38. Appendix 8: Traditional History of the Goths and Germans (§§898-908)

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38. Appendix 8: Traditional History of the Goths and Germans (§§898-908)




898. From Thormodus Torfaeus, Universi Septentrionis Antiquitates, apud Joh. Melchiorem Lieben, Hafniae, 1705, p. 67f.:

The following genealogy and accompanying historical notices are derived from a “treasure of ancient history” discovered by Nicolaus Petreius Hafniensis in 1547 in the island of Gothland. The work of Petreius containing details of history culled from these records is Cimbrorum et Gothorum Origines, Migrationes, Bella atque Coloniae, Libris Duobus (the edition used here being Lipsiae, 1695). Parts of Petreius’ material were translated subsequently into Danish by Nicolaus Michaelis, and this translation was used by Lyschander in Book III of his Genealogies. Verelius (Not. in Histor. Gothrici et Rolfi, p. 6) called Petreius’ work the “Chronicon Gothlandico-Cimbrium.” Torfaeus used Petreius’ account as it appeared in Verelius, supplementing it on occasion from Lyschander. The basic structure of the following summary follows Torfaeus, with additional matter added directly from Petreius’ Cimbrorum et Gothorum Origines:

Japheth

Gomer son of Japheth (date according to the Biblical chronology c. 2200 BC)

According to Petreius’ account, following the Confusion of Languages (“A.M. 1759”) Gomer and his children sought new lands to colonize. Gomer had three sons, Ashkenaz, Rifath and Togarmah. (At this point in his narrative Petreius’ draws also on the Defloratio Berosi of Giovanni Nanni and Josephus to illustrate the migration of Gomer son of Japhet himself to Italy, and of some of his offspring to Bactria.)

Tygar son of Gomer, king of Phrygia.

The patriarch Togarmah, whose name is also spelled Tygar or Tigran, founded the nation of the Tigrantes, now called Phrygians. This occurred “A.M. 1830” according to information Petreius obtained from the ancient records found in Gothland.

Gomer Junior, king of Cimbria or Jutia.

“A.M. 1830” Tygar’s son Gomer II sent colonies over into the Cimmerian Bosphorus. In “A.M. 1850” Gomer II left the Cimmerian Bosphorus and migrated through Russia, Borussia, and other regions in the vicinity of Lithuania and Livonia, till he arrived at the Northern Chersonnesus, called after him the Cimbric Chersonnesus. The inhabitants were known as Cimmerians (Gomerites), latterly Cimbri, and in more modern times, Danes.

Segub or Segud son of Gomer, king of Jutia (“AM 1960”).

Succeeded “A.M. 1960” and died “A.M. 2020” leaving two sons Aser or Atzer and Ostrid, the latter twenty years younger than the former.

Aser or Atzer son of Segub (“AM 2020”)

Trud or Truid son of Atzer (“AM 2085”)

Tielvar son of Truid (“AM 2141”)

Ostrid son of Tielvar (“AM 2182”)

Guti son of Ostred (“AM 2200”)

Here Torfaeus supplements Verelius with an account of Guti’s extensive conquests from Lyschander, Guti being credited with welding the Getae into a single kingdom.

Reverting to the account in Verelius: Till the time of Guti the inhabitants of Chersonesus were known as Cimbri for “350 years,” thereafter for “710 years” Gothi, so named after Guti himself, and thereafter again till the “present day” Danes after Dan.

Tielvar son of Guti (“AM 2264”)

Hafder son of Tielvar

from his wife Hvitestierna, 3 sons:

Guti, Grippa, Grumphin (the last name Gvelphin in Lyschander)

who reigned jointly after their father, then Guti was sole ruler

Vamling son of Guti

Habling son of Vamling

in whose time there was a great expansion of population “AM 2500” in Gothland and neighboring regions

Dan son of Habling

under whom were subdued the Thracians and Getae, and settlements made on the Danube.

Vesta daughter of Dan (“AM 2620”)

Velmar son of Vesta

Here Torfaeus follows Verelius and terminates the account drawn from the material discovered by Petreius.

Dan (or Thanache) son of Velmar (date according to the Biblical chronology c. 1800-1750 BC)

Here Torfaeus follows Lyschander.


899. In Lyschander Velmar (otherwise Helmar) is represented as the father of Dan, from whom the River Tanais (Don) received its name. Dan, therefore, is the famous Tanaus of Justinus’epitome (Tanausis in Jordanes), as Torfaeus concluded (op. cit., p. 69), the eponymus of the River Tanais, the contemporary of Sesostris III (“Vesosis”) of Egypt, and the predecessor of Ninus. The AM dates, which were supplied by Petreius himself, depend, directly or indirectly, on a faulty chronology (see further §906.4, below, >>). In the longer chronology of the Septuagint Ninus was dated c. 2100 BC, or around AM 2900, and the date given for Dan son of Velmar in Lyschander is AM 2734, which falls somewhat before the reign of Ninus on the aforesaid chronology; that is the correct historical sequence according to Justinus — Tanaus preceding Ninus. The real historical dates, following the Biblical chronology, are much lower: Sesostris III, and therefore also Dan-Tanaus-Tanausis, are dateable c. 1800-1750 BC. Petreius’ own understanding of the chronology dated Tanaus-Tanausis towards the end of the second millennium, though he was aware of the problems which flowed from that construction. According to Jordanes, Tanausis was succeeded by the Amazon queens, Marpesia and Lampeto, and the Amazon queens predated the Trojan War, therefore Dan-Tanaus-Tanausis must also have preceded that same War, not postdated it as Petreius surmised.


900. It is noticeable that in Lyschander the father of Velmar is not listed, only his mother Vesta. This implies Velmar was of different descent on his father’s side. Velmar/Helmar is the Filimer of Jordanes, and in Jordanes Filimer is son of Gadaric, descended from the Goths who immigrated from Scandinavia to the vicinity of the Maeotic marshes. Thus Velmar’s mother was Vesta and his father was Gadaric, both of the immigrant Scandinavian stock. Vesta is traced back in Petreius’ material to Gomer Junior son of Tygar (Togarmah) son of Gomer (Senior), the son of Japheth. Comparing Petreius’ genealogy with the Hunnic tradition, we find Tanju’s father, Qara Khan (corresponding positionally to Velmar or Helmar in Petreius’ account), is traced back similarly to Gomer (Turk), the ancestor of the Turks. In Rabbinic literature, as in Petreius’ account, the Turks of the family of Tanju are traced back specifically to Togarmah, son of Gomer, son of Japheth. Thus also in Syriac Christian tradition the Turks are traced back to Togarmah (“Torgom”) and their name is said to have been formed from that of the Biblical patriarch (Torg-om > Turk): Bedrosian’s English translation of the Armenian version of the Chronicle of Michael Syrus p. [160]: “As the head of the prophets, the blessed Moses, says in the book of Genesis [10. 2-3], ‘Torgom was the father of Gog and others.’ It is clear that the Turks, who are Gog and Magog, descend from the line of Japheth. Japheth was the father of Tiras, Torgom, Gog and others with him. From this it is clear that the Turks are from the line of Torgom, and are called Turks from his name. Gog and Magog, who are nomadic people, descend from them.” (An alternative genealogy traced the Turks from Tiras, MacMichael, A History of the Arabs in the Sudan, vol. II, Cambridge, 1922, p. 189, Text IV. D1. LXXVI, but that is because Togarmah was alternatively represented to be the son of Tiras, see §909f., below, >> and §940 note, below, >>, with cross-references.) Comparing Petreius’ genealogy with the Chinese tradition (§812, above, >>), we find Tanju (Chun-wei) is the son of the last king (Jie) of the Xia Dynasty, and 15th in descent (inclusive) from Da Yu, the first king of the Xia, who is the son of Gun, son of Zhuanxu, the nephew of Shao-hao = Japheth Junior = Gomer son of Japheth. That means Tanju is the 18th in descent from Gomer son of Japheth. In Petreius’ account continued in Lyschander, similarly, Dan is the 18th inclusive in descent from Gomer son of Japheth.


901. Tanju (Oghuz Khan, Tanaus, Tanausis, Dan) appears literally to have been the son of Qara Khan, of the line of Gomer, son of Japheth; otherwise, according to the Chinese account, he was the son of Jie, the last king of the Xia dynasty, the first dynasty of China descended from Tubal son of Japheth. He was sent in exile with his corrupt predecessor, Jie, and migrated into the deserts north and west of China. Subsequently he led his army farther west, conquering extensive territories in the Near East. There his line was crossed with that of the immigrant Goths from Scandinavia, and he was treated by them as a son of Filimer (Velmar/Helmar) and his wife Vesta, the latter descended also from Gomer son of Japheth.


902. In the Hunnic tradition the father of Tanju (Oghuz Khan) is called Qara Khan. Khan means “prince.” Qara means “black” and Qara Khan is said to have ruled Kara-kum, the “Black (kara = qara) sand (kum),” east of the Caspian Sea and the famous city of Kara-korum. In Chinese this latter name is reproduced as Hala-holin, where Hala corresponds to Kara = Qara (“black”). Qara Khan looks like an eponymous title, the “lord (khan) of Kara​(-kum),” applied to the god-man from whom Oghuz traced his descent through his Chinese mother (see§904.1, below, >>).


903. Helmar (Filimer) caused the rise of the Huns by expelling their demon-possessed female progenitors, who subsequently begot the Huns by intercourse with evil spirits, according to the prejudiced tradition of Jordanes (infra). Qara Khan caused the rise of the Huns by an analogous expulsion: Qara Khan expelled his son Oghuz on account of religious differences, and Oghuz rebelled against him as a result; thereafter, having defeated his father in battle, Oghuz engendered the royal line of the Huns. The Huns were commonly believed in Roman and medieval times to be demons in human form, and creatures of this type to have been engendered by the intercourse of evil spirits with human women. Evidently Qara Khan was in league with Velmar/Helmar/Filimer of the Scandinavian Gothic line in the expulsion of Oghuz Khan. Since Filimer is represented as responsible for expelling the female progenitors of the Huns, his genealogical connection with Oghuz (Dan-Tanaus-Tanausis) was probably by marriage of his daughter(s) or other female descendants to Oghuz and his host.


