Semones

An interesting question arises as to why the lands previously occupied by the Suevi (but later Suavi) were subsequently occupied by the “Sclavi”. Some people think this is just a coincidence. And yet it is a curious coincidence.

For example, we know that one of the tribes of the Suevi was the Semnones. As per Tacitus, it was that tribe that claimed to have been the most ancient of the Suevi. Some historians of the 19th century identified some of the Suevi with the later Slavs. To explain the tribal name Semnones, they pointed to the Slavic words for the “Earth”:

• zem (Slovak)
• země (Czech)
• zemia/zima (Polabian)
• zemyata (Bulgarian)
• ziemia (Polish)
• zemlya (Russian, Ukrainian, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian)
• ziamlia (Belarussian)

But it says Semnones not Semones comes the objection. Not to worry. Apparently, the manuscripts of Germania are not agreed upon the correct spelling and Semones (as well as Senones) does indeed appear more than once (see here).

To support this view, those historians invoked the same Semnonian passage in Tacitus and its preoccupation with the Earth (or, more to the point, with lying on the ground):

“Of all the Suevians, the Semnones recount themselves to be the most ancient and most noble. The belief of their antiquity is confirmed by religious mysteries. At a stated time of the year, all the several people descended from the same stock, assemble by their deputies in a wood; consecrated by the idolatries of their forefathers, and by superstitious awe in times of old. There by publicly sacrificing a man, they begin the horrible solemnity of their barbarous worship. To this grove another sort of reverence is also paid. No one enters it otherwise than bound with ligatures, thence professing his subordination and meanness, and power of the Deity there. If he fall down, he is not permitted to rise or be raised, but grovels along upon the ground. And of all their superstition, this is the drift and tendency; that from this place the nation drew their original, that here God, the supreme Governor of the world, resides, and that all things else whatsoever are subject to him and bound to obey him. The potent condition of the Semnones has increased their influence and authority, as they inhabit an hundred towns; and from the largeness of their community it comes, that they hold themselves for the head of the Suevians.”

Or in another version:

“The oldest and most famous ofthe Suevi, it is said, are the Semnones, and their antiquity is confirmed by a religious observance. At a set time, deputations from all the tribes of the same stock gather in a grove hallowed by the auguries of their ancestors and by immemorial awe. The sacrifice of a human victim in the name of all marks the grisly opening of their savage ritual. Another observance shows their reverence for this grove. No one may enter it unless he is bound with a cord, by which he acknowledges his own inferiority and the power of the deity. Should he chance to fall, he may not raise himself or get up again, but must roll out over the ground. The grove is the centre of their whole religion. It is regarded as the cradle of the race and the dwelling-place of the supreme god to whom all things are subject and obedient. The Semnones gain prestige from their prosperity. The districts they inhabit number a hundred, and their multitude makes them believe that they are the principal people of the Suebi.”

Whether there is enough here to suggest that the Semnones viewed themselves as born of “the Earth” is debatable.

However, another interesting confluence of facts comes to light when we take a look at the seats of the Semnones. Here is a map that, more or less describes where scholarship locates the Semnones (from a Brockhaus map):

Fast forward eight hundred years and we find the following tribe in the same area:

• Zemcici

Here is another German map:

We have the following reports of their existence – or, at least, of the name of a local province that refers to a tribe (plural Slavic indicated by the -ici suffix).

May 9th, 946
(A land grant by Otto I to the Bishopric Havelberg)

“in castro Havelberg episcopalem constituimus sedem – Donamus eidem – in provincia Zemcici duas villas in Malinga Buni et Drogaviz et dimidium silve que dicitur Porei cum vilas in ea cultos et colendis.”