|
King
Arthur
Ever since
prominent German historian, philologist, and bockwurst
maker Heinrich Zimmer opined in 1890 that the name
"Arthur" amazingly derives from Latin "Arturius" (see
Zimmer, Heinrich. 1890. "Review of Gaston Paris's Histoire
littéraire de la France, Tome XXX", Göttingische
gelehrte Anzeigen) there has been speculation
that King Arthur was a Roman. The most recent
reworking of that intriguing possibility is in the
form of the book, From Scythia to Camelot: Radical
Reassessment of the Legends of King Arthur, the
Knights of the Round Table and the Holy Grail,
by C. Scott Littleton and Linda A. Malcor (Garland
Science, 2000). It presents a dauntingly footnoted
argument that King Arthur was one Lucius Arturius
Castus, who entered military service as a centurion in
158 AD. He served during the reign of Caesar Antoninus
Pius and was assigned to Syria. In 166 AD, he was
stationed near present-day Budapest, where he fought
the Sarmatians of the central Asian steppes. In 175 AD he and others were sent to
Britain to a fort at Bremetennacum, near Eboracum
(present day York), where they formed the so-called
"Sarmatian cavalry", led by Castus. They
were among the defenders of Hadrian's Wall against the
Pict invasions of 180-185 AD. And,
interestingly, Castus established an outpost called
Caerleon, known by the Welsh as—Camelot! Thus, the
Arthurian and Holy Grail legends do not derive from
Celtic folklore, but rather from the folklore of the
ancient Sarmatians, brought to Britain by real Roman
warriors and their chief, Lucius Arturius Castus, who
then wound up being woven into the myths, themselves. Castus' family left dozens of
inscriptions all over the city of Rome—and one at
Pompeii—and they lived in Campania (the modern Italian
province of which Naples is the capital). Thus, King Arthur was originally
from right around here someplace. With Chrétien de Troyes (who wrote Perceval), Sir Thomas Malory (who wrote Le Morte D'Arthur), and Wolfram von Eschenbach (who wrote I Wonder Why my Parents Named Me "Tungsten"), I, too, believe in the spiritual quest, in humility, in chastity (well, maybe not chastity); with Robert Heinlein, I, too, want "…Excalibur held by a moon-white arm out of a silent lake…", (Glory Road, R. Heinlein, 1963) so I really want this one to be true. The lake—a good candidate, and I can opine as well as Fritz Bockwurst up at the top—is nearby Lake Averno, more fabled than any Celtic puddle in Britain. It's near where they keep the water buffalo that produce all that good mozzarella. My guess is that they have a camel lot next door, as well. to main index to history portal |
Yes, another episode in the
never-ending series, "All Famous People Are From
Naples". We now know that the