Arthur and the God Alator of South Shields

Recreated Roman Gatehouse at Arbeia/South Shields

There is yet one more Wall fort to which Arthur may be linked: that of South Shields (Roman Arbeia, British Lugudunum).  A god named Alator was worshiped there (https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/1055), and an early Welsh poem refers to Arthur as a symbolic descendant of this deity (Green, Caitlin, A Note on Aladur, Alator and Arthur, Celtica, Volume 41, Number 1, March 2007, pp. 229-241.).  Two things are interesting about the South Shields fort.  First, it on the extreme eastern end of the Wall, while most of the other Arthurian sites are clustered on the west end.  This might suggest that Arthur was thought to control the entire length of the Wall.  And, second, the name of the man who dedicated the altar to Alator at South Shields is Celsus.  Latin Celsus means high or lofty.  Uther, the name of Arthur's father, originally meant the same thing (Koch, J., ed., Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 1722.).

For the current thinking on Alator, the following was excerpted from pp. 482-485 of
http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6643/2/6643_3946-vol2.PDF:

From South Shields comes an altar dedicated 'to Mars Alator' (RIB 1055) by C.Vinicius Celsus 'prose et suis' 'for himself and his family'. Only one other dedication to this god is known. This is on a silver plaque depicting Mars and inscribed 'to the god Mars Alator Dum(nonius)? Censorinus son of Gemellus willingly and deservedly paid his vow' (RIB 218). The plaque was part of a hoard comprising a bronze statuette of Mars and six other silver plaques and a bronze patera handle. These came from Rookey Wood near Barkway, Herts., and presumably  originated from a shrine. Of the six silver plaques, three depict Mars but are uninscribed, two depict Vulcanus, but only one of these is inscribed 'to the deity V(o)lc(anus) 1 (RIB 220) and one is inscribed 'to Mars Toutates' but unfigured (RIB 219). Two Celtic divine names are present here, Alator and Toutates and it is clear that the Mars figurine and other Mars-figured plaques must conceal a Celtic deity or deities. Whether a single Celtic god with different names or epithets is present or not is open to further discussion. Vulcanus no doubt stands for a Celtic Smith-God. In seeking to establish the nature of Alator, the meaning of the name may be appealed too. There are two possibilities available. One meaning is 'the hunter' (Holder, 1907, 75) whilst the other is 'he who rears or nourishes', 'The Nourisher' (Ross, 1967, 174, 377). In the first case a god of the countryside would be in question, a 'hunter-god'. The second meaning is suggestive of a deity concerned with fertility and fruitfulness. Ross states that Alator was 'invoked primarily in his warrior capacity' (1967, 174). Presumably this conclusion is based on the fact that he is equated with Mars but that in itself is an unsafe guide, bearing in mind the variety of roles that Mars-equated Gallic deities can possess (Lambrechts, 1942, 147-8; Thevenot, 1955, 127-128). Whichever of the two possible  meanings of the deity name is favoured, neither would seem to indicate an emphasis on the war-like aspect of Alator. The formula 'pro se et suis' on the South Shields altar suggests a protector god. If at Barkway Alator refers to the same deity as Toutates, then the meaning of the latter word comes into play, that is 'god of the people' (Holder, 1907 ~ 1805; Ross~ 196 7 ~ 171). Such a designation marks the deity out as a tribal one. The all-purpose nature of such a god would help to account for the Mars equation for Mars was himself 'Mars Pater', 'Father of the Roman People' (Fink et al 1940~ 59; cf. RIB 1901). Even if, however, the Toutates name should not be applied to Alator the indications that remain do not strongly favour the interpretation of Dr. Ross. Mars Alator was a protector god of the family and perhaps of the community who either nourished his people and aided their fertility or else represented them as a hunter. It is difficult to decide whether the South Shields altar represents the personal dedication of a visitor, perhaps a trader from outside the region who had brought knowledge of the god with him or whether his dedication means that the cult was flourishing there already. The present writer has suggested elsewhere (Fairless, 1966, 290) that the cult of Alator flourished near Barkway and that the dedication at South Shields represented an import from beyond the region. The former presence of a shrine near Barkway is virtually certain while the altar from South Shields seems isolated. However, reconsideration brings less confidence and failing more evidence there can be no certainty in the matter.

NOTE: The Welsh sources substitute Aldwr for Geoffrey of Monmouth's Aldroenus of Brittany. The question is whether Aladwr should be properly traced the the god Alator or whether Aladwr is merely an error for Aldwr/Aldroenus.  Or was the god name at some point wrongly related to Aldwr/Aldroenus? The latter was a fairly late medieval name Geoffrey doubtless plucked from some Breton chronicle or saint's vita. What follows are selections on Aldwr and Aldroenus from three respectable sources.

