Cantore Arithmetic is able to update the table with the round as a cog: The wheel as a bolt and the shield is the cross as shown in legendary art the understood of Age to Calendar would rely upon the findings in stone bringing paint to the as an easel to draw. This artistic manner is also showing the shield with a cape showing the drape as the show to why a shield would invent the cross to state the boundary date.
This representation also on The Unexplained - The Search for King Arthur, season four, episode 12 does show to date and is left to legend however India and may contain a habit to follow the 3.141 pi ratio that Srinivasa Ramanujan wrote. The title to the stone is shown in India with the Knight in statue holding the plague as the representation of the cross.
The avenue of construction to the connection is seen with the goddess Durga and the horse in stone representing in some temples the wheel. As known the shield is understood as a shield. The stone as henge, the door as a threshold, and the table as a chair to engage the conversation as a battle to war the begin: What is written comma the drape, the Nostradamus may work on this part of Cantore Arithmetic as a cloth to the pansy shell(a sand dollar) invites time at the fossil and to the crystal caves. The identifiable shape is a draw to the etch in nature as the purse of what is the timeline to the legend and the makings of India give the reality a bearing taking the ball hence The Druid!
White horses in mythology
White horses have a special significance in the mythologies of cultures around the world. They are often associated with the sun chariot,[1] with warrior-heroes, with fertility (in both mare and stallionmanifestations), or with an end-of-time saviour, but other interpretations exist as well. Both truly white horses and the more common grey horses, with completely white hair coats, were identified as "white" by various religious and cultural traditions.
Portrayal in myth[edit]
From earliest times, white horses have been mythologised as possessing exceptional properties, transcending the normal world by having wings (e.g. Pegasus from Greek mythology), or having horns (the unicorn). As part of its legendary dimension, the white horse in myth may be depicted with seven heads (Uchaishravas) or eight feet (Sleipnir), sometimes in groups or singly. There are also white horses which are divinatory, who prophesy or warn of danger.
As a rare or distinguished symbol, a white horse typically bears the hero- or god-figure in ceremonial roles or in triumph over negative forces. Herodotus reported that white horses were held as sacred animals in the Achaemenid court of Xerxes the Great (ruled 486–465 BC),[2] while in other traditions the reverse happens when it was sacrificed to the gods.
In more than one tradition, the white horse carries patron saints or the world saviour in the end times (as in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), is associated with the sun or sun chariot (Ossetia) or bursts into existence in a fantastic way, emerging from the sea or a lightning bolt.
Though some mythologies are stories from earliest beliefs, other tales, though visionary or metaphorical, are found in liturgical sources as part of preserved, on-going traditions (see, for example, "Iranian tradition" below).
Mythologies and traditions[edit]
European[edit]
Celtic[edit]
In Welsh mythology, Rhiannon, a mythic figure in the Mabinogion collection of legends, rides a "pale-white" horse.[3] Because of this, she has been linked to the Romano-Celtic fertility horse goddess Epona and other instances of the veneration of horses in early Indo-European culture.[4] In Irish Myth Donn"god of the dead" portrayed as a phantom horseman riding a white horse, is considered an aspect of The Dagda "the great God" also known as "the horseman" and is the origin of the Irish "Loch nEachach" for Loch Neagh. In Irish myth horses are said to be symbols of sovereignty and the sovereignty goddess Macha is associated with them. One of Cúchulainn's chariot-horses was called Liath Macha or "Macha's Grey"[citation needed]
The La Tène style hill figure in England, the Uffington White Horse dates back to the Bronze Age and is similar to some Celtic coin horse designs.
In Scottish folklore, the kelpie or each uisge, a deadly supernatural water demon in the shape of a horse, is sometimes described as white, though other stories say it is black.
Greek[edit]
In Greek mythology, the white winged horse Pegasus was the son of Poseidon and the gorgon Medusa. Poseidon was also the creator of horses, creating them out of the breaking waves when challenged to make a beautiful land animal.
