Monthly Archives: December 2018

Religions of the Suavs and the Even More Religious Historiographical Methodology

PublishedDecember 29, 2018 Post authortorino

A reader sent me a copy of a relatively new (written in Polish) book “The Religions of Ancient Suavs” (Religie Dawnych Słowian) by Dariusz Sikorski, a Polish medievalist who, among other achievements, helped to rehabilitate portions of the Chronicle of Adémar of Chabbanes. I had it read and have to say that I found that process rather wearisome.

The book is deconstructionist in a tiresomely extreme manner. It is Alexander Brückner without the acidity but also without the faux-erudite panache – par for the course, and, I confess, probably for the slightly better (less annoying but more boring – take your poison). Indeed, if you want to understand why Sikorski wrote this book, you just need to skip to the ending (which I dare suspect he wrote first), where the author fesses up as follows:

“It may seem, perhaps, to the reader that the vision presented in this book is one-sided and that the author exaggerates in many of his assertions, that his vision of Suavic religion is very limited. Perhaps, indeed, I overemphasize many of the problems and set too categorical a theses but please take note that in the entire contemporary literature there prevails the opposite trend: of an extensive sacral interpretation of all possible source testimonies. Please, therefore, take heed of my voice as a presentation of the position of the opposite side of the argument regarding the pre-Christian Suavic religion…” 

Sikorski’s description of what he seems to perceive to be his reality is a description of a reality that is warped so as to be unrecognizable. What contemporary literature is he referring to where the prevailing trend is to overinterpret Suavic religious sources? Sure, people may overinterpret things, particularly if they think they found something new, get excitd and want to write a paper on it. But in terms of synthetic, comprehensive literature, which this book aims to be a part of, there is nothing recent (at least in academic literature) i know of that builds any sand castles around Suavic religion. The biggest problem of Suavic comprehensive religious literature is that there is relatively little of it (of any kind).

Presumably, he addresses his book to a Polish audience. What compendia of Suavic religion have we seen recently? Aleksander Brückner wrote his “Suavic Mythology” in 1918 and a variation, “Polish Mythology” in 1924. After that no one seriously touched the subject until Henryk Łowmiański’s “Suavic Religion and it Downfall” in 1979 and Aleksander Gieysztor’s “Mythology of the Suavs” in 1982. That’s basically it. Of those only Gieysztor’s can be seen as an attempt at some sort of positive synthesis – the other books are basically negativist. (In fact, Sikorski seems to be having an argument with Gieysztor – albeit over a quarter century after that author’s publication). You really have to live in an alternate reality to think that the deconstructionist, negativist “side” is in retreat – as far as I can tell it is about the only “side.”

No, it isn’t

Which brings me to another point. Sikorski speaks of an “opposite side of the argument.” But what argument? There was no Gieysztor – Łowmiański argument even if they took slightly different tacks on the topic. The only person arguing seems to be Sikorski – he tries to manufacture the very conflict that he obviously “feels” already exists. Even more importantly, he is a professor and, presumably, wants to be seen as a scholar. So why does he have to take any “sides”? (Not that I am that naive about the pettiness of modern academia). Why not just set your views as they are – in a more balanced way – rather than write so übercritical a book that exaggerates to such an extent that you have to come clean at the end and admit that you overexaggerated (but did so for the oh so very noble a reason of taking the “other side” in a conflict that seems to play out only in your head)? The book is over 300 pages long – did he enjoy writing a book that points out little human foibles apparent here and there of people eager to shed some more light on their ancestors’ past?  Does spending hours over tiny sins of other people’s (mostly amateurs) over interpretations make him happy and pleased? Is that what he wants to be remembered for? The book does not quite rise to the level of a troll job but in a number of places the writer’s arguments certainly strike me as overly petty (Didn’t some Byzantine writer say that the Suavs were conflict prone? Maybe it’s the weather).

Finally, exaggeration is one thing as a rhetorical device (though, again, why debate at all rather than try to help synthesize?) but writing inaccurate statements is quite another. Right before the above cited paragraph Sikorski categorically proclaims:

“From most of the lands settled (!) by the Suavs, including the lands of Poland, we have no sources [on Suavic religion].”*

* note: He make exceptions for Polabian Suavs and Eastern Suavs except that for the latter he claims the beliefs described are primarily those of the Scandinavian ruling class.

So what of Jan Długosz’s Polish Pantheon? He does mention it. He agrees that Długosz “did not just make [these Gods] all up” but then concludes (well, he does not conclude but rather uses the passive (or passive aggressive) voice “it is thought”) that the “Polish Olympus” is “merely a reflection of Długosz’s learned imagination.” I, frankly do not understand the difference between “making things up” and using your “learned imagination”. Perhaps the intended subtlety represents an agreement that there is something there but then Długosz went with that something to a conclusion beyond any that that something could have justified. I am unconvinced. Once you admit that Długosz did not make it all up then you have to ask what was the nature of that “real it”.

For example, the question of the interpretatio romana is absolutely secondary. If Yassa was the highest God of the Polish pantheon then He was equivalent to Jove – in that much. And to that extent Długosz would have been justified in linking Yassa with Jove – which is, incidentally, all he did. Whether Yassa also possessed all the attributes of the Roman Jove/Jupiter is absolutely irrelevant to the point that Długosz was making. Indeed, he was writing for an educated, Latin reading audience – of kings who, at that point, were already non-Polish and, perhaps, for the broader European elite public. I do not see any better way to relate Polish Divinities to such people’s experience than to use Latin equivalents (or, as equivalent, as they get). The fact that he also mentioned those Deities that did not (to him) seem to have a Roman equivalent (Pogoda, Sywie/Zywie) seems rather to bolster the veracity of Długosz’s account.

Moreover, the reason that Sikorski thinks that Długosz did not make it all up is because Sikorski is quite aware of the existence of earlier sources that mention the same Deities. He cites, for example, Lucas of Great Kozmin. But Sikorski does not seem to have read what that preacher wrote. To quote:

“I recall that in youth I read in a certain chronicle that there were in Poland Gods and from those days to our times such rites come that, young women [in his time] dance with swords, as if in offering to the pagan Gods, and not to [the] God, as well as [dances of] young men with swords and sticks, which they then hit about… “To this day they sing and dance and name their Gods “Lado, Yassa” and others – surely not references to the Holy Father so can anything good come of this? Certainly not… One does not receive salvation through the names of Lado, Yassa or Nia but rather through the name of Jesus Christ… Not Lada, Yassa or Nia , that incidentally are the names of the gods worshipped here in Poland as will attest certain chronicles of the Poles.”

So Lucas claims to have read in his youth about Polish Gods in chronicles (or at least “a” chronicle) with names that matched the names of the Deities that he himself claims to have heard being uttered during the ceremonies described above which he may well have witnessed. Thus, he testifies to what he has (yes, “probably”) seen (but then others have seen the same) and testifies to what he has read. He interprets (quite logically) the former by means of the latter.

I ventured to guess previously that, had Brückner been aware of Lucas’ sermons, he would have discounted them the same as he did Długosz. As any child does (or any good, or at least persistent, barrister), we can always ask “but how did he know?” If you assume that Poland became Christianized in one fell swoop in 966 then, no amount of post-966 evidence can ever convince you (same as if you assume that no Suavs lived in Poland before, say, the 6th century then, by definition, every artifact found in Poland and dated to earlier times must, necessarily, be of non-Suavic provenance).

Sikorski is not as one-sided as Brückner (though, to be fair, few could be) and does not discount Lucas’ testimony. He mentions it but then ignores it and is thus able to reach the above false conclusion by ignoring the evidence he himself acknowledges exists. (I strongly suspect this is because he wrote that conclusion – at least in his head – before he wrote the section on Długosz’s Olympus and never went back to soften the language).

Is there anything positive in the book? I feel I have to answer this question positively lest I be accused of doing the very same thing the author did.

Nevertheless, I can honestly say, “yes, sure”. The book does go on to describe some (if hardly all) sources of Suavic paganism and,  due to the fact, that it is far newer than the prior “comprehensive” studies, does address new sources and findings. But that, by itself, would not justify reading it since there are, scattered in other places, better sources for that updated material.

More importantly, the book does, in places, demonstrate quite ably the weakness of over interpreting sources and does show the reader what we know and what we really do not know and, thus, where we could be letting our “learned imagination” travel far beyond where it is logically justified to go. My pet peeve of interpreting Svarog and “Perun” (Piorun really) as definitely Polish Deities, may serve as an example. Neither name made any ethnically Polish Pantheon/Olympus compendium so all we have to go on is some place names in Poland. But the author accurately notes that place names cannot with any reasonable certainty serve to reconstruct the cultic history of the locals who lived there to the extent such place names may also, even more likely, refer to other things. Thus, Sikorski observes that the Polish town of Swarorzyn is unlikely to have anything to do with any Svarog Deity. He also correctly points out that any “Piorun” place names may simply refer to those places where, a piorun, that is, “thunder” struck.

On the other hand, of course, we do know of Perkunas (and Lada, incidentally which is also a place name) being worshipped in Lithuania where the Varangians did not loiter so some such place names may have something to do with the Suavic/Baltic God of Thunder. It is here, of course, where the book fails by being overly one-sided. (Indeed the author, like Brückner, also manages to take a few digs at Baltic Prussian religion).

Even if you do not want to be faced with the “glass is 1% empty” method of synthesis (or anti-synthesis), to the extent you’re overenthusiasic about Suavic religion or, assuming you really believe that there is an “argument” here, and you want to know all the aces of the “other side,” you should read the book (assuming you read Polish) because it will show you the strongest (?) arguments that that “side” purports to make. And that itself is a positive learning experience.

I do hope that the author will in the future use his not inconsiderable talents to write something creative with a rather nobler intention of actually presenting a vision and elevating discourse as opposed to merely sounding the trumpet of the naysayers. If that’s too much to ask then at least writing something more balanced would produce a better use of everyone’s time. No one enjoys the morose pronouncements of a Debbie-downer even if, once in a while, those happen to be quite right.

P.S. For someone who purports to represent a deconstructionist trend, I find it curious that the author would agree to place a picture of what is, evidently, an effigy of Odin on the cover of the book. I have long suspected that Odin may be a variation on Yassa/Iasion/Jason but Sikorski does not try to make any such connections which makes me think this is (hopefully) just an example of the unfortunate laziness of the publishers.

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December 29, 2018

Christmas Is, Of Course, Here To Stay

PublishedDecember 25, 2018 Post authortorino

It has always been suspicious why Christmas – the celebration of the birth of Jesus – should take place in December. A rather obvious suggestion (or what should have been an obvious suggestion) was made by James Frazer in his “Golden Bough,” that Christians/the Church appropriated an earlier holiday. This would have been done mid-4th century, as the then Church was about to take over the Roman Empire.

