Leyendo un libro del renombrado arqueólogo y historiador Barry Cunliffe – Britain Begins (2012) – sobre la prehistoria y historia temprana de Gran Bretaña me encuentro de repente entre los ingredientes de Veleia: evangelizadores, Dardan, Anquises, Eneas, Ascanius … y egipcios, aunque del viejo testamento y no faraones.

ANQVISIIS / DARDAN

Sin capacidad de evaluarla aporto aquí la información que he podido extraer. Cito unas frases de Cunliffe que me parecen reflexiones interesantes, y luego aportaré algunos fragmentos.

No voy a traducir las citas visto el volumen de trabajo que supondría. Considero que Google Translate ya es suficientemente preciso para entender el contenido.

Se puede resumir lo que escribe Cunliffe en que las primeras élites eclesiásticos necesitaban relacionar la biblia con el mito de Roma a través de Eneas, cuyo descendente Brutus (Britto) era el fundador de los Britones, y los mitos locales, como p. ej. en la obra ‘Historia Brittonum‘ de Nennius (ca. 800 AD), que citaremos y en ‘Historia Regnum Britanniae’ de Geoffrey of Monmouth (ca 1135).

Este último cuenta que el primer nombre de Londres como capital era Troia Nova, (después Trinovantum, y todavía más tarde Kaerlud).

En realidad la explicación de Cunliffe, de la necesidad para los evangelizadores del imperio romano de hacer convivir los mitos del cristianismo temprano con el conocido mito de Eneas, huyendo de Troia para hacer su deberes delante los dioses – llevando su dinastía a Roma, contado por Virgilio, explicará también con algunas variaciones el contenido del sector 5, recinto 59 de Iruña Veleia.

ANQVI / SIIS ET VE / NVS (doble flecha) ENII / AS ET CRII / VSA (doble flecha) / IVLI / O

A continuación vemos lo que Cunliffe nos comenta sobre el asunto:

With the spread of Christianity, with its own very explicit set of origin myths, the educated elite of Britain needed to exercise an imaginative agility to blend the traditions surrounding their own origins with the biblical stories of the Creation and the Flood.(Cunliffe, Barry (2012-08-17). Britain Begins (p. 5). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.)

Escena compuesta por varias cruces. Arriba del todo: parte inferior de una cruz; junto a ella y a su derecha, el texto MONO. Debajo, en la parte central de la composición y más o menos de izda. a drcha: Cruz con figura humana esquemática, probablemente masculina; bajo ella, el texto VVLCANO y representación de llamas. Cruz con figura femenina; bajo ella, el texto CIIRIIS y espiga. Cruz con figura humana esquemática, probablemente masculina; junto a ella a su derecha, el texto VIIRTVMNO y bajo ella conjunto de vegetales?. Cruz con figura femenina; bajo ella, el texto TIILLVS y, al lado a su derecha, espigas?

Nos explica de que consiste el mito de Eneas y su idionidad:

The other good story that was widely known among the educated classes was the saga of the Trojan War and the flight of Aeneas to the west. In the story told by Virgil, Aeneas, son of Anchises and the goddess Venus, fled from the flames of Troy and, after a brief dalliance in Carthage, landed on the Italian coast in Latinum, where he married the king’s daughter Lavinia and founded the town of Lavinium. Several generations later, after the paternal intervention of the god Mars, the twins Romulus and Remus were born. An act of fratricide left Romulus triumphant and he proceeded to found Rome. The legend, redolent with love, rape, treachery, and murder, appealed to the Roman audience, the more so after it was retold in the elegant verses of Virgil. It provided Rome with a ‘history’ rooted deep in the classical tradition, legitimizing Rome’s claim to world leadership. Moreover, it was a history told in human terms with which it was easy for the citizen in the street to empathize.
(Cunliffe, Barry (2012-08-17). Britain Begins (p. 5). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition)

Los primeros que escriben sobre el origen de los Britones…

Two Christian scholars rose to the occasion: Bede, whose famous Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum) was completed in AD 731, and Nennius, who created a compendium of texts relating to British history around AD 800 or soon after.
(Cunliffe, Barry (2012-08-17). Britain Begins (p. 6). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.)

Nos interesa en particular la obra de Nennius:

The work of Nennius, Historia Brittonum, written in the early ninth century, was a more eclectic composition. Nennius was a Welsh monk working in north Wales. His method was highly original. Instead of attempting to compose a continuous narrative, he presented a compilation of extracts culled from all the sources at his disposal: in his own words, ‘I have … made a heap of all that I have found, both from the Annals of the Romans and from the Chronicles of the Holy Fathers and from the writings of the Irish and the English, and out of the tradition of our elders.’ These extracts are laid out in broadly defined themes, allowing us to compare the different sources and to see for the first time the early Christian scholars grappling with the problem of British origins. Three traditions are presented. The first is the Roman tradition, which begins with Aeneas fleeing from Troy. The novel element introduced here is the creation of a new character, Britto, a grandson to Aeneas, who accidentally killed his father and was driven from Italy. After spending time in Gaul, he eventually came to Britain, which was of course named after him, and ‘filled it with his race’. By this neat addition, the British are provided with a respectable pedigree equal to that of the Romans themselves. The second tradition is more elaborate. It comes, says Nennius, ‘from old books of our elders’. It begins with Alanus ‘of the race of Japheth’, who was the first man to enter Europe. He had three sons, who between them produced twelve sons, each of whom founded one of the nations of Europe. One of these sons was Britto. Thus, in this pleasingly simple model, the British can be traced back directly to Noah and then to Adam. The third tradition is an elaboration offering a direct line of descent from Japheth, through Aeneas, to anew character, Brutus, the founder of the British nation. This ingenious conflation, no doubt the product of the lively imagination of an unnamed British cleric, offers all things to all men: the British are now firmly placed in the European family that springs from Noah while being of the same stock as the founder of Rome and thus directly connected to a major event in world history, the fall of Troy. The tradition of Brutus as the father of the British people was compellingly satisfying. It was a story that was to be told and retold with many embellishments for almost a millennium. Even as late as the sixteenth century, as we shall see, it was still being vigorously championed, though in an academic world becoming increasingly sceptical.
(Cunliffe, Barry (2012-08-17). Britain Begins (pp. 6-7). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.)

