He adds: “In order to determine the cardinal data of ancient Irish history, it is necessary to premise a synopsis of Coemhain’s System of Chronology.
| Y. | B.C. | |||
| Creation | 1656 | 3952 | ||
| Deluge | 292 | 2296 | ||
| Abraham born | 942 | 2004 | ||
| David, king | 473 | 1062 | ||
| Babylonish Captivity | 589 | 589 | ||
| Christian Era | 3952 | 1 |
“In this table, the first column contains the years elapsed between the succeeding events: thus, from the creation, 1656 years to the deluge; from the deluge, 292 years to the birth of Abraham, etc.; and their amount, 3952 years, gives the basis of the system, or the years elapsed from the creation to the vulgar Christian era. The second column gives the dates of these events before the Christian era.
“David began to reign B.C. 1062; from which subducting 60 years for the amount of his whole reign, 40 years, and 20 years, the half of Solomon’s, we get B.C. 1002, for the date of the expedition of Heber and Heremon to Ireland.
“This same number has been noticed by two earlier chronologers, Marcus Anchoreta, A.D. 647; and Nennius, A.D. 858; who both date the arrival of the Scoti in Ireland, ‘1002 years after the passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites, in which the Egyptians were drowned’ (O’Connor, Proleg. ii. pp. 15-45). The identity of the number 1002 proves the mistake in the reference to the exode of the Israelites, instead of to the Christian era, which depresses the arrival of the Scoti five centuries too low. For Coemhain reckons the exode 502 years after the birth of Abraham, or B.C. 1502; from which subtracting 1002 years, the arrival of the Scoti would be reduced to B.C. 500; or, following Usher’s date of the deluge, B.C. 1491. O’Connor reduces it still lower, to B.C. 489 (Proleg. ii. p. 45). Upon the superior authority of Coemhain, therefore, as a chronologer, we are warranted to rectify this important error of Nennius and Marcus Anchoreta, which even Dr. O’Connor has failed to correct; not adverting to the foregoing inference from Coemhain. But he has happily furnished himself the materials for proving the error.
“He states, that one hundred and eighteen kings of the Scoti reigned, till the arrival of St. Patrick, B.C. 489 + A.D. 435 = 921 years in all, which, divided by 118, would give too short an average of reigns, only 79⁄11 years a-piece; whereas the true interval, B.C. 1002 + A.D. 432 = 1434 years, would give the average of reigns above twelve years a-piece; which he justly represents as the standard, from Patrick to Malachy II., viz. forty-eight reigns in 590 years (Proleg. ii. p. 45).”[492]
The date of the Scythian invasion, then, being fixed as B.C. 1002, it is agreed on all hands that that of the Tuath-de-danaans was but two hundred years anterior, or B.C. 1202;[493] with this exactly corresponds the time at which Marsden, Kæmpfer, and Loubere date the arrival of the Buddists at Siam, viz. B.C. 1202. Among the Japanese also, they are stated by Klaproth to have arrived not very distant from that era, or B.C. 1029. Dé Guignes and Remusat suppose 1029 as the epoch at which they invaded China. B.C. 1000 is the epoch assigned by Symes for their descent upon the Burman empire; and B.C. 1029 is that fixed by Ozeray for their entrance into Ceylon; while the Mogul authors and the Bagwad Amrita (Sir W. Jones) recognise their appearance respectively at B.C. 2044 and B.C. 2099.
Now, the extreme concordance amongst the calculations of those various countries, one with the other, and their almost universal coincidence, nay, in the Siamese authorities, almost miraculous identifications, with our Irish registries, as to the influx, amongst all, of this singular people, and their extraordinary ritual, makes us associate the phenomena with one common cause, and that was the expulsion of the Budhists from India, the Rajas having proclaimed, at the instigation of the rival Brahmins, that “from the bridge of Rama, even to the snow-capped Himala, no man should spare the Budhists, young or old, on pain of death” (Guigniaud’s Creuzer).
As to the Mogul dates, and those of the Bagwad Amrita, they evidently bear reference to former colonies; nor are we, in Ireland, without similar chronicles of an antecedent arrival, and precisely answering to the time of the first departure of the Tuath-de-danaans from the borders of Persia.[494]
It was, indeed, the tradition of this early invasion, long mystified by age, that we have seen so perverted at p. 385, for the sole purpose of effecting a miracle! Nor is this the only fable that fastens upon that narrative: we have that of Partholan and of Nemedius, and a thousand other reminiscences, all directing towards the centre of a common nucleus. The East is the point whither they all aim, and the era they assign is invariably that of the deluge! Is it not, therefore, inevitable, but that the object recorded is our reception of the Tuath-de-danaans when ejected by the arms of their Pish-de-danaan rivals?[495]