From P.C. Bartram's A CLASSICAL WELSH DICTIONARY:

ALDROENUS. See Aldwr. 

ALDWR (Aldroenus). (Fictitious). (415) According to HRB VI.4 Aldroenus was a king of Armorica, the fourth from Conan Meriadoc, to whom Guetelinus, Bishop of London, came, offering him the kingdom of Britain if he would aid in repelling the Picts and Scots. Aldroenus declined the offer but sent his brother, Constantinus (see Custennin Fendigaid). In Brut y Brenhinedd the name becomes Aldwr. Being the brother of Custennin Fendigaid he was given the same pedigree, that is, Aldwr brenin Llydaw ap Kynfor ap Tudwal, etc. (Peniarth MS.181 p.58, mid 16th century). Compare MG 5, ByA 30 in EWGT pp.39, 93. The old Breton historians accepted HRB for the fictitious early kings of Armorica. The ‘Chronicle of St.Brieuc’ calls him Audroenus. Iste fecit castrum Audroeni prope Guingampum. (Dom Pierre Hyacinthe Morice, Mémoires pour servir de Preuves ... Vol.I, Paris, 1742, Col.9 - 10). Châtelaudren is a small village between St.Brieuc and Guingamp.

From http://christophergwinn.com/arthuriana/arthurs-pedigree/:

It is possible that the subject of the poem, the Teyrnon (“great lord”), who is said to be “of the lineage of Aladur” (o echen Aladur), may be Arthur (who is mentioned in one section of the poem). The identity of Aladur is a mystery, though he may be commemorated in the Welsh place names Coedladur and Nant-Ladur. It has been proposed that Aladur might be a Welsh survival of the Brittonic god Alator(ius), who was identified with Mars. It may be significant that the Welsh Brutiau substitute the name Aldwr for Geoffrey’s unfamiliar Breton name Aldroenus (uncle of Uther Pendragon)

...Aldroen (Old Breton Altroen) son of Salomon was accepted as a 5th century king of Brittany by late medieval and early modern Breton historians (Salomon is stated to have reigned after Grallon [or vice-versa], who succeeded Conan Meriadoc), but sources mentioning him prior to Geoffrey’s HRB are lacking. [However, the was a late 8th/early 9th century Breton Altroen who may have been the model for Geoffrey's character.  See the pdf document cited below.] In later Breton histories he is stated to be the eponymous founder of the Breton town of Châtelaudren, former capital of the province Goello (in the Chronicon Briocense we read “Audroenus rex quartus a Conano fuit; iste fecit castrum Audroeni prope Guingampum”; the town is called called Castellum Audroeni in a charter dating to 1148 concerning the church of Saint Mary of Lanleff and Castrum Audrini in a charter from 1181; the fortress’ foundation dates to the 11th century). In a charter concerning Ploucasnou (OBr Ploicathnou) dating to 1061 and ascribed to Bertha de Blois (daughter of Odo II Count of Blois and wife of Alan III Duke of Brittany) and her son Conan II Duke of Brittany (brother of Hawise Duchess of Brittany, wife of Hoel II Duke of Brittany, who were the parents of Alan IV Fergant Duke of Brittany), mention is made of a witness named Pontius (or Poncius) son of Aldro(e)nus; he is likely the same person as Eudo Pontius, mentioned in the Lanleff charter above in connection with Castellum Audroeni. André-Yves Bourgès suggests that Castellum Audroeni could be named after Eudo Pontius’ father Aldro(e)nus. 

The following Website provides us with the most recent thinking on an etymology for the name Altroen:

http://www.wales.ac.uk/Resources/Documents/Research/BretonPatronymsBritishHeroicAge.pdf

Alt 

high, elevated 

Roen, roin

(rian(t); ri-gen)

lineage of a king 

  

Roen/roeant

 ‘of royal lineage’ 

Altroen High-lineage

CAMELOT AT CORBRIDGE: THE GOD ALLITIO AND ARTHUR'S BATTLES AT THE DEVIL'S WATER

Allitio

The Devil's Water at Linnels Near Corbridge

The following source (which discusses the Book of Llandaff) suggests that the Welsh Campus Elleti (my candidate for Camelot) is to be found near Llanilid:

https://journals.library.wales/view/1277425/1284464/29#?xywh=120%2C2197%2C3168%2C2071

Ilid is supposedly an otherwise unknown saint.  He (or she) was later misidentified with St Julitta.