Such a move would have made sense since if people were going to have a celebration anyway, one might just celebrate the “right way” (i.e., the Christian way). My guess is that this was initially a “competing” holiday designed to provide an alternative to earlier celebrations and eventually, with the help of the state, it took over as the sole holiday of that season. On the plus side, the people could still celebrate during a time they would have celebrated anyway. On the downside their holy time was appropriated by another set of beliefs. (An accommodation to earlier pagan polytheism may also have been the concept of the Trinity and, earlier, of the Three Wise Men). In the same way the Church routinely appropriated “pagan” worship places. Idols were destroyed and replaced – in the same location – with Christian crosses and churches. You could look at it as either allowing the previously non-Christian population to continue to come to the same place for worship or, in a less benevolent way, as denying access to the holy cultic area by having it appropriated for Christianity. Thus, did the Church likely take over the earlier holy times/rites and places. (Most successful religions, like most successful ideas, attract their “consumer” with something to offer and, if they want to thrive, have to be flexible. Christianity survived so long for precisely these reasons).

But what came before? Well, Frazer gives a rather convincing answer that the Europeans celebrated various Deities that were connected to the yearly (north hemispheric) agricultural cycle and the consequent fertility. He finds this fertility God to be Osiris, Aton, Adonis and Dionysos. Each of these may be associated with the Sun (and the Moon perhaps even more so! Of course, the portfolios of Osiris and others varied somewhat over the millennia of Egyptian history) and with rebirth. The story of Iasion and Demeter is very similar. For Osiris you, of course, have Isis. For the Polish Jassa, you, possibly  have Lada and so on.

The Church fathers suggest as much of the identification of the pre-Christian beliefs as well as validate the suspected mechanism for taking over the pagan beliefs for the Church. For example, Ambrose speaks of Jesus as being the true and only Sun. Or was that Tertullian? (“[pagans] …believe that the Christian God is the Sun, because it is a well-known fact that we pray turning towards the rising Sun, and that on the Sun’s day we give ourselves to jubilation.” (Ad Nationes, 1, 13).

But, I suspect, this design did not just first appear in the 4th century. It would not be surprising to learn that Christianity was, from the (almost) get go purposely set up in this way.

After all, the followers of Jesus saw their Lord die and made their way fast out of the country most likely not to share in the same fate. They may have been depressed to see their way of life crushed and themselves exiled. But, Paul was resilient enough and smart enough to repackage the concept and take his revenge – in the form of a giant middle finger – on the Jewish priest class (and on the Romans). Paul as well as his acolytes would have been aware that there were more liberal Jewish communities throughout the Mediterranean at the time. To what extent they took to the new Messianic faith I do not know (I am sure there are books about that) but it is possible that the evangelists also noted the possibility of going beyond the niche market of local pre-kabbalah and making the message universal.

They would certainly have known of the popularity of Dionysos, Bacchus, Osiris and the like. The existence of the local Indo-European fertility/rebirth cults also made Christianity’s transition to a true universal religion easier by making the concepts understandable to the non-Jewish Roman population. And here the evangelsits had their own Dead God available. What a perfect marketing opportunity for an upstart religion. So, it seems, with Jesus’ death, a new Christ-figure was born (Jesus had to be reborn because you obviously can’t kill a God but also to better match the Reborn God story), packaged in a (then) New Age way for the more liberal Jewish groups outside of Palestine and their non-Jewish fellow cosmopolitans. Since Judaism, already then, had a claim to antiquity as well as an aura of sophistication, this latter Roman group may have well taken to Christianity as a way of getting in on the action. Once the upper classes became involved the game was won and paganism was relegated to, well, the pagus where the “deplorables” clung onto their unreformed ways.

A related question is whether Esus/Iasion and others have anything to do with the Jewish God Yehova (the namesake of Yehoshua, that is Jesus). Some have claimed that Jesus escaped and taught in France. While one can apparently make money peddling this kind of nonsense in the form of bestselling books, there is zero actual proof to prop up this idea.

Nevertheless, I suspect that there may, in fact, be a slightly more subtle connection. There have been rather suggestive connections between the Middle Eastern and the Indo-European world. This is unsurprising. After all, one sits next to the other. What can such proximity result in? Some folks – most recently Theo Vennemann – have suggested that – before the Indo-Europeans – Europe had been settled by Basque and Semitic speaking peoples. The proof, apparently, is in various place names which also appear in the Middle East. While the Phoenicians did in fact travel up and and down European coasts , their presence there did not seem to translate to a lasting, material influence. Neither are there significant signs of other Semitic travelers. Are these plac names really Basque or Semitic (see the discussion of some Suavic words below) or is there so ething else going on?

The interaction is, no doubt, much more complex and likely ran both ways, but I strongly suspect that the story should be examined by looking at it from rather the opposite angle – that of an IE influence on thr Middle East.

The potential connections of Indo-Europeans with Mesopotamia and the Levant reach far back into antiquity. Proto-Euphratean anyone? Gutians/Guti? Mushki/Moschoi/Muški/Meshech/ Mosoch? Names like Lugal-anne-mundu? Deity Ištaran of the “bright visage” (“stretching out a hand to Ištaran of the bright visage being taken away on the barge”) who is also associated with a dragon? (Incidentally, it is not that difficult to imagine people gazing at the sky and thinking of, for example, the Milky Way, as akin to a giant “glowing” serpent and even pre-Freud the connection between a snake (if not ncessarily a lizard) and a fertily/agricultural Deity/rite ought have been obvious).

These above are speculation and some of them are probably stretches but we do know that Indo-Europeans eventually established a presence in the North of Mesopotamia and may have penetrated as far as Egypt. In fact, they seem to have done this in multiple invasion waves.

Take, for example, the Hyksos and the Hurrians. Perhaps some of these were not IEs (Hyksos just means “rulers of foreign lands”) but an IE component seems firmly present among them. As regards the Hurrians, their most famous kingdom is that of the Mitanni whose Gods’ names, listed circa 1380 B.C., include Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya. Take the name of some of the various Deities of north Canaan. In Palmyra one of the principal Gods was Yarhibol. He was “depicted with a solar nimbus” and called the “lord of the spring“. The connection to Yarillo, Gerovit/Yerovit/Yarovit or Yassa is obvious. Another local God was Bel (not Baal) whose name sounds very much like that of Belobog.

Take the name of the city of Jericho which is derived from the Canaanite reaẖ meaning “fragrant” (the Arabic may be derived from the same). This is obviously connected with the above-mentioned Yarhibol though a somewhat alternate explanation connects the name of the city with the local lunar Deity (the Canaanite word for the moon was Yareaẖ. That the moon was often worshipped in the context of “fragrance” (morning dew) is rather well shown. Compare this too with the Suavic town name of Jerichow an der Elbe (apparently, not named after ancient Jericho).

Incidentally, both Osiris and the Polish Jassa may have an even stronger connection to the Moon than to the Sun. Compare this too with Swiatowit (Morning Lord? hence Rana?), whose white horse roamed free at night throughout Rugia only to return for the morning when his mane was found to be rather “sweaty” – again, like the morning dew – in the horse’s case apparently a result of his nightly excursions).

What should give us all pause is the similarity of these “Canaanite” words and their patent IE counterparts like “jary” “yarki” or “year“. The Online Etymological Dictionary has this uncontroversial entry for “year“:

year (n.) Old English gear (West Saxon), ger (Anglian) “year,” from Proto-Germanic *jēr “year” (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German jar, Old Norse ar, Danish aar, Old Frisian ger, Dutch jaar, German Jahr, Gothic jer “year”), from PIE *yer-o-, from root *yer- “year, season” (source also of Avestan yare(nominative singular) “year;” Greek hōra “year, season, any part of a year,” also “any part of a day, hour;” Old Church Slavonic jaru, Bohemian jaro “spring;” Latin hornus “of this year;” Old Persian dušiyaram “famine,” literally “bad year”). Probably originally “that which makes [a complete cycle],” and from verbal root *ei- meaning “to do, make.”

On the south side of the Levant, a little later, we have the infamous Sea Peoples, most of whom, likely were Mediterranean or Anatolian IE raiders with names such as Pelesset, Lukka, Sherden, Shekelesh, Denyen and others. The Pelesset, once resettled by the pharaohs in south(ish) Canaan, may have become the Phillistines. It is certainly plausible that these groups, while initially IE, contained many “locals” and hangers on who swelled their ranks and, in time, may have become thoroughly Semitized, if you will. (Could the Hebrews themselves have come from Caucasian Iberia?) But the story may well be the same as the story of the Varangian Rus who, in time, became Suavicized but produced rulers for the East Suavs for years to come (and, arguably, brought or at least rekindled the worship of Thor/Piorun).

In fact, to bring this back to Jassa and Jehova, there are intriguing hints in the Bible itself that this is the same God in original conception – an Indo-European God of the agricultural lifecycle (perhaps associated with both the Sun and the Moon). The Bible, of course, does not deny that the Bible’s variant – Jehova or YHWH – had been worshipped throughout the world before appearing to Abraham (obviously so given the adventures of Adam, Cain and Noah with his children). Abraham, moreover, is Abram before he (or God) throws in Ham into his name. He is married to Sarai who becomes Sarah (can it be Šarrat – queen?). Yet, the match of Abram and Sarai is suspiciously close to that of Brahma (which, for example, in Polish to this day means as much as “gate”) and Sarasvati.

Curiously, Moses (whose name is probably Egyptian in origin) does not know the Name of God. He finds out the name when cavorting with Jethro whose name suggests an IE root as well as connection with Yahwe. And Jethro is, supposedly, a priest. He is a “priest of Midian.” But what kind of a priest is he? Scholars have for a number of years suspected that he was a priest of Yahwe and that it was from him that Moses (assuming historicity) learned of Yahwe’s worship. Midian is in the SE of the area – towards Arabia (but East) but the MIdianite name is suggestive of IE roots. After all, we have the Medes who are known to ancient writers as residing east of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. (We also have Media and Jason).

Even the name Yahwe (apparently with no certain etymology so far in any Semitic language), seems to be explainable through IE as in the Polish jawa (java) meaning “consciousness/awareness/reality.” Alternatively, a connection could be made to the Suavic – chować – “to hide” or “to protect.” (Brückner is confused in assuming that ch < sk). Perhaps, Jaś hides or Is Hidden or it is a prayer for protection. The Name appears in the Levant about the same time (roughly – not to overstate it) as the Sea Peoples’ invasions.

