Posted: Jul 05, 2019 11:30 am
Svartalf wrote:
WTF?
You have to follow the innumerable interpretations given across the ages to understand the relevance.
I think in Nennius' interpretation or, more accurately, modern interpretations of Nennius' interpretation, "Arthur" was a Sarmatian war leader sent by Roman Emperor Commodus along with a retinue of his fellow country-men to guard Hadrian's Wall. In this interpretation, his Roman name was Lucius Artorius Castus. The story goes that in 185, Caledonians overran the wall, "Arthur" initially led the defense of Roman Britain before being sent to deal with Gaul uprisings in Armorica, after which he returned to Britain. An awful lot of this is based pretty much solely on his name asserting that 'Arthur' isn't a name you find in British history preceding this, plus some apparently wilful make-believe that Castus' pennant was a red rampant dragon.
Bearing in mind as well that in this story, Camelot is Eboracum, for some unknown reason I can't begin to fathom.
What's most interesting about this conjecture is how motivated the modern renewals of this interpretation are, and how they're invariably related to notions of white supremacy, typically of a Serbian flavour, and the alleged origins of the 'white race' as being slavic. All the white nationalists want Arthur as their own, as well as all the other historical 'great' figures.