15. Myth, Empire, & Utopia: The Rise and Rule of Britannia, Pt. 1 – Myth & Empire: Britain’s First 2,700 Years

by dfmccx · October 10, 2021

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1. MYTH & MOTIVE

“Myth” – Encyclopedia Britannica Online

“Myth” – Cambridge Dictionary Online

“An ancient story or set of stories, especially explaining the early history of a group of people or about natural events and facts”

“10 Universal Myths of the Ancient World” – Listverse

2. THE ORIGIN MYTH

“Creation Myths: Stories about How the World Began”

Genesis 1 & 2

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

Enuma Elish

“When in the height heaven was not named, and the earth beneath did not yet bear a name, and the primeval Apsu, who begat them, and chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both their waters were mingled together”

Theogony – Hesiod

“Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next wide-bosomed Earth, the ever-sure foundations of all the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them. From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night; but of Night were born Aether and Day, whom she conceived and bare from union in love with Erebus. And Earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods.”

Puranas (Article)

“Brahma opened his eyes and was bemused to find himself there alone, in the middle of Nothing. He tried to find out where the lotus was stemming from but it appeared to have no starting point. Just then he heard a voice asking him to create a universe.”

“What is the Big Bang Theory?” – Space.com

“From the Beginning to Now” – Jordan Peterson & Lawrence Krauss (The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast)

“Garden of Eden” – World History Encyclopedia

Works & Days – Hesiod

“First of all the deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made a golden race of mortal men who lived in the time of Cronos when he was reigning in heaven. And they lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all evils. When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint. They dwelt in ease and peace upon their lands with many good things, rich in flocks and loved by the blessed gods.”

“Ages of Man – Greek Mythology”

The Myths that Made America: An Introduction to American Studies (2014) – Heike Paul

“This book offers an introduction to American studies by examining ‘the myths that made America,’ i.e., popular and powerful narratives of US-American national beginnings which have turned out to be anchors and key references in discourses of ‘Americanness,’ past and present. … The following chapters analyze the core foundational myths upon which constructions of the American nation have been based.”

3. BRITAIN

“British Empire at its Territorial Peak” – Vivid Maps

“The British Empire began with England’s overseas settlements and trading posts between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest Empire in history. By 1913 the British Empire covered 35.5 million sq km or 13.7 million sq mi (24 percent of the planets’ total land area). In 1920, the Empire’s population was over 413 million people (23% of the world population). … The British Empire, at its territorial peak, covered nearly the same surface area as the Moon.”

4. AENEAS

Works & Days – Hesiod

“But when earth had covered this generation [the Bronze Age] also, Zeus the son of Cronos made yet another, the fourth, upon the fruitful earth, which was nobler and more righteous, a god-like race of hero-men who are called demi-gods, the race before our own, throughout the boundless earth. Grim war and dread battle destroyed a part of them, some in the land of Cadmus at seven- gated Thebe when they fought for the flocks of Oedipus, and some, when it had brought them in ships over the great sea gulf to Troy for rich-haired Helen’s sake: there death’s end enshrouded a part of them. But to the others father Zeus the son of Cronos gave a living and an abode apart from men, and made them dwell at the ends of earth. And they live untouched by sorrow in the islands of the blessed along the shore of deep swirling Ocean, happy heroes for whom the grain-giving earth bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods, and Cronos rules over them; for the father of men and gods released him from his bonds. And these last equally have honour and glory.”

Genesis 6

“Aeneas (Homeric Story)” – Encyclopedia Mythica

“Aeneas was the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, and born on Mount Ida. On his father’s side he was a great-grandson of Tros, and thus nearly related to the royal house of Troy, as Priam himself was a grandson of Tros. He was educated from his infancy at Dardanus, in the house of Alcathous, the husband of his sister.”

“Aeneas (Roman Story)” – Encyclopedia Mythica

“The story about the descent of the Romans from the Trojans through Aeneas was generally received and believed at Rome at an early period, and probably arose from the fact, that the inhabitants of Latium and all the places which Aeneas was said to have founded, lay in countries inhabited by people who were all of the same stock — Pelasgians: hence also the worship of the Idaean Aphrodite in all places the foundation of which is ascribed to Aeneas. Aeneas himself, therefore, such as he appears in his wanderings and final settlement in Latium, is nothing else but the personified idea of one common origin. In this character he was worshiped in the various places which traced their origin to him.”