Incidentally, I have never been a believer that Jove comes from Deus. Deva in Suavic has a female connotation and Devus/Zeus might simply mean the “Womanizer”. Just think of Thor. The fact that a Thunder God is a womanizer could be explained by an association of lightning strikes against the Earth with, well, you know what. More likely, we have here two separate Deities – of the Sky (Jove/Sol Indiges/Jassa/Odin, perhaps too Janus) and of Thunder (Zeus/Piorun/Thor). The fact that the Romans over hundreds of years screwed this up in their panoply of Deities should not confuse the issue. (Whether the Thunder God was originally an aspect of the Sky God, I leave to others). Some signs of this may, arguably (ok, very arguably, all this is, of course, rather major speculation), found in the Bible. For example, we have the strange mention that “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.” Contrary to the monotheistic interpretation, this suggests Two separate Persons. Looking at Suavic mythology (and IE more generally) what this looks like is God – Jassa – Iasion – Esus and another Deity. The name of the other Deity is suggested by the name of the mountain – Paran meaning as much as Piorun/Peron (living in the Pyrennes) – the IE Storm God. That is Jassa/Piorun, Odin/Thor, Esus/Taranis.

Putting the dual character of the Sky and Storm Divinity aside, there is, in fact, a whole series of books designed to suggest that Yahwe – at least as originally brought into the ME region – was a Sun (but also maybe a Moon?) God and did have a consort or, at least, a (female) counterpart – Ashera (Astarte/ Aušra/ Aušrinė/ Ostera/ Isis/ Demeter/ Lada?). Of course, each people will develop their Gods to their liking and, of course, the later (especially Deuteronomistic/2nd Temple)  monotheistic (monopolistic) Yahwe may well be different from the initial conception.

The name David itself could be interpreted as “Gift of God” or of the Lord with the IE “da” to give and “vit” as in vitas (Baltic). One could also explain Isra-el with the genitive, that is, El (God) of Iser. This is, of course, a major stretch and huge speculation. Nevertheless, the words issa/issera appear throughout Europe and it is hard to believe that they reflect any Semitic Exodus into Europe. A more likely correct theory is that they are IE. In Suavic, for example, you have jezioro/ozero meaning “lake”. This word also appears in Anatolia. Krahe referred to these hydronyms as Old European but that just means he did not know what to do with them. Others have used the term “Illyrian” – another placeholder for our ignorance. (This hypothetical influence on the Levant, if in fact true, is IE – not Suavic per se, of course, as there likely were no Suavs back then, at least as we understand them today).

(Similarly rooted words designate eating (jeść), being (jest) or mouth (usta). Other curious connections can be drawn to “egg” (jajo/jajko – itself a strange connection to the idea of the “origin” – at least of a “lizard/bird” type  of origin) and ride but also, in effect, move/flow (jechać). These are all ancient and I suspect predate the 2nd millennium B.C.)

To be sure the influences could have been mutual. For example, the river Ister is also known as the Donau/Danube which, like the much more eastern Don (a source also of words like the Italian “don”) is sometimes derived from the same root. Now, we do know that Adonis/Adonai have a Semitic etymology and refer to a (or the) Lord. We further known that IEs (Suavs being one well known example) worshipped rivers and so here you have an “Ister” the Don (compare Tamissa and other similar names; remember too Isaac). So does this mean that the word “don” is really IE or, does it mean that some Semitic speakers were up north by the Danube (and Vennemann is right) or, does it mean that the concept behind the word don was incorporated (along with Adonis) into the Greek and then other IE vocabulary?

(Other interesting examples exist; there is a chronic IE (Vedic) Deity called Yama (the origin of which Deity may be a word like the Polish jama, meaning “cave” or “opening”). In the Canaanite religion there is a somewhat comparable Yam or Yamm who is a water/sea God).

A connection may also exist from genetics. The haplogroup R1a was discovered in large proportions in some Jews. This, of course, immediately got politicized into the so-called Khazar hypothesis whose primary purpose seemed to be (or at least quickly became) to delegitimize Israel. A more in depth analysis seems to have revealed that the R1a version found was not, in fact, European. So the Khazar crap is gone but the question still remains – who were these people? After all, R1a did not originate in Judea and Samaria. Maybe it came from the Exile in Babylonia but maybe it arrived much earlier – note that the type of R1a is of the same (general) branch (Z93) that the Indian Brahmins (and others in India/Pakistan/Afghanistan) sport and we do know that India was at that time invaded (or, if you prefe, immigrated into) by at least some Pontic-Caspian steppe dwellers.

Modern historians generally believe that the Exodus was a myth and that most of the ancient Israeli population was, in fact, local. While this counter-biblical narrative may suit the current political needs, it is, perhaps, also correct.  However, that does not mean that there is no kern truth to the story or that, if such story were in some aspect correct, that the people who set out as part of this exile group were, in fact, the same people that later became part of the Israeli kingdoms – the vast majority of whom may well have been local – again, the Rus conquest of the Suavs may be suggestive of the possible answer. (Tacitus mentions a story of Jewish origin in Crete which by mid 2nd millenium B.C. would almost certainly have been IE).

In other words, I suspect that not only was Esus not Jesus but that Jesus was named for a Deity of the Sun/Moon/Rebirth – perhaps originally a human hero such as Jason – introduced, perhaps, into the Levant – in different forms – by polytheistic Indo-European marauders (either from Egypt (“Sea Peoples”) or from the North) – a Deity whose worship/memory kept on going on the Continent in the form of Esus in Gall, of Iasion (Jason too perhaps) in Greece, of the Aesir in Scandinavia and of Jassa in Poland.

Thus, neither the Suavs nor any other northern tribe are any “lost tribe of Israel” which would have been a much more recent post-Exilic concept (that is from the 2nd Temple time; putting aside the notion that such tribes would likely not have existed by the time of Babylonian Captivity). More likely, unless, of course, Vennemann is right, the origin of all three of Levant’s religions is to be sought away in the North – perhaps in Mycenae, perhaps in Anatolia (the north part of which – incidentally, the “Venetic” part – was “Ashkenaz”), or even further north. The fact that Mycaneans used the hexapetal rosette – later identified with Esus – a few hundred years before any possible Exodus, is, at the very least, suggestive.

Naturally, the locals subsequently shaped their religions as they saw fit/appropriate for their circumstances and needs. Yahwe may have initially been a fertility/rebirth/Sun God as conceived by the IEs, may then have become a war God and, as Jews were exiled, Yahwe’s characterisics may have changed again to fit the requirements of the moment. That reworking served also after the fall of the Second Temple. Similarly, Jassa/jasion the rebirth/fertility/Sun/Moon Deity of the Suavs also, with the advent of the Frankish/Saxon wars, seems to have been forced into an Ares/war God form under the later name Gerovit.

Of course, this may all just go back to Osiris. (I leave the question of an earlier Egyptian – Mesopotamian connection to others).

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December 25, 2018

Radagost the Green

PublishedDecember 23, 2018 Post authortorino

A most curious name pops up in Adam of Bremen’s “History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen” – the name of an alleged Suavic Deity of the Redarii tribe – Redigast.

Adam’s Deity

As Adam seemed to be describing the same area as that previously described earlier by Thietmar where the Redarii’s’ chief Deity’s name is Zuarazici but this Zuarazici is worshipped in a town named Riedegost, a fight immediately broke out among various Suavic scholars whether the Deity’s name was really Svarozic or Redagost/Radagost.

Thietmar’s town

The German scholar Alexander Brückner famously quipped that Adam got himself mixed up and Redagost/Radagost was the name of the local tavern and the name Svarozic was the right one. He translated Radagost as “Rady Gość” that is essentially meaning “Happy guest.” From there it was a simple path to conclude that Adam mistook the name of an inn or tavern for a Suavic cultic place. Most academics are not exactly Mensa stars and so they largely went along with the mocking conclusions of Brückner’s faux erudition. Some clung on by ascribing to Radagost the celestial portfolio of hospitality. That last bit certainly seems to have been a stretch but whatever one may say about the Deity Name, it seems to me that they were wrong to adopt the tavern explanation.

The answer may be in the word gwozd, gozd or gozdawa, that is a “forest” or, perhaps, a “tree”. Today the name continues in Polish in the word for “nail” (gwóźdź) and for a carnation (goździk, that is a “little tree”). As discussed, the same word appears in the Suavic (and Baltic) word for “star” – gwiazda suggesting that the ancient Suavs looked at the night sky as basically a heavenly wood. Curiously, the Breton (Armorican Venetic?) word for “trees” is, similarly, gwez. Since we do know that ancient Suavs (like “Germans”) worshipped trees and groves, Redagost/Radagost would simply mean a “Happy Grove” – perhaps a place of worship – a sacred grove. Thus, Rethra was the name of the town in this telling, the Sacred Forest was called by its Suavic appellation – Radagast – and the Deity worshipped there could have been, among others, Svarozic.

That the “tavern” etymology is doubtful is indicated by the fact that the name is quite widespread. It appears throughout Central Europe.

Poland

  • Radogoszcz on the Złota (Golden) River near Łódź
  • Radogoszcz on Lake Kałęba (German Radegast)
  • Redgoszcz near a lake of the same name between Poznań and Bydgoszcz
  • Radgoszcz near Tarnów (incidentally just west of Radomyśl, a name which is also very popular)
  • Radgoszcz between Łomża and Ostrołęka
  • Radgoszcz near Międzychód
  • Radgoszcz (Wünschendorf) Near Luban, Lower Silesia

Czech Republic

  • Radhošť near the town of Vysoké Mýto
  • Radhošť a mountain (curiously a chapel and a sculpture of Saints Cyril and Methodius are located on the summit; southeast of that there is also a statute of Radegast)

Germany

  • Radagost a river that starts south of Gadebusch, passes through the Radegasttal/Rehna and enters the River Stepenitz just below Börzow (also written as Radegast, Radegost, Rodogost)
  • Radegast NNE of Leipzig
  • Radegast southwest of Rostock just past Satow
  • Radegast east of Lüneburg
  • Radegast west of Lützow

Ukraine

  • Mala Radohoshch at Khmelnytskyi Oblast near Ostroh
  • Velyka Radohoshch at Khmelnytskyi Oblast near Ostroh
  • Radohoshcha at Zhytomyr Oblast
  • Radohoshch near Chernihiv*

* exact location uncertain – this could have been in Belarus.

Belarus

  • Radohoszcz(a) (Rahodoszcz) near Ivanava (interestingly nearby just west of Kobryn you have Vandalin)
  • Radohoszcza a river near Grodna (Grodno)*
  • Radohoszcza on the river Nevda south of Navahrudak (Nowogródek)

* exact location uncertain

Italy 

  • Radigosa – a place near Bologna with a similar name (aka Raigosole, Ragigosa, Rigosa am Lavino).

Here is a map of all of these places (some are an approximation).

