Letters Oct 25 2006 Western Mail

Iranian knights
SIR - With all the animosities that exist today in some Western countries towards Iran (formerly known as the vast Persian Empire), I thought it would be of importance to bring to your attention what the ancient Iranian people did for the Romano-Britons including Celts.

Sarmatians were a confederation of Iranian- speaking nomadic tribes who originated from the North-East of Persia and eventually in 200 BC settled around the areas between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in what was known as the Parthian Persian Empire, and subsequently Sassanian Persian Empire, until 642 AD.

Sarmatians' war tactics and bravery in battles, such as the battles of Carrhae and Nisbis, contributed to the many Parthian and Sassanian victories over the Roman armies. The famous phrase 'Parthian shot' originates from this era.

Eventually the Roman emperors, realising the potential of the Sarmatian warriors, offered the Sarmatian migrants large amounts of money and incentives to join their legions. As a result 8000 Sarmatian warriors joined up and around 5,500 of them were sent to Roman Britain to serve in the auxiliary legion.

The commander of this legion was called Lucius Artorius Castus, who was of Romano-Celtic blood.

Originally the main task of this auxiliary legion was to protect the areas around the Hadrian Wall and to deter any invasion by the Saxons.

However, it has been suggested by some authors that the legendary Celtic King Arthur was in fact Lucius Artorius Castus and his knights were the Sarmatian chief warriors.

There are 12 major battles listed in which Arthur and his Sarmatian knights fought alongside Celts and Romans to stop the Saxon expansion in Britain, of which the battles of the legion around today's Caerleon and Baden Hill near the city of Bath were the most successful.

It is also important to mention that the battle flag of Arthur and the Sarmatians was a red dragon copied from the Parthian Empire national flag called 'Derafsh-e-Azhdeha', meaning in Persian, The Flag of Dragon.

This is what later became the red dragon of Wales and the official flag of Wales from 1952.

It is refreshing to notice that the story of King Arthur and his Sarmatian knights is now documented in a 2004 film of the same name, starring Clive Owen as Arthur and Keira Knightly as Guinevere.

SHARIAR BATMANGHELICH
Clos Derwen, Roath Park, Cardiff