904. Jordanes names the father of Filimer as Gadaric, the ruler of the area around the Maeotic marshes (the modern Sea of Azov). Gadaric was of the immigrant stock which had set forth from Scandinavia about five generations earlier under Berig, and settled around the Maeotic marshes, which is where Filimer succeeded him. This Scandinavian line was of more interest to the Goths of the late Roman and Medieval periods, as Scandinavia was the ultimate homeland of a number of the hordes which occupied the European territories abandoned by Rome at that time, and whose Barbarian chieftains founded some of the most notable medieval kingdoms. According to Johannes Magnus (Gothorum Sueonumque Historia, 1558, ad init. Catalogus Regum), Berig (Berico) was one of the earliest chieftains of the Goths “of the homeland” (Latin interni), viz. of Scandinavia, and was of the line of Magog. The first “homeland” kings are listed by him as follows, with additional comments in braces {} from Bertius, Commentaria Rerum Germanicarum, Amsterdam, 1632, Lib. II, p. 358: Magog son of Japheth {the first to occupy Sweden and Gothia with his family in the 90th year after the Flood “AM 1745”}, Suenno{Magog’s first-born son and successor “AM 1787”}, Gethar or Gogus {brother of Suenno, reigned in Sweden “AM 1843”}, Ubbo {brother of Suenno, founded Uppsala, “AM 1903”}, Siggo {made Sigtunastadium, reigned “AM 2004”}, Ericus {son of Gethardt (sic) AM 2014}, Uddo, Alo, Othen {Osten (sic)}, Carolus {I}, Biorno {I}, Gethar {II}, Siggo {II}, and then Berico {king of Sweden and Gothia “AM 2493”}, the first emigrant king of foreign regions (Latin externi) {who is fabled to have ravaged the Roman empire, capturing the city of Rome, and to have ruled in Italy, Gaul, and Spain}. On the AM dates here see §906.4, below, >>.


904.1. The clan of Berig inhabiting the Maeotic marshes features also in the traditional history of Hungary (Chronicon Budense) as playing a part in the formation of the nations of the Huns and Magyars. The chronicle referred to first mentions the construction of the Shinar Tower, in the days when the descendants of Noah spoke a single language: (Chronicon Budense, ed. Podhradczky, p. 3) “Now at the time when this tribe {the single family of Noah}, as Josephus records, used the Hebrew language, in the two-hundred and first year after the Flood, a son of Tana, sprung from the line of Japheth, enticed [Latin: cepit] Nemroth Gigas to build a Tower, and all his relatives, too.” (“Gigas” is




Location of Issyk Kul

(Above left) The spread of Japhethite tribes (later speaking Indo-European dialects) from the area of the Maeotic Marshes at the mouth of the Don River (a.k.a. the Tanais, Amazon) to Scandinavia etc. from c. 2300 BC (Biblical and uncalibrated radio-carbon chronology). The red zone is the original so-called Yamna culture, viz. of Magog, Berig etc., spreading mainly north and west.
(Right) The area of Issyk Kul and Karakum, the so-called Andronovo culture, east of the Caspian Sea as a center of Gothic expansion in the Middle Bronze Age from c. 1800 BC, see §788,above, >>, §795,above, >>.




(Above middle) The Andronovo culture, viz. the people of Oghuz, around Karakum and Issyk Kul from c. 1800 BC (Biblical and uncalibrated radio-carbon chronology)

(Above right) An Amazon wearing trousers c. 470 BC Greek vase



An Amazon (left) in battle with a Greek, Roman mosaic Daphne, Antioch in Syria, 4th century AD

In the Classical period approximately one in five of military graves in the Scythian zone of the lower Don and lower Volga have been found to be of warrior females. These doubtless inspired the Greek stories of “Amazons,” meaning “female warriors from the River Amazon” (the modern Don). A similar percentage of female to male burials under kurgans (burial-mounds) is found in the earliest phase of tribal expansion from the environs of the Don basin up to two thousand years earlier. This suggests females played a similarly prominent role in that earliest phase also. These latter would be the Amazons of Greek legend who flourished prior to the Trojan War, viz. in the Bronze Age.