These names can rather easily be linked to forest that previously covered vast swaths of these countries or to local worship groves but linking them to roadside inns seems a much tougher goal to achieve.

That all these place names have a Suavic etymology no one seriously doubts. With the exception of the Bologna reference, every place they appear is a place where Suavs have lived or are living still (sometimes, in Germania Suavica, Suavs qua Germans).

But then we come to a puzzle. There is also a much earlier (half a millennium) mention of a Goth, a “true Scythian” who threatened Rome and its senators in the very early 5th century – his name was Radagaisus. This brings up the question of what language the admittedly multi-ethnic Goths really spoke and, as the vast throngs of humanity poured into the Roman Empire how much Goth was there really in the Goths? More on Radagaisus and the sources that mention him soon.

PS That Tolkien took the name of Radagast the Brown from the above ancient European histories is obvious. What some people do not know is that the Tolkien name is likely Old Prussian, derived from the village of Tołkiny (the Old Prussian Tolkyn) in the former East Prussia and today’s north Poland.

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December 23, 2018

John Kaminiates A.D. 904

PublishedDecember 20, 2018 Post authortorino

Thessalonica had been attacked by the Slavs sometime in the early 600s – on that see the Miracles of Saint Demetrius (here & here). John Kaminiates was a Greek resident of the city three centuries later. This time, in 904, the city was being attacked (and was, in fact, sacked) by Muslim Arabs from across the Mediterranean in Tripoli.

Arabs sacking Thessalonica in 904

Thanks to John Kaminiates we have an account of these events in his “On the Capture of Thessalonica” (Εις την άλωσιν της Θεσσαλονίκης, Eis tēn alōsin tēs Thessalonikēs). The book was, apparently, written while John was in Arab captivity. The translation is by David Frendo and Athanasios Fotiou.

Chapter 6

“We have given an adequate description of the eastern and northern part of the city and also of the southern part. Now let us try to depict as best we can the general layout of the western part. There is another plain which starts at the Jetty Wall, follows the contour of the mountain on the right, borders the sea on the left and presents the beholder with a spectacle of beauty. For that part which can claim some proximity to both the city and the sea is plentifully irrigated, decked out with vineyards, copses and gardens and adorned with innumerable dwellings and chapels, most of which have been divided up and held in common by companies of monks, who practise every kind of virtue (!) and live for God alone, towards whom they strive and on account of whom they left the turmoil of civic life and undertook to follow the path that leads to Him alone.”

“After that, the plain extends inland for a great distance with mostly treeless vegetation, but with good agricultural land. It continues to stretch in a westerly direction until it reaches another range of lofty mountains, at which point is situated a city called Beroea. It is a famous city in its own right both with regard to its inhabitants and to all the other qualities on which a city pins its faith.”

“In its central portion tihis plain also contains a mixture of villages, some of whose inhabitants, the Drougoubitai and the Sagoudatoi as they are called, pay their taxes to the city, while others pay tribute to the Scythians* who live not far from the border. Yet the villages and their inhabitants live very dose to one another, and the close commercial relations that are maintained with the Scythians are a considerable asset to the citizens of Thessaloniki as well, especially when both parties stay on friendly terms with each other and refrain from any violent measures that lead to confrontation and armed conflict. They share a common lifestyle and exchange commodities in perfect peace and harmony, and this has been their policy for some not inconsiderable time past. Mighty rivers, rising from the land of the Scythians, divide among themselves the aforesaid plain, and they lavish much abundance on the city through supplying it with fish and through being navigable upstream by seagoing vessels, as a result of which a cunningly contrived assortment of profits from commodities flows down those waters.”

* note: By Scythians he means Bulgarians.

Chapter 20

“Nevertheless, when, after the strategies’ injury, all responsibility for our welfare devolved upon Niketas, he too plead his part to the best of his ability. He said that a great number of Sklavenes from the territories, both those who paid us tribute and those who who were under jurisdiction of the strategies of Strymon, had been instructed to come up to the city, so that thanks to their skill in archery we might perhaps not be found inferior even in weaponry to our enemies, but have at our disposal the means of repelling their first onslaught. And he eagerly set about accomplishing this plan. He wrote letters which he had dispatched thought the whole adjoining region. In these he urged the Sklavenes and their retainers to come to us with all speed, each man arming himself as heavily as he could. But only a few peasants responded to his appeal, a wholly inadequate force, few in number and totally unprepared for battle. This state of affairs had been brought about by the incompetence and dishonesty of the commanders who had been put in charge of the these men were more concerned with their own advantage that with the common good, habitually intriguing against their associates, madly intent on taking bribes and well-versed in the art of preferring this type of acquisition to all others. On two, three, indeed on several different occasions the aforesaid Niketas tried by means of a letter to frighten the strategies of Strymon into action, accusing him of procrastination and intimating that, if the city were to suffer any harm as a result of the present peril, he would denounce him to the emperor as solely responsible for what had happened. But the fellow clung just as obstinately as before to his habitual folly. Without fear or respect for God or man and thinking nothing of the destruction of so great a city, he resolved that neither he for his part, nor any of his subordinates, should come to our aid when we were in such dire straits. Instead, he misled us right up to the last day of the war into believing that he would appear at any moment, playing unknown to us, the accomplice in a plot to bring about our downfall , and laughing up his sleeve at the disaster which engulfed us.”

Chapter 21

“Thus, we were deceived in the hopes which we entertained of our Sklavene allies. Yet we were no mere handful of men but were easily up to the required numerical strength and far exceeded that of the barbarian army. Nevertheless, our complete inexperience of warfare and lack of previous training made an enemy attack the object of limitless fear and trepidation. And in particular it seemed to us a bad sign that we had not managed to contrives any means of defense against this contingency.”

“Meanwhile, recourse to flight would have been an ignoble act, since it would inevitably have resulted in the capture of the city and the theft of all the ornaments made of gold, silver and other valuable materials belonging to the places of worship already referred to, or in the destruction by fire of the holy churches themselves. At the same time, even if we contrived to avoid suffering harm at the hands of the barbarians, we would not know how to assuage the emperor’s displeasure. Yet, such a policy would have been bearable and would have guaranteed our safety, however much the bare mention of such things might have sounded like a fate worse than death to those individuals who had never really known the meaning of adversity. For a people used only to a soft and luxurious life style, and with no previous military training to have to take such momentous decisions, that was a thought that filled us with horror and fairly drove us to distraction.”

Chapter 25

“But when that wild beast had surveyed the entire extent of the wall and had noticed that the entrance to the harbour was barred by an iron chain and obstructed by the sunken hulks of a number of ships, he decided to launch his attack just at those points which he perceived to be free of those blocks of stone which, lurking on the seabed where they had earlier been placed, impeded the access of his ships and where his fleet would not be under heavier fire from that part of the wall which had already been built up to some considerable height. He chose a location, in fact, where a great depth of sea water beat against a particularly low stretch of wall, made a careful note of his position, and then, returning to his men, gave the signal for battle. They swooped down with their ships towards those points which had been described to them, letting out harsh and savage cries and rowing furiously in the direction of the wall. And banging on rawhide drums, they raised a fearful din, and they tried with many other kinds of bluff to frighten the defenders on the battlements. But those who were manning the wall shouted back even louder and invoked the aid of the saving weapon of the cross against the enemy forces. And they did this to such an effect that the barbarians, at the sound of so many people uttering a cry more fearsome than any they had previously heard, were dazed for a while and did not expect to achieve anything. Estimating the numbers of the citizens from the loudness of their shouts, they concluded that it would be no easy matter to enter the fray against such odds and to sack so great a city, the like of which they had never seen. Nevertheless, in order not to create the impression of having lost their nerve at the start of their offensive, they advanced neither fearlessly, nor with the rage which they later displayed, but with a certain blend of frenzy and fear, protecting themselves against their opponents by means of a barrage of missiles. Then their approach became more reckless and they strove to bring the fighting nearer, rousing themselves to fury like barking dogs and thoroughly enraged by the weapons that were hurled down at them from the wall. The citizens, in fact, were anything but remiss in their use of archery, and used it to great and conspicuous effect by stationing all the Sklavenes gathered from the neighbouring regions at those points from which it was easiest to shoot accurately and where there was nothing to deflect the momentum of their missiles.”

Chapter 41

“Exactly the same thing happened at the other gate, known as the Litaia Gate. Of the other gates, as we pointed out, those leading to the sea had been occupied in advance by the barbarians, whereas we ourselves had previousty blocked up three facing east, fearing in their case also the enemy’s strategem of setting fire to them, something which we had already experienced to our cost with the outer gates of the fortification. Consequently, people sensed helplessly that their escape was barred from all sides and floundered hopelessly about the streets, encountering death at every turn. Only a few, a mere handful, threw themselves from the walls at the western end of the harbour and leaped to safety. Certain others had saved their lives by surreptitiously slipping away through the gate near the Acropolis before disaster struck.

These men were the leaders of the Sklavenes, who had long been rehearsing this move, having previously gone so far as to steal the keys to the gates in question. But they should, in view of the critical nature of the situation, have allowed everyone who happened to be around at the time to avail himself of the opportunity to escape. Had they done so, many of those who happened to be in the area before the barbarians attacked would have avoided death. But they had no time for such a notion. They were far too busy looking after their own welfare, and in a move aimed exclusively at warding off danger from [to] themselves, they pushed the wings of the gate ajar and made a speedy exit, leaving one of their number on the spot to shut the gate behind them. In this way they treacherously undermined the safety of everybody on that occasion too, under the specious and lying pretext that they were not fleeing but were going to collect allies from the Strymon area, pretending that this was at the express command of the strategos.”

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December 20, 2018

Signs of Lada Part VIII – Back to Lycia

PublishedDecember 18, 2018 Post authortorino

This comes from the Yearbooks of Friends of Antiquity Society in the Rheinland (Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande), volume 7.

I discussed the same inscription some time back here along with others mentioned by the society:

  • MINERVAE CVR LADAE (above)
  • IMPLE O LADA
  • P.VAL.LADA

Minerva is, of course, the same as Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, courage, war, law, etc.  She is given the epithet Pallas, a word that is derived either from πάλλω (to brandish [a weapon]), or  from παλλακίς (also an interesting fact – note that in Russian palyanka meant a brave woman) and related words, meaning “youth” that is a “young woman.” She is also the protector of the palace and the king. She was the daughter of Zeus.

Lada is, as we know, has been called “Mars” by Długosz who also, elsewhere, called her a Mazovian Goddess. These statements are reconcilable if you interpret the Goddess as a warrior Goddess. In other words, Długosz would not have been saying that Lada was Mars but merely that Mars was the closest analogy to Lada in his interpretatio romana of the Polish Pantheon.

