Scott here with another episode of the History Unplugged Podcast. Scholars and researchers

have been searching for their real king Arthur ever since his legends were popularized

in the Middle Ages. While nobody takes the supernatural elements of the Arthurian legend

face value like the sword in the stone or of Berlin's magic, there are many candidates

for a real life Arthur, or as some call him an Arthur-like figure. Many people think that

he was a Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxon sometime in the late

5th to early 6th century as the Romans were pulling out of Britain. This is a very attractive theory

because in one sense it makes Arthur a transitional figure, somebody who sort of takes a civilization

baton from the Romans and passes it off to the English. But for nearly a century others have

argued that the real life Arthur wasn't a Roman soldier at the winning days of the Empire,

but actually served at the height of the Empire under Marcus Aurelius. That's exactly what today's

guest argue. John Matthews and Linda Malchor, author of Artorius, the real king Arthur,

argued that the man whose story started the traditions of Arthur was a soldier named Lucius

Artorius Castus, lived at the end of the 2nd century. And although he spent time on the British

island, his adventures took him way beyond it. He traveled from one end of the Empire to the other,

bringing him into contact with tribes people amongst the step-no-mads, in particular the Sarmations.

But our guest argue are the inspiration behind Arthur's nights at the round table. In this episode

we get into history and myth-making, and how we peel back the many onion layers of identity,

to figure out if the greatest king whoever lived really ever lived. Hope you enjoyed this discussion

with John Matthews and Linda Malchor. And one more thing before we get started with this episode,

a quick break for word from our sponsors. Hi, I'm Steve Guera, host of Beyond the Big Screen,

a podcast about the true stories behind the movies you love. In each episode we will talk about

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