Gog & Magog: Champions Of London

[Yithian]

Scanned and transcribed copies of the (short) 1819 text:

THE HISTORY OF

GOG AND MAGOG,

&c.

CHAPTER I.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE DOMINIONS AND
CHARACTER OF HUMBUG THE GIANT.

MANY disputes have arisen among the
learned respecting the origin of the city of
London; and it has hitherto never been very
satisfactorily explained, why the two
colossal statues of Gog and Magog were
placed in the Guild-hall of that famous
capital. What has been denied to
antiquarian research, has been happily
revealed to me, for the express purpose of
being related to the rising generation; in

2

order that future ages may have no doubt
regarding two points of knowledge, in which
so much of the happiness and prosperity of the
citizens of the British metropolis is so deeply
involved.

Continued:
http://www2.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/STELLA ... G/main.htm

Click underlined page numbers on left pane for scanned page on right.

 

[rynner2]

An intrigueing bit of stuff, that! Must get time to study it more fully later.

(Robin Godfellow, no less!)

 

[BaronVonHoopla]

I hate to admit my ignorance, but who is Gog and Magog? The names seem very familiar . . .

-Fitz

 

[JamesWhitehead]

William Hone: Ancient Mysteries Described, 1823, Chapter XI:
The Giants in Guildhall.

The online Hone project was an experimental thing by a scholar who did not want links publishing. It had some fascinating political pamphlets online.

I'll see what's now online after dinner. If all else fails I'll crank up the OCR, as Hone is a much under-celebrated writer and a rich source for those interested in "curious learning". 8)

 

[Yithian]

I hate to admit my ignorance, but who is Gog and Magog? The names seem very familiar . . .

-Fitz

http://aoreport.com/study9.htm

In this context:

In England, Gog and Magog were supposed to be the survivors of a race of giants destroyed by Brutus, the legendary founder of Britain who brought them to London and condemned them to act as porters at the gates of the royal palace; hence their place over the entrance to the Guildhall.

See Geoffrey of Monmouth (aka: Gaufridus Monemutensis) and his (in)famous 12th Century work (of imaginative fiction ) Historia Regnum Britanniae (aka: 'The History of the Kings of Britain'). He claims influence from Nennius' Historia Brittonum and Gildas De Excidio Britanniae.

More info on the specific instance (from a page concerning the Lord Mayor's Show):

Towards the head of the procession you will see two enormous but benevolent giants. They are Gog and Magog, the traditional guardians of the City of London who have been carried in the Lord Mayor's Show since the reign of Henry V. They are descended from the pagan giants of early English pageantry and their history is buried in the mysterious world of myth and legend.

The story goes that Diocletian - the Roman Emperor - had thirty-three wicked daughters, for whom he managed to find thirty-three husbands to curb their unruly ways. The daughters were dismayed, and under the leadership of their eldest sister Alba they plotted to cut the throats of their husbands as they slept.

For this crime they were set adrift in a boat with half a year's rations, and after a long and dreadful journey they arrived at the islands which came to be named Albion after the eldest. Here they stayed, co-habited with demons, and produced a race of evil giants to inhabit the wild, windswept islands.

Many early peoples regarded the original inhabitants of their territory as giants, and the memory of these early races was preserved in mythology. Heros became giants in the popular mind. They were often large and powerful men, and their physical strength and stature became exaggerated as their deeds passed into legend. The pagan giants were not ugly or deformed, they were simply giant men inhabiting a golden age of might and simplicity.

The story continues: Brutus, the great-grandson of Æneas, fled from Troy and by way of various scrapes arrived in these islands, which he renamed after himself; Britain. With him he brought his most able warrior and champion, Corineus, who fought the leader of the giant brood in single combat and eventually slew him by hurling him from a high rock into the sea.

The name of the giant was Gogmagog and the rock from which he was thrown became known as Langoënagog or "The Giants Leap". As a reward Corineus was given the western part of the island, which became named after him; Cornwall. Brutus travelled to the east, where he built a city which he called Troya Nova, or New Troy, which eventually came to be known as London.


Today's magnificent giants were funded by LIFFE, the London International Financial Futures Exchange, and made by Robin Harries of Air Artists from a design by the Pageantmaster, Dominic Reid, based on the 1708 sculptures.

You can find a lot more on the battle of gogmagog and corineus online.

At one time human sacrifice was common, but as times grew more civilized, images of men were burned instead of the men themselves. Finally the figures received the name of the divinity in whose honour the feast was held; and in time these became saints' images. The custom of carrying effigies at various festivals became widespread, not only in England but on the continent. These giants of pageantry that you will see today are the last vestiges of the pagan effigies. Our giants have no trace of the supernatural about them, they originated in folk custom, deriving their names from historical or pseudo-historical characters like Gogmagog, from Biblical history like Samson, or from classical mythology like Hercules. They are a part of a tradition in English pageantry which pre-dates Christianity.

Another version of the story has it that these two giants were the last two survivors of the sons of the thirty-three infamous daughters of Diocletian, who were captured and kept chained to the gates of a palace on the site of Guildhall to act as guardians. Whichever way, they got there, we know that by the reign of Henry V, there were giants residing in Guildhall. And when in 1554, they appeared in the Lord Mayor's Show, the names Gogmagog and Corineus were attached to the London giants for the first time. The giant of folk-custom made an admirable champion and it was natural to develop a champion into a local hero.