I would make the case for Llanilid itself be a relocation of a site that belongs properly in the North.  To explain why I believe this to be so, we need to start with the name Elleti.  Dr. Graham Isaac, now with the National University of Ireland, Galway, commented as follows on this place-name:

"The form of the name Elleti is corroborated by the instance of 'palude [Latin for “marsh” or “swamp”] Elleti' in Book of Llan Dav (148). But since both that and HB’s campum Elleti are in Latin contexts, we cannot see whether the name is OW Elleti (= Elledi) or OW Ellet (= Elled) with a Latin genitive ending. Both are possible. My guess would be that OW Elleti is right. As the W suffix -i would motivate affection, so allowing the base to be posited as all-, the same as in W ar-all 'other', all-tud 'exile', Gaulish allo-, etc. Elleti would be 'other-place, place of the other side (of something)'."

If Isaac is right, we are fortunate in that Elleti may be found in the form of a personal name at the Corbridge Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall. A fragment of a large grey urn was found there bearing the name ‘ALLIITIO’ (Fascicule 8, RIB 2502.9; information courtesy Georgina Plowright, Curator, English Heritage Hadrian’s Wall Museums). This could be the potter’s name, perhaps a form of the nomen Alletius, or the name of the god portrayed on the fragment. J. Leach (in “The Smith God in Roman Britain”, Archaeologia Aeliana, 40, 1962, pp. 171-184) made a case for the god in question being a divine smith, primarily due to the presence on the urn fragment of what appears to be an anvil in relief, although there were also metal workings in the neighborhood of Corbridge. Anne Ross (in her Pagan Celtic Britain, p. 253) associates the name Allitio with the same all-, “other”, root Dr. Isaac linked to Elleti. She thinks Allitio may have been a warrior/smith-god and very tentatively offers “God of the Otherworld” for this theonym.

On the name ‘ALLIITIO’, Dr. Isaac agrees with Ross:

“Taking the double -ll- at face value, as I would be inclined to do as a working hypothesis,that would be connected the W all- that I have mentioned before.”

The possibility that 'Camelot' was originally Corbridge is exciting, as several of Arthur's battle were fought on the Devil's Water at Linnels very near this Roman fort. 

Furthermore, Maponus the Divine Son was worshipped at Corbridge, and this god (identifed with Lleu) was associated by the Welsh in legend with the Emrys of Campus Elleti. 

Treating more fully of ‘ALLIITIO’ in a private communication, Georgina Plowright, Curator, English Heritage Hadrian’s Wall Museums, says that the name

“…occurs twice on one piece of pottery showing feet and a base. This is always assumed to be the base of an anvil, with the feet being those of a smith god. There are a number of sherds of grey pottery from Corbridge with very distinctive applied decoration, with two recognisable themes, the smith god shown with hammer and anvil, and a wheel god who is shown with wheel and club. The fact that the wheel god is depicted by a mould suggests that this type of pottery was being made at Corbridge, though it appears on a number of other sites. The reading occurs twice on this piece of pottery, once in the frame created by the anvil base, and then on the pot below the feet of the standing figure.  Another sherd showing the smith god does not have any inscription.  John Dore and Stephen Johnson, who did the captions for the Corbridge gallery, have assumed that the name might be that of a potter, though RIB seems to go for either god or potter.  I haven’t got a copy of the Leach reference easily to hand, but my memory tells me the item should be illustrated there.”

For an online article that mentions the 'Allitio' found at Corbridge, please see:

http://romanpotterystudy.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/JRPS-2-Webster-2-28.pdf

While a construction Campus Allitio may be doubted, we can point to the Heaven-field of Bede, said to be close to Hexham, and thus quite possibly near Corbridge.  Bede has this as Hefenfelth or 'caelistis campus'.  The name is unlikely to be of Christain origin.  Instead, we should look to the Roman period dedication (RIB 1131) at Corbridge to Caelistis Brigantia, the 'Heavenly Brigantia'.  Caelistis campus would then be a field sacred to the pagan goddess of the Brigantes.  In this light, a field sacred to Allitios at or near Corbridge is more plausible.

In passing, it may be worth noting that the ( ? ) divine name Allitio, again according to Dr. Isaac, can be associated with Myrddin's/Merlin's Welsh nickname, Llallogan or Llallawc.  This last derives from Proto-Celtic *alal( I )yo- 'another, other', cf. Old Irish arail, Middle Welsh arall (OW and MW), Middle Breton al( l )all, arall, Cornish arall.  This is a reduplicated, intensive variant of Proto-Celtic *al( I )yo- 'other', cf. Old Irish aile [io], Middle Welsh eil, all-, Middle Breton eil, Cornish yl, Gaulish Allo-broges, allos, Proto-Indo-European *h2elyo- 'other', Latin alius, Go. aljis.  Celtic-Iberian ailam, which has been interpreted as the Acc. of this pronoun, has also been taken to mean something like 'place, abode'.

NOTE:

In my opinion, Campus Elleti, with Latin Campus rendered as French Champ (the p of which is silent), became Camelot:

Cham(p) ellet(i) > Camelot

The place was already famous as the boyhood home of Ambrosius, styled the brother of Arthur's father, Uther.  There was an early ringwork or castle at Llanilid:

https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/300098/details/llanilid-castle-ringwork

The notion that one of the Camulodunum forts is Camelot is simply wrong.  This is made obvious in the French romances, which locate Camelot quite precisely.

