From Scythia to Camelot: A Radical Reassessment of the Legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the Holy Grail

425 Pages·2000·18.97 MB·English

by  C. Scott Littleton

FROM SCYTHIA
TO CAMELOT
Garland Reference Library
of the Humanities
(Vol. 1795)
The Golden Man of Issyk. Courtesy of the Institute of History, Archeology
and Ethnography, Alma-ata, Kazakhstan.
FROM SCYTHIA
TO CAMELOT
A Radical Reassessment of
the Legends of King Arthur,
the Knights of the Round Table
and the Holy Grail
C. Scott Littleton
Linda A. Malcor
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
Published in 2000 by Published in Great Britain by
Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
270 Madison Avenue 2 Park Square
New York, NY 10016 Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxon OX14 4RN
© 2000, 1994 by C. Scott Littleton and Linda A.Malcor
Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-8153-3566-0 (Softcover)
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-8153-3566-5 (Softcover)
Library of Congress Card Number 94-8776
No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Littleton, C. Scott.
From Scythia to Camelot: a radical reassessment of the legends of King Arthur, the
Knights of the Round Table, and the Holy Grail / C. Scott Littleton, Linda A. Malcor.
p. cm. — (Garland reference library of the humanities ; vol. 1795)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8153-3566-0
I. Arthur, King. 2. Britons—Kings and rulers—Legends—History and criticism.
3. Legends—Great Britain—History and criticism. 4. Grail—Legends—History and
criticism. 5. Great Britain—Antiquities, Celtic. 6. Arthurian romances—Sources.
7. Mythology, Iranian. 8. Mythology, Celtic. I. Malcor, Linda A.
II. Title. III. Series.
DA152.5.A7L58 1994
936.1—dc20 94-8776
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is the Academic Division of T&F Informa pic.
To the Memory
of Georges Dumezil
"Thus the Halani [the Alans] . . .
are divided between the two parts
of the earth [Europe and Asia]."
Ammianus Marcellinus 31.2,17
(Rolfe 1939:391)
Contents
Foreword xiii
Acknowledgments xxi
Preface xxiii
Introduction xxv
Part I: The Cultural and Historical Background
1. The Northeast Iranians 3
Part II: Figures
2. Arthur and the Sarmatian Connection 61
3. Lancelot and the "Alan of Lot" 79
4. The Knights and the Narts 125
5. Women, Water, and Warriors 153
Part III: Themes and Images
6. The Sword in the Stone 181
7. The Serpent Image 195
Part IV: The Holy Grail
8. The Holy Grail, the Cauldron of Annwfn,
and the Nartamongae 209
9. The Alans and the Grail 233
10. The Grail Keepers 255
Conclusions 281
Appendix 1. A Note on Sources 285
Appendix 2. Genealogies 293
Appendix 3. A Reinterpretation of Nennius's Battle
List 327
References Cited 333
Index 369
vii
Page Intentionally Left Blank
Illustrations
Plates
Frontispiece: The Golden Man of Issyk ii
1. Sarmatians on Trajan's Column 9
2. The Animal Style
(Gold plaque, Transbaikalarea) 12
3. Mounted Sarmatian
(Chester) 14
4. Arthurian Knights with Banner
(MS Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale fr. 95, fol. 173) 15
5. The Death of King Arthur
(British Library MS Add. 10294, fol. 94) 67
6. The Perilous Cemetery
(Pierpont Morgan Library MS 806, fol. 207) 93
7. The Cathedral of Modena, Archivolt of Porta
della Pescherisa 127
8. Perceval Meets Knights in the Forest
(Louvre OA 122) 129
9. Lancelot and the Sword Bridge/
Gawain and the Perilous Bed
(Ivory casket. Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Parisian, ca. 1325) 136
10. Mark Slays Tristan
(MS Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale f.fr. 101,
fol. 383v) 140
11. The Dame du Lac
(MS Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale f.fr. 113,
fol. 156v) 155
ix