In 1605 the Pageantmaster of the day alluded to the giants who appeared in the Procession on Lord Mayor's Day as Corineus and Gogmagog. And later in 1672, the Pageantmaster Thomas Jordan referred to them as "two exceeding rarities", and stated that "at the conclusion of the Show, they are to be set up in Guildhall, where they may be daily seen all year and I hope never to be demolished by such dismal violence as happened to their predecessors." He was referring to the destruction of much of the City by the great fire in 1666. His giants however only lasted a few years being made of wickerwork and pasteboard, in common with their sacrificial forebears, and were eventually destroyed by mice and rats.

They were replaced in 1708 by a magnificent pair of wooden statues carved by Captain Richard Saunders. These giants on whom the versions you will see today are based, lasted for over two hundred years before destruction in the blitz. They, in turn, were replaced by the pair which can now be seen in Guildhall, and which were carved by David Evans in 1953 as a gift to the City by Alderman Sir George Wilkinson who had been Lord Mayor in 1940, at the time of the destruction of the previous versions.

Gog and Magog symbolize one of many links between the modern business institutions of the City and its ancient history. This is but the most recent of their various re-births, which have long been symbolised by the phoenix on Magog's shield, representing return after fire. Today, the words of Thomas Boreman in his "Gigantick History" of 1741 are as appropriate as ever. He declared that "Corineus and Gogmagog were two brave giants who richly valued their honour and exerted their whole strength and force in the defence of their liberty and country; so the City of London, by placing these, their representatives in their Guildhall, emblematically declare, that they will, like mighty giants defend the honour of their country and liberties of this their City; which excels all others, as much as those huge giants exceed in stature the common bulk of mankind."

http://www.lordmayorsshow.org/hist/gogmagog.shtml

 

[Yithian]

More eschatologically speaking and in another context:

King James Version:

Ezekiel 38

1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,


2Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,


3And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:


4And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:


5Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:


6Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.


7Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.


8After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.


9Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.


10Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:


11And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,


12To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.


13Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?


14Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?


15And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:


16And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.


17Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?


18And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.


19For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;


20So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.


21And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother.


22And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.


23Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.


Ezekiel 39

1Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:


2And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:


3And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.


4Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.


5Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.


6And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.


7So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.


8Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.


9And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:


10So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.


11And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.


12And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.


13Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.


14And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.


15And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.


16And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.


17And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.


18Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.


19And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.


20Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.


21And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.


22So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.


23And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.


24According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.


25Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;


26After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.


27When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;


28Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.


29Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

 

[Yithian]

And lastly:

Gogmagog
The Buried Gods

Routledge & Kegan Paul
London, 1957


Gogmagog - The Buried Gods is Lethbridge’s account of his discovery of hill figures on the banks of an Iron Age encampment known as Wandlebury, south of Cambridge. By re-interpreting a piece of local folklore and undertaking painstaking fieldwork, he believed that he had located three lost chalk-cut figures. Lethbridge’s study commenced with the dissection of a local, mediaeval tale once told by Gervase of Tilbury. He was able to decipher the myth utilising a philosophy that he shared with his great friend Sir William Ridgeway, who also believed; that if you wanted to find out anything, you must first ‘strip off the layers’.

Lethbridge’s discovery of the Wandlebury giants was frowned upon by the academics of the archaeological world. Many believed that they were figments of his over-active imagination and refused to believe in their existence. It was the negative and aggressive reaction to this work by his peers that caused Lethbridge to leave Cambridge in disgust and establish a new life away from the ‘trade unionism’ of his profession.

Lethbridge began his Gogmagog study by analysing the Gervase of Tilbury story. If taken literally, it had to be pure fiction, but he realised, that if it was not pure fantasy, it possibly concealed a hidden message. Lethbridge’s observations of the origins of myth and folklore were very perceptive, unlike the 20th century archaeologists Heinrich Schlieman and Sir Arthur Evans, who utilised ancient Mythology to seek the lost city of Troy and the Knossos labyrinth respectively. Lethbridge did not take the Wandlebury fairy-story literally and was able to decipher the words meaningfully and logically. It is important here to highlight Lethbridge’s unconventional but perceptive method of detection, for by utilising the fairy-tale as a research tool, he had added yet another string to his academic bow.

Evans’ interpretation of the Minotaur myth at Knossos is a fine example of modern man’s attempt to rationalise an ancient myth with a literal explanation. Like Schliemann at Troy and so many other twentieth century scholars, Evans failed to understand the muse and the fact that perhaps the words of the poets were intended, as true poetry surely is, a patronage to the Great Goddess herself. However hard Evans tried to fit the myth with his findings through ‘Classical’ eyes, how could he possibly explain the zoological improbability of the Minotaur, a beast that had the body of a man and the head of a bull, that had once lurked in the chambers of the Knossos labyrinth?

The early Greek philosophers were opposed to ‘magical sorcery’, for it posed a threat to their new religion - logic. This ‘Classical’ ideology perceived myth as irrational. In The White Goddess, the poet Robert Graves suggested that the Greeks viewed mythical animals such as the Chimaera as zoological improbabilities, and Socrates, by turning his back on myth, was in fact highlighting his rejection of the Great Goddess. We know from his associations with Dr. Margaret Murray, that Lethbridge had already embraced the muse and that his future writing projects would distance himself even further from his friends and colleagues back in Cambridge.

