gur ghéill roinnt scothaicmí Éireannacha, thar thréimhse áirithe ama, do thionchair a bhí á n-imirt orthu ag stíleanna nua Eorpach de chuid na haimsire a bhí i gceist.