The Discovery of King Arthur (The Geoffrey Ashe Histories)

I have always been a big fan of Arthur and Arthurian legends and stories.King Arthur is one of the greatest figures in the legends of history but did he really live? Geoffrey Ashe builds a very good case for the historical King Arthur. Taking the reader on a review of Britain during the decline of the Roman Empire . He also examines Arthurian legend and Celtic mythology . He looks at the theories of who might have been the real Arthur and reaches the conclusion that he was a Romano- Briton Warrior King named Riothamus . Riothamus launched an invasion of Gaul that corresponds to the military exploits Geoffrey of Monmouth attributed to Arthur in his History. Out of the wildly speculative books I have read , Ashe's book has made a solid case for the legendary warrior . Long live the once and future King.

Makes a convincing case for the true identity of King Arthur, listing all the information the author used to make his determination. You don't often read the true history of a mythological figure, but here it is. Never boring despite the great complexity of the subject and the many cobwebs that needed clearing away before we could see the facts; the author laid out a ton of information clearly and understandably.

The world of the historical King Arthur has been attempted by such various authors as Rosemary Sutcliff and Walter O'Meara and in non-fictional form in John Morris's classic The Age of Arthur. No author has been better at revealing the freshness of current historical and archeological research into the historical Arthur than Geoffrey Ashe and no book of his has revealed this special theory of Ashe's that Arthur may indeed be the King of the Britons known to history as Riothamus. While stopping short of a conclusive solution to the Arthur mystery, Ashe adds new research which excites the reader and begs for new approaches and follow-up research. Recommended.

Having just read to of Mr. Ashe's earlier books on the subject, I looked on the internet to see if he had any more recent ones, and found this one, which is up to the standard of his earlier works. For my taste, it takes a little too long to get to the point, and after the most interesting section - the one in which he tells us who he thinks Arthur was, it gets back into less-interesting material on legends stc. While not suggesting such material is irrelevant, it becomes monotonous after a while, although his section on the way the Arthur stories fared later in history is very interesting. This is not one of those books in which the author tells the reader how he/she located the information, and in which the finding could have been set out in a two-page article (although such books can be enthralling). Rather, it consists of sold scholarship from beginning to end, and I hope to read more from Mr. Ashe's research in the future.

Good book except the actual printing production is not good: there is no margin at all where binding holds pages. Must constantly press down to keep book open while reading. For the price I expected normal better quality.

My library on ancient Britain holds well over 500 volumes.Geofferey Ashe is considered the leading expert in this field. He is a very good writer, his books are interesting and even may be considered compelling to the study of this time of Britain. Highly recommended for anyone serious about this study.

This book gives the reader a worlds wealth of knowledge, and the known history (which there is really very little). But this gives the reader the history of King Arthur's up-bringing, and the history of what is really known about Arthur, and explains why there may be a reason why King Arthur may be a large mix of several other kings, and not just a single person. Great book, can be a little confusing at times, so you may have to turn back a few pages to see what was missed.

I've loved the legend of King Arthur since high school, and this is by far the best exploration of his historical existence and identification that I've seen. Ashe reviews the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, of course, and then expands his search to sources on the continent. His conclusion is revolutionary.

Content expected but from an angle i had not read before. Well worth the effort. For the lovers of legend especially Arthur.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in the historical King Arthur. Geoffrey Ashe makes a good case for Riothamus (which can be translated as “high king”) being the real Arthur.

Not the best of the recent crop of 'What if' Arthur research. Spends too much time trying to make his research fit a pet theory rather than the other way around.

Love the legend of arthur

An excellent presentation of a vast amount of scholarship on the subject. Any student of the subject will enjoy this book. I have enjoyed other books by Ashe on the Arthurian question but he has outdone himself on this one. His logical dating of the years of Arthur's life and leadership, supported by alternate references, is not the least of his contributions to this wonderful saga.