King Arthur And The Gods Of The Round Table

Did King Arthur really exist? The oldest manuscripts refer to him as a "Lord of Battle" who emerged soon after the Roman Empire crumbled. But what would be the origin of all these stories that turned a war leader into a king, an emperor, a legend... even a god? What if Arthur was really a deity similar to Zeus and Odin, with his roots in the rich Celtic mythology of the British Isles? A study of Arthurian myths reveals Britain's most legendary king as an ancient Sun God, known by many different names in the myths of Wales and Ireland. Even his Knights of the Round Table, and his sister Morgan le Fay can all be identified as ancient Gods and Goddesses of earth, sea and sky. Their survival in Arthurian legend stands as a shining testament of a story far more ancient, but by no means lost to us...

Settle into your favorite chair, prop your feet up, and prepare to journey back in time to a world of knights and ladies, grace and bravery, where the chivalric code reigned supreme. Enter Camelot and relive the coming of Arthur and how as a young boy he pulled the sword from the stone and claimed his throne. Meet Merlin, Gawain, Balin le Savage, the Knights of the Round Table, and other legendary figures in exciting tales and colorful illustrations. Witness the marriage of Arthur and Guenevere, and the Queen's later romance with the handsome Lancelot. Watch as history's most famous knights demonstrate their bravery in a fierce joust. See the beginnings of the famous quest for the Holy Grail, and how Sir Galahad, the noblest of all knights, was conceived in trickery. Enjoy stories of magic and enchantment, valor and vengeance, that end with Arthur's death and the downfall of his knights, but remain in people's hearts forever.

Your organization functions and grows through conversations face-to-face and electronic, from the mailroom to the boardroom. The quality of those conversations determines how smart your organization is. This revelatory book shows you how the Round Table of Arthurian legend can help foster collaboration and transform today s world of business, nonprofits, and government. "When I want a group to work effectively, I turn immediately to my colleague of thirty-five years, David Perkins. This book is a distillation of his knowledge and wisdom." Howard Gardner author of Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences and Intelligence Reframed "David Perkins applies his wit and inventive mind to create a fresh perspective on the world of collaboration in organizations. His archetypes and toolboxes offer valuable insights to anyone facing the challenges of collaborative problem solving." David Straus author of How to Make Collaboration Work

Rooted in folklore, medieval ideals of chivalry, and the last gallant strugglesof the British against the Saxon invaders, the legends of King Arthur have been told in song and story since the middle ages. The Sword and the Circle tells of the birth of Arthur, the gift of Excalibur, the forming of the Round Table and the first noble quests of its knights until the arrival of Percival . . .

This classic fifteenth-century chronicle of King Arthur and his knights is the essential interpretation of Arthurian legend in the English language. Full of adventure, magic, and romance, these are the timeless tales of Arthur, the great warrior king of Britain; his loyal knight Lancelot; the beautiful Queen Guinevere; and the mysterious Merlin. Based on French Arthurian romances reaching back to the twelfth century, Sir James Knowles’s narrative tells of the goings-on at Camelot, epic battles against invading Saxon enemies, and Arthur’s quest for the Holy Grail, among many other exciting events. Sometimes published as Le Morte d’Arthur, these accounts of chivalry and daring escapades have inspired generations of storytellers, from the Romantic poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson to T. H. White, author of The Once and Future King, from American satirist Mark Twain to British comedy troupe Monty Python.

King Arthur has fascinated the Western world for over a thousand years and yet we still know nothing more about him now than we did then. Layer upon layer of heroics and exploits has been piled upon him to the point where history, legend and myth have become hopelessly entangled. In recent years, there has been a sort of scholarly consensus that 'the once and future king' was clearly some sort of Romano-British warlord, heroically stemming the tide of wave after wave of Saxon invaders after the end of Roman rule. But surprisingly, and no matter how much we enjoy this narrative, there is actually next-to-nothing solid to support this theory except the wishful thinking of understandably bitter contemporaries. The sources and scholarship used to support the 'real Arthur' are as much tentative guesswork and pushing 'evidence' to the extreme to fit in with this version as anything involving magic swords, wizards and dragons. Even Archaeology refuses to speak out. Arthur is, and always has been, the square peg that refuses to fit neatly into the historians round hole. Arthur: Shadow of a God gives a fascinating overview of Britain's lost hero and casts a light over an often-overlooked and somewhat inconvenient truth; Arthur was almost certainly not a man at all, but a god. He is linked inextricably to the world of Celtic folklore and Druidic traditions. Whereas tyrants like Nero and Caligula were men who fancied themselves gods; is it not possible that Arthur was a god we have turned into a man? Perhaps then there is a truth here. Arthur, 'The King under the Mountain'; sleeping until his return will never return, after all, because he doesn't need to. Arthur the god never left in the first place and remains as popular today as he ever was. His legend echoes in stories, films and games that are every bit as imaginative and fanciful as that which the minds of talented bards such as Taliesin and Aneirin came up with when the mists of the 'dark ages' still swirled over Britain – and perhaps that is a good thing after all, most at home in the imaginations of children and adults alike – being the Arthur his believers want him to be.

For fifteen centuries, legends of King Arthur have enthralled us. Born in the misty past of a Britain under siege, half-remembered events became shrouded in ancient myth and folklore. The resulting tales were told and retold, until over time Arthur, Camelot, Avalon, the Round Table, the Holy Grail, Excalibur, Lancelot, and Guinevere all became instantly recognizable icons. Along the way, Arthur’s life and times were recast in the mold of the hero’s journey: Arthur’s miraculous conception at Tintagel through the magical intercession of his shaman guide, Merlin; the childhood deed of pulling the sword from the stone, through which Arthur was anointed King; the quest for the Holy Grail, the most sacred object in Christendom; the betrayal of Arthur by his wife and champion; and the apocalyptic battle between good and evil ending with Arthur’s journey to the Otherworld. Touching on all of these classic aspects of the Arthur tale, Christopher R. Fee seeks to understand Arthur in terms of comparative mythology as he explores how the Once and Future King remains relevant in our contemporary world. From ancient legend to Monty Python, Arthur: God and Hero in Avalon discusses everything from the very earliest versions of the King Arthur myth to the most recent film and television adaptations, offering insight into why Arthur remains so popular—a hero whose story still speaks so eloquently to universal human needs and anxieties.