The Artognou stone, sometimes erroneously referred to as the Arthur stone, is an archaeological artefact uncovered in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was discovered in 1998 in securely dated sixth-century contexts among the ruins at

Tintagel Castle Tintagel Castle () is a England in the Middle Ages, medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island adjacent to the village of Tintagel (Trevena), North Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The site was possibly occupied in the Ro ...

in Cornwall, a secular, high status settlement of

sub-Roman Britain Sub-Roman Britain, also called post-Roman Britain or Dark Age Britain, is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the founding of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The term was originally used to describe archae ...

. It appears to have originally been a practice dedication stone for some building or other public structure, but it was broken in two and re-used as part of a drain when the original structure was destroyed. Upon its discovery the stone achieved some notoriety due to the suggestion that "Artognou" was connected to the legendary

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

, though scholars such as

John Koch John Koch (August 18, 1909 — April 19, 1978), (pronounced "KŌK") was an American painter and teacher, and an important figure in 20th century Realism (arts), Realism. He is best known for his light-filled paintings of urban interiors, often f ...

have criticised the evidence for this connection. The stone is on display at the

Royal Cornwall Museum The Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery, formerly known as the Royal Cornwall Museum, is a museum in Truro, England, which holds an extensive mineral collection rooted in Cornwall's mining and engineering heritage (including much of the mineral coll ...

Archaeological description

The dating of the stone has been arrived at by two methods: first, the stone came from a securely stratified context in association with imported pottery of known types dating to the fifth/sixth centuries; second, forms of certain letters noted on the slate appear in British inscribed stones from Scotland to Cornwall post-500 and are certainly known elsewhere from 6th century north Cornwall (part of the kingdom of

Dumnonia Dumnonia is the Latinised name for a Brythonic kingdom that existed in Sub-Roman Britain between the late 4th and late 8th centuries CE in the more westerly parts of present-day South West England. It was centred in the area of modern Devon, ...

). At the top right-hand corner of the fragment is a deeply cut motif consisting (as visible) of a letter A and another incomplete character on either side of a large diagonal cross; the whole may represent a common

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

symbol, a

Christogram A Christogram () is a monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ, traditionally used as a Christian symbolism, religious symbol within the Christian Church. One of the oldest Christograms is the C ...

—the

Greek alphabet The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as wel ...

letters

Alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

and

Omega Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...

flanking a large Greek letter

Chi __NOTOC__ Chi may refer to: __NOTOC__ Greek *Chi (letter) (Χ or χ), the twenty-second letter of the Greek alphabet Chinese * ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon * Chi (surname) ...

(written like a Roman X), the initial of ''Christos'' (Christ). Below this and to the left, but overlapping it slightly, is a smaller, more lightly incised inscription in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, reading: PATERN -COLI AVI FICIT ARTOGNOU. This seems to have been repeated lower down and to the right; only the letters COL /small> and FICIT, on two lines, can be seen on the fragment. This repetition, the overlap with the Christogram and the shallow carving (scratching would be a more accurate description) all suggest that this was not a formal inscription but an example of graffiti. The inscription has been translated by the Celtic Inscribed Stones Project as "Artognou descendant of Patern sColus made (this). Colus made (this)." The name Artognou means "Bear Knowing", from the Brittonic root *''arto'' "bear" plus *''gnāwo-'' "to know", and is cognate with the

Old Breton Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of ...

name Arthnou and Welsh Arthneu.Koch, John, ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia'', ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 1669. Also found in the sixth-century fort at Tintagel were numerous remains of expensive pottery, glasswork, and coins from

Visigothic Spain The Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths () was a Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic people ...

and the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

(when excavated in the 1930s by C. A. Ralegh Radford).

Arthurian controversy

After its discovery the stone was advanced in popular news media as possible evidence for the historical basis for the legendary

, with the name ''Artognou'' proposed as a variant of ''Arthur'', and was referred to as the "Arthur stone". The stone's dating fits the general timeframe usually given for an " historical Arthur" and, according to a tradition first recorded by

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

, Arthur was conceived at Tintagel Castle. However, the Celticist John Koch and other scholars have rejected this idea, arguing against the connection between the names and saying there is no reason to suspect an association with a historical Arthur. Koch justifies this by pointing out that the name ''Artognou'' means "bear-knowledge", whereas he suggests the name ''Arthur'' is more likely derived from the Latin "Artorius".

References

External links

Celtic Inscribed Stones Project
The archaeological context of the find: "Although Tintagel is often associated with the mysterious and mythical past, we must dismiss any idea that the name on this stone is in any way to be associated with the legendary and literary figure Arthur. Arthur was only associated with Tintagel through the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century, six hundred years later. As Professor Thomas states, "All this stone shows in the name ARTOGNOU, is the use of this (Celtic) element". * (Archived at Archive.org) *{{cite web, url=http://www.antiquities.net/stone.htm , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000918013054/http://www.antiquities.net/stone.htm , url-status=dead , archive-date=2000-09-18 , title='ARTHUR' Stone Discovered at Tintagel , publisher=Fragments of Time , year=2002 , accessdate=2011-08-24

Archaeological artifacts Arthurian legend History of Cornwall Sub-Roman Britain 1998 archaeological discoveries Tintagel Medieval inscriptions