The first thing one learns about Pictish, aside from the existence of some undecypherable stones of a definitely celtic (you ARE pronouncing it with a hard C?!) interlock design, is that some well-meaning preacher took the parchment scrolls, which has lain happily intact in Scotland for centuries, to London where they were consumed by rats. aarrrggggghhh! I must pop out for a little while, but when I return I will get out my notebooks from 5 years if intensive research on all things Keltic and tell you he Bibliography for the relevant subjects. Meanwhile I shall tackle the subject again on the internet. It has been a while, and having someone to converse with has whetted my appetite, as well. On with the Quest! btw, I like your theory of proto-celtic speech for the Picts mixed with whatever aboriginal language existing at the time - if there was any at all...!

Altavista yielded some splendid URL's. The first is an overall excellent site with pix of Picts (stones, of course) and written history (such as there is.) http://www.ehabitat.demon.co.uk/scotland/index.html Ths Pictish Chronicles of Kings (did not know we knew that far back...) http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/4933/kings.html A very interesting discussion of Pictish names, etc. http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/jonespictishmem/index.html just for starters...they claim 3587 web pages found...happy hunting! I'll be back to compare notes...!

The Highland Council Archaeological Survey http://www.higharch.demon.co.uk/ This page is full of stuff from Megalithic to the truly fringe stuff like leyhunters and such http://www.links2go.com/more/www.higharch.demon.co.uk/

Tales of the Fenian knights The history of Celtic �ire is characterised by its remarkable continuity. While Albion was completely reconstructed by the Roman conquest, her sister isle was left undisturbed. The High Kings ruled on at Tara. The Druids officiated. The pagan rites were performed without interruption. The tribal wars raged on unabated. The High Kings of Celtic Eire moved in a world where historical fact is still encrusted with legend and fantasy. Sceptical historians talk of "pseudo-history", or even of the absence of history. But like King Arthur, who is now accepted as a real personage, the High Kings of Eire are more likely to be historical figures embellished by the bards than names plucked from pure fiction. And the nearer they come to a literate, better recorded age, the more convincing are the accounts of their deeds. The Fianna or "Fenians" were the archetypal company of Celtic knights, the prototype of Arthur and his Round Table. It was at the court of Cormac Mac Airt that they, and their fearless champion Finn MacCool, performed their celebrated acts of derring-do. Finn MacCool - Fionn MacCumhaill - is the most renowned of all Irish heroes. He was the son of a Druid's daughter, who had eloped with her lover-knight to escape her father's wrath and who bore the boy-child after the revenge killing of its father. Mother and son, Murna and Demna, were taken in by the kindly Druid Finnegas, who educated the boy as his own and changed his name to Fionn. Once grown, Fionn embarked on a devil-may-care career of duelling, fighting, hunting, sorcery, love, and passion. In one episode he saved the life of Cormac Mac Airt and was made the captain of the royal bodyguard. In another he wooed the goddess Sadb, who had been changed into a fawn and who reverted to womanhood for long enough to give birth to their son Ois�n or Ossian ("Little Fawn"), the greatest of all the Ancient Celtic bards. One version of Fionn's death tells how he is not really dead but sleeping in a mountain cave, awaiting the hour of his recall. Relations between Eire and the Roman province of Britannia operated at many levels. The recent discovery of a large Roman fort on Eire's east coast spread panic among Celtic scholars when it briefly raised the prospect, if not of a Roman occupation, then at least of a Roman expedition. But it is now taken to be no more than a large trading post. In the religious sphere, the gradual spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire and beyond held momentous consequences. In the 4th century turbulence in Ulster, and the raiding parties of the High King N�all, prepared the way for Irish migration to northern Albion. This was the first step in the long process whereby the concept of a "Land of the Scots" was to be moved wholesale from Eire to a new home across the sea. � Times of London

Marcia, do you know the name of the series of books that start with Atlantis being destroyed by an earthquake and tidal wave. Before the earth quake happens the king has dreams of the disaster so he sends his daughter and a companion away on a ship that crashes on the shores of England or Ireland. She is saved by a farmer who she later marries. Merlin is her grandson and he gets his powers from her.

