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BRITISH
MYTHOLOGY
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In its pure sense British Mythology originates with the ancient British, a pre-celtic people who were once spread across most of Britain. The mythology comes down to us through the welsh, and most of it was written down around the tenth century, when it had acquired overlays of other traditions such as Christianity.
The earliest tradition, in the Mabinogion, apparently tells of the doings of the ancient royal houses of Wales. Under this gloss, they are tales of gods and goddesses, heroes and rituals from an ancient tradition. The earliest text of any part of the Mabinogion is dated in the mid-thirteenth century, but the style and content indicate that it probably took its current form some 200 years before this.
In a later cycle comes the tale of King Arthur and Merlin, and the bard Taliesin. |
Tales from the Mabinogion
Working with the Myths
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