“Aeneas” – Encyclopedia Britannica Online

The Iliad (Full) – Homer

Book XX; Cited in S how

The Aeneid – Virgil

5. BRUTUS

Historia Brittonum (c. 828) – Nennius (Attributed)

Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1135; Contained in Six Old English Chronicles, pp. 87-292 (in-document pagination) / 114-318 (Archive pagination)) – Geoffrey of Monmouth

“Brutus of Troy: First King of Britain of Just a Myth?” – Ancient Pages

“British Legends: The Founding of Britain – Brutus of Troy and the Prophecy of Diana” – Folklore Thursday

“Brutus of Troy was a legendary Trojan exile who some medieval chroniclers claimed was responsible for the founding of Britain. They maintained that he was the first King of Britain and named the island, its people, and its language after himself. He built the city that would eventually become London, and gave laws to allow people to live in peace. … Geoffrey [of Monmouth] dates the arrival of Brutus on the island, which was then called Albion, to 1115 BC. Although his work is not given much credence today, from its creation up until the 17th century, when it fell from favour, it was very popular. It is still an important medieval text, and a central piece in the collective works known as The Matter of Britain.”

“Brutus ap Selys Hen” – The Grave of Brutus

6. BRUTUS AS IMPERIAL PROPAGANDA?

“Rome’s Transition from Republic to Empire” – National Geographic

“From Republic to Empire: Roman Timeline”

“Rome: Republic to Empire” (Database)

“The Propaganda of Augustus Caesar: How Peace, Power, and Stability was Achieved During the Age of Augustus” – Kevin Jeffries

“Clearly the poets of the Augustan court were no more than puppets. These poets had influence throughout Rome and one can see evidence of their influence in other forms of Augustan propaganda. The poets were biased and should not be construed accurately telling the history of Rome, but clearly they are telling the history of Rome the way Augustus Caesar wanted it to be told. The words of the poets are the words of Augustus. Augustus’ influence was so strong that it is foolish to assume that the poets were all writing the same story because they believed it. Clearly, the constancy of the mythical stories is due to the facts that Augustus had orchestrated the work. Like the ancient Greek historians, they set up a history based on legends and myths.”

“An Introduction to Roman Britain (AD 43-c. 410)” – English Heritage

“Aeneas and the Twins: The Development of the Roman Foundation Legend” – T.J. Cornell

“At first glance it would seem that the story of the twins, with its folktale elements, its local connections, relics and cult associations within the oldest part of the city, was an ancient and indigenous legend, while that of Aeneas, with its patently Greek origin, was a subsequent literary accretion imposed on the Roman tradition from outside. Such a reconstruction of the development of the traditional story accords well with what we know of Greek scholarly methods in dealing with the origins of barbarian peoples. This has been well demonstrated in a masterly paper by E. J. Bickermann. Bickermann examined the way in which Greek scholars tried to reconstruct the prehistory of the inhabited world by rationalising the myths and legends of the heroic age. The legendary material became a coherent body of pseudo-historical tradition and gave rise to research into genealogies, foundations of cities, and ethnic relationships. Bickermann describes the method as ‘hellenocentric’; that is to say, the Greeks connected the origins of barbarian peoples with the activities of Greek heroes, and thus incorporated them into the general scheme. For example it was believed that India had been colonised by Heracles and Dionysus. The Celts (Galatai) were thought to be descended from Polyphemus and Galatea, or, according to another version, from a son of Heracles. In general Greek researchers made no great effort to ascertain what the peoples in question thought about their own past. When faced with an indigenous tradition, their response was either to ignore it or to reconcile it by artificial means with the Greek version.”

“Sub-Roman Britain: History and Legend” – David Dumville

“Sub-Roman Britain: An Introduction” – Vortigern Studies

“‘Sub-Roman Britain’ is a label applied by specialists to Britannia in the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Geographically, Britannia is that territory south of the Forth-Clyde line that was part of the Roman Empire from AD 43 to 410. Gaining their independence from Rome, the sub-Roman Britons created a culture that was a unique hybrid of Roman, native ‘Celtic,’ and Christian elements. These first two centuries of the Early Middle Ages also gave birth to medieval kingdoms that would become England, Scotland, and Wales.”

7. FROM MYTH TO HISTORY

“Alfred the Great” – World History Encyclopedia

“Æthelstan, Anglo-Saxon King of England”

“Æthelstan was the first King of Wessex to bring together all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England. He was well educated, very pious and a collector of saints relics and manuscripts. He was also a formidable warrior. We have considerably more information about Æthelstan’s reign than other Anglo-Saxon kings due to the survival of many charters dating from his time as king and there are references to Æthelstan in foreign sources.”