The first clue as to the whereabouts of Camelot is found in Chretien de Troyes’ Knight of the Cart, which is the earliest romance to mention this site. According to Chretien, Camelot is ‘in the region near Caerleon’. For some reason, most authorities have seen fit to ignore this statement, insisting that Camelot was placed near Caerleon simply because of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s glorified description of the latter site as a major Arthurian center. If we do take Chretien’s statement seriously, we can for the first time arrive at a satisfactory identification of this most magical of royal cities.

The second clue to the location of Camelot is from the later romance The Quest for the Holy Grail, wherein Arthur escorts the Grail questers from Camelot to a point just shy of Castle Vagan. A third clue, from the prose Tristan, places Camelot either on or very near the sea. The last clue is from the Morte Artu; in this source, the castle of Camelot is on a river.

Castle Vagan is St. Fagan’s Castle (Welsh Ffagan). Llanilid is only 15 kilometers (approximately 9 miles) to the ENE of St. Fagan's.

Campus Elleti/Camelot and St. Fagan's

MORE ON THE ANDEMATUNNUM OF THE DRUMBURGH GARRISON

Drumburgh Castle

What follows is my question to Brythonic palce-name expert Alan James regarding the Gaulish Andematunnum, with his comprehensive response.  However, I have made a discovery that, as far as I'm concerned, assures us that the Lingones worshipped a bear god.  For that, kindly see the end of this post.

Me:

"As we have a god Matunus in Britain in the Roman period in the North (where the Lingones served), and a Matuna personal name at Caerleon, and as the Welsh may show a similar construction in Mathon-wy of the Mabinogion, it is at least possible that we have 'great [divine] bear' in the Andematunnum place-name in Gaul?"

Alan James:

"A. Falileyev, D Continental Celtic PNs 2010 s.n. Andematunnum says 'Possibly Celtic. If so probably contains mantu- (less likely mat(t)tu/i-), therefore ande-mantu- (unno?)'. Ande- is an intensive prefix, literally 'inner' (and nothing to do with 'divine'), manto/u- is 'path, trodden, treading'. Of the 'less likely' mat(t)u/i- he cites Graham Issac's PNs in Ptolemy's Geography 2004 (a CD-ROM, which I have got) saying 'on the evidence of OIrish, there were two words, 'good' i-stem and 'bear' u-stem, the latter probably being a taboo-motivated derivative of the former'.

So, in Falileyev's generally pretty authoritative view, the likeliest interpretation would be 'great path', less likely 'very good' (place?), less likely 'great bear' (place?). Admittedly, there does seem reasonable evidence that the cult of a bear-god Matunus was introduced in the Wall zone

I think Falileyev's scepticism is based on the lack of any parallels for this more or less hypothetical *mat(t)u- as a p-n element, whereas mantu- 'path' is quite common. But I agree, Andematunnum could possibly involve that word. The prefix ande- can be an intensive, so possibly 'great', the suffix ?-unnos isobscure but might possibly be toponymic, i.e. = 'place'. So it could be 'great bear place' - either the place or the bear being 'great', or the bear-god being named *Andematunnos.

According to Falileyev, you can also find discussion in Ellis Evans Gaulish Personal Ns 1967, K Schmidt Die Kompositieo im gallischen Personennamen in ZCP 26 1957, Delamarre's Dict de la langue gauloise 2003 and Wodtko Worterbuch der keltibirischen inschriften 2000.

It's worth noting that Ptolemy's form was apparently Andomatounon, ms. variants include Ando(u)ma(i)toun(n)o-. I don't think adding an affix to a divine name was (or is, e.g. in India) all that unusual in the IE world generally. I assume Anne Ross infers 'divine' from the suffix, presumably taken as long /u:/ and taking that to be a variant of /o:/ - Ptolemy's 'ou' probably implies /u:/ too. But I don't know enough about Continental Celtic suffixes to judge whether it is necessarily a deity-naming element."

THE LINGONES AT BREMENIUM

The bear god Matunus was worshipped at Bremenium or High Rochester.  We know that during the 2nd century that fort's garrison was the First Cohort of the Lingones.  It was the Second Cohort of the Lingones who garrisoned Drumburgh in the late period.

Given the presence of Lingones at Bremenium, where a bear called named Matunus was worshipped, I think a very good argument can be made for interpreting Andematunnum, ancient capital of the Lingones in Gaul, as either the Place of the Great Bear or, literally, the Great Divine Bear. 

