Since Dark Age Britain was divided between the twin legacies of Celtic culture and the departed Romans, one might logically expect to find the trappings of King Arthur's story - swords in stones, round tables, chivalrous knights - in their myths and legends. They are conspicuously absent. The origins of these essentially Arthurian traditions lie much further afield, with the nomadic tribes of central Asia, like the Sarmatians and Alans. Ironically, we must trace this legend, so central to western civilisation, to the heart of the people whom we have historically despised as barbarians...