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| SNowdon late Autumn copyright SusanMorrisonJones |
Setting the background: -
The Romans are leaving Britain, they have raped her of her
Gold, Tin, Coal, Slate, Amethyst and a myriad of other wonderful items and the
damned Brits keep fighting back.
Its cost Rome a small fortune to ‘keep’ Britain. Armies,
versus wealth means literally the bank was being broken. Rome recalled its men
and they begin to wander off back for a bit more fighting in the Empire and
Britain has fewer and fewer Romans around, but over in the Lley Peninsular,
things are hotting up.
Across Britain many tribes had bent the knee to Rome but up
in Northern Wales, this wasn't the truth. The Ordvices (Latin name) were a
continual pain in the asterisk, alongside various other tribes. All of which
have a fair bit of a mention in the Roman Histories of the times. The decisions
to fight back, to challenge and to be a real thorn in Roman sides is so much so
that there are not all that many signs of an actual villa or the usual Roman
remains in any part of North Wales.
Rome was not getting its own way in the area and for the
first 2 centuries of their rule they had continual fighting. The second two
centuries things changed dramatically when the Irish Pirates began to attack
the peninsula’s (including The Lleyn) placing even more pressure on the
Legions.
Wales even had its own Emperors at one time Carausius and
Allectus. Constantius defeated Allectus and he ruled the West while Diocletian
managed the East, possibly Wales was part of Brittania Prima as it held the
Gold and precious metals the Romans wanted. All in all, the Roman Empire was
disintegrating and Britain was going to become ruler-less and undefended very
soon.
I feel a tad cheeky throwing my hat into the arena but I am
doing what I am doing.... because I am following a trail that has a thousand
tributaries and make apologies to the scholars but here comes another little
statement.........
They are records not necessarily truths but the truths may
well be hidden in them.
With a view of the surrounding land, over towards the Irish
mainland and across the bay. Where Harlech , Barmouth and various other towns
and villages now live on the North West Coast of North Wales.
It’s a heck of a view and of course it means that the local
people, back in those days are able to defend themselves well when the Pirates,
Slavers and Romans are in the mood for a quick sortie.
This stone forts differences are the beginning of my quest.
There is one connection recorded of Arthur's Quoit which is a cromlech (three
large stones holding up a larger stone on top), traditional associations are
that Arthur the Giant threw the coetan or top stone from Carn Fadrun and his
wife took three stones from her apron pocket and popped them underneath it to
hold it up.
Highly improbable as a truth but the kernel of that story
will always be the mention of Arth name and of course in English not in Cymry.
The Gangani are mentioned by Ptolemy in his second century
geography as being in the south west of Ireland and that the Gangani promontory
was on the Lleyn Peninsular. They were notably big people by all accounts. It
isn't unusual for the times that the Romans met up with Celtic tribes having
two 'homes' Parisi for example were found in Gaul and in England and several
other tribes were the same. The women inherited alongside their equals the men.
Children were treasured, the females as much as the males. The women also
fought in wars alongside the men.
Roman historian, Ammianus Marcelinus says: - "A Gallic
woman, fighting beside her man, is a match for a whole troop of foreigners.
Steely-eyed ... she swells her neck, gnashes her teeth, flexes her huge white
biceps, and rain wallops and kicks as though from the twist cords of a
catapult.
The Gangani were a proud and warlike tribe with a vast part
of the land under their control. They were (as were many Celtic peoples)
skilled in the making of swords, their plough was a better one than the Romans,
they grew varied forms of vegetables, held Cattle to be a sign of wealth (with
20 names for different colours of the cow they really liked them) wore splendid
clothing and...............hang on let me just clear a few things up.
Let’s take a reality check here, I am sick to the back teeth
of seeing the media depicting the Celts as members of the great unwashed.
For a start the men were fined if their waists exceeded the
width of a specific girdle, they were expected to be slender and fit.
They used soap before the Romans even thought of the idea.
They were also very different from tribe to tribe in their
looks.
They also used a variety of bodily decoration.
The men invariably shaved their hair on their heads back to
the ear line and when going into battle used lime to spike the remaining hair
into ferocious looking spikes.
They worshipped a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses.
Respected the Druid who kept the laws and many other aspects
of life.
The Vate who had extra powers and not forgetting the Bard
who made the music, the songs and the poetry of the times.
They had slaves, they had a Royal line and they had laws
that were kept by a system of complexity dealt by the King and his Druid.
With a way of life which incorporated balance and justice in
advance of Roman practises at that time. Something the Romans crushed as fast
as possible before their own women got the idea they could inherit anything at
all from husband or father.
Anyway, like I said earlier, every tributary to this
investigation needs acknowledgement to enable my hypothesis to continue and
though I am sure it is not easy to follow, it is necessary otherwise statements
I make later will not make sense
Joined together in a common bond of understandings.
Wealthy in Gold and similar riches which they personally did
not value as much as the strength of the tribe and the family.
They wore bright colours, where very clean, inherited riches
and responsibilities equally and travelled extensively up and down their
country, which was as big as the 2016 map of Wales and half of the current
country known as England...and they loved war.
If you want some form of validation of any of my statements
concerning the times and the history and the people I will post a full record
of them all at the end of this journey.
