chiefdom · British Isles

Darini

100 CE – 200 CE (approx.)

People of north-east Ireland recorded by Ptolemy, sometimes linked with the Dáirine of early Irish genealogies.

Origins

Ptolemy's Geography of about 150 lists the Darini in north-east Ireland, inland or on the coast between the Robogdii and the Voluntii, in what is now County Antrim or north Down. Like his other Irish names, this information came from earlier seafarers' reports and is hard to locate precisely.

Rule and society

Nothing is known of their rulers or society from classical sources. Some scholars connect the name with the Dáirine, descendants of a legendary ancestor Dáire, a grouping that in Irish tradition includes the ruling families of the Érainn and of Dal Fiatach in Ulster, though the link is uncertain.

Decline and legacy

The Darini disappear from the written record after Ptolemy. Their region later lay within the territories of the Kingdom of Ulaid and the Dal nAraidi.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Darini. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/darini
MLA
“Darini.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/darini. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Darini.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/darini.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Darini’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/darini (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