<P> An alternative theory, which has gained only limited acceptance among professional scholars, derives the name Arthur from Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Boötes, near Ursa Major or the Great Bear . Classical Latin Arcturus would also have become Art (h) ur when borrowed into Welsh, and its brightness and position in the sky led people to regard it as the "guardian of the bear" (which is the meaning of the name in Ancient Greek) and the "leader" of the other stars in Boötes . </P> <P> A similar first name is Old Irish Artúr, which is believed to be derived directly from an early Old Welsh or Cumbric Artur . The earliest historically attested bearer of the name is a son or grandson of Áedán mac Gabráin (d . AD 609). </P> <P> The creator of the familiar literary persona of Arthur was Geoffrey of Monmouth, with his pseudo-historical Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), written in the 1130s . The textual sources for Arthur are usually divided into those written before Geoffrey's Historia (known as pre-Galfridian texts, from the Latin form of Geoffrey, Galfridus) and those written afterwards, which could not avoid his influence (Galfridian, or post-Galfridian, texts). </P> <P> The earliest literary references to Arthur come from Welsh and Breton sources . There have been few attempts to define the nature and character of Arthur in the pre-Galfridian tradition as a whole, rather than in a single text or text / story - type . A 2007 academic survey that does attempt this by Thomas Green identifies three key strands to the portrayal of Arthur in this earliest material . The first is that he was a peerless warrior who functioned as the monster - hunting protector of Britain from all internal and external threats . Some of these are human threats, such as the Saxons he fights in the Historia Brittonum, but the majority are supernatural, including giant cat - monsters, destructive divine boars, dragons, dogheads, giants, and witches . The second is that the pre-Galfridian Arthur was a figure of folklore (particularly topographic or onomastic folklore) and localised magical wonder - tales, the leader of a band of superhuman heroes who live in the wilds of the landscape . The third and final strand is that the early Welsh Arthur had a close connection with the Welsh Otherworld Annwn . On the one hand, he launches assaults on Otherworldly fortresses in search of treasure and frees their prisoners . On the other, his warband in the earliest sources includes former pagan gods, and his wife and his possessions are clearly Otherworldly in origin . </P>

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