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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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...Laurence Gardner's Bloodline of the Holy Grail. Catchpenny title but terrific revisionist history. |
I have to agree....a really good read. - - The missus bought it last year on the way out to Egypt and I ended up nicking it from her.
I incidentally took a couple of books on the subject of British origins; one by Oppenheimer and the other by a bloke called Dick Sharper...or something like that.
(I believe Dick later went on to write a much acclaimed book on Palaeo-Geography.)
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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Chad wrote: | ...Laurence Gardner's Bloodline of the Holy Grail. Catchpenny title but terrific revisionist history. |
I have to agree...a really good read. - - The missus bought it last year, on the way out to Egypt and I ended up nicking it from her. |
Aren't all of these "Grail" books based on a hoax?
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Mick Harper
Site Admin
In: London
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It's interesting to watch Gardner trying very hard not to rely on material that he clearly once accepted but now knows/suspects is a hoax.
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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At last! A book that claims Arthur was a nogoodnik and it was Mordred that rocked. |
In bear myths amongst Arctic peoples transcribed by anthropologists, one of the recurring themes is a marriage between a woman and a bear husband; the hunter-hero is portrayed variously as the woman's younger brother or brother-in-law. Mordred's relationship with Arthur isn't always clear but in some versions (Geoffrey of Monmouth being one) he married Guinevere.
There's a really interesting article though a tad long at 24 pp on bear cults and ritual bear killings where the bear dies symbolically in order to resurrect and ensure that hunters will never go short
http://src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/publictn/acta/20/asi20-001-janhunen.pdf
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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Just revisited the overlong paper on bear myths and came across a very interesting remark: Ewenki novice shamans dress in a bearskin before journeying to the underworld (the Ewenki word shaman is the term used all over the shop so it's been argued that shamanism originated with the Ewenki but I wouldn't know 'bout that). Bears of course hibernate; if, as has been discussed elsewhere, reindeer husbandry preceded farming, the Persephone myth could have had an altogether different significance, later related to agriculture.
(Bear paws are still a vital part of a shaman's kit, can be a lucky talisman as with rabbit's feet but mainly used as the end of the drumstick; the drum, covered with reindeer-skin, is the equivalent of the shaman's 'horse').
There are a lot of taboos surrounding the eating of bear flesh, which anthropologists like to interpret as incest-related (no pun intended), especially where women are concerned. In many mythologies there are warnings against eating food in the underworld or accepting food from the fairy folk. All very symbolic and deeply mysterious.
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Arthur is called Ardur in some texts. So couldn't it be the case that Arthur=ardour, and that Arthur comes from a French word.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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Rocky wrote: | Arthur is called Ardur in some texts. So couldn't it be the case that Arthur=ardour, and that Arthur comes from a French word. |
No.
We know who Arthur is.
Arthur is Adam
(and Aten and Atom and Asser and Asha and...).
We know he is King Adam becuase he is married to Queen Eve!
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Oh. Queen Eve = Geneviève. She was the patron saint of Paris.
She helped ward off the Huns.
Shortly before the attack of the Huns under Attila in 451 on Paris, with the help of Germanus' archdeacon, the panic-stricken people of Paris were persuaded not to leave their homes. Genevieve's prayers were said to divert Attila's army to Orleans. During Childeric's siege and blockade of Paris in 464, Geneviève passed through the siege lines in a boat to Troyes, bringing grain to the starving city. She also pleaded to Childeric for the welfare of prisoners of war, and met with a favorable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives and showed greater lenience to wrongdoers after Genevieve urged him to do so. [1] |
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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Oh. Queen Eve = Geneviève. She was the patron saint of Paris. |
That's interesting, Rocky.. Also interesting that she took refuge in Troyes which is where Chretien de Troyes, he of the Arthurian romances, was a monk. St Denis is also the patron saint of Paris.
According to wiki she's credited with curing ergot poisoning (Saint Anthony's fire). Quoi? Wiki says ergotism is due to the ingestion of a fungus, Claviceps purpurea, which mainly affects rye and cereals such as wheat and barley and describes ergot-based derivatives
Methylergometrine (other names include methylergonovine, methylergobasin, and d-lysergic acid 1-butanolamide) is a synthetic analogue of ergonovine, a psychedelic alkaloid found in ergot, and many species of morning glory. It is a member of the ergoline family and chemically similar to LSD, ergine, ergometrine, and lysergic acid. |
So she's the goddess of LSD. She's depicted with a candle and ergotism is 'the burning sickness'.
A species of Morning Glory (called Ololiúqui) was commonly used by Aztecs for its hallucogenic properties and the Chinese for medicinal uses.
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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While Paris is in our thoughts, can anyone explain the presence of the Parisii in the East Riding of Yorkshire, close to the sea and the Humber? The Humber is 'of uncertain origin' though everyone solemnly asserts that it's 'a common name for a river' (are there Humbers galore in France or somewhere?). There's also a rather mysterious spur sticking out for miles into the North Sea called Spurn Head which apparently is due to an underwater glacial moraine from the Ice Age. Looks like a harbour wall to moi.
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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I think you're right. Ontario was settled by French-speaking Europeans too. The area round the Humber estuary has been drastically eroded and many of the coastal towns are underwater including Ravenser Odd which in the sixteenth century was apparently the most important port on the coastal stretch. I can't find an adequate explanation of how this spit could survive constant erosion from the North Sea, the tidal erosion being in a consistent southwards direction.
Prehistoric (i.e. Bronze Age) boats have been unearthed at the mouth of the Humber which were built with care and sophistication, chic even. The Parisii capital was called Petuaria by the Romans, the present Brough-on-Humber, thought to be related to Welsh pedwar meaning fourth or quarter. A quartier?
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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Hatty. May I say that the work you have been producing lately is truly remarkable!
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Hatty
Site Admin
In: Berkshire
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Thank you for the encouragement, Ish, goes without saying that you're always remarkable as everyone will agree. It's rather a remarkable coincidence that Paris and London were wrangling over which city would get the meridian line and a bunch of Parisians were living in east Yorkshire near the location of what appears to have been some kind of astronomical observatory.
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I found this, about the Parisi. It must have been electronically transcribed from some text where the characters for "f" and "s" are similiar:
It is now time to return to the eaftern coafts of Britain, where we meet with the Parifi, who were feated to the north of the Coritani, and poflefTed that diftri6l which is called Holdernefs, or (as Mr. Camden imagines) the whole eaft- riding of Yorkfhire " 3 . The Parifi are fuppofed to have derived their name from the two Britifh
words Paur Ifa, which fignify low pafltire, and which are defcriptive of the fituation and ufe of their country " 4 . It is uncertain whether the Parili in Britain were a colony of the Parifi in Gaul, or had only obtained a fimilar name, from a fimilarity of fituation. However this may be, it is evident that our Parifi never attained to any great degree of power or confequence ; but were always fubjecl to the authority, and followed the fate of their more powerful neighbours, the Bri-gantes. |
Anyone know what "Paur Ifa" might mean?
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