The writing of Gogmagog proved to be a watershed in his life and marked a commitment to a cause that many of his peers at Cambridge frowned upon, although it is unlikely that Lethbridge saw it this way. In Lethbridge’s eyes, ‘Gogmagog’ and his future works were purely a logical evolution built upon the observations made in the field over the previous forty years. In his study, Lethbridge championed Murray, who in her book The Witch Cult in Western Europe had suggested that modern day witch cults were evidence of the survival of a prehistoric religion. To Lethbridge, the theory appeared plausible and was not a million miles away from his own conjecture.

However, in her latter work, The God of the Witches, Murray suggests that a number of historical figures including William Rufus, Thomas a’ Becket and Joan of Arc were in fact ‘Divine Victims’ and whose deaths were intended and planned as scapegoats for the death of the sacred king, a philosophy and practice which dated back to the pagan religions of prehistory. It was these latter unsubstantiated claims that caused most academics to scorn Murray’s work.

By nailing his colours to the Margaret Murray bandwagon, he had disturbed many of his peers at Cambridge. It must be added however, that Lethbridge’s own theories and ideas are substantiated by thorough primary research, unlike Murray's latter, often eccentric and uncorroborated claims. It was wrong therefore, to tar him with the same brush, but many critics, unfortunately did.

Lethbridge’s ideas, however fanciful or thought provoking, were always presented with unabridged evidence and always presented as possibilities rather than facts. In his unpublished autobiography The Ivory Tower, he waxes lyrical with his usual enthusiasm and good humour about his life and times at Cambridge and demonstrates a fondness and affection for his fellows. It is sad to think that so many were afraid of tarnishing their own reputations by discontinuing their associations with a colleague ‘who had strayed from the fold’. It was however this humour and natural spirit that was an endearing feature of all of his work, even in the most driest of his early archaeological reports.

“The story really begins with a fairy tale”. is the opening line to Gogmagog - The Buried Gods and from these introductory words you can almost hear his peers groaning with disdain. He threw caution to the wind when publishing his theories and almost always ignored the advice from his colleagues, who warned him that he might damage his reputation. Having no interest in his reputation - he took no notice.

Up until the publication of Gogmagog, Lethbridge’s previous publications had reflected his work in the field of archaeology. Although serious studies, they display a good-natured, pragmatic knowledge and an understanding of the subject far beyond that of the academic. They demonstrated the observational powers of a man who saw beyond the literal, by employing an ‘X-ray specs’ approach that saw through the conundrums he encountered. This enabled him to present rationalised, commonsense solutions without boundaries or affiliations.

I have read many criticisms of Gogmagog that question whether his discovery of the Wandlebury figures was sound. Many critics appear ignorant of the detail of the work and appear to have not even read the publication, often appearing to have based their condemnation on second-hand research and hearsay. I am certain that it was this prejudiced and vitriolic criticism that caused Lethbridge to turn his back on his profession. Most of the criticisms regarding the archaeological, geological and topographical aspects of the Wandlebury site are addressed and dealt with in the study, if only his critics had taken the time to read them!

http://www.tc-lethbridge.com/anthologic ... /gogmagog/

 

[Stormkhan]

That Geoffrey of Monmouth should've stayed off the barley wine! When he was writing about the history of Britain, he found he could only go back so far. He'd heard of the Seige of Troy (who hadn't) and decided that a Trojan survivor ... hmmm ... Brutus sounds like a foreign name, even though it's a bit more Roman than Greek ... came here to start a new nation. Brutus - Britannium ... geddit?
Problem was, he didn't know who was here before the brutal but really brave Brutus. Who'd be dead scary and hard for Brutus to bravely bash? I know - a couple of jobbing giants (good for the mutant bad-guys angle). Now, names ... names ... let's take a gander in the Bible. Gog and Magog? Yeah! They sound well hard!
So a minor scholar and cleric, who'd studied some of the classics, got a tad confused between the tales told about the Roman occupation and a couple of giants with nasty-sounding names. Easily done, I suppose.

Nerk.

 

[BaronVonHoopla]

TheYithian,

Thank you very much for the edification!

-Fitz

 

[Yithian]

jobbing giants

If i ever start that folk band...

 

[Yithian]

July 22, 2009
Agog over Bush's comments on Gog and Magog

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible's satanic agents of the Apocalypse.

By James Haught
Editor

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible's satanic agents of the Apocalypse.

Honest. This isn't a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.

Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their "common faith" (Christianity) and told him:

"Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East. ... The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled. ... This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a New Age begins."

This bizarre -- seemingly deranged -- episode happened while the White House was assembling its "coalition of the willing" to unleash the Iraq invasion. Chirac says he was boggled by Bush's call, and "wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs."

After the 2003 call, the puzzled French leader didn't comply with Bush's request. Instead, his staff asked Thomas Romer, a theologian at the University of Lausanne, to analyze the weird appeal. Dr. Romer explained that the Old Testament book of Ezekiel contains two chapters (38 and 39) in which God rages against Gog and Magog, sinister and mysterious forces menacing Israel. Jehovah vows to smite them savagely, to "turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws," and slaughter them ruthlessly. In the New Testament, the mystical book of Revelation envisions Gog and Magog gathering nations for battle, "and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."

In 2007, Dr. Romer recounted Bush's strange behavior in Lausanne University's review, Allez Savoir. A French-language Swiss newspaper, Le Matin Dimanche, printed a sarcastic account titled: "When President George W. Bush saw the prophesies of the Bible coming to pass." France's La Liberte likewise spoofed it under the headline, "A small scoop on Bush, Chirac, God, Gog and Magog." But other news media missed the amazing report.

http://wvgazette.com/Opinion/JamesAHaught/200907220060

Well! Chinese whispers and all that, but it all sounds a little odd.