Please see also the following related links:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-northern-prototype-for-arthurian.html

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-note-on-recent-post-northern.html

A Note on Recent Post "A NORTHERN PROTOTYPE FOR THE ARTHURIAN GRAIL CASTLE"

Drumburgh Roman Fort

NOTE: CONGABATA WAS GARRISONED IN THE LATE ROMAN PERIOD BY THE LINGONES, A CELTIC PEOPLE FROM GAUL.  THEIR CAPITAL CITY WAS CALLED ANDEMATUNNUM, A PLACE-NAME MEANING 'GREAT DIVINE BEAR' [SEE MELROSE, R., THE DRUIDS AND KING ARTHUR: A NEW VIEW OF EARLY BRITAIN, MCFARLAND, 2014, P. 81; GRAHAM ISAAC'S PLACE-NAMES IN PTOLEMY'S GEOGRAPHY, 2004; ROSS, A., PAGAN CELTIC BRITAIN, LONDON, 1967, p. 375, FOR MATUNUS IN BRITAIN AS 'DIVINE BEAR, and the tombstone for Matuna at Caerleon (https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/search?qv=matuna&submit=). The Math and Mathonwy of the MABINOGION belong to the same Celtic root, and Arthur is associated with the fort of Math.].

For my post on Drumburgh as the prototypical Grail Castle of Arthurian tradition, see:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-northern-prototype-for-arthurian.html

A NORTHERN PROTOTYPE FOR THE ARTHURIAN GRAIL CASTLE

Drumburgh Roman Fort

A half dozen kilometers west of the Aballava/Avalana/"Avalon" fort on the west end of Hadrian's Wall is Congabata at Drumburgh.  Congabata might mean ‘dish-like’, perhaps a reference to the bold knoll on which the fort sits, which might have been seen as an upturned dish (see http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/35459/1/4128635.pdf; Breeze, David J., J. Collingwood Bruce’s Handbook to the Roman Wall, 14th Edition, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2006).  A gabata was a kind of dish or platter (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dgabata).

However, con- as a Latin prefix (com- becomes con- before /c/) means 'with, together.'  For example, concavus means, literally, 'with a hollow.' Thus we could interpret Congabata as 'with a hollow platter.'

According to Du Cange’s medieval dictionary , the kind of plate called a grasal or greil – the word preserved in the Holy Grail of Arthurian tradition – was the same as the gabata (http://ducange.enc.sorbonne.fr/GRASALA; https://arbredor.com/ebooks/Arthur2.pdf). We might, then, quite naturally ask whether a fort named for a dish that resembled a grail might not have been the prototype for the later Grail Castle of Arthurian tradition.

Drumburgh, Showing the Platter-Like Ridge Upon Which the Fort Stands

I would tentatively suggest that Drumburgh or Congabata may be the prototype for the later Grail Castles - no matter where these happened to be geographically situated.  A 'Fort with a Dish'  would have immediately drawn to itself mythological motifs concerning ancient  Celtic sacred vessels, themselves to be eventually supplanted by similar cultic items in the Christian religion.

Coincidentally, the fort is mentioned on the Ilam pan (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1577008&partId=1).

NOTE: CONGABATA WAS GARRISONED IN THE LATE ROMAN PERIOD BY THE LINGONES, A CELTIC PEOPLE FROM GAUL.  THEIR CAPITAL CITY WAS CALLED ANDEMATUNNUM, A PLACE-NAME MEANING 'GREAT DIVINE BEAR' [SEE MELROSE, R., THE DRUIDS AND KING ARTHUR: A NEW VIEW OF EARLY BRITAIN, MCFARLAND, 2014, P. 81; GRAHAM ISAAC'S PLACE-NAMES IN PTOLEMY'S GEOGRAPHY, 2004; ROSS, A., PAGAN CELTIC BRITAIN, LONDON, 1967, p. 375, FOR MATUNUS IN BRITAIN AS 'DIVINE BEAR, and the tombstone for Matuna at Caerleon (https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/search?qv=matuna&submit=). The Math and Mathonwy of the MABINOGION belong to the same Celtic root, and Arthur is associated with the fort of Math.].

Coming Soon: A NEW IDENTIFICATION FOR THE GRAIL CASTLE

The 'Draco' Standard By J.C.N. Coulston

[NOTE:  I POSTED THIS ONCE BEFORE, BUT IN TEXT ONLY WITHOUT THE PHOTOS.  WHILE THERE ARE STILL SOME VERY MINOR FORMAT ISSUES, THE ARTICLE IS NOW ENTIRELY INTACT - THANKS TO THE CONVERSION METHOD EMPLOYED BY MY WIFE.  I HOPE MY READERS FIND THIS VERSION MORE HELPFUL AND ENJOYABLE THAN THE FIRST ONE! A.H.]

UTHER PENDRAGON'S STAR: WAS THE DRACO STANDARD SYMBOLIC OF A DACIAN COMETARY DEITY?