Greek terminology, “giant:” as such the Latin does not decline it, and the chronicle’s modern editor therefore misunderstood the sentence, taking Nemroth Gigas to be in the nominative instead of the accusative, and reading “Nemroth Gigas son of Tana.”) “Tana” here is for Dudeni, viz. Dodanim, Phinehas (Phineus) “son of Dudeni” being the chief of the Japhethite tribes at the Shinar Tower in the Philonic Antiquities. (Cf. “Thanus” = Dudeni in the excerpt of the Philonic Antiquities at §891.92, above, >>.) The Biblical Dodanim are the Danes, according to Sefer ha-Zikhronot (Jerahmeel, ed. Gaster, XXXI. 14), and the eponymus of the Danes was otherwise written Dan, Danaus and Tanais (Turmair, Germania Illustrata, ed. Leidinger, 1908, p. 122, Saxo Grammaticus, I. i). Tana here = Tanais or Tanaus = Dan = Dodanim. Then, after the confusion of tongues, as the same chronicle records, Nemroth Gigas proceeded eastwards into the “land of Havilah,” identified with Persis, Persia: this is Cushite, meaning Kushan territory, as Havilah is the Biblical location of the River Pishon which is described as going round the “whole territory of Cush.” The African Cush, Ethiopia, was also known as India in antiquity, and the Nile as the Indus. The Oriental and Occidental Indias shared many geographical and topographical names. Thus also the Biblical Pishon was identified with the Ganges (Jerome, Quaest. Hebr. in loc.), and the people of Havilah were the “Ganges folk” (Ganginoi, Syncellus, ed. Mosshammer p. 50, = ed. Dindorf p. 87). Persia was commonly believed to extend as far as the Ganges (Chronicon Budense, ed. Podhradczky, p. 8, n. 1), or “Havilah.” Havilah is translated “Indians” (Ar. Hindawin), and Cushite “Indian” in the Targums, whilst Sheba son of Cush is the grandfather of Ganges and Indus in the Defloratio Berosi (§782, above, >>). Ibid. p. 7: “Nemroth Gigas, after the confusion of tongues, is said to have entered the land of Evilath {Havilah}, which region was called Persis at that time; there he begot two sons, that is, Hunor and Magor, from his wife Enech (or, Enee), from whom the Huns, otherwise, the Hungarians, proceeded forth. But Nemroth Gigas is held to have had numerous other wives apart from Enech, from whom he begot a multitude of male and female children besides Hunor and Magor. These latter children of his, and their posterity, inhabited the territory of Persis….” Since Nimrod is a son of Cush, it is natural he should be associated with Cush’s descendants and dependent territories in the east. Nemroth begot two firstborn sons by Enech, the sons being named Hunor and Magor, the eponymous ancestors of the Huns and Magyars of Hungaria. Attila the Hun traced his descent from Nimrod by this genealogy (Notitia Hungariae, J. F. Behamb, Argentorati, 1676, p. 70f., from Albertus Molnarus, Epist. dedic. Grammat. Ungari, p. 13 in fine: 1. Noë {Noah}, 2. Ham, 3. Chus {Cush}, 4. Nimbrod {Nimrod}, 5. Hunnor {Hunor}, 6. Bor, 7. Dama, 8. Keleed, 9. Keve, 10. Kear, 11. Beller, 12. Kadar, 13. Othmar, 14. Farkas, 15. Bondofard, 16. Büken, 17. Czanad, 18. Rudli, 19. Beztur, 20. Mike, 21. Miske, 22. Ompud, 23. Kulcze, 24. Levente, 25. Lehel, 26. Zamur, 27. Zambur, 28. Bolug, 29. Boczu, 30. Zoltan, 31. Berend, 32. Kadicza, 33. Opos, 34. Ethei, 35. Szemein, 36. Turda, 37. Bendegucz, 38. Attila [followed by: 39. Chaba, 40. Ed, 41. Ugec, 42. Eleud, 43. Almos, 44. Arpad, 45. Zoltan, 46. Toxus, 47. Geyza, 48. Stephanus Rex]). Other versions of the genealogy of the Huns represented Magor or Magog and Hunor as sons of Japheth, Magog being a son of Japheth in Genesis 10. (Chronicon Pictum of Mark Kalti, c. AD 1358-1373, p. 4: “The Hungarians are descended from Magor son of Japheth, who in the 58th year after the Flood, as says the sainted Sigilbert bishop of Antioch in his Chronicle of the Eastern Nations, entered the land of Evilat, and from his wife Enee begot Magor and Hunor, from whom the Magyars [Hungarians] and Huns received their name.”) According to these accounts it was Japheth’s wife, not Nimrod’s wife, who was called Enee/Enech. In the Berossian or medieval Sibylline tradition, Japheth’s wife is said to have been “surnamed” Noela (a female form of the name Noa/Noah) by Noa himself after the Flood, and this Noela was the “Erythraean Sibyl” Sambethe. (Sic in Haubertus Hispalensis, 9th century AD, drawing on an early form of the Defloratio Berosi, in Argaiz, Poblacion Eclesiastica De España, tom. I pt. 1, Madrid 1667, p. 252, p. 259, p. 261, p. 270, ibid., p. 259, after a reference to the founding of the city Nouela [named after Noela, the wife of Japheth]: “4. Aeritrea Sibilla, uxor Iaphet, mater Thubal, obijt in Hispannia in urbe Thubalia super fontes Iberi,” which means “The Erythraean Sibyl, the wife of Japheth and mother of Tubal, died in Spain in the city Tubalia at the sources of the River Ebro.”) Already in the Sibylline Oracles the Erythraean Sibyl is described as the wife of one of Noah’s sons (Sib. Or. I. 349-353 = ed. Geffcken 287-290, Scholion on Plato Phaedr. p. 244B, cf. Or. Sib. Prologue and III. 1028 = ed. Geffcken 827). As Sambethe was the Queen of Sheba, and the Queen of Sheba was identified with Lilith or Gorgo, the ancestress of imps and demons, whilst Lilith was called Yaniyya = Aenaea/Enea, §181.4.0.8f., above, >>, it is likely from some such Sibylline source that the reference to Enech/Enee (= Enea) was drawn. The Huns were treated in this antipathetic strand of the tradition as incarnate demons, and their mother was Lilith/Enee. Otherwise the Queen of Sheba was Al-maqah, Aphrodite or Venus, the goddess of lust, and Gorgo was another name of Minerva/Isis, the Egyptian Venus, hence Nimrod also is represented as the husband of “Enee” on account of his marriage to Aphrodite (Peri Theon) and his begetting by her of the Africans (Aphroi) and the mixed animal-human centaurs. The Africans were treated in hostile Classical sources, as black, puck-nosed demons, with similar facial characteristics to, and the same lustful natures as, centaurs. Returning to the account in the Chronicon Budense: Hunor and Magor, the sons of Nimrod by Enech/Enee, found a comfortable retreat in the Maeotic marshes on the northern coast of the Black Sea and ended up consorting there with the female offspring of “Bereka” (= Berig), and thus originating the mighty nations who bore their names. Chronicon Budense, ut cit. supra, p. 9: “Coming into the Maeotic marshes therefore they remained there five years without moving. In the sixth year they left. They chanced to hear the sound of music and thereby discovered the wives and children of the sons of Bereka, who were dwelling in the wild without husbands in bivouacs, and were celebrating a festival with cornets at that time. They made swift raids upon them and dragged them and their baggage off to the Maeotic marshes. This was the first seizure of booty after the Flood. It so happened that two daughters of Dule {prob. for Adula = Hadoram, see §888.8, above, >>}, chief of the Alans, were captured in that battle amongst those children, one of whom was taken to wife by Hunor and the other by Magor, and from these women all the Huns, as well as the Hungarians, took their rise.” The mention of Berig implies the use of Gothic traditions like those drawn on by Jordanes, and the insertion into that tradition of Nimrod and his migration into “Persis” suggests a merger with the Iranian tradition of Feridun (Nimrod) and his son Tur (eponymus of the Turanians, Turks, and ancestor of the Tatars and Huns), analogous to that found in the Akbarnama (§803, above, >>). That is, the Hunor and Magor of the Chronicon Budense are the descendants of Turk/Gomer (Tur) who gave rise to the Huns and Moghuls. For another traditional example of the descendants of Tur being the Turks of the line of Oghuz Khan, see §673, above, >>. Alternatively the genealogy of Hunor and Magor was traced from Magog, son of Japheth (Nauclerus, Chronicon, 1564, tom. I, gen. xvii, p. 25), which is analogous to the alternative genealogical system which traced the Moghuls from Magog (§792, above, >>, §813, above, >>). Also Berig, with whom Hunor and Magor became related by marriage, was a descendant of Magog, §904, above, >>. Feridun (Nimrod son of Canaan) is said to have migrated into these eastern lands from the region of the Shinar Tower in the Armenian and Georgian chronicles and to have fathered Tur (amongst others), that is, to have merged his line with Turk/Gomer (Tur), the firstborn son of Japheth. The prominence of Nimrod’s wife Enech in the Chronicon Budense as the mother of Hunor and Magor shows Nimrod (Feridun) became ancestor of the Turanian line by intermarriage with a female of Turanian stock. The Nimrodic Turanians then fathered the Huns and Magyars in the Maeotic marshes on the females of the family of Berig. In Jordanes these females are described as “Haliurunnae” = “Sibyls” and this accords with the traditional identification of their mother with Enee = Yaniyyah = the prototypical Sibyl, Sambethe. In a Zoroastrian tradition found in Syriac chronicles (§677.13.1, above, >>) the Semite Samiros slays the male children of the daughters of Ashkenaz and Togarmah, known as Amazons. This suggests the Amazons’ inhuman practices, which resulted from their intermingling with the line of Nimrod and the consequent introduction amongst them of his cult of child sacrifice and sexual deviation, was resisted by the tribe of Shem. A number of tribes between Iran and India still trace their ancestry from the Peshdadian kings Jamshid and Feridun in the immediate post-diluvian era (see for example §303, above, >>, §193, above, >>), and intertwine their history, as inferred in relation to this episode, through Arabic intermediary sources with the Biblical account of Noah and his sons. Nimrod is said to have begotten Hunor by Enech in Havilah, which was the region inhabited by the “Ganges folk.” Enech/Enee was a woman of Turanian (Japhethite) stock through whom Nimrod became, or was considered to be, the father of Hunor. Hunor/Hunnus, according to the native Chinese tradition, was the son of Jie, the last king of the Xia Dynasty, the first Dynasty of China. Jie traced his descent through seventeen generations from Da Yu, the first king of the Xia, whose grandfather Gun was the nephew of the “Lesser Celestial Brilliance,” the “Greater Celestial Brilliance” being Fu-xi, the originator of the race, that is, according to Muslim tradition in China, Japheth (Ya-fu-xi) son of Noah. One of Jie’s consorts was the mother of Chun-wei and Chun-wei is an alternative form of Xiong-nu, the eponymus of the Huns (equivalent to Hunor in the Chronicon Budense and Hunnus in the Defloratio Berosi), known as Oghuz (Oghuz or Ghuz being a later name for the Huns), and titled Tanju (Tanaus), by the Turks. Oghuz likewise was descended from a “Junior Japheth,” that is, Gomer, son of Japheth.


904.2. Before detailing the story of Jie’s son the following comparison should be taken into account, which illustrates the identity of Hunnus/​Hunor/​Chun-wei, Oghuz and Tanaus:

Comparison of Hunor (Hunnus, Chun-wei), Oghuz and Tanaus

  1. a) Hunor is the eponymus of the Huns/Hungarians, who spread as far west as the shores of the Black Sea

    b) Oghuz is the eponymus of the Oghuz, Ghuz, Ouzoi, Oufoi = Huns who spread as far west as the shores of the Black Sea and Hungary

    (c) Tanaus is the eponymus of the Scythians (= Huns) of the River Don (Tanais) flowing into the Black Sea.

  2. a) Hunor is dated to the era of Abraham and Isaac as he is a son of Nimrod

    b) Oghuz, identified with Dhu’l Karnaim, is dated to the era of Abraham and Isaac and marries a daughter of Isaac (Vani Mehmed Efendi, Commentary to the Quran Surah IX, 38-39, fol. 544b).

    c) Tanaus is dated to the era of Abraham and Isaac (the era immediately preceding Sesostris III c. 1800 BC).

  3. a) Hunor is a son of Nimrod, who is descended from Meshech-Samothes by his marriage to Aphrodite-Galathea, a female descendant of Samothes-Meshech. Hunnus is likewise descended from Samothes-Meshech through Galathea. Galathea can be traced to Gomer through another line.

    b) Oghuz is a descendant of Meshech (a.k.a. Dib-jakui), alternatively of Gomer (a.k.a. Turk).

    c) Tanaus is a descendant of Gomer.

  4. a) Hunor lives originally in the “Persian” Havilah, viz. the region inhabited by the Ganges-folk

    b) Oghuz lives originally in Karakorum north of the Ganges.

    c) Tanaus lives originally in the eastern regions of Scythia, which includes the area north of the Ganges.

  5. a) Chun-wei (= Hunor, Hunnus, the eponymus of the Huns) has Chinese step-mothers, the concubines of his mother’s husband, Jie, whom he marries and takes with him on the death of Jie to the land of the northern barbarians (which include in their wider extent the regions around Karakorum)

    b) Oghuz in Karakorum has a Chinese step-mother and Chinese brother present with him, whom he sends back to China before embarking on his campaigns.

  6. a) Hunor’s father is the evil Saturnian god-man Nimrod, identified with the Egyptian goose-god and creator, Geb, and Hunnus’ father the hero-god Hercules Alemannus, these two god-men being rivals for the hand and consorts of the moon-goddess Aphrodite.

    b) Oghuz is the son of a Saturnian god-man Qara Khan (“Black Lord”), black being the color of the planet Saturn, and Qara Khan himself the goose-god who flew over the primeval waters at the time of creation before descending into his abode in the dark underworld. Qara Khan’s wife, and the mother of Oghuz is the beautiful goddess of the moon, Ay

  7. a) Hunnus is allied with the founder of his line, Tuisco, and is adopted, along with Tuisco and his descendants, into the family of Janus-Noah, as one of the Ianili, the advocates of the true religion of Janus-Noah against the paganism of Nimrod.

    b) Oghuz is an active advocate of the monotheism of the faithful patriarchs of Noah’s line against the paganism of Qara Khan.

  8. a) Hunor migrates subsequently westwards to the Maeotic Marshes in the Don (Tanais) basin, along the shores of the Black Sea and into Europe (Hungary).

    b) Oghuz migrates subsequently to the West, spreading the true religion, including to Rum (Turkey) along the shores of the Black Sea and the Maeotic Marshes and also into Europe (Hungary).

    c) Tanaus invades the West, including especially the area of the Maeotic Marshes at the mouth of the Don, the name Tanaus itself meaning “He of the Don.”

  9. a) Oghuz comes into conflict with the Egyptian Pharaoh, but neither achieves a conclusive victory over the other.

    b) Tanaus comes into conflict with Sesostris the Pharoh of Egypt (c. 1800 BC), but no conclusive victory is achieved on either side.

