[ccmay]

If this guy was remembered 500 years after his death, you'd think the Roman historians would have made a note of him, or that his legend would have survived even until now.

I wonder if this was King Arthur?

-ccm

[marsh2]

That is what I was thinking.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

"I wonder if this was King Arthur? "

Most experts accept a death date of around 540AD for King Arthur. (Many say the legends of King Arthur are a composite of many leaders of that period)

[blam]

540AD was also the beginning of the Dark Ages, many people died and very little was written for 100-200 years.

The Dark Ages: Were They Darker Than We Imagined?

"It was a time when European civilisation stagnated - even that term is a generous description of the living standards and social setting of the next few centuries."

[SunkenCiv]

Very little major folklore survives from pre-Roman times. The Mabinogeon survives in a single copy, Geoffrey of Monmouth reproduces some surviving stories, an apparent contemporary of "King Arthur" (I forget the name) mentions the twelve battles but doesn't mention the victor's name (an apparent diss'in'), and some placenames and perhaps character names survive in French-derived tales. There are some other fragments.

There are those who believe that Arthur's memory was revived after the Anglo-Saxon-Jute invasion/migration into Britain, but that the events more or less preserved refer to pre-Roman times. The tale of Robin Hood may have been based on much older tales, adapted from who knows what. Perhaps this guy in the chariot was the heavy-handed king now portrayed as King John in the Robin Hood tales.

In any case, this chariot-driving chieftain will soon be portrayed by Mel Gibson, and the entire script of the movie will be in an extinct language...