A secondary pair of twins fathered by Zeus, Amphion and Zethus, the legendary founders of Thebes, are called "Dioskouroi, riders of white horses" (λευκόπωλος) by Euripides in his play The Phoenician Women (the same epithet is used in Heracles and in the lost play Antiope).[5][6][7]
Norse[edit]
In Norse mythology, Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir, "the best horse among gods and men", is described as grey.[8] Sleipnir is also the ancestor of another grey horse, Grani, who is owned by the hero Sigurd.[9]
Slavic[edit]
In Slavic mythology, the war and fertility deity Svantovit owned an oracular white horse; the historian Saxo Grammaticus, in descriptions similar to those of Tacitus centuries before, says the priests divined the future by leading the white stallion between a series of fences and watching which leg, right or left, stepped first in each row.[10]
Hungarian[edit]
One of the titles of God in Hungarian mythology was Hadúr, who, according to an unconfirmed source, wears pure copper and is a metalsmith. The Hungarian name for God was, and remains "Isten" and they followed Steppe Tengriism.[citation needed] The ancient Magyars sacrificed white stallions to him before a battle.[11] Additionally, there is a story (mentioned for example in Gesta Hungarorum) that the Magyars paid a white horse to Moravian chieftain Svatopluk I (in other forms of the story, it is instead the Bulgarian chieftain Salan) for a part of the land that later became the Kingdom of Hungary.[citation needed] Actual historical background of the story is dubious because Svatopluk I was already dead when the first Hungarian tribes arrived. On the other hand, even Herodotus mentions in his Histories an Eastern custom, where sending a white horse as payment in exchange for land means casus belli. This custom roots in the ancient Eastern belief that stolen land would lose its fertility.[citation needed]
Iranian[edit]
In Zoroastrianism, one of the three representations of Tishtrya, the hypostasis of the star Sirius, is that of a white stallion (the other two are as a young man, and as a bull). The divinity takes this form during the last 10 days of every month of the Zoroastrian calendar, and also in a cosmogonical battle for control of rain. In this latter tale (Yasht 8.21–29), which appears in the Avesta's hymns dedicated to Tishtrya, the divinity is opposed by Apaosha, the demon of drought, which appears as a black stallion.[12]
White horses are also said to draw divine chariots, such as that of Aredvi Sura Anahita, who is the Avesta's divinity of the waters. Representing various forms of water, her four horses are named "wind", "rain", "clouds" and "sleet" (Yasht 5.120).
Hindu[edit]
White horses appear many times in Hindu mythology and stand for the sun.[13] The Vedic horse sacrifice or ashvamedha was a fertility and kingship ritual involving the sacrifice of a sacred grey or white stallion.[14]
In the Puranas, one of the precious objects that emerged during the legend of the churning of the ocean by the devas and the asuras was Uchchaihshravas, a snow-white horse with seven heads.[14] Turaga was another divine white horse that emerged from the ocean and taken by the sun god Surya.[15][16] Uchchaihshravas was at times ridden by Indra, the king of the devas. Indra is depicted as having a liking for white horses in several legends – he often steals the sacrificial horse to the consternation of all involved, such as in the story of Sagara,[17] or the story of King Prithu.[18]
The chariot of the solar deity Surya is drawn by seven horses, alternately described as all white, or as the colours of the rainbow.
Hayagriva, an avatar of Vishnu, is worshipped as a god of knowledge and wisdom. His iconography depicts him with a human body and a horse's head, brilliant white in colour, with white garments, and seated on a white lotus. Kalki, the tenth incarnation of Vishnu and final world saviour, is predicted to appear riding a white horse, or in the form of a white horse.[14]
Buddhist[edit]
Kanthaka was a white horse that was a royal servant and favourite horse of Prince Siddhartha, who later became Gautama Buddha. Siddhartha used Kanthaka in all major events described in Buddhist texts prior to his renunciation of the world. Following the departure of Siddhartha, it was said that Kanthaka died of a broken heart.[19]
Abrahamic[edit]
Jewish[edit]
The Book of Zechariah twice mentions coloured horses; in the first passage there are three colours (red, dappled, and white), and in the second there are four teams of horses (red, black, white, and finally dappled) pulling chariots. The second set of horses are referred to as "the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world." They are described as patrolling the earth and keeping it peaceful.
