What's this about then?

What's this about then?

The 'Mabinogion' are a collection of Middle Welsh prose tales which were first grouped together by Lady Charlotte Guest, who translated them into English, in the 1830's and 1840's. A good number of re-translations have appeared since that time and each one has brought fresh insights into these complex tales. They have also generated a great deal of scholarly comment in books and in essays in specialist academic journals which have explored a wide range of themes through: origins - dating the compositions, to comparitive analysis – International Popular Tales, Celtic Affinities, to narrative structure and to thematic structure - Myth and Tradition, Sovereignty, Gender, Inheritence and Lordship, Friendship and Marriage.

However, up until very recently one aspect of these stories has received scant attention from Mabinogi scholars, and it is this: characters from several of the tales of the Mabinogion are associated, in Welsh tradition, with the Classical or Ptolemaic constellations. For instance the Milky Way is called Caer Gwydion after the enchanter from the Fourth Branch, Corona Borealis is Caer Aranrhod after Gwydion's sister, Cassiepeia is Llys Don (Don's Court) after their mother. Others have associated Arthur, who appears in five of the tales, with Ursa Major or with the lucida of Bootes – Arcturus. In the 19^th century, that infamous forger of Welsh manuscripts Iolo Morgannwg, (perhaps pointing to one of the reasons why this subject has been largely avoided) published a list of what he claimed were ancient Welsh names for the (presumably Ptolemaic) constellations, other than those just mentioned he cited a further eight, possibly ten, constellations named after characters who appear in the tales of the Mabinogion (to include here Hanes Taliesin), though unfortunately it is rarely clear which constellation is meant. Anyway, they are: Arthur's Harp (?Lyra), The Grove of Blodeuwedd, The Chair of Teyrnon (?Cepheus), Caer Sidi (?The Milky Way), The Cauldron of Ceridwen (?Crater), The Horse of Llyr (?Pegasus), Elffin's Chair, Olwen's Hall (?Milky Way) and The Woodland Boar (?Lupus).

I wondered what lay behind all this. How far back did these associations go? Were the authors of these old tales aware of these stellar connections, and if so, does this come across in the texts? Years of trying to find answers to these and related questions in the academic literature proved almost entirely fruitless, so I decided to conduct my own inquiry, I began by asking: Did Llew Llaw Gyffes, the 'Hero' of Math have any connection to the constellations? The answer to this question was definitely in the affirmative.

In 2012 professor Arfon Rees of Birmingham University published 'The Mabinogi Decoded' in which he independently made several identifications which agreed fully with my own findings. But in other areas I disagreed with his methods, particularly in his use of the modern constellations. The purpose of this site, then, is to set down my own musings concerning these matters and thereby to broaden this debate. To this end, I therefore welcome any criticism, comments and ideas.

JT. Aug 2013