  10. a) Hunor marries into the family of Bereka in the Maeotic Marshes.

    b) Tanaus marries into the family of Berig in the Maeotic Marshes.




904.3. Oghuz had a Chinese “step-mother.” His actual mother, it was believed, was the goddess-queen Ay (the moon) and his father the god-man Qara Khan, “Black Lord,” otherwise represented as a creator god, and god of the underworld, who perished in a war initiated by Qara Khan against his son’s monotheistic religion. Black is the color of the planet Saturn and Qara Khan here is the Altaic version of the god-man Nimrod-Kronos (Saturn), who likewise perished in a war promoting Babylonian paganism against the monotheism of Noah and the line of Tuisco, the final product of Tuisco’s line being Hunnus, son of Hercules Alemannus. One of the concubines of Jie, the last corrupt king of the first dynasty of China, the Xia dynasty, was Chun-wei’s “step-mother,” whom Chun-wei married after the death of Jie. If she was a daughter of the Defloratio’s Hercules Alemannus, taken to wife by Jie to strengthen his political ties with the line of Tuisco, Chun-wei (Hunnus), the literal son of Jie, would be considered the son of Hercules Alemannus. He would also be considered a “son” of the priestess or “moon-goddess” (Altaic Ay) who was the consort of the rival kings Hercules Alemannus and Nimrod. After the death of Jie, Chun-wei retired to the lands of the northern barbarians (perhaps because his “step-mother” originated there) and became the ancestor of the Xiong-nu of the “Western Xia” in the region north of the Ganges inhabited by “the Ganges folk.” According to the Defloratio Berosi Hunnus was the son of Hercules Alemannus, the son of Teutanes, the son of Vandalus the son of Suevus, who was the brother-in-law of Galathea the descendant of Samothes-Meshech. Galathea was equated with Aphrodite (daughter of Aphros), the consort of Nimrod, §897.6, above, >>, making Hunnus the “son” (dependent male relative) of Nimrod. Galathea (“Aphrodite”) was herself the tenth in descent from Samothes, who was equated with Meshech son of Japheth. Meshech in Saadia is translated “Khorasan” (ancestor of the people of Khorasan) and his brother Tubal “China” (ancestor of the Chinese), Khorasan being the region west of China occupied at a later date by the Hunnic and Turkish hordes. Hercules Alemannus, the father of Hunnus in the Defloratio, is confused or identified with Hercules Libycus in the medieval traditions expanding on the Defloratio’s account, drawn on by Charron (§897.6, above, >>, s. nom. Leman). If Hercules Alemannus was seen as the re-embodiment of Hercules Libycus, then he would be held to have shared the same consort with the latter and with Nimrod, viz. Aphrodite.



Japheth (Fu-xi)

(1) =

Noela (Nu-wa)






a.k.a. Sambethe a.k.a.






Lilith a.k.a.






Yaniyya/Enee a.k.a.






Aphrodite

= (2)

Nimrod




= (3)

Hercules
(Libycus and Alemannus)





↓


Magog (Magor)



Chun-wei a.k.a.





Hunnus a.k.a.





Hunor




The genealogy of Hunnus (Hunor) suggests a similar situation: 1) Hunnus son of Hercules Alemannus; 2) Hunor son of Nimrod. The identical wife/mother was shared by two kings, viz. the anti-god or Kronos-like Nimrod, and the hero-god Hercules. In terms of the more ancient tradition, the king represented Ama-ushumgal-ana (Nimrod-Orion, Hercules), and the queen Inana (Aphrodite). In view of the presence of three Hercules in the Defloratio Berosi, (1) the Libyan Hercules (Ama-ushumgal-ana), (2) the Assyrian Hercules (Mars, Nergal = Gilgamesh), and (3) the Teutonic Hercules (Hercules Alemannus), it is probable the last is the same as the “Scythian” Hercules of the Classical accounts, viz. Chedorlaomer, En-sukish-ana, the lord of Aratta, or Haig (Hayk), the “Mars” (Hercules) or “Orion” of the Armenians of Mazaka (= Meshech). The land of Aratta where lapis-lazuli was mined stretched up from the easterly regions of Afghanistan around Balkh into Badakhshan, along the Wakhan corridor. Here were the springs of what was known in antiquity as the “Araxes” River, the modern Oxus, in the River Pamir, Araxes being the Greek form of the name Aratta. One progressed through the Wakhan corridor over the “Roof of the World” and the Wakhjir Pass in the Karakorum mountains into the Tarim Basin and the Gobi desert, and so on to China. This was the route followed by Marco Polo. Between the Wakhjir Pass and China was the ancient homeland of the Huns or Xiong-nu. An alliance of the lord of Aratta with the family of Chun-wei will have been an alliance of neighbors. The ancient battle between the lord of Aratta and Enmerkar, between Haig and Nimrod, was in Iranian myth the battle between Feridun (= Atar, Mars, representing the forces of light) and Zohak (Azi Dahaka, Ahriman, representing the forces of darkness). Oghuz’ campaigns against the idolatry of Nimrod was a continuation of that conflict, and Oghuz accordingly was identified with Dhu’l Karnaim, that is, Feridun, and his opponent was the “Black Lord.” Enech/Enee evidently, like Galathea and Araxa, daughter of Gambrivius, was one of the women influenced by the immoral and idolatrous practices of Nimrod. Such women were treated as embodiments of the goddess Aphrodite, Venus (Inana). In this case Enech/Enee will have been a daughter or close female descendant of Hercules Alemannus (Chedorlaomer, En-sukish-ana), by whom the last king of the Xia dynasty begot, or was held to have begotten, Hunnus (Chun-wei, Oghuz), the eponymous ancestor of the Huns.


905. Filimer was of the Scandinavian line of Berig settled in the Maeotic marshes, and Tanaus succeeded Filimer by conquest, Tanaus having immigrated from the further East. One of the Amazons sprung from the royal seed of Tanaus was Orithyia, whose sister married the Athenian king Theseus. Theseus was a direct descendant of Dardanus, Ericthonius and Tros, the ancestors of the Trojan royal house. From this same Dardanus the line of the god-man Odin was traced as follows: Dardanus, Erichthonius (Herikon), Tros, Ilus, Laomedon (Lamedon), Priam(us), his daughter Troan (Troana) married Mennon the Assyrian (Munon or Memnon), who had by her a son Tror or Thor (the god-man Thor), fostered by Loricus in Tracia (Thrace, Thrudheim). Thor married the golden-haired Sibyl or Sif, whose genealogy was unknown to the writer of this account (Snorri), and had by her a son called Loride, followed in succession by Henrede, Vingethor, Vingener, Moda, Magi, Cespheth, Bedvig, Atra (or Annan), Itrman, Heremod, Skialldun (or Skiold), Biaf (or Biar), Jat, Gutholfr, Fiarleif, (or Frithleif), and finally Vothinn (or Othinn), that is, the god-man Odin and his wife Frigida (or Frigg). Odin and his clan migrated from Turkey to Scandinavia in the middle of the first century BC, fleeing from the harrying of Pompey in those regions. (Prologue to the Prose Edda of Snorri.)


906. Odin’s ancestor Biaf son of Skialldun is otherwise called Beaw. The genealogy following Beaw reads as follows in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Beaw, Taetwa, Geat, Godwulf, Finn, Frithuwulf, Frealaf, Frithuwald, Woden (Odin). In Fornaldar-sögur 2. 13 the Finn of this genealogy is identified with the Norse Burri, and his son Frialafr (who is Finn’s grandson Frealaf in the genealogy supra), the father of Odin, with the Norse Bors. That makes three successive generations of god-men in that text, Burri, Bors, and Odin, and this is how they appear in the Norse mythological scheme. Beaw is called the son of Ebranc in the genealogy of king Alfred in the Book of Hyde (ch. XIII): Woden, son of Fridewald (Frithuwald), son of Fridesag (Frithuwulf), Fynny, Godewyn (Godwulf), Geey (Geat), Fillid, Teccy (Taetwa), Beewy (Beaw), Ebranc “who built the city of York.” Ebranc (Ebrancus, Ebraucus, Efroc) is the eponymous founder of Eburacum, York, a descendant of Brutus (see infra), the eponymus of Britain, and is dateable traditionally c. 1000 BC. This traces Beaw’s genealogy by a different line from the Trojan exiles who settled in Britain, according to the Historia Brittonum c. AD 800, as expanded in the Welsh book of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and draws a connection between the Welsh and the Anglo-Saxon traditions. It can best be understood as the reflection of a marriage arrangement between Beaw and the sons and daughters of Ebraucus. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, these emigrated to their ancestral homes in Italy, where the daughters married noblemen of the house of the Trojan exiles. Thereafter the sons under Assaracus, the leading brother in the enterprise, sailed to Germany with a fleet, devastated the country, and settled there. It implies Skialldun, the father of Biaf (Beaw), is also dateable around the time of Ebraucus, c. 1000 BC. Skialldun is the Skiold (Scioldus) of Saxo Grammaticus, the ancestor of the Skjoldungas, a famous Danish royal line, and he, accordingly, is dated to 966 BC in Vitus Bering’s Florus Danicus, though Bering (wrongly) assumed all the figures named after Skiold in Saxo Grammaticus ruled as kings successively in the first millennium BC. In fact, the reign of Skiold is followed in the narrative of Saxo by that of Gram, the father of Hadding, and Hadding is a contemporary of the man-turned-god, Odin. Therefore Gram is a descendant, not son sensu stricto, of Skiold, since Skiold, as aforesaid, flourished c. 1000 BC, and Odin in late Roman Republican times, between c. 300 BC and the era of Pompey (see supra in the Prologue to the Prose Edda, and infra on the date c. 300 BC).