The following is a partial repost of an earlier article.  As I've now settled on Uther Pendragon as a manifestation of the ruler of the Daco-Britons centered at Banna/Birdoswald on Hadrian's Wall, it seemed appropriate to offer this again within that context. 

If there is any truth to the comet story, we may be talking about the comet of 442 A.D.  This “star” appeared at and entered into Ursa Major, the Great Bear.  This may be significant, as the name Arthur was associated with the Welsh word for bear, and Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us that part of the dragon-star actually signified Arthur.

From Cometography: 1800-1899, by Gary W. Kronk:

In concluding, I really have only one question to ask - and it is an unanswerable one, unfortunately.  While Uther's dragon-head standard is certainly a reflection of the Roman period draco, as the draco came into the Roman army through people such as the Dacians, Thracians and Sarmatians (all present in Britain as troops) might it have symbolically represented a cometary deity or monster belonging to the indigenous religion of these peoples?

I find this in the Wikipedia article on the Dacian draco (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacian_Draco):

The body of the standard, depicting a dragon-like balaur or a large snake, was seen by the Dacians as a manifestation of the sky demon or "heavenly dragon".[21][22] This relates to their supreme god Zalmoxis who was a sky god (cf. also Tomaschek[23]).[24] In the Hallstatt Period "proper", the decorative pattern of a dragon head or a serpent became quite common in Dacia. The dragon symbol is also represented on the silver Dacian bracelets of the Classical period.[25] The snake-shaped bracelets and other similar ornaments show not only the spread of the snake as a decorative motif but also its significance in Dacian material civilization.[26][27]

NOTE:  The sources cited for this information appear to be quite old and I am not, therefore, convinced of their reliability.  I would urge those who wish to learn more about the mythological applications of the draco to embark upon their own research.  

THE BULL AND THREE CRANES: AN EXTRAPOLATION OF THE MYTHOLOGICAL SYMBOLS

Esus and Tarvos Trigaranus on the Pillar of the Boatman

Because only the other day the great cathedral of Notre Dame burned (4/15/2019), I happened to think back on some unfinished business of mine involving the Pillar of the Boatman, an ancient Parisian monument dating from the Roman period (see http://www.maryjones.us/jce/sailorspillar.html).  While I had treated of the god Esus in the context of Myrddin (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/01/a-new-identification-of-north-british.html), I had not sought to explain the significance of his willow tree, nor why the former appears to have been associated with Tarvos Trigaranus, the Bull with Three Cranes.

After some reflection, I now think I know what these divine images represent.

Although facing the wrong way on a separate panel, the Bull with Three Cranes is the constellation sign Taurus, which is home to  three remarkably bright stars.  To quote from http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation-taurus.html:

"Taurus is famous for the bright stars Aldebaran, Elnath, and Alcyone. Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation with a visual magnitude of 0.86. it is also the thirteenth brightest star in the sky. It is an orange giant star located about 65 light years from Earth. The second brightest star in Taurus is Elnath with a magnitude of 1.68. It is a blue-white giant star that lies approximately 131 light years away. Alcyone is the third brightest star with a magnitude of 2.87. Alcyone is the third brightest star in Taurus and the brightest member of the Pleiades star cluster. It is a binary star system whose primary member is a blue-white giant star. The system is located some 370 light years from our solar system."

I would state that the Three Cranes are almost certainly these three stars.

And Esus and the willow tree?

Go to any sky map and you will see, to the left of Taurus, the mighty hunter Orion raising his club to the Milky Way.  The Milky Way here is the willow tree, and for Orion's club we need only substitute the axe of Esus.  The implied myth is that seasonally Esus "cuts down" the Milky Way, as sometimes the latter stands vertically in the sky, while at others it lies flat, like a felled tree.  The seasonal aspects of the Orion and Scorpion (= the constellation Scorpius, which lies at the opposite "end" of the Milky Way) are well known.  Essentially, the two opposing constellations divided the year in half.

A final note: the name of the Pleiades is Greek. It probably derives from plein ("to sail") because of the cluster's importance in delimiting the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea: "the season of navigation began with their heliacal rising". [From Wikipedia, citing "Pleiad, n." OED Online. Oxford University Press, December 2014. Web. 20 January 2015.]  Thus the fact that Parisian sailors would have chosen to honor the three cranes in sculpture is not surprising, as Alcyone of the Pleiades was one of the Three Cranes. 

For a very good summary of the story of Orion the Hunter, see https://www.theoi.com/Gigante/GiganteOrion.html.

If I'm right about this, then it demonstrates an amazing synthesis between the Classical religion and that of the Celtic.  

Kindle Version of Revised Book Now Available

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Ardun Pen Askell, Daughter of Eliffer of York = the Goddess Brigantia?