Of course, Brueckner objected that Lada was just a Slavic name for the “betrothed” or “wife.” The interesting thing is, as I pointed out some time back that Lada in Lycian (!) (Lycia in Anatolia) meant the exact same thing (see here).

What escaped my notice that the author of the above (L.J.F. Janssen) also made the claim that not only was Lada the word for a “wife” in Lycian (that is what Gemahlin that is Ehefrau, Ehegattin, Gattin, Frau means in this context) but that – in Lycia – Lada was the wife/betrothed of Jupiter. The source of this assertion, he does not give.

Długosz claimed that Jesse or Jassa was the equivalent of Jupiter (though not that Jassa was Jupiter) in the Polish pantheon. If so, then the matching of both Jassa and Lada by him as well as by earlier writers makes complete sense. Lada is the Athena female wife-protector of Jassa – a bit of an Amazon warrior princess from Mazovia.

Of course, Athena had a complicated relationship with Zeus to say the least. But, again, there is nothing to indicate a similar relationship between Jassa and Lada. If Jassa corresponds better to the Greek Iasion then Lada would have been his companion/consort/female protector. Perhaps a bit like Demeter. Note too that in Polish and a number of Suavic languages the names of the seasons correspond to the above Names:

  • wiosna (pron. vyosna) – spring – to Iasion
  • lato – summer – to Lada
  • jesień (pron. yesyen) – fall – to Iasion, again

It is worth noting that Iasion’s namesake, Jason, was also assisted on his quest by Athena. For similar connections between Jove and Lada from Spain see here.  For an English connection (?), see here. For more on the Amazonic connection see here.

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December 18, 2018

Egyptian Dziady

PublishedDecember 14, 2018 Post authortorino

To come up with elaborate theories based on the following would be foolish and premature but, upon finding it, it is difficult to view this description as not remarkable.

Erman

This comes from Adolph Erman’s Aegypten und Aegyptischenes Leben im Altertum. Similar descriptions were made in Karl Heinrich Brugsch’s Religion und mythologie der alten Ägypter and they made they way to James Frazer’s “The Golden Bough”.

Frazer

Here we have ancient Egyptian rites culminating with the erection of a pillar which was referred to as Tatu, Tat, or Ded. This was, seemingly, according to Frazer, very much like a Słup Majowy – a Maypole.

Frazer makes an interesting observation about all this by noting that these Egyptian rites for the dead Osiris took place in the month of Athyr. This month corresponds to November. Since Frazer views this as a harvest festival he has to explain how a harvest festival could be celebrated in November when it is known that – in Egypt – the harvest falls in April. Of course, the harvest in the North, such as in Poland, falls between the middle of June and the middle of August. But… when did the harvest occur in Poland back 4,500 years ago? In any event, we all know that the festival of the dead, Dziady, falls on or about All Saints Day, that is November 1.

For more wacky Egyptian “Slavic” stuff see here and here.

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December 14, 2018

The Slavs of Leo VI’s Taktika

PublishedDecember 12, 2018 Post authortorino

Leo VI the Wise aka the Philosopher (866 – 912) was Byzantine Emperor between 886 and 912. He wrote a number of works including his Taktika in which he discusses Slavs, among other peoples. While readers will recognize the Slav passages as being rough copies of earlier works (for example, of Procopius), they are included here for completeness. The translation is by George Dennis.

75. Formerly there were the Slavs. When they dwelt across the Ister, which we call the Danube, the Romans (Byzantines) attacked them and made war against them. They were then living as nomads, that is, before they crossed the Ister and bent their necks under the yoke of Roman authority. But I will not leave you ignorant of their usual methods in combat and of the other customs. Indeed, as I said, I will gather and explain everything to you, to the best of my ability, so that, like the bee, you may bring together from all sides and collect what is useful.

93. The Slavic nations have shared the same customs and way of life with each other. They were independent, absolutely refusing to be enslaved or governed especially when they dwelled across the Danube in their own country. And when they crossed over from there to here and, as it were, were forced to accept slavery, they still did not want to obey another person meekly but in some manner only themselves. For they deemed it better to be destroyed by a ruler of their own race than to serve and to submit themselves to the laws of the Romans. Even after they received the sacrament of salvic baptism, unto our own times, they just as sternly retained their ancient and customary independence.

94. They were always a populous and hardy people, readily bearing up under heat, cold, rain, nakedness, and scarcity of provisions.

95. Our father, autokrator of the Romans, Basil, now in the divine dwelling, persuaded these peoples to abandon their ancient ways and, having made them Greek, subjected them to rulers according to the Roman model, and having graced them with baptism, he liberated them from slavery to their own rulers and trained them to take part in warfare against those nations warring against the Romans. By these means he very carefully arranged matters for those peoples. As a result, he enabled the Romans to feel relaxed after the frequent uprisings by the Slavs in the past and the many disturbances and wars they had suffered from them in ancient times.

96. The tribes of the Slavs – I am not sure ho to say this – practiced hospitality to an extreme, and even now they judge it wrong to abandon it, but gold on to it as formerly. They were kind and gentle to travelers in their land, and were favorably disposed to them, They conducted them safely from one place to another in sequence and preserved them free from harm and always well supplied, commending them to one another. Indeed, if the stranger happened to suffer some harm because of his host’s negligence, the one who had commended him would commence hostilities against that host, regarding vengeance for the stranger as a sacred pledge.

97. From former times they held on to another very sympathetic custom. They did not keep those whom they had taken into captivity for an indefinite period, as long as they wished. Rather, they set a definite period of time for their enslavement, and then gave the prisomners a choice: after this set period, if they so desired, they could return to their own homes with a certain assigned recompense or, if they wished to stay with them, they could remain there as free men and friends.

98. Their women manifested particularly strong feelings. Many of them regarded the death of their husbands as their own and would have themselves suffocated, <finding it> unbearable to keep on living as widow.

99. For food they made use of millet. They were truly happy and content with very little and grudgingly bore the labors involved in farming. They far preferred to have a much more independent way of life without any work than to acquire a wide variety of food or money with great deal of toil.

100. Formerly they were armed with short javelins, or throwing weapons, two to each mann while other had large, thick shields, similar to thyreoi. They also used wooden bows and they had arrows smeared with a drug that was very effective. If the wounded man did not drink an antidote or take some other remedy to counteract the drug or immediately cut around the wound to keep <the poison> from spreading, it would assuredly destroy the whole body.

101. They love to make their homes in overgrown and difficult land and to take refuge there.

102. Previously, in the constitution (chapter) dealing with unexpected ambushes, we explained the manner in which the Romans made their attacks and ambushes against them. Now you, O general, even if you are not setting up surprise ambushes against them but against peoples like them or against other barbarians, if indeed you should find something useful in that ordinance, they you will have something right at hand to meet any contingency, as though you had been drilled in it beforehand.

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December 12, 2018

All the Wends of Saxo Grammaticus – Books III, IV, V & VI

PublishedDecember 8, 2018 Post authortorino

Here are the remaining books of the Gesta Danorum that mention Wends or related peoples. Since the Russians are referred to in the Latin as Ruthenos, that is kept in the English translation to avoid confusion. Some of these may well be Slavs but most are most likely the “Rus”.

Book III

Chapter 4

1. Now although Odin was regarded as chief among the gods, he would approach seers, soothsayers, and others whom he had discovered strong in the finest arts of prediction, with a view to prosecuting vengeance for his son. Divinity is not always so perfect that it can dispense with human aid. Rosthiof the Finn foretold that Rinda, daughter of the Ruthenian king, must bear him another son, who was destined to take reprisal for his brother’s killing; the gods had ordained that their colleague should be avenged by his future brother’s hand. Acting on this intelligence, Odin muffled his face beneath a hat so that he would not be betrayed by his appearance and went to this king to offer his services as a soldier. By him Odin was made general, took over his master’s army, and achieved a glorious victory over his enemies. On account of his adroit conduct of this battle the monarch admitted him to the highest rank of friendship, honouring him no less generously with gifts than decorations. After a brief lapse of time Odin beat the enemy’s line into flight singlehanded and, after contriving this amazing defeat, also returned to announce it. Everybody was astounded that one man^s strength could have heaped massacre’on such countless numbers. Relying on these achievements Odin whispered to the king the secret of his love. Uplifted by the other’s very friendly encouragement, he tried to kiss he girl and was rewarded with a slap across the face.

15. Later, after he had called his chieftains to a meeting, Høther announced that he was bound to take on Bo and would perish in the fight, a fact he had discovered not by doubtful surmises but from the trustworthy prophecies of seers. He therefore begged them to make his son Rørik ruler of the kingdom and not let the votes of wicked men transfer this privilege to unknown foreign houses, declaring that he would experience more delight in the assurance of his son’s succession than bitterness at his own approaching death. When they had readily acceded to his request he met Bo in battle and was slain. But Bo had little joy in his victory; he was so badly stricken himself that he withdrew from the skirmish, was carried home on his shield in turns by his foot-soldiers and expired next day from the agony of his wounds. At a splendidly prepared funeral the Ruthenian army buried his body in a magnificent barrow erected to his name, so that the record of this noble young man should not soon fade from the memory of later generations.

Chapter 5

1. The Kurlanders and Swedes, who used to show their allegiance to Denmark each year with the payment of taxes, felt as though the death of Høther had liberated them from their oppressive tributary status and had the idea of making an armed attack on the Danes. This gave the Wends also the temerity to rebel and turned many of the other vassal states into enemies. To check their violence Rorik recruited his countrymen and incited them to courageous deeds by reviewing the achievements of their forefathers in a spirited harangue. The barbarians saw that they needed a leader themselves, for they were reluctant to enter the fray without a general, and therefore they elected a king; then, putting the rest of their military strength on display, they hid two companies of soldiers in a dark spot. Rørik saw the trap. When he perceived that his vessels were wedged in the shallows of a narrow creek, he dragged them off the sandbanks where they had grounded and steered them out into deep water, fearing that if they struck into marshy pools the enemy would attack them from a different quarter. He also decided that his comrades should find a site where they could lurk during the day and spring unexpectedly on anyone invading their ships; this way, he said, it was quite possible that the enemy’s deception would rebound on their own heads. The barbarians had been assigned to their place of ambush, unaware that the Danes were on the watch, and as soon as they rashly made an assault, every man was struck down. Because the remaining band of Wends were ignorant of their companions’ slaughter, they hung suspended in great amazement and uncertainty over Rørik’s lateness. While they kept waiting for him, their minds wavering anxiously, the delay became more and more intolerable each day, and they finally determined to hunt him down with their fleet.