Christian[edit]
In the New Testament, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse include one seated on a white horse[20] and one on a pale horse – the "white" horse carried the rider Conquest (traditionally, Pestilence) while the "pale" horse carried the rider Death.[21] However, the Greek word chloros, translated as pale, is often interpreted as sickly green or ashen grey rather than white. Later in the Book of Revelation, Christ rides a white horse out of heaven at the head of the armies of heaven to judge and make war upon the earth.[22]
Two Christian saints are associated with white steeds: Saint James, as patron saint of Spain, rides a white horse in his martial aspect.[23][24][25] Saint George, the patron saint of horsemen[26] among other things, also rides a white horse.[27] In Ossetia, the deity Uastyrdzhi, who embodied both the warrior and sun motifs often associated with white horses, became identified with the figure of St. George after the region adopted Christianity.[28]
Gesta Francorum contains a description of the First Crusade, where soldiers fighting at Antioch claimed to have been heartened by a vision of St. George and white horses during the battle: There came out from the mountains, also, countless armies with white horses, whose standards were all white. And so, when our leaders saw this army, they ... recognised the aid of Christ, whose leaders were St. George, Mercurius, and Demetrius.[29]
Islamic[edit]
Islamic culture tells of a white creature named Al-Buraq who brought Muhammad to Jerusalem during the Night Journey. Al-Buraq was also said to transport Abraham (Ibrâhîm) when he visited his wife Hagar (Hājar) and son Ishmael (Ismâ'îl). According to tradition, Abraham lived with one wife (Sarah) in Syria, but Al-Buraq would transport him in the morning to Makkah to see his family there, and then take him back to his Syrian wife in the evening. Al-Burāq (Arabic: البُراق al-Burāq "lightning") isn't mentioned in the Quran but in some hadith ("tradition") literature.[30]
Twelver Shī'a Islamic traditions envisage that the Mahdi will appear riding a white horse.[31]
Far East[edit]
Korean[edit]
A huge white horse appears in Korean mythology in the story of the kingdom of Silla. When the people gathered to pray for a king, the horse emerged from a bolt of lightning, bowing to a shining egg. After the horse flew back to heaven, the egg opened and the boy Park Hyeokgeose emerged. When he grew up, he united six warring states.
Philippines[edit]
The city of Pangantucan has as its symbol a white stallion who saved an ancient tribe from massacre by uprooting a bamboo and thus warning them of the enemy's approach.
Vietnamese[edit]
The city of Hanoi honours a white horse as its patron saint with a temple dedicated to this revered spirit, the White Horse or Bach Ma Temple ( "bach" means white and "ma" is horse). The 11th-century king, Lý Công Uẩn (also known as King Lý Thái Tổ) had a vision of a white horse representing a river spirit which showed him where to build his citadel.[32]
Native American[edit]
In Blackfoot mythology, the snow deity Aisoyimstan is a white-coloured man in white clothing who rides a white horse.
Literature and art[edit]
The mythological symbolism of white horses has been picked up as a trope in literature, film, and other storytelling. For example, the heroic prince or white knight of fairy tales often rides a white horse. Unicornsare (generally white) horse-like creatures with a single horn. And the English nursery rhyme "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross" refers to a lady on a white horse who may be associated with the Celtic goddess Rhiannon.[33]
A "white palfrey" appears in the fairy tale "Virgilius the Sorcerer" by Andrew Lang. It appears in The Violet Fairy Book and attributes more than usual magical powers to the ancient Roman poet Virgil (see also Virgil#Mysticism and hidden meanings).