 

[OneWingedBird]

If i ever start that folk band...

There is a song about Gog already, by German god rockers Saviour Machine:

Gog:Kings of the North

 

[Thaurmaturge]

**Warning - may be boring - apologies in advance**

Before the Citadel (Plymouth) was remodelled in 1666, there existed on the Hoe the figure of Gogmagog & possibly Corinaeus (two figures) - it`s possible that they were destroyed (or covered) when the ramparts of the Citadel were regraded (The defences were improved at this point, as much to put the fear of the king into Plymouthians, as to defend the port - the people of Plymouth having a reputation as rebels and revolutionaries..... Green army!...perhaps not). If they existed in the believed position, then they faced outwards towards the sound and possibly towards Mountbatten (a prehistoric settlement and probable trading port - similar, perhaps, to that at Hengistbury head [both archaeologically investigated by Barry Cunliffe]). These were presumably similar to the figure of the giant at Cerne Abbas, although colour of lines etc. Is unknown. If anyone is interested I`ll post some contemporary descriptions.

 

[Yithian]

If anyone is interested I`ll post some contemporary descriptions.

At the risk of monopolising this thread, please do.

 

[Thaurmaturge]

"Moreouer, vpon the
Hawe at Plymmouth, there is cut out in the ground, the pourtrayture
of two men, the one bigger, the other lesser, with Clubbes in their
hands, (whom they terme Gog-Magog) and (as I haue learned) it is
renewed by order of the Townesmen, when cause requireth, which should
inferre the same to bee a monument of some moment. And lastly the
place, hauing a steepe cliffe adioyning, affordeth an oportunitie to
the fact. But of this too much."

Richard Carew from his "The survey of Cornwall" 1602 - text taken from the Guttenberg edt.

http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/c#a3184

The "cliffe" referring to the well known tale of his having been flung from them by Corinaeus during their wrestling bout.

Gogmagogs cave lies under the Citadel, but that brings in more Fortean stuff..............

There are apparently entries in the Audit and Receivers Book of the Corporation of Plymouth detailing payments for the upkeep of the figures:

1486 Item paid to Cotewyll (Cotehele?) for ye renewing of ye picture of Gogmagog upon ye howe.

My brackets: Cotehele, Family home of the Edgecumbes who owned large parts of Plymouth and surrounding lands, Cotehele is some distance from Plymouth, 10 miles or so, but adjacent to the Tamar.

There is an interesting chapter on the figures in Rodney Castleden's "Ancient British Hill Figures", from whence the corporation entry has been taken, he gives a further five entries from this source.

 

[uair01]

Gog and Magog have many old roots!

Gog and Magog : contributions toward a world history of an apocalyptic motif / edited by Georges Tamer, Andrew Mein, and Lutz Greisiger - Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG (Verlag) - Erscheinungsdatum: [2023]

The roots of the Gog and Magog motif lie in the ancient Orient.2 It first appears in the Hebrew Bible. In Genesis 10:2 and the First Book of Chronicles 1:5, Magog is a son of Japheth, son of Noah. In 1 Chronicles 5:1–4, Gog descends from Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. Gog and Magog are, according to these passages, decedents of Adam. However, it is not clear from this whether they are human or humanoid – a reason for numerous speculations in the exegetical literature. Nevertheless, Gog and Magog later lose human features. In the Book of Ezekiel 38:2, the prophet is commanded to set his face against Gog, who is in the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him. Gog is portrayed in Ezekiel 38–39 as an eschatological enemy who is coming from the dark north as the opposite of the south, the homeland of the prophet and his people.3 In Ezekiel 39:6, Magog also seems to be the name of a place. According to the prophecy, Gog and Magog will be defeated by God,
and their armies will be destroyed. From here onwards, this idea of Gog and Magog as a representation of evil and destruction has been a recurring theme.

It is in the early Christian Book of Revelation, chapter 20, verse 8, that Gog and Magog are paired as apocalyptic peoples which shall gather to battle: “the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” – an extended version of the apocalyptic motif from the Book of Ezekiel, now applied to the new people of God, the followers of Jesus Christ. It is a vision of the end times in which Satan is released from his prison and leads Gog and Magog in an attack against God’s people. Gog and Magog are depicted as nations that will gather for battle against the people of God, but they will be consumed by fire from heaven. This vision is often interpreted as a symbolic description of the ultimate conflict between good and evil, and the defeat of Gog and Magog as representing the triumph of God’s kingdom over the forces of darkness. In early Christian exegetical works, Gog and Magog are either allegorically regarded as the last manifestation of the Corpus diaboli before the Day of Judgement, or identified with real historical enemies. The apocalyptic vision in the Book of Revelation has inspired numerous artists and writers throughout history, who have depicted Gog and Magog as monstrous creatures or evil spirits that represent the forces of chaos and destruction.

