In the recent movie re-working of King Arthur, expert John Matthews attributes the origin of the Arthur myth to a Roman commander stationed in Britain.
In evidence of this conclusion, he presents the traditions of an island people from the Caspian Sea, conquered by the Roman Empire, that bear striking resemblances to some aspects of the Arthurian myth. Principle among these are the images of the sword in the stone and Arthur's legendary windsock banner, resembling a red dragon.
Arthur's adoption of this flag, however, derives not from Roman origins but from the meaning of the names Arthur and Uther Pendragon - Art and Uth both meaning bear, Arthur being Uther's son, and Pendragon usually translated as 'Dragon slayer' (Kaledon Naddair, Celtic Folk & Fiery Tales).
Furthermore, Excalibur - the fabled 'Sword in the Stone', originates not from a distant Roman Province, but from the ancient legends of Celtic Ireland. The name 'Excalibur', popularized by Mallory and Cristian de Troyes, is derived from the older British and Welsh name for Arthur's sword - Caliburn. According to T. W. Rolleston, the name Caliburn in turn comes from Caladbolg - alternatively Caladcholg or Caladwlch - , literally meaning 'hard denter'.
In the Tain Bo Quelngy, there is another blade named Caladbolg, the sword of Fergus MacRoy. Fergus, a contemporary of Cuchullain, is attributed with the authorship of the Tain Bo Quelngy, the lost and allegedly greatest poem of the bardic tradition, itself commemorated by Sir S. Fergusson in 'Lays of the western Gael'. In Fergus' hands, Caladbolg was reportedly capable of shearing through trees and solid rock.
Preceding Fergus by only one mythic generation is the sword of Mananan MacLyr - literally 'Son of the Sea'. MacLyr gave his sword to Lugh, the sun god and father of Cuchullain. Although under a different name - Fragarach or 'The Answerer' - the sword is again attributed with the power to cut through weapons and armor, and originates from the water (Mananan, the sea) and thence returns when Fergus dies, waist deep in water, bathing with Queen Maeve. The presence of the Queen of Connaught in this story precedes the watery nymph of Mallory's 'Lady of the Lake', being part of the body of myth from which he drew his sources for Mort D'Arthur.
From here the story touches on the very earliest myths of the Tuatha De Danaan, 'The Book of the Dun Cow', circa 1100 AD, relates that in the 6th century, St. Finnen met a man named Tuan MacCarell, who dictated to him the full mythic history of Ireland. MacCarell asserted that the four treasures came from the ancient cities of the De Danaan and were the cauldron of Murias, the spear of Finias, the Lia Fail or stone of Falias and the sword of Gorias. The sea god Lyr being of the first generation of De Danaan deities, is the wielder of the sword, which he later passes to Lugh in complement to the sun spear. The cauldron of plenty feeds a thousand and revives the DeDanaan warriors after battle, while the stone proclaims the rightful king upon his ascension.
In Parsifal, Lancelot Du Lac, a fictional rather than mythological character, witnesses the procession of four treasures through the Grail Chapel, comprising the same objects the De Danaan brought to Ireland; the cup, the sword, the spear and the stone. Lancelot, a character chiefly of Mallory's creation, was introduced as a heroic figure to appeal to the mostly French audience of the romanticized myth. He replaced the character Bedwyr, later Bedevere, as both Arthur's chief knight and Guinevere's lover. Although Lancelot is present at the battle of Camlann, Arthur entrusts Excalibur to Bedevere, until now an incidental character in Mallory's epic.
We have already seen how the sword came from Lugh via Fergus to Arthur, but here we should also note that Lugh's flaming spear Gabalka was given to Cuchullain by Skya, and later wielded by Finn MacCumhal. In the Irish stories, Gabalka dealt wounds that were always fatal, as evidenced by the name, which means 'lightning' (as opposed to 'bag', a more common and incorrect translation) and may imply the barbed head that characterized Cuchullain's weapon.
The stone or Lia Fail remains virtually unremarked in romantic versions of the tale, but was historically believed to reside at Tara in Ireland until being moved to Scotland in the sixth century. Later alchemical authorities on the Grail myth considered the Lia Fail to be a conceptual emerald or gemstone that shared the properties of the Holy Grail - most prominent item of the romantic versions - which replaced the older Celtic Cauldron. Both heal all wounds and grant immortality, and many people have claimed to possess either the original 'cup of Christ' or the Dagda's Cauldron from Murias.
The sword, of course, is Excalibur, driven into the stone by Uther and later retrieved by his son Arthur. While the progression from Lugh to Fergus is clear, the progression of the sword, mythically and physically, to Arthur, is somewhat vague. One possible clue lies in the fate of Fergus' masterwork, the Tain Bo Quelngy, which was allegedly written down on staves of wood. After Fergus' death, the book is believed to have been among several stolen during Julius Caesar's attempts to invade Ireland. In one British legend, Caswollen Ap Beli, called Cassivalaunos by the Romans, took from Caesar a magic sword that cut through weapons and armour. Caswollen is attributed with disinterring the head of Bran Benegeid from the White Mount, breaking the spell that protected Britain from invaders, an act also credited to Arthur in later legends.
The legend that Joseph of Aramathia brought the cup of Christ from the Holy Land is in all likelihood a concoction of later historians and writers. The sword Excalibur and its attendant treasures derive from a body of myth rooted in Ireland, which was never conquered or occupied by the Roman Empire.
'King Arthur' failed spectacularly at the box office, and John Matthews is the author of several books on the Grail and an acknowledged expert in Arthurian mythology.
