AN ASTONISHING DISCOVERY CONCERNING THE DINAS EMRYS WORMS

The Infant Hercules with the Two Serpents, On an Altar at Whitley Castle

(see https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1199)

In the past, I have likened the crossed-serpents shield device of the unit serving at Caernarfon/Segontium not far from Dinas Emrys as a possible representation of the two serpents strangled by the infant Hercules while he was in his shield-crib.  I think I may now have more evidence in support of this idea - although a non-Roman, purely Celtic motif relating to a divine river may also be involved.

In the Welsh genealogy for Cunedda, his father is one Edern and his grandfather one Padarn of the Red Tunic.  I have discussed these men only recently in the context of the Dinas Emrys fort (in https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/12/dinas-emrys-before-vortigern-and.html). My thinking was that Padarn, from Paternus (itself from Latin pater, 'father'), was to be linked to the Red Dragon.  The snake/serpent of Dinas Emrys looked to be the genius of Padarn the paterfamilias.  

But what I had forgotten was that in the corresponding Irish genealogy for Cunedda, his father is Cathmug and his grandfather Cathbad.  Why might this be significant?  Because a much earlier and more famous Cathbad plays a leading role in a mythological birth story about two worms drawn from a river in a cup:

"The story begins with the murder of Ness’ tutors by Cathbad and her subsequent quest for revenge. Eventually Cathbad catches Ness while she is bathing in a river and forces her to become his wife. One night Cathbad is thirsty and sends Ness to get a drink for him. She gets a cup of water from the nearby river Conchobar. When Cathbad looks into the water and sees two worms (duirb; cf. modern Irish dorb/doirb), he forces Ness to drink it. She becomes pregnant. Her pregnancy is alternately attributed to the worms and to Fachtna Fathach, a neighbouring king, but Cathbad’s paternity is explicitly denied by the text. When Ness begins her labour, Cathbad tells her that if the child is born on the following day, his birth will coincide with that of Christ and he will be king: Ro budh ri Ulad no Erenn uili do mac 7 forbía a ainm fa Eirinn co brath, uair is a comainm in lae cétna geinfis in gein irrdairc ro leth a clú 7 a cumachtu dar in domun .i. Isu Crist mac dé bithbi (Meyer 1883: 175–176).8 Ness responds with the statement that unless the child comes out through her side, he will not be born any other way until the appointed time: Acht mina thí triam taebh sechtair, ni targa conair aile co tí in feadh sin (Meyer 1883: 176).9 Ness then sits on a flagstone beside the river ‘Conchobar’ in order to prevent childbirth. The child is born on the following day, with a worm in each hand: Duirb cecha lamha dó (Meyer 1883: 177).10 He falls into the river and is pulled out by Cathbad, and is then named Conchobar after the river."

[Courtesy https://www.academia.edu/33604553/The_Narrative_Structure_of_the_Comperta_and_Other_Irish_Birth_Tales]

Now, in the case of Segontium, we know the place was named for its river, the modern Afon Seiont. The root word in this British place-name means something like 'strong'.  We have an attestation of a Hercules Saegon- in Britain (https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/67) whose British epithet is believed to display the same root.  'Hercules the Strong' would certainly be a suitable rendering for this particular deity.

The Dinas Emrys worms were also found in water - in this case, a pool associated with the hillfort.  Although they have become inextricably bound up in the tradition with two buried chieftains (metaphorically termed dragons in Welsh poetry) and with the genii of the Britons and the Saxons (never mind the apparent lunar eclipse symbolism found in the LLUDD AND LLEUELYS tale!), we would seem to have in these worms something more.  The question is, 'What, exactly?'

Well, there seems to be a curious (or educated?) mix of Classical and Celtic views in the story of the begetting of Conchobar.  The baby clutching the two worms resembles the infant Hercules with his two serpents.  But, we must bear in mind that the word genius is from a root which means 'to beget.'  And that often snakes depict the genius.  To me, then, it seems obvious that the worms of the Conchobar river are the genius of that stream, and they beget upon Ness the hero and king who takes on the river's name.  For it is the river who is the father, the paterfamilias, in this case, if you will.

The same, presumably, would be true of the genii/worms/serpents of the Afon Seiont.

So what can we make of the Dinas Emrys story now?

Ultimately, the genius of the 'dragon'/chieftain Padarn/Paternus Red-Tunic, grandfather of Cunedda, is the actual Ddraig Goch of Wales.  He was the purple-cloaked paterfamilias of the dynasty.  But this genius came to represent the Britons themselves or, more specifically, the ruler of Gwynedd who claimed descent from Padarn. It may be that the river-worms of Segontium came to be associated with the pool-worms of Dinas Emrys, precisely because Padarn is called Cathbad in the Irish pedigree.