The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (d. ca. 100 AD) mentions Magog as a descendant of Noah and states that the Greeks called the Magogites “Scythians”.4 According to Josephus, the Scythians “inhabiting at the Lake Meotis” – nowadays the Sea of Azov, between Russia and Ukraine, north to the Black Sea – planned to fall “upon Media [a region of north-western Iran] and the parts beyond it, in order to plunder them; with which intention they treated with the king of Hyrcania [a historical region south-east of the Caspian Sea in modern-day Iran and Turkmenistan]; for he was master of that passage which king Alexander shut up with iron gates. This king gave them leave to come through them; so they came in great multitudes, and fell upon the Medes unexpectedly, and plundered their country […] while nobody durst make any resistance against them”.5 Probably in this passage, the roots of mingling Gog and Magog with Alexander the Great can be found.6

The Islamic history is facinating >>>

In the Qurʾān, Gog and Magog, called “Yājūj wa-Mājūj” or “Yaʾjūj wa-Maʾjūj”, appear twice. The presumably earlier appearance is in the Surah of the Prophets, Q 21:96f. It says that the “true promise” of the Day of Judgement will have been “drawn near” when Gog and Magog “are unloosed, and they slide down out of every slope”. They belong to the signs of the Hour. We are told more about them in Surah 18 al-Kahf, 83–101, where they are embedded in the story of Alexander the Great.

Dhū l-Qarnayn, the Two Horned, as Alexander the Great is called in the Qurʾān, is asked by “a people scarcely able to understand speech” (Q 18:94) to build a wall keeping Gog and Magog behind it, in order to prevent them from sowing corruption on earth. Alexander builds the wall and keeps Gog and Magog behind it, until “the Lord’s promise comes to pass” (Q 18:98).
The story of Gog and Magog is also mentioned in several Hadiths, sayings of Prophet Muhammad. There these apocalyptic figures are among the ten great signs of the approaching end times. A battle between Jesus and his followers, on the one hand, and Gog and Magog, on the other, is also anticipated. Jesus’ final victory over them is possible only after God’s intervention. However, there are Hadiths that convey Muhammad’s concern about the imminent appearance of Gog and Magog.7

Representative for the treatment of Gog and Magog in Qurʾānic exegesis is the extensive work of aṭ-Ṭabarī (d. 923 AD). In his interpretation of Q 18:94, he reports that there are three kinds of Gog and Magog: the first is as tall as a cedar, the second is as broad as they are tall, and the third can cover their body with one ear and lie on the other. He says that Dhū l-Qarnayn explored their country and saw that their length is half that of an average man, but that males and females are equally tall. They have claws instead of fingernails, their teeth are like those of a predator, their gums are as strong as a camel’s, and they grind their teeth when they chew. They foresee their own death; no male will die until he has fathered a thousand children, and no female until she has given birth to the same number; they mate like animals.

Aṭ-Ṭabarī offers several descriptions of the eschatological scenario featuring Gog and Magog. One of them is as follows: every day they scrape away at the barrier until they can almost see the sun shining through it, or until the sound of their axes can be heard by their neighbors on the other side. When they are about to break through, their foreman tells them to go back and finish the work the next day. But each night, after they have gone, God rebuilds the barrier, making it stronger than before. Only when their foreman adds “in shāʾa llāh” (God willing) are they able to dig their way through. After that, Gog and Magog will spread over the earth. When they march, their vanguard will be in Syria and their rear in Iraq. They cover the earth, eat everything they find, and drink the waters of the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Sea of Tiberias. They also kill countless people. People and animals take refuge in fortresses. When Gog and Magog reach Jerusalem, they think they have destroyed life on earth. Then they shoot arrows into the sky, and when they fall back stained with blood, they think they have destroyed the sky as well. Then God, through the intercession of Jesus, sends down worms that enter their noses and ears, come out at their necks, and kill them. Their bodies are eaten by the beasts or, according to other traditions, carried into the sea by the rain that purifies the earth.8

 

[Herr Cloaca]

The Gog Magog Hills​

Simon Price visited East Anglia's only 'mountains' in search of TC Lethbridge's mysterious hill figures and the real site of the Trojan wars.​

Text: Simon Price / Images: Sonya Brooks

May 2006​

Rising almost imperceptibly out of the flat East Anglian landscape a few miles to the southeast of Cambridge, the Gog Magog Hills don't, at first, seem quite to live up to their name. It's only when you ascend their slopes, and find surprising views beginning to reveal themselves, that you realise that you are indeed standing on what Daniel Defoe charmingly referred to as ‘mountains'. Considering the billiard-table geography of East Anglia, and the Gogs' relatively dizzying height of 234ft (71m) above sea level, Defoe may well have been right.

Fields sweep away from the Gogs into the surrounding landscape. Corralled down the slopes by hedges, woods, tracks and roads (notably the A1307 connecting Cambridge to Haverhill), they are interrupted by the villages and farms that dot this part of Cambridgeshire. Overall, the Gog Magog Hills – now divided between the Wandlebury Country Park and the Gog Magog Golf Club – present a well managed tranquillity that is certainly worth a few hours of anyone's time. To the fortean traveller they offer a whole lot more – though not at first glance – including the salutary lesson that if you look too hard for what you're searching for, you might just find it.

The origin of the hills' evocative name remains unclear. The first recorded use is by the poet Michael Drayton (1563–1631). In his Poly-olbion, a map appears with the hills clearly marked and referred to as ‘Old Gogmagog, a Hill of long and great renowne'. Gog, the king of Magog, appears in Ezekiel (38:2) as the instigator of a terrible battle, and the names also appear in the Koran. Gog and Magog are identified with giants in Spenser's Faerie Queen, and earlier still in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. There is a long-standing legend that the giants still sleep under the hills; in giant form they also play a peripheral role in the history of London, turning up annually in the Lord Mayor's Parade. But why such names were applied to these gentle Cambridge hills is simply not known, though some tantalising possibilities have been suggested.

