Samuel Birch

“ Thus the same extended observation, careful comparison, and due reflection, which enable the anatomist to pronounce upon the structure of an extinct animal from the inspection of a single bone, may lead the archæologist to the mental reproduction of a departed race from scattered and apparently insignificant remains. These considerations have induced me to attempt in the present paper, a classification and description of the chief remains of Celtic art, the Torques and its varieties. ”

“ The barbarians have two kinds of torques, one on a prostrate figure at the side of the sarcophagus is funicular and bulbous, the other upon a prisoner at the corner terminates in a bulbous clasp. The Dacians did not wear them, and the statue called the dying gladiator, which also has this decoration, may be referred to the same period [38] . Under Commodus it is mentioned as the ornament of gladiators, probably because these men were universally Germans and Gauls [39] . Herodian under Gordianus Pius A.D. 247, alludes to the iron torques round the neck and loins of the British Celts [40] . ”

“ The funicular torques has been often found in England, Ireland, and Wales. One is described in the Catalogue of Mr. Woodward's Collection in 1728; a second was found at Ware in Norfolk [82] . A silver one is mentioned by Pennant in his History of North Wales; another was found in 1692 near the castle of Harlech, Merionethshire [83] , and a third on the margin of Llyn Gwernan, or the Aldertree pool [84] . They are stated to be frequently found in Ireland with bracelets; those found at Tara have been described ”

“ Aneurin, the author of Gododin, a poem on the battle fought against Iddra, at Cattaeth, in the sixth century, states that he was one of the three out of three hundred and sixty-three wearing them, who escaped that terrific slaughter. A princc named Llewelin auch dorchag, or Llewelin of the Golden torques, is also mentioned in the Welch annals.
Irish literature seems much richer in its notices of the torc. ”

“ The earlier Greek authors [4] when employing the term, and the later when translating from the Latin, use the word στρέπτον [5] that which is twisted, proofs if any were wanted, that its shape was twisted when they first became acquainted with it [6] . ”

“ But as late as Arcadius it does not appear to have been an ordinary decoration [66] , while the manner in which Agathias describes the Medes under Justinian, shews that it was not an usual ornament in the Roman empire [67] in the middle of the sixth century, and in the eleventh it seems obsolete among the Romans.
The tore is occasionally mentioned, according to Dr. Pughe [68] , in Welch literature, as in the expressions tynu torc, to draw, a torques, or contend for the mastery; "eurdorçogean," or those wearing the golden torques, are much praised by the bards of the Cymwry. ”

“ It still continued among the Celts as with the Persians an honorary mark of distinction bestowed upon their valiant or elective aristocracy, and the first ranks of the battlefield were manned by the Celtic torquati. The Druids appear from evidence nearly contemporaneous, to have worn the same decoration [27] . I would refer to this period the torques seen on some of the gold Gaulish coins, imitations of the Philips of Macedon, and struck at different intervals from Brennus' invasion of Northern Greece, B.C. 278, till the age of Augustus. ”

“ Brendan, the torc of the king Dermot Mac Ceareb Heoil is mentioned, for the king in a dream beholds an angel taking it, and giving it to St. Brendan [72] . The king Brian Boroimhe, A.D. 1004, on leaving Armagh, where he had sojourned a week, left a collar of gold weighing 20 oz. on the altar of the church at Innisfallen; and in A.D. 1150, according to the Annals of the four masters, Flabbert O Bolchan, abbot of Derry, made a visitation in Kinleogan, county Tyrone, and received from Murcheartach Huachlochluin, king of Ireland, twenty oxen, the king's own horse, and a gold ring of 5 oz. weight ”

“ One of those anonymous third brass coins or medallets, struck about the time of Domitian, has on the obverse a laurel branch with IO IO TRIUMP [E] , the cry in the triumphal procession, and on the reverse a torques, and two bracelets (armillæ) to indicate the people, probably the Germans, conquered by Domitian [35] . Pliny writing under Vespasian states the use of the gold torques among the Gauls, A.D. 79 [36] , especially as worn by the Druids. ”

“ Some light is thrown upon the way in which this was adjusted by the gold torques discovered at Boyton [77] in Suffolk. The extremities were secured by the aid of two small rings [78] , a contrivance which supposes a greater state of refinement and mechanical knowledge than the open and bulbous ends. But the most remarkable varieties of this type are those published by Mr. Petrie as found at the Tara hill in Ireland [79] . From the extremity of the cylindrical termination of these proceeded a thin wire, terminating in another cylinder.
Gold, 5 ft. 7in.—27 oz. 2 dwt. ”