6 posts tagged “myth”

This news caused quite a stir in the Western world. Augustus Le Plongeon, a nineteen century traveler, writer, and antiquarian just returned from the Maya ruins in Yucatan peninsula. Upon his return he made a sensational announcement. He stated that he managed to translate ancient Mayan writings.

These writings showed that the Maya of Yucatan were older than later civilizations of Egypt and Atlantis. They also told the story of even older continent of Mu, which had perished like Atlantis and, that its survivors founded the Maya civilization. During my research in archives of local funeral home directory, I learned that Le Plongeon mistranslated the writings, to put it mildly.

This is, basically, how the myth of the hypothetical lost continent Mu started. Very soon, this myth got second birth: it was popularized in the serious of books written by James Churchward.

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I had to gather bits and pieces of information about the myth of the lost kingdom of Lyonesse. The legend of a sunken kingdom Lyonesse appears in both Cornish and Breton mythology. In Christian times it even came to be viewed as a sort of Cornish Sodom and Gomorrah story. Lyonesse is identified as a sunken land lying off the Isles of Scilly, to the south-west of Cornwall. Lyonesse is a fictional country in Arthurian legend, birthplace of the knight Tristan. In the medieval story, after Battle of Camlann, that took place supposedly in 537, King Arthur’s men fled west across Lyonesse. They were pursued by Mordred and his men. Arthur’s men survived by reaching what are now the Isles of Scilly, but Mordred’s men perished in the inundation.

Other versions of the medieval story mention that Lyonesse is the home of Guinevere, a small land situated between Camelot and Malagant’s territory. This kingdom was ruled by Guinevere’s father until his death, after which Guinevere received the title of the Lady of Lyonesse.

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Gradlon then founded Quimper and on his death, a statue representing him on horseback looking in the direction of Ys was erected on the Saint Corentin Cathedral and still stands there. French Bretons have also a longer version of the legend, that says that Ys was the most wonderful city in the world, and that Lutece was renamed Paris after Ys was destroyed.

The most mysterious factor in the legend of Ys is that the location of the city is well defined. There is the statue of Gradlon looks at it, most of the localities mentioned exist. Also several ancient Roman roads actually lead into the sea, which strenghtened the belief that they lead to Ys. So, in fact, this myth could depict the real engulfment of a real city during the fifth century. Some specialists consider the story of Ys as the way to describe the victory of Christianity over Celtic gods. In the legend king Gradlon was converted by Saint Winwaloe over druidism, while Gradlon’s daughter Dahut and most inhabitants of Ys were worshipers of Celtic gods. However, a Breton folktale version states that Gradlon met, spoke with and consoled the last Druid in Brittany, and oversaw his pagan burial, before building a chapel in his sacred grove.

In fact, this is all a hoax, you know. There were several extremely popular books published in nineteen century that popularized the myth of buried pirate treasure. Mind you, these books were written by great authors and they still excite minds of the children and grown-ups. Naturally, we are talking about nobody else, but Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving and Robert Louis Stevenson!

All three famous writers separately learned about one and only one story about buried pirate treasure. It seems that for all those centuries there was only one more or less verifiable story that some pirate buried part of his treasure. It was infamous William Kidd, a.k.a. Billy the Kid. He was an English privateer who went astray. He did not want to die on the gallows for all his sins, so as story goes, he hid some of his wealth on Long Island before sailing to New York.  That hidden stuff was his bargaining chip in negotiations with authorities. But this did not work, they hanged Billy the Kid by the neck for piracy.

As far as I know, nobody found Kidd's treasure on Long Island yet. But as a result, we have great fiction stories: Treasure Island, The Gold-Bug and Wolfert Webber written by the authors mentioned above.

Since Middle Ages people were trying to find the location of the mysterious island. For example, by the 12th century Avalon became associated with Glastonbury. Monks at Glastonbury abbey claimed to have discovered the bones of Arthur and his queen. Though no longer an island at the time, the high conical bulk of Glastonbury Tor had been surrounded by marsh. During the reign of English king Henry II the abbot of Glastonbury, Henry of Blois, commissioned a search of the abbey grounds. After a lot of deep digging, the monks discovered a massive oak coffin and an iron cross bearing the description: “Here lies King Arthur in the island of Avalon”. Inside the coffin were two bodies, presumably of Arthur and his queen. In 1278 the remains were reburied with great ceremony, attended by king Edward I and his wife, before the High Altar at Glastonbury Abbey, where they were the focus of pilgrimages until the Reformation. However, scientists generally dismiss the authenticity of the find, attributing it to a publicity stunt performed to raise funds to repair the Abbey, which was mostly burned down in 1184.

Throughout the times there were many other places competing to be called Avalon. For example, Ille d’Aval on the coast of Brittany, and Burgh by Sands, in Cumberland, which was in Roman times the fort of Aballava on Hadrian’s Wall.. Other candidates include the Bourgogne town of Avallon, and Bardsey Island in Gwynedd, famous for its apples and also connected with Merlin. There were also claims that the most likely location to be St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, which is near to other locations associated with the Arthurian legends.

Everybody who is familiar with the famous Arthurian legend, heard this magical word Avalon. It sounds mysterious and has its origin from the Celtic word that means “apple”. In the legend, it is an island somewhere in Britain, famous for its beautiful apples. When it comes to facts, though, not much is know about the exact location of the island and existence of its inhabitants.

Avalon is the place, where King Arthur is taken to recover from his wounds after his last battle with Mordred at Camlann, and where his sword Excalibur was forged. Welsh and Breton tradition claimed that Arthur had never really died, but would return to lead his people against their enemies, but some later writers were less credulous, and said that Arthur had in fact died there. Although primarily known in connection with King Arthur, Avalon is sometimes referred to as the legendary location where Jesus visited the British Isles with Joseph of Arimathea and that it was later the site of the first church in Britain. This location of the Isle of Avalon is usually associated with present day Glastonbury. Avalon also plays a role in non-Arthurian French literature, such as the stories of Holger Danske, who was taken there by Morgan le Fay in a medieval romance, and in the story of Melusine. A nearby valley is named the Vale of Avalon.