My last visit to the Gog Magog Hills was on a beautiful, blue-skied autumn day. A refreshing but not uncomfortable chill hung in the air as I drove west along the A14, south on the A11 and west again on the A1307 towards Cambridge. Even though the Hills lie a few miles away from this dual carriageway, the gently undulating landscape surrounding them helps keep the Gogs themselves unnoticed.

Wandlebury Country Park is open to the public all year round. A short walk from the car park takes you up to the hills' quietly crowning glory – the Wandlebury Ring. This Iron Age Hill Fort, its construction believed to have been started around 400 BC, occupies the crest of the hill. Archæologists have unearthed a good deal of evidence in the shape of pottery and stone artefacts that point to Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements predating the hill fort. It is thought that the fort was considerably strengthened in the 1st century AD, possibly by the Iceni, when a second ditch was dug. In the late 1970s, it was claimed by researcher Tim O'Brien, following up a theory put forward by Alfred Watkins, that, prior to the construction of the fort, the site was used as a lunar and solar observatory, an idea that has gained little credence since.

It was the Anglo-Saxons who named the site; Wendlesbiri (or Wændel's Fort) was believed to be an important meeting place, although there is little of Saxon, or indeed mediæval, legacy remaining. In 1685, racing stables (Newmarket is just a few miles away to the east) were built for James II. When these were later acquired by Francis, Earl of Godolphin, a large house (now gone) and gardens were constructed and the stables (still intact) enlarged to house his increasingly successful horses (none more so than the Godolphin Arabian). Sadly, the Earl's enlargements meant that the inner part of the ancient hill fort was sacrificed.

Even though the hill fort has been diminished over the centuries, it's easy to imagine a time when it dominated the surrounding countryside, and it's well worth taking a stroll around Wandlebury Ring; as with the park as a whole, there is a real air of serenity here, enhanced by careful management by the Wandlebury Preservation Society. From the ring, several paths fall away through woods and alongside fields of chalk grassland. The attractions are natural ones, and it's a perfect spot for those who want a walk, a picnic or simply a quiet, contemplative few hours.

And it was just outside the Iron Age fort, on what is now a small meadow sloping away to the south, that the most controversial character associated with the Gog Magogs did much more than contemplate.

In 1955, TC Lethbridge was the director of excavations for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society; as such he was well aware of the various allusions to a hill figure that had once been carved into the slopes of the Gog Magog hills. Lethbridge became obsessed with the lost figure and made it his ambition to rediscover this long-faded giant of the Cambridgeshire landscape. This quest Lethbridge describes with erudition and enthusiasm in his book, Gog Magog: The Buried Gods.

The first published reference to the existence of such a hill figure is by Bishop Joseph Hall in 1605, when he described a "picture the Schollers of Cambridge goe to see at Hogmagog Hills", supposedly of a giant called ‘All Paunch'. In 1640, local historian John Layer commented: "I could never learn how these hills came to be called Gog Magog Hills, unless it were from a high and mighty portraiture of a giant wch the Schollars of Cambridge cut upon the turf…" And later, another historian, William Cole, recalled a "figure of the giant carved on the turf".

To these historical accounts Lethbridge also added a piece of local folklore that he believed was more than just an intriguing ghostly tale. First recorded by Gervase of Tilbury, (who believed that Wandlebury was derived from the tribe of Vandals), the tale tells that Wandlebury was once ruled by a dark knight, untouchable by any mere mortal. Anyone brave – or foolish – enough to try to defeat this legendary figure simply had to ride into the camp on a moonlit night and call out: "Knight to knight, come forth!" The warrior would appear and gladly do combat, in which he would always triumph. That was until Sir Osbert, a Norman knight, heard the tale and tried his luck. Sir Osbert sallied forth, and having offered the cry saw the horseman duly appear. Lances and shields at the ready, the opponents clashed, and this time the dark knight of Wandlebury was unseated. Sir Osbert, as a token of his victory, took the vanquished warrior's horse. But, as he turned to leave, the fallen knight threw what was left of his lance, which pierced Osbert in the thigh. He left the scene, but the following morning the trophy horse had disappeared and thereafter, on the anniversary of the battle, Sir Osbert's lance wound would bleed once more.

Lethbridge believed that this tale represented an explanation and description of the figure that was once visible upon the hill. With a determination any fortean would be proud of, Lethbridge set about re-excavating this long-lost giant with a somewhat unorthodox method.

Pounding a heavy iron sounding-bar into the hillside, he claimed that any soft areas revealed the places where the chalk had been cut many centuries previously. These places he marked with an array of sticks that soon bristled across the meadow he had chosen as his site. With incredible swiftness, a pattern of sorts soon emerged. This was dispatched to Sir Thomas Kendrick of the British Museum, who responded: "Rear quarter of an animal. Walking (not galloping) white horse. May the Lord be with you." Lethbridge admitted surprise at this interpretation, which was not what he had expected. More ‘sounding' ensued, and this time Cyril Fox, an expert on Celtic art, was consulted. His response was quite definite: "Female with two horses, probably Epona. Congratulations." These communications from two eminent personages gave the whole search a credibility that must have pleased Lethbridge, and the surprise he felt at not discovering a typical male giant hill figure was put aside as he continued to excavate what he now believed was a depiction of Epona, the Celtic horse goddess.

