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Ogham - Episode 18028
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Ogham in Old Irish, or Ogham (Oham) in modern Irish, is a writing system that utilizes lines in groups of one to five across a longer, central line, usually carved into stone.
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Transcript
Introduction to ARK365 Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network. Olam stones can be found in many parts of Ireland and the rest of the British Isles. This is episode 28 for January 28, 2018. I'm Chris Webster and welcome to the ARK365 podcast, 2018 edition.
Membership and Support Options
00:00:21
Speaker
ARK365 is a podcast today, every day, in 2018.
00:00:26
Speaker
This network is supported by our listeners. You can become a supporting member by going to arcpodnet.com slash members and signing up. As a supporting member, you have access to high quality downloads of each show and a discount at our future online store and access to show hosts on a members only Slack team. For professional members, we'll have training shows and other special content offered throughout the year.
00:00:49
Speaker
Once again, go to arcpodnet.com slash members to support the network and get some great extras and swag in the process. That's arcpodnet.com slash members.
Theories on Ogham's Origins
00:01:05
Speaker
Agam in Old Irish, or Oam in Modern Irish, is a writing system that utilizes lines in groups of one to five across a longer central line, usually carved into stone. The date of its use is still not fully clear, but it seems to have been in use before the adoption of the Latin alphabet in Ireland.
00:01:22
Speaker
The etymology of the word oem is unclear, though it possibly comes from og oom, which means point seam, or a seam made by the point of a sharp object. In modern times, there have been many theories regarding the dating and origin of oem.
00:01:36
Speaker
In the 1930s, a theory was put forward by R.A.S. McAllister that Oem was created by druids in Casalpine Gaul, northern Italy, around 600 BCE. He claimed that the script was based on a system of hand signals used by the druids, which itself was inspired by the Greek alphabet that was in use there at the time.
00:01:55
Speaker
He based his theory on the information that the script uses four groups of five letters with a sequence of strokes between one and five. Combined with the theories put forward by the scholars, Rudolf Thurnason and Joseph Vendries, that OM could have been based on a counting system that used five and 20 as its core numbers. One can see how an overactive imagination could come to this conclusion.
00:02:16
Speaker
However, according to this theory, it would have traveled to Ireland by word of mouth, or be inscribed on degradable objects, such as wood, until it reached Ireland and was then used on more permanent things, like oem stones, which is highly unlikely. Over time, this theory fell out of favor, especially as it can be shown that the alphabet was discovered to complement primitive Irish.
Ogham as a Christian Cipher
00:02:36
Speaker
A second and more believable theory is that it was first created as a cryptic alphabet or cipher as suggested by James Carney and Eoin MacNeil, designed to allow communication between those that spoke Irish but that those readers of the Latin alphabet could not understand it. Part of this theory stems from the idea that there may have been fear in Ireland of invasion by the Roman Empire, meaning that some preparations in case of invasion would be prudent.
00:02:59
Speaker
The most accepted theory to date is that OM was created by the first Christian communities in proto-historic Ireland, 4th and 5th centuries, possibly from a desire to have a unique alphabet for writing short messages and inscriptions in Irish. Part of this line of reasoning is that primitive Irish would have been difficult to transcribe into the Latin alphabet. This possibly was suggested by Damien McManus
00:03:19
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and is supported by the fact that an early Christian community is known to have existed from at least 400 CE, proved by the mission of Palladius to Ireland, instigated by Pope Celestine I in 431 CE.
00:03:32
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An alternative form of this theory is that the script was created by people living in Irish settlements in 4th century Wales after contact and intermarriage with Romanized Britons who knew the Latin alphabet.
Mythical Origins of Ogham
00:03:42
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This theory is given some credence by the presence of bilingual ome stones in South Wales. Alright, I'm going to warn my listeners that the next couple of paragraphs have some words that I'm going to butcher, but the author, Jared Pandateri, gave me some pronunciation guides, so hopefully I don't do too badly. Here we go.
00:03:58
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Not just limited to theories of the historical origins of the script, there are also some stories of the Irish mythological cycle of tales which give details on the birth of Oem. Going by several Irish texts, including the 10th century, Leber, Gabbola, Aaron,
00:04:14
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which synchronizes many parts of Irish pseudohistory to events in the Bible, Oom was invented soon after the fall of the Tower of Babel along with the Irish language. The 14th century tale, Ariseb Nenechis, the legendary Scythian king, Phineas Farza, went from Scythia with Goedel Macathoen, Ian Macneva, and 72 scholars. They arrived at the plain of Shinar to study the confused languages.