2. Among them [the Wends] was a man of outstanding physical appearance, a wizard by vocation. Looking out over the Danish squadrons he cried: ‘As the majority may be bought out of danger at the cost of one or two lives, we could forestall a general catastrophe by hazarding single persons. I won’t flinch from these terms of combat if any of you dare attempt to decide the issue along with me. But my chief demand is that we employ a fixed rule for which I have devised the phrasing: “If I win, grant us immunity from taxes; if I am beaten, the tribute shall be paid to you as of old.” This day I shall either be victorious and relieve my homeland of its slavish yoke, or be conquered and secure it more firmly. Accept me as pledge and security for either outcome.’

3. When one of the Danes, who had a stouter heart than body, heard this, he ventured to ask Rørik what remuneration the man who took on the challenger would receive. Rørik happened to be wearing a bracelet of six rings inextricably interlocked with a chain of knots and he promised this as a reward for whoever dared to enter the contest. But the young man, not so sure of Fate, replied: ‘If things go well for me, Rørik, your generosity must judge what the winner’s prize should be and award a suitable palm. But if this proposal turns out very much against my wishes, what compensation shall be due from you to the defeated, who will be enveloped in cruel death or severe dishonour? These are the usual associates of weakness, the recompense of the vanquished; what is left for such persons but utter disgrace? What payment can a man earn, what thanks can he receive, when his bravery has achieved nothing? Who has ever garlanded the weakling with the ivy crown of war or hung the tokens of victory on him? Decorations go to the hero not to the coward. His mischances carry no glory. Praise and exultation attend the former, a useless death or an odious life the latter. I am not sure which way the fortune of this duel will turn, so that I have no rash aspirations to any reward, having no idea whether it should rightly be my due. Anyone unexpectant of victory cannot be allowed to take the victor’s expected fee. Without assurance of obtaining the trophy I am not going to lay any firm claim to a triumphal wreath. A presentation which could equally signify the wages of death or life, I refuse. Only a fool wants to lay his hands on unripe fruit and pluck something before he knows if he has earned it properly. This arm will secure me laurels or the grave.’

4. With these words he smote the barbarian with his sword, with a more forward disposition than his fortunes warranted. In return the other delivered such a mighty stroke that he took his life at the first blow. This was a woeful spectacle for the Danes, whereas the Wends staged a great procession accompanied by splendid scenes of jubilation for their triumphant comrade. The following day, either carried away by his recent success or fired by greed to achieve a second one, he marched close up to his enemies and began to provoke them with the same challenge as before. Since he believed he had felled the most valiant Dane, he thought no one was left with the fighting spirit to respond to another summons. He trusted that with the eclipse of one champion the whole army’s strength had wilted, and estimated that anything to which he bent his further efforts he would have no trouble at all in dealing with. Nothing feeds arrogance as much as good fortune nor stimulates pride more effectively than success.

5. Rørik grieved that their general bravery could be shaken by one man’s impudence, and that the Danes, despite their fine record of conquests, could be received with insolence and even shamefully despised by races they had once beaten; he was sad too that among such a host of warriors no one could be found with so ready a heart and vigorous an arm that he was capable of wanting to lay down his life for his country. The first noble spirit to remove the damaging illrepute which the Danes’ hesitancy had cast on them was Ubbi. He had a mighty frame and was powerful in the arts of enchantment. When he deliberately enquired what the prize for this match was to be, the king pledged his bracelet again. Ubbi answered: ‘How can I put any faith in your promise, when you carry the stake in your hands and will not trust such a reward to anyone else’s keeping? Deposit it with someone standing by, so that you can’t possibly go back on your word. Champions’ souls are only aroused when they can depend on the gift not being withdrawn.’ Without any doubt he spoke with his tongue in his cheek, since it was sheer valour that had armed him to beat off this insult to his fatherland.

6. Rørik thought that he coveted the gold; as he wanted to prevent any appearance of withholding the reward in an unkingly fashion or revoking his promise, he decided to shake off the bracelet and hurl it hard to his petitioner from his station aboard ship. However, the wide intervening gap thwarted his attempt. It needed a brisker and more forceful fling and the bracelet consequently fell short of its destination and was snatched by the waves; afterwards the nickname ‘Slyngebond’ always stuck to Rørik. This incident gave strong testimony to Ubbi’s courage. The loss of his sunken fee in no way deterred him from his bold intention, for he did not wish his valour to be thought a mere lackey to payment. He therefore made his way to the contest eagerly to show that his mind was set on honour, not gain, and that he put manly resolution before avarice; he would advertise that his confidence was grounded rather in a high heart than in wages. No time was lost before they made an arena, the soldiers milled round, the combatants rushed together, and a din rose as the crowd of onlookers roared support for one or the other competitor. The champions’ spirits blazed and they flew to deal one another injuries, but simultaneously found an end to the duel and their lives, I believe because Fortune contrived that the one should not gain praise and joy through the other’s fate. This affair won over the rebels and restored Rørik’s tribute.

Book IV

Chapter 9

1. After him Dan assumed the monarchy. While only a 12 year old, he was pestered by insolent envoys who told him he must give the Saxons tribute or war. His sense of honor put battle before payment, driving him to face a turbulent death rather than live a coward. In consequence he staked his lot on warfare; the young warriors of Denmark crowded the River Elbe with such a vast concourse of shops that one could easily cross it over the decks lashed together like a continuous bridge. Eventually the king of Saxony was compelled to accept the same terms he was demanding from the Danes.

Book V

Chapter 4

1. Word came later of an invasion by the Wends. Erik was commissioned to suppress this with the assistance of eight ships, since Frothi appeared to be still raw in matters of fighting. Never wishing to decline real man’s work, Erik undertook the task gladly and executed it bravely. When he perceived seven privateers, he only sailed one of his ships towards them, ordering that the rest be surrounded by defences of timber and camouflaged with the topped branches of trees. He then advanced as if to make a fuller reconnaissance of the enemy fleet’s numbers, but began to beat a hasty retreat back towards his own followers as the Wends gave chase. The foes were oblivious of the trap and, eager to catch the turn-tail, struck the waves with fast, unremitting oars. Erik’s ships with their appearance of a leafy wood could not be clearly distinguished. The pirates had ventured into a narrow, winding inlet when they suddenly discovered themselves hemmed in by Erik’s fleet. At first they were dumbfounded by the extraordinary sight of a wood apparently sailing along and then realized that deceit lay beneath the leaves. Too late they regretted their improvidence and tried to retrace the incautious route they had navigated. But while they were preparing to turn their craft about they witnessed their adversaries leaping on to the decks. Erik, drawing up his ship on to the beach, hurled rocks at the distant enemy from a ballista. The majority of the Wends were slaughtered, but Erik captured forty, who were chained and starved and later gave up their ghosts under various painful tortures.

2. In the meanwhile Frothi had mustered a large fleet equally from the Danes and their neighbours with a view to launching an expedition into Wendish territory. Even the smallest vessel was able to transport twelve sailors and was propelled by the same number of oars. Then Erik told his comrades to wait patiently while he went to meet Frothi with tidings of the destruction they had already wrought. During the voyage, when he happened to catch sight of a pirate ship run aground in shallow waters, in his usual way he pronounced serious comment on chance circumstances: ‘The fate of the meaner sort is ignoble,’/ he remarked, ‘the lot of base individuals squalid.’ Next he steered closer and overpowered the freebooters as they were struggling with poles to extricate their vessel, deeply engrossed in their own preservation.

3. This accomplished, he returned to the royal fleet and, desiring to cheer Frothi with a greeting which heralded his victory, hailed him as one who, unscathed, would be the maker of a most flourishing peace. The king prayed that his words might come true and affirmed that the mind of a wise man was prophetic. Erik declared that his words were indeed true, that a trifling conquest presaged a greater, and that often predictions of mighty events could be gleaned from slender occurrences. He then urged the king to divide his host and gave instructions for the cavalry from Jutland to set out on the overland route, while the remainder of the army should embark on the shorter passage by water. Such a vast concourse of ships filled the sea that there were no harbours capacious enough to accommodate them, no shores wide enough for them to encamp, nor sufficient money to furnish adequate supplies. The land army is said to have been so large that there are reports of hills being flattened to provide short-cuts, marshes made traversable, lakes and enormous chasms filled in with rubble to level the ground.

4. Although Strumik, the Wendish king, sent ambassadors in the meanwhile to ask for a cessation of hostilities, Frothi refused him time to equip himself; an enemy, he said, should not be supplied with a truce. Also, having till now spent his life away from fighting, once he had made the break he shouldn’t let matters hang doubtfully in the air; any combatant who had enjoyed preliminary success had a right to expect his subsequent military fortunes to follow suit. The outcome of the first clashes would give each side a fair prognostication of the war, for initial achievements in battle always boded well for future encounters. Erik praised the wisdom of his reply, stating that he should play the game abroad as it had begun at home, by which he meant that the Danes had been provoked by the Wends. He followed up these words with a ferocious engagement, killed Strumik along with the most valiant of his people, and accepted the allegiance of the remnant.

5. Frothi then announced by herald to the assembled Wends that if any persons among them had persistently indulged in robbery and pillage, they should swiftly reveal themselves, as he promised to recompense such behaviour with maximum distinction. He even told all who were skilled in the pursuit of evil arts to step forward and receive their gifts. The Wends were delighted at the offer. Certain hopefuls, more greedy than prudent, declared themselves even before anyone else could lay information against them. Their strong avarice cheated them into setting profit before shame and imagining that crime was a glorious thing. When these folk had exposed themselves of their own accord, Frothi cried: ‘It’s your business, Wends, to rid the country of these vermin yourselves.’ Immediately he gave orders for them to be seized by the executioners and had them strung up on towering gallows by the people’s hands. You would have calculated that a larger number were punished than went free. So the shrewd king, in denying the self-confessed criminals the general pardon he granted to his conquered foes, wiped out almost the entire stock of the Wendish race. That was how deserved punishment followed the desire for reward without desert, how longing for unearned gain was visited by a well-earned penalty. I should have thought it quite right to consign them to their deaths, if they courted danger by speaking out when they could have stayed alive by holding their tongues.

Chapter 5

1. The king was exhilarated by the fame of his recent victory and, wanting to appear no less efficient in justice than in arms, decided to redraft the army’s code of laws; some of his rules are still practised, others men have chosen to rescind in favour of new ones. He proclaimed that each standard-bearer should receive a larger portion than the other soldiers in the distribution of booty; the leaders who had the standards carried before them in battle, because of their authority, should have all the captured gold. He wished the private soldier to be satisfied with silver. By his orders a copious supply of arms must go to the champions, captured ships to the ordinary people, to whom they were due, inasmuch as these had the right to build and equip vessels.

