Avalon translates literally as the “Isle of Apples.” It is also known as the “Fortunate Isle.” According to Arthurian myth, it was to Avalon that King Arthur was taken after his fatal battle with his son Modred. Avalon has been equated with other mythic lands such as the Irish Tir-na-Og (the ‘Land of Youth’). It may also be connected to the Apple festival of Allantide (Cornish Samhain).
Avalon is very much like the Welsh Annwn, the Underworld. Since prior to the medieval reinvention of the Arthurian legends, the tales were Welsh in origin, the connection is not too far a stretch of the imagination. Even the supposed physical site of Avalon, Glastonbury Tor, connects it to Annwn.
Earliest legend states that the island could only be reached through the intervention of the sea god Barinthus. Ten maidens co-rule the island. One of them, Morgen (no doubt the precursor of Morgan le Fay), is referred to as “the shape-changing mistress of therapy, music, and the arts.” Other sources stated, the island is ruled by Bangon (about whom nothing is known).