Brigantia, Birrens, Scotland

In past blog posts I've discussed Arthur Penuchel as a corruption in the Welsh Triads. The original name in that source was Ardun Pen Askell.

Ardun’s name may be the basis of Arddunyon, a place-name in the Old North (see the notes on names in Rachel Bromwich's edition of the Triads).  This place-name has been linked to Welsh arddunaf, ‘exalt, praise, etc.’. The root is Welsh ardd, ‘hill, highland, top; ?high, upland.’  I suspect this may be preserved in Arden of North Yorkshire.

But it is interesting that the meaning of ‘the exalted or elevated one’ was also applied to the goddess Brigantia of the Brigantes tribe of Northern England.  Could it be that Ardun daughter of Eliffer of York is a poetic metaphor for the goddess Brigantia herself?

In passing, I would mention that Ardun is said to be “wing-headed”.  This could be a reference to a plumed helmet like that portrayed on an image of Brigantia at Birrens. See https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/2091.

Brigantia as a goddess was probably a manifestation of the Pennines mountain chain, which runs the entire length of the Brigantian territory.  Pennines as a name is decidedly late (18th century) and is believed to be patterned after the Apennines of Italy (according to A.D. Mills in A DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES). .

Revised Edition of THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY now available

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THE BEAR CULT OF ROMAN/SUB-ROMAN CUMBRIA

River Irt, Cumbria

River Irthing, Cumbria

Rivers Irt and Irthing With Roman Roads

Several times in the past I have discussed the possible presence in Cumbria of bear river-names and even the presence of a bear cult.  The departure point for my final post on this subject remains the identification of the River Irthing on Hadrian's Wall (where we find the Banna and Camboglanna Roman forts) as the 'Little Bear'.  This place-name etymology was proposed by Dr. Andrew Breeze (see https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-bear-river-of-birdoswald-banna-and.html). 

[Brythonic place-name expert Alan James has recently reminded me of the following: "While Breeze's -inn was a diminutive suffix, -in wasn't; it was simply a name-forming suffix. The two were indistinguishable to OE speakers, and soon fell together in Brittonic. So Irthing needn't necessarily be 'little' anything - it might rather have marked it as the Irt, i.e. the Bear and not the Little Bear."]

If we accept the 6th century Arthur's place of origin as the Irthing Valley, we can connect his name (actually from Roman/Latin Artorius) with Cumbric arth, 'bear', and thus suggest that the name was chosen for a royal son precisely because of the name of the river.  James also commented on the name Arthwys, found as the father of Ceidio (my candidate for Arthur) in the Welsh genealogies for the Men of the North:

"Arthwys is likely a tribal name, *Artenses, 'the people of the Arth'. There does seem to have been some cult of a bear-deity in the Wall area, possibly connected with the Irt and Irthing river-names."

There are, of course, problems with deriving both Irt and Irthing from a Cumbric arth or an arth with a specific suffix. But these are not at all insurmountable.  What follows is a rather technical explanation of how this could have come about.  Some of James' statements are interspersed with my questions (in italics).

Could the Irt be a petrified (or fossilized) form of arth?  OR could it be the river of the bears (plural eirth instead of singular arth)?

Yes, both the genitive singular and nom/acc plural forms of art- had /i:/, causing final i-affection which changes the preceding /a/ to /ei/. That change was dated by Jackson to late 5th -  early 6th cts, shortly before the final, inflexional syllables were elided.  For example, Welsh Dineirth could be a petrified Brittonic genitive, ‘Fort of the Bear’. However, if the name post-dates the shift to Neo-Brittonic (after c. mid sixth century), then it would be ‘Fort of the Bears’. We also find Dinerth many times as an early spelling for this Welsh place-name.

In your mind, what language in the area, at the right time, could have caused to shift from E- to I-?  

Pretty certainly Northumbrian OE. OE didn't have /ei/, I think that would normally have been adopted as /e:/, but perhaps the following /-rt/ would have favoured raising to /i:/  

A NOTE ON THE DACIAN BEAR-GOD, ZALMOXIS:

When I mentioned to Alan James that the Dacians appear to have worshipped a bear-god, and that they were present for centuries as the garrison of the Banna Roman fort in the Irthing Valley, he responded thusly:

"I wouldn't have much problem with a bear-god cult catching on among locals who no doubt had plenty of contact (even through intermarriage) with the Dacians. I remain agnostic as to any connection with the Irthing river-name, though even if it wasn't originally connected with bears it might have been reinterpreted that way."  

Coming Soon: A BEAR-CULT IN NORTHWEST CUMBRIA?

The Rivers Irt and Irthing of Cumbria

A LIST OF REASONS FOR PLACING ARTHUR AT BANNA/BIRDOSWALD (A REPOST)

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-list-of-reasons-for-placing-arthur-at.html

Banna Roman Fort At Birdoswald

What follows is a simple summary of why I think Arthur belongs to the Banna Roman fort at Birdoswald.