El asunto de Troya no se limita al monje Nennius, unos 300 años más tarde, Troya sigue presente:

(…) Imagine, then, the surprise and delight of the small educated elite when, around 1135, a cleric living in Oxford published a complete history of the British ruling dynasty from Brutus, grandson of Aeneas, to Cadwallader, the last historically attested British king, who abandoned Britain to the Saxons in the seventh century. The cleric was Geoffrey of Monmouth and his book, Historia Regnum Britanniae (translated as History of the Kings of Britain).
(Cunliffe, Barry (2012-08-17). Britain Begins (p. 8). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.)

Este escritor además pretendió que el primer nombre de Londinum/Londres era Troia Nova:

Geoffrey begins with a greatly embellished version of the Brutus myth, already outlined 300 years earlier by Nennius. After spending time in Gaul sacking Aquitaine and fighting a major battle at Tours, Brutus decides to sail to the island of Albion, eventually landing at Totnes at the time when Eli was high priest (c. 1170 BC). He found the island uninhabited ‘except for a few giants’. ‘Brutus then called the island Britain from his own name, and his companions he called Britons … A little later the language of the people, which had up to then been known as Trojan or Crooked Greek, was called British …’. After killing all the giants Brutus divided up his kingdom and built his capital, Troia Nova, on the River Thames. This soon became known as Trinovantum but was later renamed Kaerlud by King Lud: thus it became London.
(Cunliffe, Barry (2012-08-17). Britain Begins (pp. 9-10). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.)

Si vamos al libro Historia Brittonum nos encontramos con una genialogia que intenta vincular el Eneas a la Arca de Templo en Jerusalen, y el fundador de ‘Gran Bretanía’ a Noe a través de Eneas:

11 Aeneas autem regnavit tribus annis apud Latinos. Ascanius regnavit annis xxxvii. post quem Silvius Aeneae filius regnavit annis xii, Postumus annis triginta novem, a quo Albanorum reges Silvii appellati sunt, cuius frater erat Britto. quando regnabat Britto in Brittannia, Heli sacerdos iudicabat in Israhel et tunc arca testamenti ab alienigenis possidebatur. Postumus frater eius apud Latinos regnabat. (http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/histbrit.html)

11. AEneas reigned over the Latins three years; Ascanius thirty-three years; after whom Silvius reigned twelve yeaars, and Posthumus thirty-nine years: the latter, from whom the kings of Alba are called Silvan, was brother to Brutus, who governed Britain at the time Eli the high-priest judged Israel, and when the Ark of the covenant was taken by a foreign people. But Posthumus his brother reigned among the Latins. (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nennius-full.asp)

18 Qui incolae in primo fuerunt Brittanniae Brittones a Bruto. Brutus filius Hisitionis, Hisition Alanei, Alaneus filius Reae Silviae, Rea Silvia filia Numa Pampilii, filii Ascanii; Ascanius filius Aeneae, filii Anchisae, filii Troi, filii Dardani, filii Flise, filii Iuvani, filii Iafeth. Iafeth vero habuit septem filios. primus Gomer, a quo Galli; secundus Magog, a quo Scythas et Gothos; tertius Madai, a quo Medos; quartus Iuvan, a quo Graeci; quintus Tubal, a quo Hiberei et Hispani et Itali; sextus Mosoch, a quo Cappadoces; septimus Tiras, a quo Traces. hi sunt filii Iafeth filii Noe filii Lamech. (http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/histbrit.html)

18. The Britons were thus called from Brutus: Brutus was the son of Hisicion, Hisicion was the son of Alanus, Alanus was the son of Rehea Silvia, Rhea Silvvia was the daughter of Numa Pompilius, Numa was the son of Ascanius, Ascanius of Eneas, Eneas of Anchises, Anchises of Troius, Troius of Dardanus, Dardanus of Flisa, Flisa of Juuin, Juuin of Japheth; but Japheth had seven sons; from the first, named Gomer, descended the Galli; from the second, Magog, the Scythi and Gothi; from the third, Madian, the Medi; from the fourth, Juuan, the Greeks; from the fifth, Tubal, arose the Hebrei, Hispani, and Itali; from the sixth, Mosoch, sprung the Cappadoces; and from the seventh, named Tiras, descended the Thraces: these are the sons of Japheth, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech.
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nennius-full.asp)

ENEAS / ET LAVSIV / A ARCANIO / I CES / AR

Me pregunto si en otras zonas del ex-imperio romano se encuentran mitos semejantes. Por lo menos a mi me parece la semejanza con el sector 5 sorprendente.

En Hispania encontramos por lo menos otro ejemplo donde el nombre de Eneas (escrito como tal!) es asociado al cristianismo – con el crismo. (informe de Idoia Filloy Informe sobre los textos en latín de los grafitos de carácter excepcional de Iruña-Veleia.)