As the weeks of excavations continued, the search soon threw up more surprises. It appeared that Lethbridge's three-breasted Goddess not only travelled across the side of Gog Magog with her beaked horse – she also pulled a chariot (which tied in neatly with additional folklore concerning a golden chariot buried beneath the hill). More alarmingly, it soon became apparent that she wasn't alone. Steadily one, then two, additional figures were plotted by Lethbridge. On one side of the goddess emerged a sword- and shield-wielding warrior, and on the other a bizarre cloak-shrouded stalking figure. All three figures were clearly different in artistic terms, leading Lethbridge to conclude that the central figure was the Magog, or Mother God, known as Epona to the Celts, and that, while she had been constructed by the Iceni, the other two figures were added later by the incoming Catuvellauni tribe.

The figures (which, apart from a partial excavation of the Mother Goddess, remained in purely "staked-out" form), with Lethbridge their chief exponent, are extremely seductive in their evocation of a distant, magical past. However, the evidence for their validity is weak. None of the earlier references equates to the unique figures Lethbridge discovered, and the reports themselves clearly contradict each other – two locating the figure within the camp itself, where it would not be visible from the surrounding land. Only one puts it ‘within view from Sawston' – a description that had led Lethbridge to his chosen site. There was once, in all probability, a figure of some description cut into the turf on Gog Magog. However, it is far more likely to be of mediæval origin, with its roots – and certainly its upkeep – in the hands of the nearby students of Cambridge.

Lethbridge was staking his career when he announced the discovery of his ancient figure. Soon, his reputation as a serious antiquarian came under the academic spotlight. An inquiry carried out for the Council of British Archæology in 1956 came to the conclusion that the ‘hollows' in the turf were the result of natural geological processes common in the area. Academia's loss was forteana's gain, as Lethbridge went on to devote the rest of his working life to studying, and theorising about, a number of strange phenomena, from dowsing to ghosts. More latterly, further examinations of the site have been carried out using advanced technology; these produced no evidence that would support the presence of Lethbridge's figures.

There is, though, an interesting, recently revealed twist to the story. A few miles south, near the village of Whittlesford, there is the intriguing possibility that there does exist a chalk figure – a horse, akin to the famous Uffington figure – that may well have been discovered via aerial photography. The figure is not without its critics, but perhaps Cambridgeshire will one day have the ancient figure it seems to have been denied (FT191:18).

Today, the meadow where Lethbridge carried out his arduous task gives no hint of the controversy that raged back in the Fifties… and it certainly offers no clues to any figure that was carved centuries, or even millennia, ago.

Leaving the meadow and the memory of Celtic Gods behind, I paid a visit to the Cambridge Preservation Society office within its admirably converted stable buildings. Collecting a number of useful pamphlets and stopping to admire the tranquil scene of sheep happily grazing within the Wandlebury ring, I followed the paths down towards the Roman Road, the Via Devana.

It is at this point that the fusion between the two most controversial theories concerning the hills occurs. There is a very old legend surrounding Brutus, Britain's supposed founder and namesake, that provides a neat mythological dovetail.

The earliest record of this legend was by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his History of the Kings of Britain, written in the early 12th century. This legend tells of Brutus, the great-grandson of Æneas (who fled defeated Troy and established a kingdom in Italy).

Brutus and his retinue of gathered Trojan exiles are advised to travel to ‘an island beyond France'. Having landed on the south coast, at what is now Totnes in Devon, Brutus and his men hold a celebratory banquet. This, however, comes to a sudden halt when they are attacked by the island's current inhabitants – a race of giants led by the fierce Goemagot. Brutus's chief warrior, Cornineus (later King of Cornwall), engages Goemagot in a wrestling bout. Finally, Cornineus triumphs, sending the giant over the cliffs where he is dashed onto the rocks below.

Goemagot, or Gogmagog, was immortalised on the south coast by the cutting of a giant on the hills looking out to sea. Sadly, this hill figure was destroyed when a fortress was built in 1655, and the vanished giant seems to have walked off into the history books alongside Lethbridge's figures. However, both leave behind them a tantalising connection to a place of great antiquity at the very heart of western myth – Troy.

It's challenging, as you wander through the serenity of Wandlebury, to imagine the bloody scenes that certainly occurred around this hill fort, but these ancient woods and fields have borne witness to a variety of warriors down the centuries: Celts and Romans, Saxons and Vikings, all drawn to this high point in the landscape.

It's harder still, as you head northwards, downhill towards the Roman road, to visualise tens of thousands of troops advancing for the final time, having endured a 10-year war. Before them, in the night, dragged from the shore 25 miles (40km) to the north, has gone a hollow wooden horse of incredible proportions. The attackers stealthily advance over the dykes they have constructed during their decade-long struggle, and which still stand today. Finally, they wait in silence, until a signal goes up – the gates are opened, the plan has worked. In they pour, years of anger and desperation unleashed as they eradicate the once-great city and its inhabitants. By the end of the night, one of the greatest kingdoms is in ruins as Troy burns, lighting the landscape of Eastern Albion.

The most forceful advocate of this scenario in recent times has been the Dutch writer Iman Wilkens. Setting out his scholarly theory in his book Where Troy Once Stood, Wilkens relocates the entire history of Troy and its associated kingdoms to northern Europe. However, this seemingly fantastical case of teleportation is not without its earlier adherents, and in this Mr Wilkens finds himself in good company. Plato was convinced that the Trojan sagas had no place in Greece and, perhaps more convincingly, Thucydides, the fifth-century Greek historian, believed that "nothing in Greece reached great proportions, the wars no more than anything else". He posited that at the time of the Trojan wars Greece had neither the technology nor skills, and indeed lacked the political stability, to wage such an awesome war against the Trojans.