“England Around 910 CE” – World History Encyclopedia

“Norman Conquest of England” – World History Encyclopedia

8. OLD EMPIRE

“Imperium (Roman Law)” – Encyclopedia Britannica Online

“Imperium was officially conferred by the Comitia Curiata (a popular assembly) for one year or until the official completed his commission. Only in the last years of the republic was the imperium granted for specific terms beyond one year. … Under the empire the title imperator (emperor), which had been used by victorious Roman generals under the republic, was reserved as an exclusive title for the head of state. … With the expansion of Roman power during and after the reign of Augustus, imperium took on the meaning of ‘empire.’”

“What was the ‘Imperium Romanum’?” – Andrew Lintott

“[F]or Augustus the Roman empire was not only the whole world controlled by Rome: it was equivalent to the world itself.”

The Ideological Origins of the British Empire (2000) – David Armitage

“The End of Europe’s Middle Ages: Holy Roman Empire” – University of Massachusetts Boston

“1453: The Fall of Constantinople” – World History Encyclopedia

“The Elizabethan Idea of Empire” – David Armitage

“Henry VIII’s assertion that his realm was an empire looks distinctly belated when compared to the claim made on behalf of James III of Scotland, more than half a century earlier in 1469, that he possessed ‘ful Jurisdictioune and fre Impire’ within his realm.”

“Thomas Becket” – World History Encyclopedia

“A History of Britain #3: Dynasty”

9. NEW EMPIRE

“Crusades” – World History Encyclopedia

“The Invention and History of the Printing Press” – PsPrint

“Discovery of America” – About History

“Reformation” – Encyclopedia Britannica Online

“The Development of the Medieval Idea of Sovereignty” – Walter Ullmann

Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533) – Henry VIII

“Where by divers sundry old authentic histories and chronicles it is manifestly declared and expressed that this realm of England is an empire, and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one Supreme Head and King having the dignity and royal estate of the imperial Crown of the same, unto whom a body politic, compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of Spirituality and Temporalty, be bounden and owe to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience; he being also institute and furnished by the goodness and sufferance of Almighty God with plenary, whole, and entire power, pre-eminence, authority, prerogative, and jurisdiction to render and yield justice and final determination to all manner of folk resiants or subjects within his realm, in all causes, matters, debates, and contentions happening to occur, insurge, or begin within the limits thereof, without restraint or provocation to any foreign princes or potentates of the world…”

“The British Empire” – C.H. Firth

“According to the New English Dictionary the word ‘empire’ meant in Henry VIII.’s time ‘a country of which the sovereign owes no allegiance to any foreign superior.’ In this sense Parliament employed it when they shook off the supremacy of the Pope, and declared in the Statute of Appeals ‘This realm of England is an empire.’ A little later the word came to signify a composite state formed by the union of two or more states. When the Protector Somerset projected the union of England and Scotland, he talked of the two peoples as ‘knit into one nation,’ and spoke of making ‘of one isle one realm.’ To meet the objections of Scottish nationalists he proposed that the names England and English, Scotland and Scottish, should be abolished, and that the United Kingdom should be called the Empire and its sovereign the Emperor of Great Britain.”

“Making the Empire British: Scotland in the Atlantic World, 1542-1707” – David Armitage

“By the second quarter of the eighteenth century, the anglophone inhabitants of the Atlantic world began for the first time habitually to describe their community as collectively British and structurally an empire. This ‘British empire’ included the United Kingdom of Great Britain (created by the Union of England and Scotland in 1707) and its dependencies within Europe, Britain’s insular possessions in the West Indies, and the continental colonies of British North America. Sometimes, though not always, it also encompassed the slave stations, factories and forts of Africa and the East Indies. This conception of a British empire demanded the union of a substantive idea of Britishness with a redefinition of inherited ideas of empire. The acquisition of such a conceptual vocabulary is a reliable indicator of a change in the self-consciousness of a community. ‘The concepts we have settle for us the form of the experience we have of the world … That is not to say that our concepts may not change; but when they do, that means that our concept of the world has changed too.’”

England Under Protector Somerset (1900) – A.F. Pollard

(pp. 148-9) “[W]hen Somerset took up the question of the union with Scotland he informed it with ideas that were peculiar to himself, and raised him above the level of the self-seeking courtiers with whom he was surrounded. That union was to be no mere union of the crowns, but a complete incorporation of the two realms in of body politic … In addition to other details of the plan, he proposed that the names England and English, Scotland and Scottish, should be abolished, and the united kingdom be called the Empire, and its sovereign the Emperor, of Great Britain.”

A collection of contemporary imperial tracts, including: