Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitionsBayley, Harold
History
Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitions
Bayley, Harold
Archaeology; England -- Antiquities
There are many references in the classics to certain so-called
Hyperboreans, in particular the oft-quoted passage from Diodorus of
Sicily or Hypereia: "Hecataeus and some other ancient writers report
that there is an island about the bigness of Sicily, situated in the
ocean, opposite to the northern coast of Celtica (Gaul), inhabited by a
people called Hyperboreans, because they are 'beyond the north wind'.
The climate is excellent, and the soil is fertile, yielding double
crops. The inhabitants are great worshippers of Apollo, to whom they
sing many, many hymns. To this god they have consecrated a large
territory, in the midst of which they have a magnificent round temple,
replenished with the richest offerings. Their very city is dedicated to
him, and is full of musicians and players on various instruments, who
every day celebrate his benefits and perfections."
Claims to being the original Hyperborea have been put in by scholars
from time to time on behalf of Stonehenge, the Hebrides, Hibernia,
Scythia, Tartary, and Muscovy, "stretching quite to Scandinavia or
Sweden and Norway": the locality is still unsettled and will probably
remain so, for there is some reason to suppose that the Hyperboreans
were a sect or order akin perhaps to the Albigenses, Cathari, Bridge
Builders, Comacine Masters, Templars, and other Gnostic organizations of
the Dark Ages.
The chief Primary Bard of the West was entitled Taliesin, which Welsh
scholars translate into _Radiant Brow_: the _brow_ is the seat of the
_brain_, and the two words stand to each other in the same relation as
Aubrey to Auberon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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