716) we come to that period which Tighernach considers the commencement of indisputably authentic history.
It is strange that he should have selected a provincial chief, and a period in no way remarkable except for the building of the palace of Emania.[84] But the student of Irish pre-Christian annals may be content to commence with solid foundation as early as seven centuries before Christ.

The era was an important one in universal history.

The Greeks had then counted sixteen Olympiads, and crowned Pythagoras the victor.
Hippomenes was archon at Athens.

Romulus had been succeeded by Numa Pompilius, and the foundations of imperial Rome were laid in blood by barbarian hordes.

The Chaldeans had just taken the palm in astronomical observations, and recorded for the first time a lunar eclipse; while the baffled Assyrian hosts relinquished the siege of Tyre, unhappily reserved for the cruel destruction accomplished by Alexander, a few centuries later.