WAS DINAS EMRYS THE FORT OF MABON/MAPONUS?

Dinas Emrys, the Fort of the Divine or Immortal One

In this piece, I would like to explore one last possibility for the placement of Ambrosius at Dinas Emrys. While at first this new idea may seem far-fetched, it may also provide the simplest explanation for the origin on the Nennius folktale.

Many years ago I pointed out that the one aspect of the story of Ambrosius sounded remarkably similar to something I had read in an Irish myth.  This had to do with the ballgame the boy was said to be playing when Vortigern's men found him.  Here are the two relevant sections from THE WOOING OF ETAIN (https://www.ancienttexts.org/library/celtic/ctexts/etain.html) and the HISTORIA BRITTONUM (https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/nennius-full.asp):

2. The Dagda meanwhile brought his son to Midir's house in Bri Leith in Tethba, to be fostered. There Aengus was reared for the space of nine years. Midir had a great playing-field in Bri Leith. Thrice fifty lads of the young nobles of Ireland were there and thrice fifty maidens of the land of Ireland. Aengus was the leader of them all, because of Midir's great love for him, and the beauty of his form and the nobility of his race. He was also called in Mac Oc (the Young Son), for his mother said: "Young is the son who was begotten at the break of day and born betwixt it and evening."

3. Now Aengus quarreled with Triath son of Febal (or Gobor) of the Fir Bolg, who was one of the two leaders in the game, and a fosterling of Midir. It was no matter of pride with Aengus that Triath should speak to him, and he said: "It irks me that the son of a serf should hold speech with me," for Aengus had believed until then that Midir was his father, and the kingship of Bri Leith his heritage, and he knew not of his kinship with the Dagda.

4. Triath made answer and said: "I take it no less ill that a hireling whose mother and father are unknown should hold speech with me." 

41. In consequence of this reply, the king sent messengers throughout Britain, in search of a child born without a father. After having inquired in all the provinces, they came to the field of Elleti, in the district of Glevesing, where a party of boys were playing at ball. And two of them quarreling, one said to the other, "boy without a father, no good will ever happen to you." Upon this, the messengers diligently inquired of the mother and the other boys, whether he had had a father? Which his mother denied, saying, "In what manner he was conceived I know not, for I have never had intercourse with any man;" and then she solemnly affirmed that he had no mortal father. The boy was, therefore, led away, and conducted before Vortigern the king.

The Mac Oc has been compared by scholars to the British Mabon or Maponus, the 'Divine Son.' The Campus Elleti or Llanilid Ambrosius where the boy Ambrosius - the 'divine/immortal' boy - comes from is named for its church of Julitta and her holy boy-child Cyricus, Welsh Curig. He was martyred by being thrown down stairs from a throne and having his brains dashed out. A Capel Curig is found in Eryri not far from Dinas Emrys.  Elleti may have been chosen partly because it happened to superficially resemble Leith. There is a Llanfabon (Llan-mabon) on the Taff, which shares an estuary with the Ely (W. Elai or Elei).  Mabon was one of the predatory birds of Elei in the PA GUR.  There is a second Llanilid on Nant Llanilid, a tributary of the Ely.  

Could it be that Ambrosius the boy is in the context of the folktale a stand-in for Mabon?

The STANZAS OF THE GRAVES tells us that Mabon is buried in Nantlle.  This was where the god Lleu took the form of a death-eagle in an oak tree.  In my recent blog post (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-shocking-discovery-real-location-of.html) I was able to show that Eliwlad son of Madog son of Uther belong at Nantlle, not in Cornwall.  The PA GUR poem says of Mabon that he was the servant (W. gwas) of Uther Pendragon.  The same Uther Pendragon who was related somehow to the men of Caer Dathal (Craig Y Dinas fort just west of Nantlle on the Afon Llyfni).  