Gandalf, a protagonist and wizard in The Lord of the Rings rides on his white mount Shadowfax, who is described as being silver in color. Later in the series, Gandalf becomes known as White Rider.[34]
The British author G. K. Chesterton wrote an epic poem titled Ballad of the White Horse. In Book I, "The Vision of the King," he writes of earliest England, invoking the white horse hill figure and the gods:
The Rip, a 2008 song by Portishead also invokes the imagery of white horses
The white horse is a recurring motif in Ibsen's play Rosmersholm, making use of the common Norse folklore that its appearance was a portent of death. The basis for the superstition may have been that the horse was a form of Church Grim, buried alive at the original consecration of the church building (the doomed protagonist in the play was a pastor), or that it was a materialisation of the fylgje, an individual's or family's guardian spirit.[37]
Round Table
| The Round Table | |
|---|---|
| Arthurian legend element | |
 A 1470 reproduction of Évrard d'Espinques's illumination of the Prose Lancelot, showing King Arthur presiding at the Round Table with his Knights | |
| First appearance |
|
| Created by | Wace |
| Genre | Chivalric romance |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Legendary table |
| Owners | King Arthur |
| Function | The meeting of Arthur's court, known as the Knights of the Round Table |
The Round Table (Welsh: y Ford Gron; Cornish: an Moos Krenn; Breton: an Daol Grenn; Latin: Mensa Rotunda) is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status, unlike conventional rectangular tables where participants order themselves according to rank. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur's fabulous retinue. The symbolism of the Round Table developed over time; by the close of the 12th century it had come to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthur's court, the Knights of the Round Table.
Origins[edit]
Though the Round Table is not mentioned in the earliest accounts, tales of King Arthur having a marvellous court made up of many prominent warriors are ancient. Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his Historia Regum Britanniae (composed c. 1136) says that, after establishing peace throughout Britain, Arthur "increased his personal entourage by inviting very distinguished men from far-distant kingdoms to join it."[1] The code of chivalry so important in later medieval romance figures in it as well, as Geoffrey says Arthur established "such a code of courtliness in his household that he inspired peoples living far away to imitate him."[1]
Arthur's court was well known to Welsh storytellers; in the romance Culhwch and Olwen, the protagonist Culhwch invokes the names of 225 individuals affiliated with Arthur.[2] The fame of Arthur's entourage became so prominent in Welsh tradition that in the later additions to the Welsh Triads, the formula tying named individuals to "Arthur's Court" in the triad titles began to supersede the older "Island of Britain" formula.[3] Though the code of chivalry crucial to later continental romances dealing with the Round Table is mostly absent from the Welsh material, some passages of Culhwch and Olwen seem to reference it. For instance, Arthur explains the ethos of his court, saying "[w]e are nobles as long as we are sought out: the greater the bounty we may give, the greater our nobility, fame and honour."[4]
Though no Round Table appears in the early Welsh texts, Arthur is associated with various items of household furniture. The earliest of these is Saint Carannog's mystical floating altar in that saint's 12th-century Vita. In the story Arthur has found the altar and tries unsuccessfully to use it as a table; he returns it to Carannog in exchange for the saint ridding the land of a meddlesome dragon.[5] Elements of Arthur's household figure into local topographical folklore throughout Britain as early as the early 12th century, with various landmarks being named "Arthur's Seat", "Arthur's Oven", and "Arthur's Bed-chamber".[6]
A henge at Eamont Bridge near Penrith, Cumbria, is known as "King Arthur's Round Table".[7] The still-visible Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon has been associated with the Round Table,[8] and it has been suggested as a possible source for the legend.[9] Following archaeological discoveries at the Roman ruins in Chester, some writers suggested that the Chester Roman Amphitheatre was the true prototype of the Round Table;[10] however, the English Heritage Commission, acting as consultants to a History Channel documentary in which the claim was made, stated that there was no archaeological basis to the story.[11]
Legend[edit]
The Round Table first appeared in Wace's Roman de Brut, a Norman language adaptation of Geoffrey's Historia finished in 1155. Wace says Arthur created the Round Table to prevent quarrels among his barons, none of whom would accept a lower place than the others.[12] Layamon added to the story when he adapted Wace's work into the Middle English Brut in the early 13th century, saying that the quarrel between Arthur's vassals led to violence at a Yuletide feast. In response, a Cornish carpenter built an enormous but easily transportable Round Table to prevent further dispute.[12] Wace claims he was not the source of the Round Table; both he and Layamon credited it instead to the Bretons. Some scholars have doubted this claim, while others believe it may be true.[12] There is some similarity between the chroniclers' description of the Round Table and a custom recorded in Celtic stories, in which warriors sit in a circle around the king or lead warrior, in some cases feuding over the order of precedence as in Layamon.[12] There is a possibility that Wace, contrary to his own claims, derived Arthur's round table not from any Breton source, but rather from medieval biographies of Charlemagne—notably Einhard's Vita Caroli and Notker the Stammerer's De Carolo Magno—in which the king is said to have possessed a round table decorated with a map of Rome.[13]
