There is a mythic layer to the latter Arthurian texts, the likelihood with this though is that a composite historical figure of Arthur that was getting established in the 10th and 11th centuries was laid on top of this earlier mythic layer featuring figures that were becoming more and more unfamiliar to people at the time. This replacement of earlier figures with very likely real historical people is one of the reasons why reconstruction of British Paganism is extremely difficult. It is possible that elements of Mithraic Cults made their way into the stories that eventually morphed into Arthurian stories, and Arthur, the composite historical figure, starts becoming the Arthur of myth.
Yeah and the Holy Grail story is essentially an esoteric story about initiation, not too different from the fabled philosopher's stone and it figures quite prominently in the Arthurian tails.
The 80s movie "Excalibur" actually portrayed the esoteric nature of the quest for the grail quite well.
There was some author who I can't remember now talking about how the tale was Edessan in origin and contained heretical themes that had to be hidden in the tale. Also, there are Arthurian-esque similar tales like Parsival that touch on similar themes in other countries.
Yeah, the Percival tradition is actually another very clear example of this
as Percival/Parsifal/Peredur ap Efrog derives its central figure from a historical person, Peredur ap Ellifer the Co-King of York in the late 6th century. Interestingly enough this is the Grandson of one of my candidates for Arthur in the article, Arthwys ap Mar
Thank you! I will eventually do a deep dive into some of the mythic stuff, but as that has been the focus of most mainstream research over the last 40 years, since it became in vogue to discount possible historical origins for Arthur. So most of my work is reconciling the two, as both are correct.
What about the idea that Arthur was an esoteric tale from the middle-east. Basically about Mithra, perhaps.
There is a mythic layer to the latter Arthurian texts, the likelihood with this though is that a composite historical figure of Arthur that was getting established in the 10th and 11th centuries was laid on top of this earlier mythic layer featuring figures that were becoming more and more unfamiliar to people at the time. This replacement of earlier figures with very likely real historical people is one of the reasons why reconstruction of British Paganism is extremely difficult. It is possible that elements of Mithraic Cults made their way into the stories that eventually morphed into Arthurian stories, and Arthur, the composite historical figure, starts becoming the Arthur of myth.
Yeah and the Holy Grail story is essentially an esoteric story about initiation, not too different from the fabled philosopher's stone and it figures quite prominently in the Arthurian tails.
The 80s movie "Excalibur" actually portrayed the esoteric nature of the quest for the grail quite well.
There was some author who I can't remember now talking about how the tale was Edessan in origin and contained heretical themes that had to be hidden in the tale. Also, there are Arthurian-esque similar tales like Parsival that touch on similar themes in other countries.
Yeah, the Percival tradition is actually another very clear example of this
as Percival/Parsifal/Peredur ap Efrog derives its central figure from a historical person, Peredur ap Ellifer the Co-King of York in the late 6th century. Interestingly enough this is the Grandson of one of my candidates for Arthur in the article, Arthwys ap Mar
Good stuff, man.
Thank you! I will eventually do a deep dive into some of the mythic stuff, but as that has been the focus of most mainstream research over the last 40 years, since it became in vogue to discount possible historical origins for Arthur. So most of my work is reconciling the two, as both are correct.