906.0.1. A similar connection between the Welsh or British and the Anglo-Saxon traditions is made in the Irish translation of Nennius’ Historia Brittonum, tracing the line of Odin (“Voden”) as follows (Historia Brittonum, MGH AA XIII Chron. Min. Saec. IV-VII, vol. III, p. 171): Voden, son of Frealaf, he of Fredolf, he of Finn, he of Folcvald, he of Gaeta, he of Vanlus, he of Saxo, and he of Negua. The last three names here are those of Negua (son of Alanus), and his two sons, Vandalus and Saxo, referred to elsewhere in Nennius (ibid., p. 149), Alanus being the son of Fetebir (male) and Rea Silvia (female). Alanus’ father Fetebir, in turn, is traced back to Javan, son of Japheth, son of Noah, as follows (ibid., p. 160f., cf. also pp. 149ff., 171): Fetebir, son of Ougomun, son of Thoi, son of Boib, son of Simeon, son of Mair, son of Ethach, son of Aurthach, son of Ecthet, son of Oth, son of Abir, son of Ra, son of Ezra, son of Izrau, son of Baath, son of Iobaath, son of Iovan (Javan), son of Iafeth (Japheth); and Rea Silvia the mother of Alanus is the daughter of Numa Pampilius, son of Ascanius, son of Aeneas, who migrated from Troy to Italy after the burning of the city, Aeneas the son of Anchises, and he, in successive generations, of Tros, Dardanus, Flise (Elishah), Iuvan (Javan), and Iafeth (Japheth). (Ibid.) A similar genealogy tracing Alanus’ ancestor Dardanus back to Noah is found in Nennius’ Historia Brittonum, and more fully in the Irish translation of Nennius (ibid. p. 151). Dardanus, son of Jupiter, son of Saturnus, son of Celius, son of Polloir (MS.), son of Zoroastres, son of Mizraim (“Mesram”), son of Ham (“Cham,” some Latin texts of Nennius read “Cain” here), son of Noah (“Noe”). The names of Dardanus’ immediate forefathers in this genealogy are those of pagan gods, treated as deified descendants of Mizraim son of Ham (or Cain). The underlying scheme seems to have identified Dardanus’ ancestors with gods as follows: Dardanus’ father Camboblascon = Jupiter, Camboblascon’s father Blascon = Saturnus, or Saturnus is his genealogical contemporary, his father Alteus = Caelus, or Caelus is his genealogical contemporary, his father Tuscus “generated from Atys” is replaced by “Polloir” (probably the Irish Balor = Baal [Peor] = “Belus” son of Nimrod), Tuscus’ father the Libyan Hercules is replaced by Nimrod = Zoroaster, his father Mizraim, his father Ham. (See in detail §884.4.5.7f., above, >>. The names of the mortal predecessors of Dardanus are derived from the Defloratio Berosi.) Similarly, in Fornaldar-sögur 2. 13 the genealogy of Thor is traced in part as in the Prologue to the Prose Edda from Priam through Dardanus, but onwards beyond Saturnus to Javan son of Japheth as follows: Trorr whom we call Thor, son of Munnon or Memnon, Priamus (Priam), Lamidon (Laomedon), Ilus, Troes (Tros), Erithonius (Erichthonius), Darius (Dardanus), Jupiter, Saturnus, Telius (Caelius) or Cretus (the eponymus of Crete or of the Curetes), Ciprus (the eponymus of Cyprus), Zechim (Kittim), Japhan (Javan), Jahet (Japheth), son of Noi (Noah). Likewise in Langfedga-tal: Tror-Thor son of Troana daughter of Priamus, Lamedon, Ilus, Troes, Erichontius, Darius, Jupiter, Saturnus, Celius, Ciprus, Zechim, Japhans, Japhet, Noa. And at the beginning of Sveriis s. (Forn. sög 8. 2): Thor, Priamus, Lamidon, Ilus, Ereas (for Treas = Tros), Erichonius, Dardan, Jupiter, Saturn, Chelis, Chretis, Chypris, Zethim, Japhen, Japhet, Noa.




The three major patriarchal lines of Europe and their homelands: 1) the line of Samothes or Celts mainly on the Loire and Seine west of the Rhine and in Britain, 2) the line of Tuisto, the Teutons or Germans, mainly on the Danube east of the Rhine, 3) the line of Berig and Oghuz or Goths mainly on the Don and Volga. These are the descendants of Ashkenaz, Rifath and Togarmah, the three sons of Gomer son of Japheth: Tuisto is the main line of Ashkenaz, Samothes (Phenius) of Rifath, and Berig and Oghuz of Togarmah (Turk).



906.0.2. Returning now to Negua son of Alanus: Alanus had three sons, Hisition (or Isacon, etc.), Armenon and Negua. Alanus is said to have been the first man to arrive in Europe of the race of Japheth (ibid. p. 149). But Alanus, the father of Isacon, Armenon and Negua, is simply the name given in the Historia Brittonum of Nennius (c. AD 800) to the Mannus of Tacitus’ Germania II. 3 (first century AD), who likewise was the father of the three sons, Iscaevon or Istaevon (corresponding to Hisition, Isacon), Herminon (corresponding to Armenon) and Ingaevon (corresponding to Negua): Tacitus — “The Germans themselves I should regard as aboriginal, and not mixed at all with other races through immigration or intercourse. For, in former times, it was not by land but on shipboard that those who sought to emigrate would arrive; and the boundless and, so to speak, hostile ocean beyond us, is seldom entered by a sail from our world. And, beside the perils of rough and unknown seas, who would leave Asia, or Africa, or Italy for Germany, with its wild country, its inclement skies, its sullen manners and aspect, unless indeed it were his home? In their ancient songs, their only way of remembering or recording the past, they celebrate an earth-born god {or, a god brought forth from Earth}, Tuisco {or, Tuisto}, and his son Mannus, as the origin of their race, as their founders. To Mannus they assign three sons, from whose names, they say, the coast tribes are called Ingaevones; those of the interior, Herminones; all the rest, Istaevones. [Latin: Celebrant carminibus antiquis, quod unum apud illos memoriae et annalium genus est, Tuistonem deum terra editum. ei filium Mannum originem gentis conditoresque Manno tres filios adsignant, e quorum nominibus proximi Oceano Ingaevones, medii Herminones, ceteri Istaevones vocentur.] Some, with the freedom of conjecture permitted by antiquity, assert that the god had several descendants, and the nation several appellations, as Marsi, Gambrivii, Suevi, Vandilii, and that these are genuine old names. The name Germany, on the other hand, they say, is modern and newly introduced, from the fact that the tribes which first crossed the Rhine and drove out the Gauls, and are now called Tungrians, were then called Germans. Thus what was the name of a tribe, and not of a race, gradually prevailed, till all called themselves by this self-invented name of Germans, which the conquerors had first employed to inspire terror.” Considering the date of the Alanus of the Historia Brittonum (a couple of generations after the Trojan War), it is unlikely he was literally the “first man” to arrive in Europe. Preceding the Alanus of the Historia Brittonum, however, was Alanus otherwise known as Italus (Kitym Italus in the Defloratio). A phrase about a settlement of the “coastlands of the goyyim” immediately follows the names Kittim and Dodanim on their first occurrence in Gen. 10. 4f., the context being the migration of Japhethites to the regions of the West, and is echoed in Josephus (Ant. I. vi. 1 = I. 128). The Kittim were commonly identified with the Macedonians (for example in Maccabees), and Macedonia was the first European territory encountered on leaving the Turkish coast of “Asia.” The eponymus Kittim may therefore be held to have been the “first man” to have arrived in Europe. For his connection with the three Germanic ancestors, Iscaevon, Ingaevon, Herminon, refer to the following genealogical chart:



Japheth


Tuisco





















Javan



Samothes



Mannus











Magus










Saron

Ingaevon











Namnes








Iscaevon

Dryus












Bardus I

Herminon










Longo

















Bardus II



Marsus























Kitym-Italus-Alanus I


Britannus



Lucus


Gambrivius

















Celto

=

Hercules






Faunus

Galathea


=

=

Araxa







↓





Latinus


Dardanus, Tros, Anchises














Lavinia

=

Aeneas



















Alanus II


















Iscaevon, Ingaevon, Herminon














Notes on the genealogy:

1. Hercules Libycus

a) Hercules Libycus married Araxa (Junior), according to the Defloratio (§889.81, above, >>), and this Araxa was the daughter of Gampar (Gambrivius), the eponymus of the Cimbri and Cimmerians (Gomerites). (Turmair [Aventinus], Bayerische Chronik, Buch I, ed. Lexer, Munich 1882, cap. 45, p. 128.) The line of Hercules Libycus thus crossed with that of Tuyscon. Gampar (Gambrivius) was an offspring of Mannus by the following line of descent (Turmair and the Defloratio Berosi): Gampar [Gambrivius] son of Mers [Marsus], son of Herman [Herminon] son [sic] of Ausstäb [Istaevon] son [sic] of Eingeb [Ingaevon] son of Mann [Mannus] son of Tuitsch [Tuyscon]. Here Iscaevon, Ingaevon and Herminon are the successive descendants of Mannus. They engendered three tribes who inhabited the regions of Germany described by Tacitus supra. The chiefs of these tribes bore the eponyms inherited from their ancestors, so the same names appear later in the line of descent as the sons of Alanus II. Alanus II, evidently, had become in the mean time dominant throughout the land and apportioned the three tribal territories to his sons.

b) From Hercules Libycus was descended the Assyrian line of Ninus and Zames (§354.6, above, >>); and since Zames = Trebetas, §101.21, above, >>, Trebetas is represented as a “son,” that is, a descendant, also of Mannus (Treiber “son of Mann,” Turmair, ibid., cap. 21, p. 96) as well as of Ninus. From this Assyrian line descended Memnon and the line of Odin, of Dardanus and the kings of Troy, from which latter the descent of Alanus (II) was commonly traced. Alanus (II) was therefore a descendant of Mannus.

c) Hercules Libycus consorted with Salathiel daughter of Gomer (§211, above, >>), and thus could claim descent from Gomer through his wife. “Salathiel” is probably for Salaad (or Salem), as detailed at §209.2.3, above, >>. Salathiel alternates with Astaroth or Asteria (viz. Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus) as the name of the mother of Melchizedek by Hercules. Aphrodite, the African consort of Hercules, is identified with Galathea, a descendant of Gomer, and the consort of Hercules: Galathea is also represented as a descendant of Samothes. (See §897.6, above, >>). Samothes is titled Ashkenaz (889.2.3.6, above, >>), meaning he was an offspring of Ashkenaz son of Gomer. Samothes’ offspring Galathea could thus also trace her ancestry from Gomer by that line of descent. In addition to Galathea, Hercules consorted with Celto daughter of Britannus of the same Samothean line. (§897.5, above, >>.) On Galathea as daughter of Kitym-Italus-Alanus in the genealogical chart supra, see Note 2b. Araxa, the other consort of Hercules in the chart, is the daughter of Araxes, and Araxes is described by Mar Abas Catina as the nephew of Aramayis, the descendant of Hayk son of Togarmah son of Gomer. (§354.10.1, above, >>.) By this marriage, too, Hercules could claim descent from Gomer. Araxa is described variously as the daughter of Gambrivius (supra), the “Gomerite,” and also as the daughter of Araxes.

2. Alanus = Italus

a) The name Alan(i)us is applied to Italus the ancestor, via Latinus, of Aeneas and Rea Silvia, mother of Alanus (II), supra, in Lebor Gabala Erenn, ed. Macalister, vol. 2, p. 46f. Lebor Gabala Erenn here echoes many of the themes found earlier, and in summary form, in the Historia Brittonum.In Chronicon Miersuae s. 1, the Poles (Polani) are identified with the Vandals, descended from Wandalus the firstborn of Negno (= Ingaevon) son of Alanus (II), who is traced back via Aeneas and Anchises to Alan(us) (I), the son of “Philira,” offspring of Javan, son of Japheth. Here are the earlier and later Alanus (I and II) of this chart. The genealogy is: Iaphet {Japheth}, Iavan {“whom the Poles call Iwan [Ivan]”}, Philira, Alan {I}, Anchises, Aeneas, Ascanius, Pamphilius, Reasilva, Alanus {II, “who first entered Europe”}, Negno {= Ingaevon} etc.

b) Kitym-Italus is the father of Galathea, the consort of Hercules Libycus, in the Defloratio Berosi (chart following §886.2, above, >>). This Italus (also called “Atlas” etc., see infra, note d) is traced otherwise from Japheth as follows in Villani’s Chronicle: Italus son of Targum (= Togarmah) son of Tirras son of Gomer (son of Japheth), and Gomer was also the nephew (anciently “son”) of Janus (= Javan) the “fourth son” of Noah, according to the Revelation of Methodius (“Escodio”) quoted in the same passage of Villani. Noah himself was also titled Janus. Thus Kitym-Italus (Alanus I) could be traced from Janus/Javan both by the Biblical genealogy (Kittim begotten from Javan) and by the Italus/Atlas genealogy of Villani. The Kitym or Kittim, the Classical Keteoi, were Mysians. (§894.2, above, >>.) Mysus, the eponymus of the Mysians, is the Hebrew Mash/Meshech. (Ibid.) Samothes was titled Meshech, meaning he was a Meshechite. (§889.2.3.2, above, >>.) He was also titled “Javan” (note c infra). Thus Galathea, the descendant of Samothes-Meshech, could claim descent from “Kitym” and Javan.

c) Alan(us) is listed in the Defloratio as a son of Arameus (Aram son of Shem). (Chart following §886.2, above, >>.) In Turmair (Aventinus, Germania Illustrata, ed. Leidinger, Munich, 1908, p. 122) this Alanus son of Arameus is said to be the eponymus of the Alpine Alans of Noricum, who are called Ambisontii by Ptolemy and Abisontes by Pliny. This, most probably, is the original filiation of the eponymus Alanus-Italus: viz. the Italians or Kittim (= Greek “Keteioi,” descended from Italus-Kytim according to the Defloratio) were the offspring of the Aramaean Alanus (Italus). The Keteioi were Mysians, the descendants of Mesa son of Arameus (Mash son of Aram), supra. As Alanus “son” of Aram does not appear in the Biblical genealogy of Aram in Genesis 10. 23, he was probably a “son” of Aram in the ancient sense, viz. a further descendant, and actually a descendant of Mash son of Aram, since he bore the eponymus Kittim. Javan is said in Genesis 10. 4 to have begotten Kittim, meaning some Kittim: the phraseology implies he was not the ancestor of all Kittim. The ancestor of all Kittim, we may presume in that case, was Alanus (= Italus), son of Aram. Samothes traced his descent from the same line (see Note 2b), being of Meshech/Mash, that is, of the Mysian Kittim: he belonged to the Javanite branch, as he was titled Javan (889.2.3.4, above, >>), meaning he was also an offspring of Javan.

d) Italus was otherwise spelled Atlas or Attalus. (§886.2.1, above, >>.) Atlas was a translation of the name Enoch (§51, above, >>), and Attalus a translation of the name Noah (§125, above, >>.) Enoch was a second “Adam” (§454, above, >>), and Noah the “Adam” of the post-diluvian world. Atlas was also a title of Japheth (the Defloratio’s “Atlas Maurus,” §310, above, >>), and Gomer was Japheth Junior (§788, above, >>). The spirit of the earlier patriarch was believed to be reincarnated in his descendant, as reflected in the name passed down through the line. Further on the Adamic roles of Gomer and Mannus, see §884.4.5.6, above, >>. In Varsevicii De orig. generis Poloni cited as a parallel to the Chronicon Miersuae genealogy ut cit. supra (ed. Monumenta Poloniae Historica, 1872, p. 163, n. 1), Alanus II ( the “first to enter Europe” and the father of Vandalus) is referred to as “Iavanum secundum” (a “second Javan”) following Javan the son of Japheth, which shows how the title Janus/Javan, as well as the title Atlas, could pass down the line from Noah-Janus, through Janus-Javan, to Italus-Alanus-Javan.

3. Gomer

a) Gomer son of Japheth was traditionally identified with Adam, “Man” (§670, above, >>). In the Defloratio Berosi of Giovanni Nanni (chart following §886.2, above, >>), Tacitus’ Mannus (“Man”) is the son of Tuyscon (Tuisco, Tuisto) the post-diluvian giant son of Janus-Noa. The title Ashkenaz is found attached to Tuisco, which means he was, or was held to be, a descendant, otherwise the chief (“father”), of the tribe of Ashkenaz. (§940, below, >>.) Tuisco is described as a son of Noah, because he was adopted into the Flood-hero’s family (the “Ianili”), according to the Defloratio. (Ibid.) Ashkenaz was a son of Gomer, therefore the titular eponym Gomer, as well as Ashkenaz, might be passed down to Tuisco and his descendants. As in the case of the name Atlas/Attalus/Italus, supra, attributes were liable to be inherited along with the title. Mannus is semantically identical to the Hindu Manu (“Man”). Manu is the Hindu Flood-hero and corresponds to the Biblical Noah, who was the “Adam” (“Man”) of the post-diluvian world. The Teutonic Mannus, like Gomer, may have been thought to be a latter-day “Adam.”

b) Gomer was the ultimate ancestor of the Goths and Danes, that is, of the corresponding eponymous tribal heads, Guti and Dan-Tanaus-Tanju.

Like his forefather Gomer (Gen. 10. 3), Alanus populated Europe through three eponymous tribal ancestors. (Cf. note 2d supra: Alanus = Italus, and Italus = Atlas = Attalus, which was a title applied to Noah. Noah was the post-diluvian Adam, and, like Alanus, the father of three tribal heads.) The rather general statements of Tacitus in this regard are reworked in the Historia Brittonum, and the three eponymous sons of Alanus (II) are said to have begotten the following tribal eponymi (ibid., p. 160): Hessitio (Hisition, Isacon, etc.) begot four sons, Francus, Romanus, Britto, Albanus (or Alamannus etc.), the ancestors respectively of the Franks, Romans, Britons and Albans (or Alamanni); Armenon had five sons, Gothus, Valagothus, Gebidus, Burgundus, Longobardus, ancestors respectively of the Goths, Valagoths, Gebidi, Burgundians and Lombards; and Negue (Negua etc.) begot three sons, Vandalus, Saxo and Boguarus, ancestors respectively of the Vandals, Saxons and Boguarii. However, these need not have been sons sensu stricto, and, in fact, we see in the case of Negue, or Negua, two of these sons are represented elsewhere in the Historia Brittonum as a son and grandson of Negua, thus: Gaeta, son of Vanlus (= Vandalus), son of Saxo, son of Negua. (Supra.) Here also Gaeta is a tribal eponymus, viz. of the Geats. In the Anglo-Saxon tradition Gaeta or Geat is traced in another line from Heremod, who seems to be the Armenon of the Historia Brittonum (see further infra). This would make Geat a descendant (“son”) of Armenon, and, accordingly, we find “Gothus” described as a son of Armenon in the Historia Brittonum. Geats (Latin Getae) were considered in antiquity to be identical to Goths, therefore Geat “son” of Heremod, the eponymus of the Geats, is the same as Gothus son of Armenon, the eponymus of the Goths. Other names preceding and following Negua in the genealogy of Odin are tribal eponyms, though they do not feature in the list of Alanus’ sons, one of these being Skiold, the eponymus of the Skjoldungas. This is a typical patriarchal system, comparable to that found in the Hebrew Scriptures. For example, in the genealogy of Israel, Eber is the eponymous ancestor of the Hebrews, Eber’s descendant Israel, the eponymous tribal ancestor of the Israelites themselves, and Israel’s son Judah, the eponymous ancestor of the Jews. In such a system different clans and sub-clans form as the patriarchal genealogy unfolds.


906.0.3. Gaeta in the Historia Brittonum is the fifth generation following Alanus (Gaeta, son of Vanlus, son of Saxo, son of Negua, son of Alanus), or, alternatively, in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, the fifth generation following Itrman (Gaeta = Jat, son of Biaf, son of Skialldun, son of Heremod, son of Itrman). It is remarkable that in the Anglo-Saxon genealogy the name Itrman or Itrmon, meaning “Pre-eminent (itr) Man (man, mon),” occupies the same position, five generations preceding Gaeta, as Alanus. Itrman must surely be a form of the name Mannus. Mannus is the father of Herminon in Tacitus, Alanus of Armenon in Nennius, and Itrman of Heremod in the Anglo-Saxon genealogy. These three (Herminon, Armenon, Heremod) seem to be variations on one and the same name. Presumably as a descendant of Mannus son of Tuisco, Alanus II received the eponymous title Itrman (Mannus) from him.


906.0.4. It was a common practice with the ancient genealogists to omit names, — in order to simplify the genealogy, — and the phenomenon is observable here. For example, in the Book of Hyde we find Geey (Geat), Fillid, Teccy (Taetwa), Beewy (Beaw), Ebranc (Ebraucus) “who built the city of York,” with Geat in the third generation following Beaw, whereas Geat is listed otherwise as the “son” of Beaw or his grandson by an intervening Taetwa. Similarly Beaw is the son of Ebraucus in the Book of Hyde, and Ebraucus is fourth generation in descent from Brutus, the eponymus of the Britons: Alanus fathered Hisition, and he Brutus, or Brito, the eponymus of the Britons, whilst Brutus, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, was father of Locrinus, he of Madoc (Maddan), he of Membyr (Mempricius), he of Efroc (Ebraucus, Ebrancus), and Efroc (according to the Book of Hyde) of Beaw. In this fuller genealogy Beaw is separated by eight generations from Alanus.


906.0.5. In conclusion, it can be said the ancient German and Celtic tribes listed in these chronicles were traced back to Alanus, otherwise known as Itrman, and his three sons, Istaevon, Herminon and Ingaevon. The floruit of Alanus was within a couple of generations of the Trojan War, c. 1100 BC. Alanus’ descent was traced back to Dardanus, the founder of the city named after him, Dardania, which was later renamed Troy, and Dardanus immigrated into Asia from Italy (Kittim). Dardanus was himself a descendant, according to the Historia Brittonum, and the Defloratio Berosi, of Mizraim son of Ham son of Noah, the founding patriarch of Egypt. In another line Dardanus was traced back to Javan, son of Japheth son of Noah. In yet another line, favored by the Anglo-Saxon genealogists, Geat, ancestor of the Anglo-Saxon Geats, was traced back, not to Negua (Ingaevon), son of Alanus, and thus back to Ham or Japheth, the sons of Noah, but to Itrman (seemingly another form of the name Mannus = Alanus II), and so, through Itrman, to Memnon of the Assyrian royal line, going back to Shem the firstborn son of Noah. The Memnon of this line was also associated with Troy, viz. as an ally of king Priam in the Trojan War.


906.1. Idanthyrsus was a notable king of the Scythians in the time of the Persian king Darius I Hystaspis c. 500 BC. Herodotus knew him as Idanthyrsus, but the name had numerous other forms: Atvin, Atvinregir, Antriregir, or Atinriker, and is spelled in the manuscripts of Orosius (Migne PL XXXI, col. 763, and ibid. n. 9) and in Jordanes (infra) Attyrus, Anthyrus, or Antyrus. Idanthyrsus was a form of the name Tanaus (Tanju) of Oghuz Khan, and appears as such attached to the second-millennium Scythian king in Arrian’s epitome of Megasthenes’ Description of India (Megasthenes in Arrian, Indica 5, and Strabo XV. i. 6, the far-flung conquests of this Idanthyrsus in the East being located chronologically between Sesostris and Semiramis, that is c. 1800 BC). In later medieval sources there is yet another Anthyr(i)us or Anthyr dated to the era of Alexander the Great. The foundation of Mecklenburg on the Baltic by this later Anthyrius, and the history of his line, is found in Nicolaus Mareschalcus Thurius, Annales Herulorum ac Vandalorum, in E. Joachim, Monumenta Inedita Rerum Germanicarum, Tom. I, Lipsiae, 1739, col. 165ff., col. 201ff. on Anthyrius himself. The king of this name who was a contemporary of Darius I is listed in Pantaleon, following Johannes Magnus, on p. 77, in the form Anthimus, and the contemporary of Alexander on p. 86 of the same writer in the form Antyrius, “king of the Heruli,” followed by Sitalchus (on whom see Jordanes infra) on p. 87, and Dromgethes “after Sitalchus” on p. 92 (see Möller, Das Doberaner Anthyrlied, 1895, p. 32, n. 1). There were, therefore, three kings with this name: 1) Idanthyrsus A (= Tanaus, Dan, Tanju Oghuz Khan) c. 1800 BC, 2) Idanthyrsus B, whose name is also spelled Anthyrus etc. c. 500 BC, and 3) Anthyr(ius) C (Anthyr[us] = Idanthyrsus) c. 320 BC. In the medieval “Song of Anthyr” the third Anthyr is described as the son of Radegeis by the Amazon Marpeis (Möller, ibid., p. 4ff., and 29ff. for Anthyr as the contemporary of Sitalchus, and the predecessor of Dromgethes). Anthyr is first described as king of the Vandal tribe of the Heruli located in the Maeotic marshes, who served as an auxiliary in the army of Alexander the Great. He is said subsequently to have sailed to the Baltic, and founded a great line of Vandal kings there by his wife Symbulla (or Siva). This is the goddess Sibyl or Sif, the wife of the god Thor, whose genealogy was not known to Snorri; here she is described as the daughter of Sitalchus (or Sitalces), king of the Goths, in the period immediately following the death of Alexander the Great (Möller, ibid., p. 30). Thus, in the Prologue to the Prose Edda of Snorri, Thor the son of Memnon, dateable to the late second millennium BC, is said to have wedded Sibyl or Sif in the far northern part of the world, yet this same Sibyl (Symbulla) or Sif (Siva) now proves to be the daughter of Sitalchus dateable to the generation immediately following Alexander around the turn of the 3rd century BC. The contradiction in the traditional chronology is resolved by reference to the religious or philosophical theory underpinning it, viz. the belief that Thor was reincarnated in the kings who succeeded him. Many of Thor’s successors in the Prologue to the Prose Edda bear names or titles of Thor himself, e.g. Loridi = Hlodridi, “Fire-rider,” Henrede = Eindridi, “Lone-rider,” Vingethor, “Winged Thor,” etc. They were so many re-embodiments of the god-man. They were located in the region of the Maeotic Marshes around the Sea of Azov till certain individuals amongst them in Hellenisic and Roman Republican times migrated to the northlands.By reference to the passages cited at §907.1ff., below, >>, we can see there were three major phases in the development of the mythology of the Norse gods, one in the immediate post-diluvian age, one at the time of the Trojan War, and one in the days of the Roman Republic. In the first we find Thor is Jupiter (§907.5, below, >>), the son of Saturnus of Crete, in the second he is Oku-Thor (Hector son of Priam), etc., and Priam is Odin his father (§907.12, below, >>, and cf. §907.8, below, >>, §907.7, below, >>), in the third Odin and the Asa (gods) or “Asia men” (including his son Thor), borrowing their divine names, as they claimed, from the Trojans of old, migrated north in the days of Pompey (§907.7, below, >>).


906.2. The theory of reincarnation by which the kings were identified with Thor spread before them amongst the Scythians as a result of the teaching of the Gothic sage Zalmoxes of Thrace, the disciple of the Zoroastrian Pythagoras. It was not the second-millennium Thor, then, who traveled to the north and married Sibyl-Sif, the daughter of Sitalchus, but Thor dateable to the generation of Anthyr (Anthyr[ius] C), the son of Radegeis, king of the Heruli in the time of Alexander. Thor was the son of Odin, so Odin, too, must have been dateable to the era of Anthyr. In Jordanes, as we shall see infra (XI [67]), according to one form of the text, Anthyr’s father-in-law Sitalchus (Sitalces) was host to the great mystic, Dicaeneus (Diceneus), who had learned his trade in Egypt, and succeeded to the Pythagorean mantle of Zalmoxes amongst the Goths (Getae). Jordanes’ description of Dicaeneus precisely matches the Norse depiction of Odin, and Dicaeneus is almost certainly the original man behind the Norse mythological figure. Di-Caeneus was literally “God (Di) Caeneus,” and Odin (Anglo-Saxon Woden) was the common later substitute for Di. In Renaissance drawing on medieval sources the sage is as often denominated Caeneus or Ceneus as Dicaeneus. (E.g. Bonifacius Simoneta,1509, De Christianae Fidei etc., 1509, fol. CVIIIa, Charron, Histoire universelle, 1621, pp. 448, 461.) Caeneus could be a divine name like Old Norse Ginnir, a title of Odin meaning “Aetherius,” used also of an eagle or falcon, and related to the word ginnunga-gap, the “yawning” void or abyss, and to the Greek khaino, “yawn.” Alternatively, and more probably, since Sitalces was a contemporary of Alexander of Macedon and Dicaeneus an Orientalizing magus-like sage from Egypt, we may see in the Greek form of the name, Caineus, the common Greek transcription of the Hebrew Sethite patriarchal name Kainan, whose cult is supposed to have been discovered by Alexander on his way to India flourishing in the islands off the shore of Persia, and who was identified with the god-man Hermes of Egypt the pyramid-builder. (§448, sub fin., above, >>.) Odin was equated with the Greek Hermes and the Roman Mercurius. After his death, Dicaeneus was worshiped as an oracular god, who offered advice to the Gothic kings at his shrine. Jordanes notes that it was the oracular advice of Dicaeneus which encouraged king Buruista in the time of Pompey and Caesar around the middle of the first century BC to lead the Goths out of their ancestral lands northwards of Greece and the Black Sea, and seek new homelands in the Germanic wilds later occupied by the Franks. Snorri likewise claims Odin and his clan retreated before Pompey’s harrying to the farther north. Odin’s son, Thor, was wedded to Sibyl-Sif, according to the standard Norse mythological scheme, and Sibyl-Sif, according to the Song of Anthyr, was the daughter of Sitalces and the wife of Anthyr. Either Sibyl-Sif consorted with two men, or Anthyr and Thor were the same person. Since Tanaus-Idanthyrsus (Tanju) is said to have been worshiped as a god by his descendants, it is no surprise to find a figure identically named featuring here (Anthyr = Idanthyrsus) as the husband of the goddess Sif. The second element in the name Idanthyrsus is thyrsus (thyr or thur) meaning “mighty one,” and Thor is an alternative way of spelling the same word. Idanthyrsus is “the mighty Idan” or “Idan-Thor,” and Idan clearly is the eponymus of the River Tanais or Don, equivalent to Tanaus and Tanju. There may further have occurred a suppression of the name Anthyr (C) and of his role in colonizing the Baltic around the turn of the third century BC, as a result of rivalry with the clan of Odin, who played a similar role a couple of centuries later. It is odd, certainly, that the name, but not the genealogy, or family connections, of Sibyl-Sif were preserved in the Eddic traditions.