A related website (hosted here) that you may want to look at is the http://www.atlantea.com website of Roger Didio.

Thanks for the link, Terry. Lucie, I don't know of those books off hand. I have read several which allude to these themes but only in brief. I will check on it for you, but it is usually difficult on the web to search for a story's senario and find the exact book for which you are looking. But, that will not deter me...I love the hunt!

For an entirely new take on things Arthurian and specifically the Holy Grail, http://website.lineone.net/~c_tolworthy/grail.htm

http://website.lineone.net/~c_tolworthy/grail.htm An overview of the grail legends The first fully developed grail legend that survives is Chr�tien de Troyes's unfinished Perceval or Conte del Graal (Story of the Grail), written around 1190. It is probably based on a Welsh poem, Peredur son of Evrawk. The main difference is that in the Welsh version, the grail is not specifically identified. Indeed, it is generally accepted that in the original legends the item itself was not the important thing - it could be a cup, a lance, a plate, a stone - anything that was imbued with godly power and religious significance. The grail story was further developed in the following couple of centuries (or possibly the later copies were just more accurate versions of the original, now lost). The stories of King Arthur's knights represented chivalrous ideals of honour and Christian conduct. And the grail legends represented the highest desire for purity. Only the purest knights could attempt the quest. Everyone agrees that the grail stories' popularity coincided with the darkest period of Christian history. It was the time of the crusades, and the period of the greatest worldly power of the church. Things were so bad that, from the twelfth century, there were more and more calls for reform. Modern scholars generally date the roots of the reformation from this period. So, amidst the darkest period of Christianity, people clung to the highest ideal they could find of Christian life. Three questions immediately arise: 1.Why did they choose to remember a sixth century British king? 2.Why did they choose a Celtic cup (or stone or plate)? 3.And why, in the stories, is the quest for the grail always unsuccessful? For more about the grail, visit http://engr.arizona.edu/~dkf/grail.html

Beware, following the continuity of thought in the original website above will lead inevitably to the subject of British Israelites which does not belong here, no matter what they say.

Happy Birthday Marcia

Lucie!!! Mahalo Nui Loa! *HUGS* ( I gotta get this subject going again... when I get a moment in my 27 hour day.)

Happy Birthday, wonderful geo goddess!

Thank you, kindly Terry! You do get around. I was told to check drool tomorrow. You don't suppose they have planned something, do you??!!

OK, I'm kinda confused...here (CA) it's 10 p.m. on May 30. How did you guys wind up posting tomorrow??

I is tomorrow in Austin! and has been tomorrow for hours in UTC. It is only dinner time here in Hawaii!

It is even tomorrow in Australia - very confusing!

OK, I see, the clock is set to Greenwich Mean Time. That explains a lot. I thought I was going nuts...

me too!!

Lucie, come back!!! We need to get this going again, but nothing Arthurian is currently happening.

is Mists of Avalon any good? My friend Loyal talks about it a lot, and i want to read it, but I can't find it anywhere.

The tv series was great. I hope they replay it.

Mists of Avalon is one of the books I go re-read when I need a pick-me-up mentally. It is one of my all time favorites. Currently there is a new theme in the Matter of Britian. It seems the lunatic fringe Madoc people want us to believe there was a conspiracy concerning Arthur. Dare I dignify this stupidity with a link? We have the book and DB is adding it to his paper debunking false archaeology. Save your money.

I put that Mists of Avalon tv show on a dvd. The one with Sam Neill as Merline. Merlin.

is it available on amazon? i've purchased other TV movies from them before...

Amazon has diamond jewelry if you want it. I am sure they have the video of Mists of Avalon in just about any form you'd like. The book was so much better than the tv miniseries, though. I think I'd just rather re-read it.

well, now i got my next excuse to go to B&N!!

It's a great show. I know I'll watch it again. So will you give me a few insider tips on what to watch for as relates to the legend vs. the Hollywood version?

absolutely!!

OK what are your Davidi Letterman Top Ten Things to Look for while watching Mists of Avalon?

Let me think about this. I will get Amy to help. She is also a fan of the book.