Is this a "fact" that Uther Pendragon is buried inside the ring at Stonehenge? This is the first I have heard of it.
On page 211 we are told that Aurelius Ambrosius too was buried inside the Giant's ring, but not Arthur. Why not? Why did he have to go to Avalon? One would think of three generations following the same tradition.
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Good point, Nasreen. I suspect that Arthur's non-existent grave and the legend that he traveled on to Avalon to heal his wounds leaves the possibility open that he might return some day to save the Britons again, thereby easing the loss of their former glory. As Kristen Lee Over writes in Chapter 2 of KINGSHIP, CONQUEST, and PATRIA (sorry, I don't think I can underline or italicize here):
ReplyDeleteGeoffrey's revising of familiar British histories and his new and much elaborated version of the reign of King Arthur also stage a British 'resurrection' (Schictman & Finke 3), one that ... issues the prophetic promise of eventual British recovery. (Lee Over 49)
I'm not saying people necessarily believed Arthur would return from the dead, but I think that his untraceable grave at least symbolizes that a king of his stature will come to rule again.