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 between these ancient kings and the traditional Arthurian characters and adventures, exhuming an ancient Gawain-figure, an ancient Lady of Shalott and a predecessor of Excalibur. These earlier Arthurs indicate a wide range of traditional features already in place: hero of 'bear's son' type, rescuer of damsels in distress, transmitter of divine agriculture, 'greatest of knights', founder of a 'Table', king and national icon, and survivor after death. We also learn that the wider world of Welsh tales and French romances is already anticipated in our earliest Arthurian materials.
This radical reassessment of the Arthurian legends provides a new perspective on an age-old historical puzzle and will provoke debate amongst Classical and Medieval scholars and Arthurian enthusiasts.