00:04:38
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discovering that the people had disappeared, Phineas sent his scholars after them, and he stayed at the tower to direct the effort. Ten years later, when they were done, he took the best parts of each language and created Goedelik, another name for Irish, named for his companion, Goedel.
00:04:54
Speaker
He also made other extensions to the language, including Bethel Leuschneun, or as is more commonly known, Oem, as the perfect writing system for his language. To honor his 25 best scholars, he used their names for the letter names in the script. The other legendary account is much more mundane, though it does involve a supernatural figure.
00:05:12
Speaker
It claims that Agma Mac Alathan, a possible pre-Christian god, one of whose aspects was a special linguistic skill, created Oum for scholars at the exclusion of rustics and fools. Given the various origin theories, it has been difficult to pin down the timeline for the use of Oum, but today there is mostly accepted chronology for
Historical Ogham Stones
00:05:32
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its use. Inscriptions on stones constitute the bulk of surviving Oum. To date, there are close to 400 surviving examples of what is referred to as Orthodox Oum.
00:05:42
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That which is found on stones is written in primitive or archaic Irish and is used in the 4th to 6th centuries. These inscriptions can be found in most parts of the British Isles, with the main concentration found in the province of Munster in the south of Ireland. They appear, for the most part, to be territorial markers and inscribed with a name. Of these names, the only identifiable person is a king, Vordiporius, who was a king of David in south Wales in the 6th century.
00:06:08
Speaker
After the 6th century, all examples of oem appeared to be what is referred to as scholastic. That is, they were used in or inspired by the manuscript tradition. As well as being present in the manuscripts, there are some examples of this type of oem on a bilingual stone in Khelau in County Clare, which has two different messages referring to one, Thorgamer.
00:06:28
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one written in Oem and one in Runes. Other interesting inscriptions of Scholastic Oem are found in Scotland, which may be written in the language of the Picts. But as so little is known about this language, it is hard to be sure.
00:06:40
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Medieval scholars appear to have a substantial interest in Oem, to the point that during the medieval period, 100 variants were described in texts such as the Leber Oem. At some stage, possibly starting in the 10th century, the concept of using tree names arose for the naming of the letters. Unfortunately, in modern times, some have tried to hijack Oem for farcical things. Robert Greaves was one of the first to do this in his book, The White Goddess. In the book, he promoted the idea of the Celtic tree calendar that was supposedly connected to Oem.
00:07:08
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He expanded to the defunct theories of Macalester and claimed that Oem could trace its origins to the Middle Eastern Stone Age. His convoluted theory involves a people called by the ancient Egyptians the people of the sea, poets who only shared the secret writing with initiates, druids, and an overactive imagination.
Modern Misinterpretations of Ogham
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Modern Neo-Pagans use Oem mainly for divination purposes, which, though mentioned in Irish mythology,
00:07:31
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No details on how this form of divination was performed survives. Further misuses include a book written in the 80s called Saga America by Barry Fell. He claimed that Brendan of Clunfair traveled to America and supported this claim with a supposed OM inscription found in West Virginia that retails the nativity. Though it was shown by Tim Severn that it would have been possible for the early medieval Irish to travel to North America, it is highly unlikely. To date, the only evidence of pre-Columbian European presence in North America is the north site of Lancel Meadows in Newfoundland.
00:08:01
Speaker
See episode six for that. But put simply, OAM is a script that had apparently limited time of regular use and was limited to the British Isles. For more information on this topic, please see the show notes. Thank you. And as an editorial note, thank you, Gerard Panditieri, for the pronunciation guides and for all the native Irish out there. I apologize. Thank you.
Conclusion and Credits
00:08:29
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Arc 365. If you want to hear more Arc 365, check out www.arcpodnet.com slash Arc 365 for the 2017 and 2018 episodes. Check out arcpodnet.com slash Arc 365 dash G30 for the last 30 episodes. Please subscribe and rate on your service of choice. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play, among others. Support the APN at arcpodnet.com slash members. Thanks for listening and thanks for being awesome.
00:08:58
Speaker
This show is produced and recorded by the Archaeology Podcast Network, Chris Webster and Tristan Boyle in Reno, Nevada at the Reno Collective. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chrisatarchaeologypodcastnetwork.com.