Showing posts with label Themis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Themis. Show all posts

Tuesday 12 October 2021

Skulferatu #46 - Traprain Law, Haddington

Traprain Law is a hill that sits to the east of Haddington in East Lothian and at first glance it may seem like nothing more than just another hill.  However, Traprain Law is anything but just another hill.  It is a hill steeped in history and myth.

 

A picture of Traprain Law, a hill  near Haddington in East Lothian, which is a site connected to the legend of King Loth and his daughter Themis, the mother of St Mungo.  Picture by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Traprain Law

 

Traprain Law was originally known as Dumpelder, or Dumpender Law and archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation there dating from around 1000 BC.  When the Romans occupied this area in the 1st Century, they recorded the people living there as being the Votadini, a tribe whose territory extended from South-East Scotland to North-East England.  It is believed that at this time Traprain Law was one of their major settlements.

 

A picture of a grassy slope which is a view up to the summit of Traprain Law in East Lothian.  Picture by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View up slope to summit of Traprain Law

 

View from Traprain Law over fields in East Lothian to Berwick Law.  Picture by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View from Traprain Law over East Lothian to Berwick Law

 

View from Traprain Law over fields in East Lothian to the Bass Rock, which is shrouded is a sea mist.  Picture by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View from Traprain Law over East Lothian to the Bass Rock

 

View from Traprain Law over fields inEast Lothian to the Bass Rock.  Picture by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View from Traprain Law over East Lothian to the Bass Rock

 

A picture of the stone Cairn at the summit of Traprain Law in East Lothian.  Picture by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Cairn at the summit of Traprain Law

 

In 1919 archaeologists excavating sites on Traprain Law discovered a hoard of Roman silverware which became known as the Traprain Law Treasure.  The hoard appeared to date from around the 4th or 5th Century AD.  Much of the silver was cut up and it appears that it was being used as payment and would probably be melted down by the local people and turned into goods such as bracelets, brooches, and chains.  In total over 20 KG of silver was recovered, and this was the largest hacked-silver hoard found either in or out of the Roman Empire.  The Traprain Law Treasure is now on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

 

In myth Traprain Law is connected to the legend of Themis, who was the daughter and only child of King Loth, the King of Lothian.    Themis was a beautiful girl and the King had high hopes that he could marry her off to Ewen, the King of Cumbria and unite their two lands to increase his power and influence.  Themis, however had no interest in her father’s plans to force her into a loveless marriage with a man she did not care for.  She wanted to marry for love and had indeed found the true love of her life, a shepherd boy from nearby Traprain Law.  The two met discreetly and often.  Themis soon fell pregnant and some months later her father learnt of this and flew into a great rage and demanded that she be put to death for the disgrace she had brought on him.  He also demanded that Themis name the father so that he too could be punished.  Themis, not wanting her lover to be harmed in any way, refused to name him.  She was then marched to Traprain Law and put into a cart which was pushed over one of the steep slopes. However, the cart overturned as it tumbled down the hill, and Themis emerged from under it unharmed. A spring of beautiful fresh water then sprang from where the cart had fallen.

 

Unhappy that the execution had failed, King Loth ordered that Themis be taken to Aberlady. There she was cast adrift in a coracle, a rudderless boat, so that the seas could take her. The coracle drifted on the Firth of Forth for a number of days until it reached the Isle of May.  There a huge shoal of fish gathered and guided the boat over to the coast at Culross.   The heavily pregnant Themis then waded through the water to the shore and promptly gave birth on the beach to a baby boy that she named Kentigern.  A short time after this a group of monks found them both and rescued them.  In thanks for their rescue and salvation Themis decided to dedicate her life to Christ and became a nun, as you do.  Kentigern was taken in by the monks who had rescued them, and he was educated by St Serf at the nearby monastery, where he was renamed Mungo. He went on to become St Mungo, the founder and patron Saint of Glasgow. As for King Loth, well he didn’t fare too well.  One day when he was out walking by Traprain Law he was spotted by the shepherd boy, who had been the lover of Themis.  Seeing a chance to take revenge on the king, the boy, hidden by rocks, took out his bow and arrow and shot Loth clean through the heart killing him immediately.  King Loth was then buried where he had fallen at the base of Traprain Law and a stone raised above his body.  Legend has it that this is the Loth Stone that stands nearby at Cairndinnis Farm and can still be seen there today.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on my walk up Traprain Law, by the cairn at the top of the hill.

 

A picture of a hand holding a small primitive looking ceramic skull - a Skulferatu, this one being Skulferatu number 46.  Picture by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #46

 

A picture of Skulferatu #46 in amongst the stones that make up the cairn at the top of Traprain Law.  Picture by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #46 in cairn at top of Traprain Law

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #46 at Traprain Law in East Lothian
Map showing the location of Skulferatu #46

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.963206

Longitude -2.671686

 

I used the following sources for information on Traprain Law –

 

Wikipedia – Traprain Law

Traprain Law

 

National Museums of Scotland – Traprain Law Treasure

Traprain Law Treasure

 

Dundee Weekly News – Traprain Law and King Loth, a Legend of East Lothian

Saturday 2 November 1889

 

Mythological Bonds between East and West

Dorothea Chaplin

1938

 

Canmore – The Loth Stone

The Loth Stone | Canmore

 

 

Article and photographs are copyright of © Kevin Nosferatu, unless otherwise specified.