Lucius Artorius Castus is the name of a Roman knight who left the island of Brittany with an army of Breton legionnaires to march on a region long assimilated to Armorica to quell an uprising there. For a long time it was considered that these events occurred around 184 and the career of Artorius Castus was dated to the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. It is now recognized that his career must be located during the third century and that the military expedition was in fact located in Armenia.
Summary
Artorius Castus began as a legion centurion in the East (the III Gallica in Syria and the VI Ferrata in Syria Palestine) then on the Danube (II Adiutrix in Pannonia and V Macedonica in Dacia). He then became primipile of the V Macedonica then prefect of the legio VI victrix in Brittany. He is also in charge of the Misenum fleet - probably a detachment sent by the latter. From Brittany, with the title of dux, he leads legionnaires to crush an uprising or wage war in a geographical region whose name begins with ARM (...). For a long time the rest of the word, erased on the stone, was restored to obtain a mention of Armorica. The re-examination of the initial edition of the stone by X. Loriot showed that in fact the M was tied with an E and that we therefore had ARME(...):the mission of Artorius Castus was therefore in Armenia during a conflict with the Parthians or the Persians. He was then appointed procurator governor of the province of Liburnia, near Dalmatia and northern Italy.
Some have seen in this historical figure one of the bases of the Arthurian legend. This rapprochement is drawn on the one hand from the assonance between Artorius and Arthur and on the other hand from his role in connection with Roman and Armorican Brittany. The erroneous dating which placed his action under Commodus is also at the origin of this hypothesis. It has indeed been observed a series of important parallels between the Arthurian legend and the Sarmatian myths. We know that under Marcus Aurelius and Commodus of the Sarmatians were garrisoned in the province of Brittany. The new dating of the career of Artorius Castus now prohibits making a link between this character and these Sarmatians and the location of his action in Armenia eliminates any mention of a revolt in Armorica in the 2nd or 3rd century.
Lucius Artorius Castus was a Roman prefect of the late 2nd century AD who is said to have inspired the legendary figure of Arthur in the Middle Ages.
It is assumed that he originated from Campania or Dalmatia. Two inscriptions discovered near Split (Croatia) develop the long and remarkable military career of Castus. He began as a centurion in Syria, a rank he later held in Judea, Pannonia and Dacia. Then, he followed the typical cursus honorum of a Roman knight. Castus was promoted to praepositus of the Misenatium class, i.e. he was to co-command the Roman fleet based at Misenum (near Naples). His next post took him again to the other end of the Empire since he was appointed prefect in (Great) Britain. At the head of the Sixth Legion Victrix, he would have fought between 183 and 185 the Pictish and Caledonian tribes who lived beyond Hadrian's Wall. In 185 or 186, the emperor sent him, with the title of dux, to quell a revolt in Armorica.
A few years later, after being stationed in Dalmatia as procurator centenarius of Liburnia, he probably accompanied Emperor Septimius Severus to Gaul in 196-197 to fight Clodius Albinus, a contender for the imperial throne. The inscriptions found in Croatia do not tell us anything about this Gallic episode. It is likely that he died or was mortally wounded at the Battle of Lyons in 196 against Clodius Albinus. His body was brought back to Liburnia where he was buried.
Kemp Malone proposed as early as 1925 to identify the legendary King Arthur with Lucius Artorius Castus[2]. The hypothesis was quite daring because it called into question the traditional sources:the Historia Regum Britanniae (The History of the Kings of Brittany) by Geoffrey of Monmouth (completed around 1136) which saw Arthur as a Breton king who died in 542 or l ' Historia Brittonum (the History of the Britons written by Nennius around 800) or the Welsh Annals (Annales Cambriae) for which Arthur won 12 battles against the Saxons. But Lucius Artorius Castus never fought the Saxons.
These sources, however, have the disadvantage of being written largely after the events. It is in any case disturbing to note the resemblance between the name of the Roman officer Artorius and the name of Arthur.
More recently, Linda Ann Malcor seconded Kemp Malone's thesis. For her, there is no doubt that the bases of the Arthurian legend come from the Eurasian borders and were partly brought to England by the people of the Sarmatians. However, several of these “Barbarians” were indeed enlisted in the Roman army and established in the north of England while Lucius Artorius Castus commanded the region. Helped by Sarmatian horsemen, Castus would have won around 184 several victories against the Caledonians and the Picts who invaded Great Britain (Geoffroy de Monmouth also tells that Arthur defeated not only the Saxons but also the Picts and the Scots) He would be thus became a sort of hero among the Sarmatians.
While the military campaigns of Artorius may have inspired the adventures of the legendary Arthur, it cannot however be said that the Roman officer was the only source of inspiration for the medieval hero. The film Le Roi Arthur will start from this assumption to make the bases of its scenario.