‘sup?
Helmut writes:
Can your readers help me with some research? The Ark of the Covenant is long reputed to have been buried in the Hill of Tara, Co Meath. Around 1900 a British cult claiming to be one of the lost tribes of Israel got the local landlord drunk enough to agree to let them dig into part of the hill. Following public outrage, excavations ceased till the 1940s, when a detailed ‘archaelogical survey’ of the entire hill was carried out by Ireland’s National Museum.
Now by coincidence – or perhaps not – the director of the Museum at the time was one Adolf Mahr, better known as ‘Irelands Number One Nazi’. Jeremy Addis, writing in ‘Books Ireland’ (1998) refers to a persistent rumour that Mahr was acting under German orders to find the Ark of the Covenant. Could this rumour have formed the basis for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)?
Anyone?
Meanwhile…
Adolf Mahr?
YIKES
Pics: Rasset.ie, Raiders of The Lost Ark
No.
Hope that this clears things up for you, Helmut.
Raiders; Spielberg; translates to Play Mountain, Hill of Tara; Taraiders! It’s all adding up!
‘Irelands Number One Nazi’.
RTE One’s first reality TV show, this was wildly popular and spawned a popular sequel ‘All the Reich Moves’, a dance competition that was pretty much goose-step based.
I remember that. It used to air after ‘The Wiener Takes All’.
RTE’s final solution to their unpopular schedule.
Haaa…bravo to both. Pun-tastic
Actually that was “Raidió Teilifís Éireann “.
As usual RTE import from abroad http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/director-controversial-czech-tv-series-797868
RTE…standing on the shoulders of midgets.
Go home Helmut, You’re drunk
Obviously the Irish times wouldn’t publish this letter!
On the topic of Nazis, Ireland and the paper of note, that reminds of this interesting investigative tale by the late Hubert Butler about how Ireland (and the Franciscan Order) sheltered Croatian war criminal Andrija Artukovich for a year around 1948 before sending him off on his merry way to America with a newly minted Irish identity.
http://www.archipelago.org/vol1-2/butler.htm
Mr Butler was pilloried by Irish society at the time for mentioning the involvement of the Church in the Ustashe regime in Croatia during WW2.
http://www.archipelago.org/vol5-1/butler.htm
He obviously wasn’t wearing a Helmut when he got that bang on the head.
If that were true it would be so cool.
But I suspect it’s not.
nice of Dev to appoint him as director of the national museum, does that make him top irish nazi no. 2?
they shared a love of fascism and dodgy-looking eyeglasses
That’s gas, I was only talking about this on Saturday in the boozer.
Was ‘Helmut’ on the same stag as me last weekend?!
I think I can help on this. We’re going to Meath to get sh*tfaced, have I understood the task correctly?
Yes. I’ll see you there.
They’re all in cahoots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWIkqEnVG8I
“The evidence is there” bit nearly got me in trouble.
Shpiders.
this !
Is that the Viper from Hardy Bucks?
Otto Rahn is the man popularly thought to be the inspiration behind Raiders of the Lost Ark, but there’s only speculation to back it up:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Rahn
Jesus Christ, both Lucas and Spielberg are still alive. It can’t be hard to get to the bottom of it.
The specs do look similar (photo of Mr Mahr here – http://img.rasset.ie/00088fce-440.jpg) also the Irish Gaelgeoir fascist group Ailtiri-na-hAiseirghe had a plan to set up a new capital city at Tara. Hope you get your answer, Helmut!
Adolf, now theres a name that died out all of a sudden….
Also, seem to remember that Tara was a likely resting place to some for the simple reason it’s is Arat backwards. Arat thought to be a likely spot for the Ark.
Ararat, surely, so it would have to be Tarara. Where did I leave my rara skirt?
Adolf Mahr?
He was one of the Mahers from outside Thurles.
Hape of them in it.
His nephew over in Manchester has done well for himself as a musician.
The British-Israelites caused considerable damage to some of the monuments on the Hill of Tara in their search for the Arc of the Covenant. On 27th June 1902, W.B. Yeats, George Moore and Douglas Hyde wrote a letter to the Times of London declaring ‘Tara is, because of its associations, probably the most consecrated spot in Ireland, and its destruction will leave many bitter memories behind it.’ Which it did, but it still didn’t prevent FF from putting the M3 motorway through the valley between the hills of Tara and Skreen, even though there were other routes proposed which were less damaging to the landscape and its ancient history.
And that’s what screwed the country’s luck. And Fianna Fail’s.
I agree with you Sinabhfuil; whatever about the ignorance of the British-Israelites and their faith in the existence of the Arc of the Covenant, the same excuses could not apply between 1999-2005 when Dick Roach and Bertie et al were in government – it was nothing less than pure unadulterated philistinism and greed. The reason they didn’t upgrade the N3 to bypass Dunsaughlin, Kells and Navan, is because you can’t toll existing roads, that’s why they deemed it necessary to build a new motorway – so they could put two tolls on it. There were six routes proposed for the motorway, and against the wishes of academics worldwide; 70% of the locals polled; the Director of the National Museum, Dr Pat Wallace; the American Institute of Archaeologists; archaeologists from the UK; and many more from around the world, it still went ahead. There were 38 previously undiscovered sites grossly excavated through test trenching by Meath Co. Co and the NRA, when geophysical surveying would have done the same job – and without the damage; and speaking of damage, there were Bronze Age discoveries at Baronstown which were ignored; souterrains at Roestown; artefacts discovered at some sites were covered up and hidden; and many sites were down-graded to undermine their archaeological and historical importance. – in fact the list goes on.
Tara, the Gabhra – Skreen [Skryne] Valley and their surrounding hills were the centre of kingship in ancient Ireland, there are thousands of burials, some of which date back as far as 6000 BC, and ancient rituals and the monuments associated with them are recorded in our early Irish literature. The desecration of Tara and the bad luck which ensued, has, as you alluded to, come home to roost for the Irish people – not that it makes a difference to wealthy, successive FF leaders or politicians, because they are the true philistines who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Wow you’re not a big one for the republican parties!
Excellent information though thanks for sharing.
It was an AA moment [Archaeologists Anonymous].