Hill of Tara, Ireland

The Hill of Tara is an archaeological site in County Meath, located between Navan and Dunshaughlin in Ireland. It was the seat of the High King of Ireland and the most important focus of political and ecclesiastical power, including a variety of old structures.

These magnificent ridges of once-dominant ring forts provide much more than breathtaking vistas of County Meath’s verdant countryside. They narrate legends about monarchs, gods, and sacred ceremonies. Since pre-Christian times, this site has been a revered place of worship and a sought-after seat of authority, and it is brimming with the tales and traditions that make Ireland’s Ancient East so interesting.

The people of Tara thought the hill to be a portal to the otherworld – a place where gods accessed our world – between 4000-2,500BC. The importance of this otherworld inheritance to future kingship was so great that the high kings of Tara had to symbolically marry the goddess Medb in order to be crowned! Medb, after all, was said to have originated in the Otherworld.

The Irish have a reputation for telling stories, and the Hill of Tara is no exception when it comes to legends. If you’re a fan of Indiana Jones, the Hill of Tara is thought to be the location of the iconic Arc of the Covenant. In fact, a group of British-Israelites believed the Arc was buried beneath the Hill of Tara in 1899. Of course, they didn’t discover it, and there were also demonstrations against the excavation of this holy site.