Stonehenge

Stonehenge is considered one of the world's wonders and is one of the world's longest standing human-built structures, first created around 3100BC. Naturally, the monument is shrouded due to the mysteries of time and has led to a great deal of mythology and folklore. In reality, there are many henges across both Britain and Ireland and there is evidence they were used as sites for burial, though their function is likely to have changed over the generations. Stonehenge is one of the largest and while mythology usually underestimates the age of the structure, the huge stones themselves were almost certainly brought the to area over a great distance by means modern scholars can only speculate on, though they are most likely from a quarry in Wales. The most common story is that Merlin used magic to bring them to England, which is possibly some twisting of knowledge across generations - it may well be that the original architect was Myrddin, the original Welsh name for Merlin and whose namesake is given as the name for Britain as Myrrdin's Precinct. For the fact-based information, see Stonehenge on Wikipedia.
== The Giants' Ring ==
During the times of Britain and Ireland pre-humanity, the land was populated by Giants, who originated one the African continent. With them they brought immense standing stones and erected a monument upon a hill at Kildare. The stones held healing powers that could restore health to living beings when they bathed under the monumentand waters touched the stone before the injured area of the body. Many centuries later, when the land was finally populated by the Irish inhabitants, they named this monument the "Giants' Ring" and the hill was "Mount Killaraus". They used the stone monument as a religious sitePage 30, Chapter 6: Stonehenge, .
== Moving the Stones ==
During the fifth century, Merlin travelled to Kildare and used his magic to dismantle the stones and transport them by ship from Ireland all the way to England, specifically to the Salisbury Plain. This was done to create a grand burial monument to nobles that had been massacred by the invading Saxons. Eventually, the monument would receive a new name - Stonehenge.
=== Merlin's Pact with the Devil ===
In another account, Merlin made a pact with the Devil himself to get the stones. An old woman owned the land on which the original Giants' Ring stood and she had had it enclosed as part of her extensive garden. The Devil arrived in disguise as a gentleman and offered her a great deal of wealth, pouring out coins before her eyes. The offer was that she could keep as many coins as could be poured in the amount of time that it would take him to dismantle the stones, to which she agreed thinking it would take an awfully long time to bring down such huge stones. However, he whipped up a willow withe and bound the stones and then flew through the sky and deposited them in England to Merlin. However, en route he did drop teh smallest of the stones in AvonPage 31, Chapter 6: Stonehenge, .
=== The Druids ===
While in reality the stones were most certainly moved across the land (and possibly sea) by the ancient British Celts, some claim that it was the druids, specifically, that used magic to move the stones and used the central slab as a sacrificial mount. Some attribute knowledge of the druids and Britain even to the ancient Greeks and the writings of Hecataeus of Abdera, who speaks of an island to the north of Gaul that he names 'Hyperborea' where they worship Apollo and have a remarkable 'round temple' - possibly Stoneghenge - to dedicate to him. During this period, Greeks and Romans saw foreign gods as merely being the same gods as their own, just with different stories. Thus, a Greek writer would easily make a connection with a British god to one of their own. It is possible that this god was Maponus, the 'Divine Youth', who was a musicianPage 33, Chapter6: Stonehenge, , much like 'Apollo the Harper'Page 34, Chapter 6, .
== References ==
Category:Neolithic Sites