Myrddin the god
The original Myrddin was probably the pagan Briton god of
poetry, whose name was later bestowed upon pre-eminent bards. This
conclusion can be drawn from
the early British poem Gododdin, which opens with a reference to the “blessed inspiration of Myrddin,” much as ancient Greek poems often open with invocations to the Muses.
The islands are identified in some of the anceint text as Clas Myrddin, or
Myrddin's Enclosure. The town of Carmarthen (Latin “Moridunum”, Welsh “Caer Myrddin”) seems to have been named for
him. The Greek geographer Hecateus of
Abdera, who wrote around 330BCE, identifies the god worshipped at Stonehenge as Apollo, a deity who, like Myrddin, was associated with both poetry and prophecy. The connection of the god Myrddin to Carmarthen and to
Stonehenge explains Geoffrey’s association of these two places with the
pagan bard who bore the honorific “Myrddin” (Lailoken). |
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