Khubulov, Georgy G.
Kavkaz Forum. 2024. Issue 19.

Abstract:
King Arthur is the most famous of the Celtic heroes, the legendary king of
Britain, whose name is known to many people around the world. This great interest
in the personality of the semi-legendary hero of the Middle Ages determines
the scientific relevance of the problem under study. As a rule, such figures are
“overgrown” with myths and give rise to a large number of pseudoscientific
theories. The greatest interest is caused by the question of the origin of the cycle
of legends about the famous king of the Britons, the castle of Camelot and the
Knights of the Round Table. In modern historical science, there are several main
theories of the origin of the cycle of legends about King Arthur: British-Norman
(according to this theory, the cycle of legends about King Arthur arose on the basis
of historical events with the participation of characters associated with Britain
and Normandy), Celtic (legends about King Arthur have roots in Celtic mythology
and folklore) and the theory that King Arthur is a completely fictitious character.
This article is devoted to the study of the historiography of the issue of the Alan-
Sarmatian parallels with the cycle of legends about King Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table. It analyzes the works of both foreign and domestic researchers
who made a significant contribution to the development of the problem, as well
as became the founders of the theory of the Alan-Sarmatian origin of Arthuriana.
The novelty of the study is due to the fact that the historiography of the issue of
the presence of Sarmatian-Alan parallels in the Arthuriana cycle is for the first
time set as an independent object for study. The main methods of research are the
methods of comparative analysis and historicism.

Keywords: Alans, Sarmatians, Scythians, Narts’ epic, the Ossetians, the Arthuriana, King Arthur, historiography, knights of the Round table.

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