Chapter 7

1. During this period the king of the Huns heard of his daughter’s dissolved marriage and, joining forces with Olimar, king of the East [Rus], over two years collected the equipment for a war against the Danes. For this reason Frothi enlisted soldiers not merely among his own countrymen but from the Norwegians and Wends too. Erik, dispatched by him to spy out the enemy^s battle array, discovered Olimar, acting as admiral (the Hunnish king led the land troops), not far from Ruthenia; he addressed him with these words:

2. ‘Tell me, what means this weighty provision for war, King Olimar? Where do you race to, captaining this fleet?’

Olimar replied:

‘Assault on Frithlef’s son is the strong desire of our hearts. And who are you to ask these arrogant questions?’

Erik answered:

‘To allow into your mind hope of conquering the unconquerable is fruitless; no man can overpower Frothi.’

Olimar objected:

‘Every thing that happens has its first occurrence; events unhoped-for come to pass quite often.’

3. His idea was to teach him that no one should put too much trust in Fortune. Erik then galloped on to meet and inspect the army of the Huns. As he rode by it he saw the front ranks parade past him at dawn and the rear-guard at sunset. He enquired of those he met what general had command of so many thousands. The Hunnish king, himself called Hun, chanced to see him and, realizing that he had taken on the task of spying, asked the questioner’s name. Erik said he was called the one who visited everywhere and was known nowhere. The king also brought in an interpreter to find out what Frothi’s business was. Erik answered: ‘Frothi never waits at home, lingering in his halls, for a hostile army. Whoever intends to scale another’s pinnacle must be watchful and wakeful. Nobody has ever won victory by snoring, nor has any sleeping wolf found a carcass.’ The king recognized his intelligence from these carefully chosen apothegms and reflected: ‘Here perhaps is the Erik who, so I’ve heard, laid a false charge against my daughter.’ He gave orders for him to be pinioned at once, but Erik pointed out how unsuitable it was for one creature to be manhandled by many. This remark not only allayed the king’s temper, but even inclined him to pardon Erik. But there was no doubt that his going unscathed resulted not from Hun’s kind-heartedness but his shrewdness; the chief reason for Erik’s dismissal was that he might horrify Frothi by reporting the size of the king’s host.

4. After his return he was asked by his lord to reveal what he had discovered; he replied that he had seen six captains of six fleets, any one of which comprised five thousand ships; each ship was known to contain three hundred oarsmen. He said that each millenary of the total assemblage was composed of four squadrons. By ‘millenary’ he indicated twelve hundred men, since each squadron included three hundred. But while Frothi was hesitating over how he should combat these immense levies and was looking about purposefully for reinforcements, Erik said: ‘Boldness helps the virtuous; it takes a fierce hound to set upon a bear; we need mastiffs, not lapdogs.’ After this pronouncement he advised Frothi to collect a navy. Once this had been made ready they sailed off in the direction of their enemies. The islands which lie between Denmark and the East were attacked and subdued. Proceeding farther, they came upon several ships of the Ruthenian fleet. Although Frothi believed it would be unchivalrous to molest such a small squadron, Erik interposed: ‘We must seek our food from the lean and slender. One who falls will rarely grow fat; if he has a great sack thrown over his head, he won’t be able to bite.’ This argument shook the king out of his shame at making an assault, and he was led to strike at the few vessels with his own multitude, after Erik had shown that he must set profitability higher than propriety.

5. Next they advanced against Olimar, who, on account of the slow mobility of his vast forces, chose to await his opponents rather than set upon them; for the Ruthenian vessels were unwieldy and seemed to be harder to row because of their bulk. Even the weight of their numbers was not much help. The amazing horde of Ruthenians was more conspicuous for its abundance than valour and yielded before the vigorous handful of Danes. When he wished to return to his own land, Frothi found an unusual obstruction to his navigation: that whole bight of the sea was strewn with myriads of dead bodies and as many shattered shields and spears tossing on the waves. The harbours were choked and stank, the boats, surrounded by corpses, were Locked in and could not move. Nor were they able to push off the rotten floating carcasses with oars or poles, for when one was removed another quickly rolled into its place to bump against the ships’ sides. You would have imagined that a war against the dead had begun, a new type of contest with lifeless men.

6. (sometimes chapter 8.1) Then Frothi assembled the races he had conquered and decreed by law that any head of a family who had fallen in that year should be consigned to a burial-mound along with his horse and all his panoply of arms. If any greedy wretch of a pall-bearer meddled with the tomb, he should not only pay with his lifeblood but remain unburied, without a grave or last rites. The king believed it just that one who interfered with another’s remains should not receive the benefit of a funeral, but that the treatment of his body should reflect what he had committed on someone else’s. He ordained that a commander or governor should have his corpse laid on a pyre consisting of his own boat. A single vessel must serve for the cremation of ten steersmen, but any general or king who had been killed should be cast on his own ship and burnt. He desired these precise regulations to be met in conducting the obsequies of the slain, for he would not tolerate lack of discrimination in funeral ritual. All the Ruthenian kings had now fallen in battle, apart from Olimar and Dag.

7. (sometimes chapter 8.3) He ordered the Ruthenians to celebrate their wars in the Danish fashion, and that no one should take a wife without purchasing her; it was his belief that where contracts were sealed by payment there was a chance of stronger and securer fidelity. If anyone dared to rape a virgin, the punishment was castration; otherwise the man must make a compensation of a thousand marks for his lechery.

8. (sometimes chapter 8.2) He also ruled that any sworn soldier who sought a name for proven courage must attack a single opponent, take on two, evade three by stepping back a short distance, and only be unashamed when he ran from four adversaries. The vassal kings must observe another usage regarding militiamen’s pay: a native soldier in their own bodyguard should be given 3 silver marks in wintertime, a common soldier or mercenary 2, and a private soldier who had retired from service just 1. This law slighted their bravery, since it took notice of the men’s rank more than their spirits. You could call it a blunder on Frothi’s part to subordinate desert to royal patronage.

Chapter 8

1. (sometimes chapter 7.6) After this, when Frothi asked Erik whether the armies of the Huns were as profuse as Olimar‘s forces, he began to express himself in song:

‘l perceived, so help me, an innumerable throng, a throng which neither land nor sea could contain. Frequent campfires were burning, a whole forest ablaze, betokening a countless troop. The ground was depressed beneath the trample of horses’ hooves, the hurrying wagons creaked along, wheels groaned, the chariot drivers chased the wind, matching the noise of thunder. The cumbered earth could hardly sustain the weight of the warrior hordes running uncontrolled. The very air seemed to crash, the earth tremble as the outlandish army moved its might. Fifteen companies I saw with their flashing banners, and each of these held a hundred smaller standards, with twenty more behind, and a band of generals to equal the number of ensigns.’

2. (sometimes chapter 7.7) As Frothi enquired how he might combat such multitudes, Erik told him that he must return home and first allow the enemy to destroy themselves by their own immensity. His advice was observed and the scheme carried out as readily as it had been approved. Now the Huns, advancing through trackless wastes, could nowhere obtain supplies and began to run the risk of widespread starvation. The territory was vast and swampy, and it was impossible to find anything to relieve their necessity. At length, having slaughtered and eaten the pack animals, they began to scatter owing to shortage of transport as well as food. This straying from the route was as dangerous as the famine; neither horses nor asses were spared and rotting garbage was consumed. Eventually they did not even abstain from dogs; the dying men condoned every monstrosity. Nothing is so unthinkable that it cannot be enforced by dire need. In the end wholesale disaster assailed them, spent as they were with hunger; corpses were carried to burial ceaselessly, and though everyone dreaded death no pity was felt for those who were expiring; fear had shut out all humanity. At first only squads of soldiers withdrew from the king gradually,’then the army melted away by companies. He was abandoned also by the seer Ugger, a man whose unknown years stretched beyond human span; as a deserter he sought out Frothi and informed him of all the Huns’ preparations.

3. (sometimes chapter 7.8) Meanwhile Hithin, king of a sizable people in Norway, approached Frothi’s fleet with a hundred and fifty vessels. Selecting twelve of these, he cruised nearer, raising a shield on his mast to indicate that they came as friends. He was received by Frothi into the closest degree of amity and brought a large contingent to augment his forces. Afterwards this man and Hild fell in love with each other; she was a girl of most excellent repute, the daughter of Hogni, a Jutland princeling; even before they met, each was impassioned by reports of the other. When they actually had a chance to look upon one another, they were unable to withdraw their eyes, so much did clinging affection hold their gaze.

4. (sometimes chapter 7.9) During this time Frothi had spread his soldiery through the townships and was assiduously collecting the money needed for their winter provisions. Yet even this was not sufficient to support a cripplingly expensive army. Ruin almost on a par with the Huns’ calamity beset him. To discourage foreigners from making inroads he sent to the Elbe a fleet under the command of Revil and Mevil, to make sure that no one crossed it. When the winter had relaxed its grip, Hithin and Hegni decided to cooperate in a pirating expedition. Hegni was unaware that his colleague was deeply in love with his daughter. He was a strapping fellow, but headstrong in temperament, Hithin very handsome, but short.

5. (sometimes chapter 7.10) Since Frothi realized that it was becoming more and more difficult to maintain the costs of the army as days went by, he directed Roller to go to Norway, Olimar to Sweden, King Ønef and the pirate chieftain Glomer to Orkney to seek supplies, assigning each man his own troops. Thirty kings, his devoted friends or vassals, followed Frothi. Immediately Hun heard that Frothi had dispersed his forces, he gathered together a fresh mass of fighting men. Høgni betrothed his daughter to Hithin and each swore that if one perished by the sword, the other would avenge him.

6. (sometimes chapter 7.12) In the autumn the hunters of supplies returned, richer in victories than actual provisions. Roller had killed Arnthor, king of the provinces of Sørmøre and Nordmøre, and laid these under tribute. Olimar, that renowned tamer of savage peoples, vanquished Thori the Tall, king of the Jämts and Hälsings, with two other leaders just as powerful, not to mention also Estland, Kurland, Öland, and the islands that fringe the Swedish coast. He therefore returned with seventy ships, double the number he had sailed out with. Trophies of victory in Orkney went to Ønef, Glomer, Hithin, and Høgni. These carried home ninety vessels. The revenues brought in from far and wide and gathered by plunder were now amply sufficient to meet the costs of nourishing the troops. Frothi had added twenty countries to his empire, and their thirty kings, besides those mentioned above, now fought on the Danish side.

