On May 3rd 1916, on orders of the General Courts Martial, the British Army began a series of executions of Irish "traitors and rebels".

In doing so they began Ireland's First War of Independence.

On this day: James Connolly and Sean Mac Diarmada were executed in 1916 following the events of the Easter Rising for sovereignty.

James Connolly wasn't really a threat to Britain as a revolutionary socialist, the British state can happily tolerate/fund marxist intellectuals and activists even to this day.

He only truly became a danger when he embraced revolutionary nationalism.

Street parties in Dublin. Now extinct!

Pictish Stones had an impact on Gaelic culture - Note the similar curving motifs used in the Book of Durrow Lion and this Pictish wolf.

John Scotus Eriugena on the old Irish £5 note - Illustrated with images from the Hiberno-Viking Ricemarch Psalter & Book of Durrow.

Tartessos in Southwestern Iberia was a Proto-Celtic culture with its own unique systems of writing, art, & beliefs dating back to 900 BC. According to Herodotus, these 'Celtic-speaking tribes' predated the classical world and the Persian Empire.

The Atlantic Bronze Age (1300–700 BC) was a time of bustling trade and cultural exchange in Western Europe. It is defined by bronze swords, spearheads, cauldrons, and the spread of Celtic as a common tongue, stretching from Tartessos to Brittany, Britain and Ireland.

Burial mounds were constructed by the Celtic peoples of Western Europe from about 800 BC. Common names for hills are '-briga' (Iberian), 'brí' (Irish) - Inside wealthy rulers were interred with items like jewelry, weapons, chariots, and wine.

[Penycloddiau, Wales]

'Expectation, West of Ireland', late 19th century, by Dublin painter Aloysius O'Kelly. A beautiful insight.

'Time Flies', 1887, by William Gerard Barry.

The Cork artist preferred to paint scenes from the daily lives of the peasants.