Dinas Affaraon

Dinas Affaraon, also called "Dinas Emrys," "the ambrosial city," and "city of the higher powers," is a mythical city of Druids that, according to Welsh tradition, is hidden among the hills of Snowdonia. This branch of Druids, known as the Pheryllt, apparently work as metallurgists and alchemists.
Legends
The city has a place in many tales including the Story of Ceridwen and Taliesin, where the goddess herself ventures to crystal city to ask the Pheryllt who guard the cauldron of Bright Knowledge for the recipe for Awen. Another is Arthurian Legend, through the names Merlin Ambrosius and Myrddin Emrys, for Emrys, roughly translated, means ambrosia. One may also find reference to it in the Mabinogion, depending on which version on is reading.
Pheryllt
Spence states that '"The Pheryllt, according to whose ritual she proceeded, are frequently mentioned by the bards of Wales, and an old chronicle, quoted by Dr. Thomas Williams, states that the Pheryllt had a college at Oxford prior to the foundation of that University. These Pheryllt appear to have been a section of the Druidic brotherhood, teachers and scientists, skilled in all that required the agency of fire, hence the name has frequently been translated "alchemists" or 1 'metallurgists " . Indeed , chemistry and metallurgy are known as Celvyddydan Pheryllt, or "the arts of the Pheryllt", who would seem to have had as their headquarters the city of Emrys in the district of Snowdonia famous for its magical associations, the city of the dragons of Beli."'
John Michael Greer states that "Evidence for their historical existence seems to be entirely absent, and the best evidence suggests that these "Druid alchemists" arc the product of simple mistranslation." According to Greer, the word 'Pheryllt' is a medieval Welsh mangling of the name Vergil, believed at the time to have been a master magician. He futher says "The name gradually became a common term for one who made potions, and in modern times is the standard Welsh term for a chemist or pharmacist. It seems likely that recent occultists with a poor grasp of medieval Welsh, finding references to the "books of Vergil" in old Welsh sources, read 'Pheryflt' in its modern sense and set the myth of the ancient Druid alchemists in motion."
=="References"==
 
< Prev   Next >