7. (sometimes chapter 7.12) Relying in this way on his powers, he joined battle with the Huns. The first day saw a crescendo of such savage bloodshed that three principal Ruthenian rivers were paved with corpses, as though they had been bridged to make them solid and passable. Furthermore, you might have seen an area stretching the distance of a three days’ horse-ride completely strewn with human bodies. So extensive were the traces of carnage. When the fighting had been protracted for seven days, King Hun fell. His brother of the same name saw that the Huns’ line had given way and lost no time before surrendering with his company. In that war a hundred and seventy kings, either from the Huns or who had served with them, capitulated to the Danish monarch. These Erik had specified in his earlier account of the standards, when he was enumerating the host of Huns in answer to Frothi’s questions.

8. (sometimes chapter 7. 13) Summoning these kings to a meeting Frothi imposed on them a prescription to live under one and the same law. He made Olimar regent of Holmgård, Ønef of Kønugård, assigned Saxony to Hun, his captive, and Orkney to Revil. A man named Dimar was put in charge of the provinces of the Hälsings, the Jarnbers, the Jämts, and both of the Lapp peoples; the rule of Estland was bequeathed to Dag. On each of them he laid fixed obligations of tribute, demanding allegiance as a condition of his liberality. Frothi’s domains now embraced Ruthenia to the east and were bounded by the River Rhine in the west.

Chapter 9

1. Meanwhile certain slanderers brought to Høgni a trumped-up charge that Hithin had dishonoured his daughter before the espousal ceremony by enticing her to fornication, an act which in those days held among all nations to be monstrous. Høgni lent credulous ears to the lying tale and, as Hithin was collecting the royal taxes among the Wends, attacked him with his fleet; when they came to grips Høgni was defeated and made for Jutland. So the peace which Frothi had established was shaken by a domestic feud; they were the first men in his own country who spurned the king’s law. Frothi therefore sent officers to summon them both to him and enquired painstakingly into the reason for their quarrel. When he had leamt this, he pronounced judgement according to the terms of the law he had passed. However, seeing that even this would not reconcile them as long as the father obstinately demanded back his daughter, he decreed that the dispute should be settled by a sword fight. It seemed the only way of bringing their strife to an end. After they had commenced battle, Hithin was wounded by an exceptionally violent blow; he was losing the blood and strength from his body when he found unexpected mercy from his opponent. Although Høgni had the opportunity for a quick kill, pity for Hithin’s fine appearance and youthfulness compelled him to calm his ferocity. He held back his sword, loth to destroy a youngster shuddering with his last gasps. At one time a man blushed to take the life of one who was immature or feeble. So consciously did the brave champions of ancient days retain all the instincts of shame. His friends saw to it that Hithin, preserved by his foe’s clemency, was carried back to the ships. Seven years later they fell to battle again on the island of Hiddensee and slashed each other to death. It would have been more auspicious [meaning ‘wiser’] for Høgni had he exercised cruelty instead of kindness on the one occasion when he overcame Hithin. According to popular belief Hild yearned so ardently for her husband that she conjured up the spirits of the dead men at night so that they could renew their fighting.

Book VI

Chapter 1

1. After Frothi had expired, the Danes wrongly believed that Frithlef, who was being brought up in Ruthenia, had died; the kingdom now seemed crippled for want of an heir and it looked impossible for it to continue under the royal line; they therefore decided that the man most suitable to take up the sceptre would be someone who could attach to Frothi’s new burial mound an elegy of praise glorifying him, one which would leave a handsome testimony of the departed king’s fame for later generations. Hiarni, a bard expert in Danish poetry, was moved by the magnificence of the prize to adorn the man’s brilliance with a distinguished verbal memorial and invented verses in his rude vernacular. I have expressed the general sense of its four lines in this translation:

Because they wished to extend Frothi’s life, the Danes long carried his remains through their countryside. This great prince’s body, now buried under turf, is covered by bare earth beneath the lucent sky.

Chapter 2

1. At the same time Erik, who held the governorship of Sweden, died of an illness. His son Halfdan took over his father’s powers, but was alarmed by frequent clashes with twelve brothers who originated in Norway, for he had no means of punishing their violence; he therefore took refuge with Frithlef, who was still living in Ruthenia, hoping to derive some assistance from that quarter. Approaching with a suppliant’s countenance, he brought to him the sad tale of his injuries and complained of how he had been pounded and shattered by a foreign foe. Through this petitioner Frithlef heard the news of his father’s death, and accompanying him with armed reinforcements made for Norway.

Chapter 5

2. It is definitely recorded that he [Starkath son of Storværk] came from the region which borders eastern Sweden, that which now contains the wide-flung dwellings of the Estlanders and other numerous savage hordes. But a preposterous common conjecture has invented details about his origin which are unreasonable and downright incredible. Some folk tell how he was born of giants and revealed his monster kind by an extraordinary number of hands; they assert that the god Thor broke the sinews which joined four of these freakish extensions of overproductive Nature and tore them off, plucking away the unnatural bunches of fingers from the body proper; with only two arms left, his frame, which before had run to a gargantuan enormity and been shaped with a grotesque crowd of limbs, was afterwards corrected according to a better model and contained within the more limited dimensions of men.

9. When they had devastated whole provinces, their lust for domination also made them invade Ruthenia; the natives had little confidence in their fortifications and arms as means of stopping the enemy’s inroads and so they started to cast unusually sharp nails in their path; if they could not check their onset in battle, they would impede their advance by quietly causing the ground to damage their feet, since they shrank from resistance in the open field. Yet even this kind of obstacle did not help rid them of their foes. For the Danes were cunning enough to foil the Ruthenians‘ endeavours. They at once fitted wooden clogs on their feet and trod on the spikes without injury. Those pieces of iron were each arranged with four prongs, so fashioned that on whatever side they happened to land they immediately stood balanced on three feet. Striking into pathless glades where the forests grew thickest, they rooted out Flokk, the Ruthenian leader, from the mountain retreat into which he had crept. From this stronghold they claimed so much booty that every single man regained his ship laden with gold and silver.

14. Later Starkath together with Vin, chief of the Wends, was assigned to curb a revolt in the East. Taking on the combined armies of the Kurlanders, Samlanders, Semgalli, and finally all the peoples of the East, he won glorious victories on many fronts. A notorious desperado in Ruthenia called Visin had built his hideout on a cliff known as Anafial, from which he inflicted all kinds of outrage on regions far and near. He could blunt the edge of any weapon merely by gazing on it. With no fear of being wounded he combined his strength with so much insolence that he would even seize the wives of eminent men and drag them to be raped before their husbands’ eyes. Roused by reports of this wickedness Starkath journeyed to Ruthenia to exterminate the villain. Since there was nothing which Starkath thought it difficult to subdue, he challenged Visin to single combat, counteracted the help of his magic, and dispatched him. To prevent his sword being visible to the magician he wrapped it in a very fine skin, so that neither the power of Visin‘s sorcery nor his great strength could stop him yielding to Starkath.

15. Afterwards at Byzantium, relying on his stamina, he [Starkath] wrestled with and overthrew a supposedly invincible giant, Tanna, and compelled him to seek unknown lands by branding him an outlaw. As no cruelty of fate had hitherto managed to cheat this mighty man [Starkath] of his conquests, he entered Polish territory and there fought in a duel and defeated a champion called by our people Vaske, a name familiar to the Teutons under the different spelling of Wilzce.

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December 8, 2018

Northwestern European Rosettes

PublishedDecember 6, 2018 Post authortorino

If you thought these rosette posts neat (see here (rosettes of Esus), here (Osnabrück), here (Polish rosettes) and here (rosettes in Kemathen, Zamość, Zagorzyn)), there is more.

For those interested in ornamental hexapedal rosettes, here is another example from Vermand in northeastern France (in the department of Aisne – so named after a river; whether this has anything to do with the Slavic jasna, meaning “light” is a matter at least of some interest; there are several such rivers in the West of Europe).

Two articles on this topic are easily accessible on line:

  • The Vermand Treasure: A Testimony to the Presence of the Sarmatians in the Western Roman Empire by Deborah Schorsch
  • The Vermand Treasure by William H. Forsyth

Here is the whole thing:

Here is a buckle with a hexapedal rosette:

And here is a “Star of David” with a rosette inside (and on top):

Now compare these to the Treasure from Corelaine, Northern Ireland:

Finally, take a look at this belt buckle from Caerwent, Wales – dated to the 4th century:

Note that the Corelaine rosette is octapedal but the rosette inside the Star of David is pretty much the same as above. The hexapedal rosettes bear striking similarities to the treasures found at:

  • Kemathen
  • Zamość
  • Zagorzyn

Kemathen also featured a very similar umbo or shield boss.

Bavaria on top, France on the bottom

And here is another “Star of David” from Ejsbøl moor or bog (Ejsbøl Mose) near Haderslev in Denmark. This in addition to the Stars of David from Vermand, France and Corelaine, Northern Ireland.

Another similar find comes to us from Zakrzów in Wrocław (Sackrau) where, among other artifacts, we find these eight-pedaled rosettes.

All or most of these artifact sites are dated to the fourth or fifth century. Note further that Deborah Schorsch connects the Vermand find with the Sarmatians. This actually makes a lot of sense. But they do not have to have been “Iranian” Sarmatians from the far away steppe. Suffice to note again that the Iazyges lived in Pannonia from at least the second century B.C. What’s more these Sarmatians may well have been Slavic speaking and have interacted with the Suevi. In fact, the biggest origin stories of the Poles were at first  Vandalic (Suevic?) and then Sarmatian. Vermand was, apparently, sacked by the Vandals and their companions in 406 though the archeological site where this treasure was found (assuming , of course, that this is not a fake), perhaps, predates that. On the Tabula Peutingeriana the Baltic Veneti are described as Veneti Sarmatae (as, apparently, are the Lupiones who may well be the Lugii).

Similar umbos from southeastern Polish lands

It is also interesting whether these “rosettes” have anything to do with the rosalia celebrations/feasts (see, for example, Balsamon complaining about the post-paschal celebration of the ῥουσάλια.

Similar hexapetal rosettes appear in other treasures. For example, in Sösdala in southern Sweden.

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December 6, 2018

The Rune “A”

PublishedDecember 2, 2018 Post authortorino

If you compare the below “a” rune from the Soshychne “TILARIDS” inscription, you will see that, unlike the ansuz rule normally given, this version looks left. What is curious about the rune is the similarity it has in form to a much later Polish coat of arms – the Jasieńczyk. Although that is not the only way Jasieńczyk has been portrayed, it is the primary way. Jasieńczyk is, of course, a diminutive of Jasion. Ansuz, of course, comes back to the Aesir and, perhaps more fundamentally, to the Sanskrit ásu meaning life force. The Slavic jezioro as well as usta have the same “flowing” derivation.

This is from Kasper Niesiecki’s 1738 “Polish Armorial” (Korona polska przy złotej wolności starożytnemi rycerstwa polskiego i Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego klejnotami ozdobiona, volume 2):

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December 2, 2018