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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The most brilliant and important thesis on this subject., October 11, 1998
This review is from: The Discovery of King Arthur (Paperback)
I've read this book 5 times now, and it still impresses and amazes me. To be perfectly honest, I did not realize its brilliance and importance until the second time I read it. When this book was first published in the mid 80s, I was already a fan of Ashe, having read other books by him about reconstructing a historical Arthur figure and culture. The first time I read it, I thought that it was weak and conflicted with theories put forth by him in his previous books -- theories which I felt were fine and did not need to be improved on. A couple of years ago, someone convinced me to read it a second time, and it absolutely blew my mind! So I recomend that anyone who is not impressed with it give it another chance. Yes, it shifts Arthur chronologically back a generation or so, but many Arthurian events are being shifted back several years in light of the most up-to-date scholoarship. What Ashe does is he lines up the legend of Arthur, as told by Geoffrey of Monmouth, side by side with the history of the fifth century British king, Riothamus, and points out not just a few, but a whole slew of parallels. There are many theories out there trying to reconstruct a historical King Arthur (e.g. see my review of _King Arthur: The True Story_ by Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman), many of which try to identify Arthur with someone on record under a different name; most such theories are weak at best and often quite preposterous, being based on the vaguest scraps of evidence and the most tenuous conicidences. Ashe's theory, on the other hand, is a startlingly strong case made up of a preponderance of circumstantial evidence; one may point to any one thing and say that it is only a coincidence, but when you get layer upon layer of these and couple it with archaeological evidence, one can no longer dismiss the similarities between Riothamus and Arthur as mere coincidence. Take it from a guy who has read a lot of books and articles on this subject: this is not just another among the myriad of historical Arthur theories; this deserves to be far and away the preeminent reconstruction of a historical Arthur. Ashe is a genius!
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Have For Arthurian Enthusiasts, August 13, 2002
This review is from: The Discovery of King Arthur (Paperback)
I've skimmed this book several times (for the pictures) before I gave it a real chance when college professors pointed out the thesis of Ashe's work: there are remarkable parallels between the "legendary" King Arthur of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Riothamus, an actual 5th century British King. Ashe brilliantly leads up to his thesis by presenting the facts, the legends, and previous attempts to discovery the "real" Arthur ("The Old Welsh Trail"). By doing so, Ashe gives the readers the proper context to fit his thesis into. There are excellent pictures of late Roman/early Saxon Britain artifacts and most interesting of all: an artist's conception of an "Arthurian Knight". Ashe's book is far more legitimate than King Arthur: The True Story, written by Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman. Although well-written, Phillips and Keatman's book tries to link a petty Welsh King of the early 6th century (Owain Ddantgwyn of the Annales Cambriae) with Nennius's King Arthur merely because "he was in the right place at the right time", his nephew Maglocunus could have been Mordred, and because he is mentioned as the "Bear", which means Arthur or something. This is no criticism of Ashe's believable and accurate work but I must say that I can't believe that Riothamus is the ONLY Arthur. No one can deny that Geoffrey of Monmouth based a good of Arthur's continental campaigns on Riothamus but what about Nennius and the other Welsh Dark Age manuscripts? What about Ambrosius Aurelianus's successor, the Romano-British Warlord/King who slaughtered the Saxons at Mount Badon, a battle that Gildas reported? Riothamus fought in the 460s and 470s, a period atleast 20 years before the battle at Mount Badon. I think there were two special men, the warlord of Badon, and Riothamus, who captured the imagination of the Welsh, and Geoffrey of Monmouth incorporated the two into one man.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating look into myth and reality, August 26, 2001
This review is from: The Discovery of King Arthur (Paperback)
As a King Arthur enthusiast, I read this book both with awe, and admiration for the author, Geoffrey Ashe. His insight and passion, and vast historical knowledge, into finding out the facts behind the legend of King Arthur make "The Discovery of King Arthur" a powerful read indeed. Ashe unravels the tangled myths to reveal the facts behind the legend, and pinpoints Arthur to one individual who, more than any other man, fits the description of "Arthur". Ashe makes a very provocative, and eloquent, case for his existance; and bases his argument on facts, rather than hearsay, or personal opinion. We may never know whether or not King Arthur actually existed; however, Ashe treats us to a well written and fascinating look into myth and reality, as well as giving us a history lesson we cannot possibly fall asleep reading.
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