Thucydides further highlighted a number of discrepancies in Homer's writings that suggest a location for the story beyond Greece and Asia Minor, most importantly mentioning the Taulentians, who were of Celtic ancestry, as being present in Greece. Wilkens claims that this is the link between Troy, Greece and Asia Minor – Celtic peoples, migrating south, took their history with them, and in time it became entwined with that of the Greeks themselves, eventually surfacing in Homer's enduring epics the Iliad and the Odyssey. And, in more recent times, several other writers have had their doubts about Troy's Mediterranean location. In 1790, Wernsdorf identified the Cimmerians mentioned by Homer as Celtic. H Vosz, in 1804, concluded that the Odyssey was partly set in the British Isles, due to geographical features. Most relevant is the work of Theophile Callieux, who posits the theory that Odysseus's travels began in a Troy placed somewhere near Cambridge.

Callieux's book was published a mere six years after Heinrich Schliemann located what he believed to be the ruins of Troy at Hissarlik in northwest Turkey. This has, of course, become the accepted site of "Troy" – as, indeed, it was in the classical era (Alexander the Great visiting the ‘tomb of Achilles' on first landing in Asia Minor, and the Romans building their New Troy in the surrounding area). However, Wilkens and many others have rightly questioned the validity of Schliemann's claims.

Clearly, there are many difficulties in treating Homer's works as factual history (if he existed, Homer's poetry evoked events that occurred half a millennium before his time), but it's certainly hard to square his account with Schliemann's discoveries. In terms of numbers, Schliemann's Troy (by his own admittance) could never have contained the 50,000 troops plus civilians that Homer's did. The attacking army (identified as a Greek alliance) was of at least 65,000 men, who sailed in 1,200 ships that also transported the massive support an army this size would need. There is no location near Schliemann's Troy where such a vast force could have landed and encamped for a decade – there simply isn't enough space.

The sea plays a vital part in Homer's ‘histories' and in Wilken's theory. Vitally, Homer is explicit about the colour and nature of the sea that the attackers cross. None of these references would seem to describe the Mediterranean, and, most importantly, the sea that Homer describes is tidal. The tides of the Mediterranean are at best insignificant.

Wilkens goes on to detail descriptions of food, art, fauna and flora which would all appear to be more pertinent to northern Europe than to Mediterranean climes. All of these are, of course, present around Wandlebury – as are the geographical features necessary for us to transplant Troy to Cambridgeshire. The landing site and encampment for the ‘Greeks' is identified as being at the Wash. There is clearly enough space between the city and the sea to accommodate the battles Homer describes, and we can also find the numerous towns, villages and rivers Homer describes – all of which are mysteriously absent from the Turkish Troy.

Scouring East Anglia and beyond, Wilkens identifies Homer's geography with that of East Anglia, and, to a certain degree, he does seem to highlight some startling similarities. Not only is Troy identified as the Gog Magog hills, but the Hellespont becomes the North Sea, Mycenæ is placed in northern France, the kingdoms of Menelaus and Nestor in Spain and the point of embarkation for the ‘Greeks' in Denmark. And of course, Homer never referred to the attackers of Troy as ‘Greeks', mostly as Argives, Danaans or Achæans; for Wilkens these were descriptions of Celts.

So what of the hills themselves? What have they offered in terms of evidence to support Wilkens's ideas? Sadly, very little. Archæologists have unearthed nothing that would support such a titanic Bronze Age clash, either in terms of human remains or items such as weapons, pottery or jewellery. There is absolutely no tangible evidence that there has ever been a settlement larger than the obvious hill fort on the Gog Magog hills, and it is not wholly credible that a city the size of Homer's Troy could ever have stood on them. There is certainly nothing to support the idea that for 10 years over 65,000 people camped on the shores of the Wash. The objections to Wilkens's Troy are similar to those we might level at Schliemann's: there is simply no cultural precedent for the wars and the city itself being present, and there is no evidence from folklore or mythology that even hints at these devastating events ever having taken place in northern Europe.

Iman Wilkens, and others who preceded him, are clearly asking pertinent questions. Whether Troy was located in northwest Turkey is doubtful; whether it existed at all outside the timeless locale of myth is something we may never know for sure. But, like Lethbridge before him, Wilkens may have fallen into a trap that can bedevil all manner of fortean enquiries: having asked all the right questions, one can try just a little too hard to find the answers one needs to settle them.

As for the Gog Magog Hills and Wandlebury Ring, there are still plenty of reasons to visit them. And it's good to know that, beneath your feet, giants continue to sleep.

Source with illustrations & references:
https://web.archive.org/web/2012010...tean_traveller/99/the_gog_magog_hills_uk.html

 

[Mythopoeika]

Gog Magog Hills... a lovely part of the world. I've been there, but I was unable to explore (on a picnic with friends).

 

[Fabio Picasso]

An interesting book

(1814 – 3 April 1866) was an English author, antiquary and wood-engraver.

Source: Frederick William Fairholt, Gog and Magog: The Giants in Guildhall,Their Real and Legendary History, Londoon 1859

https://books.google.com.ar/books?i...=onepage&q=Frederick William Fairholt&f=false

 

[Fabio Picasso]

Scanned and transcribed copies of the (short) 1819 text:

Author Robin Godfellow pseudonym of John Galt, (2 May 1779 – 11 April 1839) was a Scottish , novelist, entrepreneur, and political and social commentator

https://books.google.com.ar/books?i...dq="gog and magog"&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false