True, it sounds like it may be some characters from a Monty Python film, but in reality there is specualtion that this was the original source from where we get the legend of King Arthur and his knights. The most interesting aspect is that the tradition that is thought to have been the origin of Arthurian myth may not even be found in western tradition.

Found in some small ethnic enclaves in the high valley of the Caucasus Mountains, there is a group of people known as teh Ossetes. These people, while surrounded by neighbors such as the Kabardians, the Circassians, and the Georgians, the Ossetes managed to retain their unique cultural and linguistic heritage and are the last living descendents of the Sarmatians. It has been found that the Sarmatians had a set of narratives concerned with a band of heroes called the Narts.

A great example of one of these narratives would be the account of the death of Batradz, the foremost Nart hero and the leader of this band of semi-supernatural warriors. Mortally wounded, Batradz is brought to the shore of a sea (or lake) by his faithful Nart companions. He commands them to throw his magical sword into the water so that he may be released from his suffering. However, the grieving Narts don't want to follow this last order and attempt to decieve their dying chief. They hide the sword and report back to Batradz telling him that they disposed of it as he wished. ALthough when questioned about what occured when the sword entered the water, their answers revealed thier dishonesty, for only he knows what will happen. Finally, with great effort (the weapon was so heavy that only their leader can wield it with ease), the Narts carry out Batradz's final command, and when the sword is hurled into the water the sea turns blood red and becomes very turbulent. Relieved in the fact that his wishes were carried out, Batradz is able to die peacefully.

It is not very difficult to connect this story with that of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, where Arthur is mortally wounded by Mordrawd and tells Bedver to throw his sword into the lake.

Another interesting connection with these Narts and the Knights the name Pendragon. While taken from the word of Geoffrey of Monmouth that the word Pendragon was a bastardized construction of the Welsh pen, or "head", plus draco, "dragon", Helmut Nickel sees it as an incorrect etymology. Helmut suggests that the word pen is derived from the Eastern European word for "leader", pan which would make "Dragon Leader". This could also be traced back to the pre-Indo-European Anatolian word tar-kan, or "leader, cheif" through the Turkish aba-Tarkan, which eventually evolved to 'ban-Tarkan' or 'Father leader, and then passing into Sarmatian to where we have, Bandragon, and of course, finally, Pendragon. Nickel also suggests that the same tar-kan root can be found in the Etruscan name of Tarchont, or Tarquinius.

With this etymological model in mind, it is very probable that the Arthurian myth is descended from Eastern European traditions rather than Brythonic Celtic as previously beleived.