Roman Round Table

These are the ruins of a Roman ampitheater found in Caerleon. For centuries it has been referred to as the round table of King Arthur. I find it curious how the round table is always portrayed as a literal table in contemporary retellings but in the U.K. I found several large earthen work structures filling the legendary role. A location with ties to legendary warriors, a large meeting place, an easy way for a leader to speak to his followers. It makes sense to have a large place such as this for kings of old to gather their ranks. Its funny how things sometimes become "truth" without our knowing what inspired them.

Tennyson's Window

Caerleon in Wales is often tied to the legend of King Arthur with literary connection clear back to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniæ written around 1136. Granted most locations tied to the legend have very little probability of being correct but one locations claims are factual…at least in the literary world. In 1856, Alfred Lord Tennyson stayed at the Hanbury Arms where he began writing his famous Morte d'Arthur which was later incorporated into his Idylls of the King. This window inside the pub of Hanbury Arms is known as Tennyson's Window. This is were Tennyson would sit while looking over the River Usk and working on his masterpiece. They were gracious enough to let me photograph before they opened and then I had a meat pie for lunch at this very table.