From Scythia To Camelot

This volume boldly proposes that the core of the Arthurian and Holy Grail traditions derived not from Celtic mythology, but rather from the folklore of the peoples of ancient Scythia (what are now the South Russian and Ukrainian steppes). Also includes 19 maps.

The description for this book, From Scythia to Camelot: A Radical Reassessment of the Legends of King Arthur, will be forthcoming.

Why is King Arthur a giant? Because his story has had such strong influences on our understanding of the history of Europe and the English-speaking world. Because the debate about Arthur as a historical figure has been central to understanding the fall of Roman Britain and the formation of England for much of the last 1,300 years. Because Arthur is one of the best-known kings in world history, whose reign was viewed as a golden age, an epoch in which to centre tales of right and wrong, of faith and faithlessness, and of courage and falseness, the moral and spiritual values of which continue to resonate today not least among those who dismiss Arthur as a late literary construct. Because an understanding of Arthur and all the different things he has meant to scores of generations up to the present is fundamental to our understanding of our own past, our understanding of ourselves and the ways in which we can benefit from history.

The Ossetes, a small nation inhabiting two adjacent states in the central Caucasus, are the last remaining linguistic and cultural descendants of the ancient nomadic Scythians who dominated the Eurasian steppe from the Balkans to Mongolia for well over one thousand years. A nominally Christian nation speaking a language distantly related to Persian, the Ossetes have inherited much of the culture of the medieval Alans who brought equestrian culture to Europe. They have preserved a rich oral literature through the epic of the Narts, a body of heroic legends that shares much in common with the Persian Book of Kings and other works of Indo-European mythology. This is the first book devoted to the little-known history and culture of the Ossetes to appear in any Western language. Charting Ossetian history from Antiquity to today, it will be a vital contribution to the fields of Iranian, Caucasian, Post-Soviet and Indo-European Studies.

Although King Arthur's identity is so frequently debated, he is almost always set somewhere in the Celtic Britain of the Early Christian Era. This original and wide-ranging study argues that the roots of the Arthur legend are to be found in classical antiquity and that the traditional British Arthur is a much later imitation. Graham Anderson examines hitherto neglected evidence for two much older figures, known to classical writers as early kings of Arcadia and Lydia, who supposedly flourished more than a millennium earlier than traditional accounts suggest. He outlines the correspondence betw.

Discusses the misconceptions and historical errors of "The Da Vinci Code" while examining early Christian origins, Gnosticism, the role of Constantine in Christian history, and the novel's accusations against the Catholic Church.

Retelling of the stories about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

The academic resistance that cultural studies has encountered remains especially visible in Eastern and Southern European countries. One such example is Spain, where cultural studies is seen at best as an emergent research field. Hence the interest of this volume, conceived in Spain by an all-Spanish editorial team and written by a diverse range of authors who prove that, in spite of all difficulties, cultural studies continues to bloom – even in Southern and Eastern Europe. The different chapters offer interdisciplinary insights into a wide selection of cultural materials whose relevance goes well beyond purely aesthetic issues. Altogether, the volume (1) provides interesting theoretical reflections on the subtle (yet arbitrary) borders between popular and canonical culture; (2) explores how the popular culture of yesteryear has influenced and inspired later “canonical” cultural materials; and (3) studies how the reception of, and representation in, popular culture can be accounted for from the crucially relevant perspectives of gender and age. This collection of essays studies and explores the connections between a wide range of materials, including relevant examples of classic and contemporary literature, Arthuriana, pop music and videos, political and mainstream film, newspaper advertising, television, and the phenomenon of the (trans)media star.