1) Banna and Arthur's Camboglanna/Camlann are both in the Irthing Valley.  Irthing as a place-name has been rendered (by Dr. Andrew Breeze) as Cumbric erthinn/erthyn, 'Little Bear.'  Arthur, although from Roman Artorius, was early on linked by British speakers with their own word for bear, *arto-/arth.

Dea Artio of Bern

2) Arthwys, a chieftain at the head of some of the families in the Northern royal genealogies, means 'Man of the Arth.'  As such, like the Welsh Glywys, this is an eponymous place-name.  He may designate the Irthing Valley.

3) The Dacian garrison at Banna may have had a bear god (Zalmoxis), and they are known for their draco standard.  The Draco named on the Ilam Pan/Staffordshire Moorlands Pan, whose name takes the place of Banna found on two other similar cups, is thought to be a Dacian whose name was chosen in honor of the draco.  If there is anything to Geoffrey of Monmouth's story about Uther Pendragon taking his name from the dragon-star and his carrying a draco standard into battle, there could be no more appropriate place in all of Britain to find such a man than Birdoswald.  The Terrible Chief-dragon would be a title for the leader of the Dacian-descended elite of that fort, who still held their draco standard in veneration.

Draco Bearer from Chester

3) The son of Arthwys is named Ceidio.  This name is a shortened or pet-form of a longer, two-part name that (given his status as a ruler) would have meant either Battle-ruler or Battle-leader.  If the last, this would perfectly match the dux bellorum descriptor used for Arthur in the HISTORIA BRITTONUM.

4) Ceidio's son was Gwenddolau, a personal or place-name preserved at Carwinley not far to the NW of the Irthing Valley.  It is curious that Gwenddolau was Myrddin's/Merlin's lord.

5) Arthur's 'Avalon' is to be found at Burgh-By-Sands (Roman Aballava/Avalana, 'Apple-orchard'), several miles to the west of the Irthing.  Two altars to Dea Latis, 'Lake Goddess', have been found.  One is from Birdoswald/Banna, and the other from Burgh-By-Sands (once surrounded by the extensive Burgh Marsh).  She may well be the prototype for the Arthurian Lady of the Lake.  The dedicator's name from the Burgh-By-Sands stone is especially interesting:  Lucius Urseius (from ursus, 'bear').

6) Banna in the Tyne Gap is the Bannaventa Bernia birthplace of St. Patrick.  This suggests the fort was of significant cultural importance.

7) The Dacian falx or sickle-like weapon is given symbolic prominence on stone monuments at Banna.  This is an unusual decorative practice for auxiliaries, and I have wondered about not only a connection with the 'Sword in the Stone' motif, but a connection with Arthur's sword Caledfwlch (from Caledbwlch).  While Caledfwlch is a borrowing of the famous Irish sword Caladbolg, the Welsh b-f mutation that led to -fwlch produces an element which at least superficially resembles falx.  Thus the falx at Banna could have influenced the borrowing of Caladbolg as Arthur's sword in Welsh heroic lore.

Falx on an Inscription from Birdoswald 

8) While Arthur's father Uther may have ruled from Banna, it is possible we should see Ceidio's/'Battle-leader's/dux bellorum's court as the Stanwix fort directly between the Irthing, Avalon and Carwinley.  There are three reasons for thinking this.  First, Stanwix was a sort of command center for the Wall, and had a very close relationship with the York of the Roman period Lucius Artorius Castus.  [In fact, Arthwys is said to be the father of Eliffer of York. Eliffer's sons Peredur and Gwrci fought at Arthuret and Carrawburgh on the Wall.] Second, it was garrisoned by the largest cavalry force in all of Britain, the Ala Petriana.  The NOTITIA  DIGNITATUM refers to the place as Petrianis, thought to be an error, but also possibly a nickname for the fort, given to it in honor of the unit that served there.  I've thought that perhaps Pedr/Petrus of Dyfed named his son Arthur because the earlier, more famous one had been of the Petriana (named for a man named Petra).  And, three, Etterby, which literally lies against Stanwix, was known as Arthur's Burg.  This tradition, though late, may preserve a folk-memory of Arthur's presence at the great cavalry fort.

Flavinus, Signifer of the Ala Petriana

9) The locations of Arthur's battles and traditional burial site really only make sense if we have someone ruling from the Wall.  York is the only other candidate and we have a corrupt TRIAD which mentions an Arthur Penuchel as son of Eliffer.  And Arthur did fight a battle at York. But the chronology for this man is totally wrong - as in much too late - and any defense of the corruption as a correction or substitution is not, in my opinion, a credible position to assume.

Arthurian Sites in the North