WHY YOU CAN'T WIN FOR LOSING IN ARTHURIAN STUDIES: ON SWEEPING 1,500 SPEARMEN UNDER THE RUG

Sarmatians from Trajan's Column

So once again I have been taken to task - politely, though firmly - by an interested reader whose criticism of my decision to abandon Sawyl of Ribchester as Arthur's father for an unnamed chieftain at Birdoswald runs as follows:

"I respectfully point out that you seem to have completely forgotten about the 1,500 spearmen sent to the Continent and what you suggest was a honor guard or escort of a delegation to the Emperor derived from that force (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2023/02/reconciling-l-artorius-castus.html).  I'm speaking of the delegation that brought about the execution of Perennis, the Praetorian Prefect.  Have you decided this just didn't happen on the basis that there are some different accounts of the fall of Perennis?  You didn't have trouble with these varying accounts earlier, and wrote the following blog post on why you thought they were not, in fact, actually at all  contradictory: https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-three-accounts-of-slaying-of.html.  Would you care to address this oversight for those of us who are puzzled by the omission?  Thank you in advance!"

Well, to be honest, I feel a bit as if I've been caught with my pant's down!  However, I do have to admit that the 1,500 spearmen have continued to trouble me, at least on a subconscious level.

There is really no reason to disbelieve that 1,500 British troops (the perfect number to represent three legionary detachments) came from Britain at the time stated in the sources.  It would have come, of course, not for Perennis, but because of the Deserter's War then raging on the Continent, including in Gaul.  We can excuse Dio for mistakenly having all 1,500 spearmen come to Rome.  As has been amply explained by top Roman military historians, this simply is not possible for a number of reasons.  Still, we can easily have the force come over to fight in Armorica, and then have a delegation sent from it to Rome, either guarding the displaced senators or their representatives.  None of this strains the possible or even the probable.

So why, when I recently reconsidered Sawyl as Arthur's father, and decided to instead settle on Birdoswald of the Dacian garrison as the most likely origin point for our hero, did I not bother to go into a necessary justification for my ignoring the 1,500 British spearmen?

Partly, it was because I had become so fixeted on the foundation date of Liburnia being earlier rather than later that I did not hear Dr. Linda Malcor's statement to the effect that L. Artorius Castus could have been chosen as procurator of Liburnia later, rather than earlier.  This is absolutely correct, of course.  He does not have to have been the first procurator of the newly formed province.  But by insisting that he was, I was able to bolster my contention that the ARM[...]S of the LAC memorial stone MUST properly read ARMENIOS.  For it LAC became procurator when Liburnia was founded (in the late 160s), then he MUST have gone to ARMENIOS.  He could not have gone to Armorica, possibly with Sarmatian heavy lancers, at the time of Perennis and the Deserters' War.

And this is how easy it is for us Arthurian (independent) scholars to deceive ourselves into believing what he want to believe, rather than presenting something that, for the moment, at least, seems unpalatable for some reason.

In answer to my well-meaning critic I must proclaim myself GUILTY OF THE CHARGE of unintentionally/inadvertently sweeping the 1,500 spearmen under the rug.  I was content with throwing it off as an event that must have been performed by someone other than LAC.  Who that might have been, frankly, was of little interest to me.

Thus I now stand here, contrite, and ask for the forgiveness or leniency of my readers.  For, truth be told, the mission of the 1,500 to the Continent during the Deserters' War (as I have oft repeated in the past) is the only complete record of such a special military mission composed of the right number of British troops that could easily be represented by what we find on LAC's memorial stone. 

Let me quickly add that it does not matter that Dr. Linda Malcor and her colleagues refuse to accept the overwhelming evidence (literelly dozens of examples according to Saxer) that allows for vexillations being implied in inscriptions.  The notion that Castus led three entire legions against anyone, anywhere, is absurd.  Why?  Because even if he did lead a legionary force, say, to the North, as prefect of the Sixth he might have taken the entire legion based at York, but he would have supplemented that only with detachments from the other two legions.   He never would have stripped all three legionary bases of their legions.  To say that he commanded the legions and was, therefore, governor (something not found for dux until Diocletian - a fact supported by the sources and by all the top Roman historians) might have some credence if only that statement were made on the stone.  But, instead, we have that he commanded the force AGAINST an enemy.  And that automatically means he had been given a special temporary command of legionary vexillations that were sent somewhere to fight someone.  The very words ADVERSUS ARM[...]S prove, succinctly, that even if we allow for dux in the late 2nd century to means governor, it cannot mean such on LAC's stone.

Where to go from here, then?

Well, the predicament I find myself in is simple and straight-forward.  If I insist on LAC being procurator when Liburnia was founded, the stone must read ARMENIOS.  But I can only do that if I decided to dismiss the story of the 1,500 spearmen on the Continent. Or I can allow LAC to have served as procurator later and retain the 1,500 spearmen.  This last would allow me to retain an Artorius-Sarmatian connection in Britain, and thereby continue to promote Sawyl of the Sarmatian veteran fort of Ribchester as Arthur's father.  The same Sawyl who would have had strong associations with the draco and the god Maponus/Mabon, who had a son named Madog (like Uther), whose wife was an Irish princess (explaining why all subsequent Arthurs come from Irish-descended dynasties in Britain), etc.  

If I opt instead for an unnamed man at Birdoswald as Arthur's father I can, indeed, point to the Dacian garrison there, who also almost certainly venerated the draco.  And I would have Camlann/Camboglanna nearby, with Avalon just a little farther west.  

The Birdoswald Uther can be countered, though, by remembering that men from York (Gwrci and Peredur, sons of Eliffer/Eleutherius) died fighting at Caer Greu/Carrawburgh on the Wall, and had previously been present (at least in heroic legend) at Arthuret in NW Cumbria.  Hence Arthur's presence on the Wall may have had less to do with his being based there, and defending territory there, as his fighting someone there who was trying to break through the Wall and/or expand east along the Wall.  A nascent Rheged is a good candidate for his opponent there.

Thus, if I'm completely honest with myself - and much as I hate to assign any significane to the theory of Sarmatian (or Alanic) influence on Arthurian story, for the reason that I have failed to find evidence of such - I must admit that it may well have been L. Artorius Castus who led the legionary detachments to Armorica.  

And that would mean the memorial stone's ARM[...]S must stand for ARMORICOS. 

If so, do I offer only the Ribchester book, and unpublish the Birdoswald one?  Or do I allow both to remain published, so readers can make up their own minds about which theory they wish to adopt? 

I will make up my mind on this score in the next few days.