The most logical solution that I can come to is this: the original name of Dinas Emrys was Dinas Mabon. The boy Vortigern had planned to use as a foundation sacrifice in Eryri was, in reality, Apollo Maponus. In other words, a boy who represented Mabon was to be sacrificed for the sake of the stability of the fort's walls.  This makes more sense than one of my earlier suggestions, i.e. that Ambrosius was the god Lleu.  After all, there are several surrounding sites associated in the tradition with this deity.  We must bear in mind, though, that the two divinities seem to have been identified at some point.

The Mac Oc's father was Mider, the tutelary god of Midhe (modern Meath).  We are reminded, of course, that Ambrosius (through the belief that his name was preserved at Amesbury/Ambresbyrig) is brought into connection with Stonehenge, an omphalos monument.  Geoffrey of Monmouth claims its stones came from Uisneach, the symbolic center of Ireland.  We have no evidence that Lleu was associated with such a place.

If Dinas Emrys was, originally, Dinas Mabon, how does this fact effect our interpretation of that fort's story of the dragons?

Alas, we know nothing about the cult of Maponus.  We do know he was a sun god, linked to Apollo by the Romans.  What scant iconography we have shows him as Apollo Citharoedus, the lyre player. Apollo did have to do with various serpents/dragons in Greek mythology, but nothing comparable to what transpires atop Dinas Emrys.

However, Apollo was the god of prophecy par excellence, and his chief oracle was Delphi, where he had slain the subterranean dragon Python.  Ambrosius's chief role at Dinas Emrys is to deliver his prophecy about the red and white dragons.  Geoffrey of Monmouth later elaborated on this theme, including his famous 'Prophecies of Merlin' in THE HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF BRITAIN.

The dragon at Dinas Emrys, represented as the genii of the British and Saxon peoples, were originally chieftains whose cremated remains had been wrapped and placed in funeral urns.  They were, apparently, dug up when the pool was excavated. Welsh folk tradition stemming from at least the medieval period (as attested in literary works of the time) denotes Otherworld beings by applying to them the colors white and red.  

Geoffrey of Monmouth tells is that Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, was buried at Stonehenge/Amesbury.  If we once again take Amesbury as a relocation of Dinas Emrys (and NOT the other way around!), then it is possible Uther was actually buried at Dinas Emrys.  And, if so,  there would be a strange convergence of the red dragon in the urn and Uther the dragon both being buried in the same place.  Were they, in fact, one and the same?

If Uther belongs at Dinas Emrys, do we leave it at that? Or do we continue to try and identify the 'Terrible/Horrible Chief-warrior' with some known historical figure?

Well, the only good candidate for an Arthur hailing from NW Wales is Ceredig son of Cunedda/Cerdic of the Gewissei.  I had once produced an entire book on this subject.  If Ceredig is Arthur, then that would mean the chieftain ruling from Dinas Emrys, whose overlordship of all of western Wales is in the folktale transferred to Ambrosius (= Mabon), is Cunedda himself.

Myrddin/Merlin as Ambrosius

Tolstoy thought Merlin was Lleu.  I went with that for awhile myself.  I have since proposed many possible identities for the Welsh Myrddin.  The most recent settled on him being either a deified ghost (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/05/myrddin-cult-of-dead-vs-cult-of-saints.html) or Gwyn/Apollo Vindonnus (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2020/05/myrddin-st-ninian-st-martin-and-white.html). But given my recent work on Ambrosius the divine/immortal boy as Mabon, and that Myrddin initially belongs to the region of Carwinley and Arthuret in Cumbria, could he be a reflection of Apollo Maponus instead?  I have mentioned many times the Clochmabenstone at Gretna Green and Lochmaben.  Annandale, the nucleus of Rheged, was the 'land of Mabon' alluded to in the BOOK OF TALIESIN.

Mabon in CULHWCH AND OLWEN is prisoner in a maendy or 'stone house' at Gloucester/Caer Gloyw, the 'Bright and Shining Fort.'  This imprisonment is coupled with statements about his being stolen from his mother when only three days old, a motif which has caused scholars to associate him with Gwri Golden Hair/Pryderi of PWYLL LORD OF DYFED. The imprisonment in a stone house seems to echo Merlin's later imprisonment in French Arthurian romance. 

I may return to this subject in a future post.