The Round Table takes on new dimensions in the romances of the late 12th and early 13th century, where it becomes a symbol of the famed order of chivalry which flourishes under Arthur. In Robert de Boron's Merlin, written around 1200, the magician Merlin creates the Round Table in imitation of the table of the Last Supper and of Joseph of Arimathea's Grail Table. Made of silver, the Grail Table was used by the followers of Arimathea after he created it as directed by a vision of Christ,[14] and was taken by him to Avalon (later identified with Glastonbury Tor, but this connection was not mentioned by Robert[15]). This version of the Round Table, here made for Arthur's father Uther Pendragon rather than Arthur himself, has twelve seats and one empty place to mark the betrayal of Judas; this seat, must remain empty until the coming of the knight who will achieve the Grail. The Didot Perceval, a prose continuation of Robert's work, takes up the story as the knight Perceval sits in the seat and initiates the Grail quest.[12]
The prose cycles of the 13th century, the Lancelot-Grail(Vulgate) Cycle and the Post-Vulgate Cycle, further adapt the chivalric attributes of the Round Table but make it and its fellowship much larger, with many more seats and usually dozens of members at any given time. Here it is the perfect knight Galahad, rather than Percival, who assumes the empty seat, now called the Siege Perilous. Galahad's arrival marks the start of the Grail quest as well as the end of the Arthurian era.[12] In these works the Round Table is kept by King Leodegrance of Cameliard after Uther's death; Arthur inherits it when he marries Leodegrance's daughter Guinevere. Other versions treat the Round Table differently, for instance Arthurian works from Italy like La Tavola Ritonda (The Round Table) often distinguish between the knights of the "Old Table" of Uther's time and those of Arthur's "New Table".[16] In the Post-Vulgate, the Table is eventually destroyed by King Mark during his invasion of Logres after the deaths of Arthur and almost all of the Knights, many of whom in fact had killed each other, especially in internal conflicts at the end of the cycle.
Round Table tournaments[edit]
During the Middle Ages, festivals called Round Tables were celebrated throughout Europe in imitation of Arthur's court. These events featured jousting, dancing, and feasting, and in some cases attending knights assumed the identities of Arthur's entourage.[17]
Winchester Round Table[edit]
The Winchester Round Table is a large tabletop hanging in Winchester Castle and bearing the names of various knights of Arthur's court, was probably created for a Round Table tournament.[18] The table is 5.5 metres (18 ft) in diameter and weighs 1.2 tonnes (2,600 lb).[19] The current paintwork is late; it was done by order of King Henry VIII of England. The table itself is considerably older; dendrochronology calculates the date of construction to 1250–1280—during the reign of Edward I of England—using timbers that were felled over a period of years.[20] Edward was an Arthurian enthusiast who attended at least five Round Tables and hosted one himself in 1299, which may have been the occasion for the creation of the Winchester Round Table.[18] Martin Biddle, from an examination of Edward's financial accounts, links it instead with a tournament King Edward held near Winchester on 20 April 1290, to mark the betrothal of one of his daughters.[21]
Historical Round Table of Edward III[edit]
On 22 January 1344, after a tournament at Windsor Castle, King Edward III of England (r. 1327–1377) swore an oath to restore the Order of the Round Table to the same as that of King Arthur. Receiving agreement from the earls and knights present, Edward announced that the order’s first meeting would take place during Pentecost. The plan never came to fruition, but the new Order of the Garter carried connotations from this legend by the circular shape of the garter.[22] Edward's wartime experiences during the Crécy campaign (1346–7) seem to have been a determining factor in his abandonment of the Round Table project. It has been argued that the total warfare tactics employed by the English at Crécy in 1346 were contrary to Arthurian ideals and made Arthur a problematic paradigm for Edward, especially at the time of the institution of the Garter.[23] There are no formal references to King Arthur and the Round Table in the surviving early fifteenth-century copies of the Statutes of the Garter, but the Garter Feast of 1358 did involve a round table game. Thus there was some overlap between the projected Round Table fellowship and the actualized Order of the Garter.[24]
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