Koreans and Aryans

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    i got a reply from Professor C.Scott Littleton Ph.D. Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus Occidental College Los Angeles CA. 
          Seems i got the right guy who wrote about the Alani in Korea in latter fourth century and i'm mighty pleased he saw fit to answer my questions concerning Aryans in Korea.
           Here's his reply.

Hi Duncan
    Yes, i'm the guy who suggested that there was an Alanic impact, direct or indirect, on Japan (and Korea and China) in the 4th century C.E. The evidence comes from both archaeology (e.g. the Paekche royal tombs in southwestern Korea, which are almost identical not only to the Japanese
kofun, or "keyhole"-shaped tombs in the Yamato area, but also to the Scytho-Alanic kurgans of Southern Russia and the Ukraine) and mythology. As far as the latter source is concerned, both the Korean Samguk-yusa and the oldest Japanese mythological text, the Kojiki (712C.E.), contain accounts of how three sacred objects descend from the sky and are collected by the youngest son of a primeval being, who become a divine sovereign. These stories are strikingly similar to the Scythian origin myth, as reported by Herodotus, wherein Kolaxais, the youngest son of the primordial being Targitaos, collects a cup, a battleaxe and a yoked plow that fell from the sky and thus becomes the founder of the Royal Scyths.
    Other parallels can be seen between the legends of the ancient Ossetic (Alan) hero Batraz and the Japanese hero Yamato-takera, both of whom die by water after losing their respective magical swords. There is even a Chinese legend dating from the Tang era (8th century C.E.) about a hero who throws his magical sword into the Yangtze, whereupon a hand grabs it and pulls it under the water. And, yes, there are obvious parallels here to the legends about the death of King Arthur, which is one reason why Linda malcor and i have suggested that the core of Arthurian legends, as well as those surrounding the Holy Grail - shades of the Da Vinci Code! - were carried to Western Europe by Sarmations and Alans, beginning in the late 2nd century C.E.
       That at least some Alans may have been among of the horse-riding nomads that invaded Japan ca. 360 C.E. and founded the Imperial Dynasty seems highly probable. Indeed, the Alans seems to have spanned Eurasia from end to end, as Linda A. Malcor and i are convinced that a band of Alans settled in Ireland in the mid 5th century C.E. and were the prototypes of the so-called "Sons of Mil," the last "takers" of Ireland, as recounted in the 12th- century Lebor Gabala Erenn, or "Book of Conquests." The route taken by Mil and his sons, that is, from Scythia across eastern Europe, then on to northern Spain in the company of the Visigoths, and finally by boat to Ireland, correlates almost exactly with the route taken by the Alans in the early 5th century.
      For more information here, please see my articles "Some Possible Arthurian Themes in Japanese Mythology and Folklore" (Journal of Folklore Research 20:67-81, 1983), "Yamato- takeru: An 'Arthurian' Hero in Japanese Tradition" (Asian Folklore Studies 54:259-274,1995), and two works co-authored with Linda Malcor: "Did the Alans reach Ireland? A Reassessment of the 'Sythian' References in the Lebor Gabala Erenn" (in Homage to Jaan Puhvel, Part II, Edgar C Polome and John Grppen eds,pp. 161-182, Washington, DC: The Journal of Indo-European Monograph Series, No 21, 1997) and our book , From Scythia to Camelot: A Radical Reassessment of the Legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and the Holy Grail (New York: Garland Publishing. 2nd edition 2000)
       In short you bear an illustrious surname! Hope the foregoing helps. Lots of good wishes and
Cheers,
Scott

Edited by Scorpian - 26-May-2006 at 15:29