906.3. Anthyr (C) founded several settlements in the coastal regions of the Baltic, particularly Mecklenburg (Megapolis or Megalopolis). He was the progenitor of the Vandal Dynasty of that city, and of the Dynasty of the Obotrites or Abodrites. The generations succeeded in the following order (Nugent, History of Vandalia, vol. I, 1766, p. 58ff.): the founder Anthyr I (or Anthyrius, variously spelled, viz. Anthyr[ius] C of the account supra), his son Anavas, Alimer, Anthyrius II, Hoter [contemporary of Saxo’s Frode III king of the Danes, 1st century AD], Wisilaus I, Witislaus I, Alaric, Dieteric, Teneric, Alberic, Wisimar, Micislaus, Rhadagaisus (or Rhadagastus) I, Corsico, Fredebald, Wislau (or Visilaus II), Alaricus II, Albericus II, Johannes, Rhadagastus II, Wislaus III, Aribert I, Aribert II, Witzan (or Witzlaus II), Trasco (who succeeded to the throne in AD 795) and his younger brothers Godlieb and Slaomir. Godlieb was put to death by Godfrey king of Denmark. Godlieb’s sons were Rurich, Suwar and Truwar (Nugent, ibid. p. 163, footnote. The genealogy of Rurich and his brothers is found in F. Thomas, Avitae Russorum atque Meclenburgensium Principum Propinquitatis seu Consanguinitatis Monstrata ac Demonstrata Vestigia, Rostock, 1717, Table I, and p. 14ff., following Latomus and Chemnitius). These were invited to Novgorod in the middle of the ninth century AD by Gostomysl king of the Slavs, and Rurich (Rurik, Ruricus etc.) founded there the line of the kings of Rus, or Russia. The Rurikid Dynasty of Russia, so named after the founder, and the succeeding Romanov Dynasty, preferred to trace Rurich’s descent through fourteen generations from “Prus” (which is an eponym meaning “prince of Prussia”), the brother or close male relative of the Roman Emperor Augustus. This is not the only genealogy attesting such a connection. The Vandal kings of Mecklenburg could trace their descent identically from a close male relative of Augustus through a line of Polish kings. This relative of Augustus was Popiel or Pompilius (I), the son of Lesko or Listig (III), otherwise Lech (III), of the “primeval” kings of Poland, who ruled a territory on the Vistula, as Prus is said to have done. (Chronicon Miersuae cap. 16, 13th century AD, similarly in Vincentius, Chronicon Polonorum, Lib. I, cap. 17, Boguphalus, Chronicon Poloniae, cap. 4 [ed. Monumenta Poloniae Historica, 1872, p. 178ff., 265f., 476f.].) Lesko III made an alliance with the Romans and married Julia, a sister of Julius Caesar, begetting Pompilius by her. Pompilius was a “brother” of Augustus, because Augustus was an adopted son, and he himself a nephew of Caesar. This tradition belongs to the particular stream which treated the eponymi “Prus” and “Rus” as signifying the same thing (Schlözer, Russische Annalen, 1er Teil, 1802, p. 274). For “Lech” and “Rus” under those denominations, the eponymi of the Lechitae and Russians, are dated to the time of Julius Caesar (Polnische Chroniken, Jahrbucher der literatur, Bd. XXXII, 1825, p. 79). So “Prus,” otherwise “Rus,” denoted originally the close relative of that “Lech” who was the contemporary of Julius Caesar, viz. of Lesko/Lech III, and who gave rise to the Rus dynasty of Rurich, viz. Pompilius I.

Note. Lesko and Pompilius were kings of the Lech or Lechitae, whom the Greeks termed the “Scythians” of Poland, and these Scythian Poles in the Commentary to the Defloratio (Book II, genealogical chart), along with the Russians, are subsumed under the ethnic name Prutheni, or “Prussians,” meaning the descendants of Prutus brother of Napis, son of Scytha son of Araxa (in Diodorus Siculus, II. 43, ed. Wesseling, Vol. 2, 1793, p. 126, “Ploutos” or “Palos,” brother of Napes, son of the eponymus of the Scythians, and founding father of the Ploutoi or Palai). Araxa herself, according to the same work, was a post-diluvian daughter of Noah. A band of Prutheni, under the eponymous chieftain Brutenus or Prutenus and his brother Widewutus, established a settlement in the sixth century AD on the banks of the Vistula and became the founders there of what was subsequently known as the “Prussian” state (Prussi = Prutheni), where they intermingled with the already established population. The latter consisted of Vandals, the descendants of Wanda, Lechitae, the descendants of Lech, etc, all likewise traditionally descended from Prutus/Plutus/Palus. The ethnic name “Pole” is likely a variation on the form Palus, via the intermediary eponymus Polak. “Prus,” therefore, denotes a particular prince of the Baltic region inhabited by this mixed population. It could be used retroactively as an eponymous title to denote Pompilius, the king of the “Scythian Poles” or Lechitae, and evidently was so used in the Rurikid genealogy.

Wisimar of the Mecklenburg dynasty supra at the turn of the 4th century AD could trace his descent from Pompilius (in the first century AD) by the royal line of the Lechitae: this according to Procosius or Prochor(i)us (original of the 10th century AD, surviving only in an 18th century epitome, Chronicon Slavo-Sarmaticum, 1827, p. 7ff.): “WYSZOMIR. [= Wisimar] AD 292. According to Prokosius and Kagnimirus, Wiszomir, alias Wizymierz, son of king Halduiricus, one of the aforesaid descendants of Polak (whose progeny ruled these regions in succession without interruption for 767 years, that is from Anno Mundi 3573 [BC 470 = Anno Mundi 3530, ibid. p. 7] till the Year of Christ 340) commenced his reign.” A short while after Polak king of the “Primeval Poles” (chart at §884.4.5.9, above, >>), that is, about 400 BC, according to the Chronicon Miersuae (ut cit., p. 167ff.), reigned Graccus I, the eponymus of Cracow), then Graccus II and Wanda, the daughter of Graccus I and eponymus of the “Wanda” River (the Vistula) and of the Wandali or Vandals who inhabited its banks, then Lech I, II and III, Pompilius I etc. into the first century AD. Though the intervening generations are not listed individually in Procosius, 14 generations or slightly more, — depending on the particular method of counting, — separated the first century AD kings of the Mecklenburg line from the generation of Rurich. Thus Rurich was the 14th generation from “Prus” (meaning Pompilius). The obscurer genealogy of Prus was preferred principally, perhaps, because the main line of Rurich’s ancestors was Vandal, and the Vandals were well known to have been Arian in their Christian theology. Arians were anathema to the Orthodox clergy of Moscow, and it was the clergy who were behind the idea that, Constantinople, the “Second Rome,” having fallen to the Muslims, the Tsar of Russia was now the sole legitimate Emperor of the Christian world, and his capital city Moscow, the “Third Rome.”


906.4. The kings of the Danes from Saxo Grammaticus (up to the first century AD) are marked in bold in the following list, within a framework in the earlier section of the Scandinavian Gothic kings from Johannes Magnus marked in square brackets [ ], with dates and other additions from Bertius in rounded brackets ( ), and my notes in braces { }:


Johannes Magnus and Saxo Grammaticus, the latter in bold, with additional notes

Petreius

[Magog son of Japheth (the first to occupy Sweden and Gothia with his family in the 90th year after the Flood “AM 1745”)

     


     

Gomer son of Japheth

Suenno Magog’s first-born son and successor (“AM 1787”)




Tygar son of Gomer

Gethar or Gogus son of Magog (reigned in Sweden “AM 1843”)




Gomer Junior son of Tygar

Ubbo son of Magog, founder and eponymus of Uppsala (“AM 1903”)


[Two other sons of Magog: Thor and German]
{Thor is son of Magog because Ma-gog, called Yajuj (Gog) in Saadia on Gen. 10. 2, is the eponymus of the Goths/Gog (Isidore, Etym. IX. ii. 89), and the eponymus “Goth” is a title of Odin (Poesy of Skalds, LXV) father of Thor.}


Segub or Segud son of Gomer

Siggo (made Sigtunastadium, reigned “AM 2004”)




Aser or Atzer son of Segub

Ericus son or grandson of Gethar-Gogus (“AM 2014”)




Trud or Truid son of Atzer

Uddo




Tielvar son of Truid

Alo




Ostrid son of Tielvar

Othen (Osten [sic])




Guti son of Ostred

Carolus (I)




Tielvar son of Guti

Biorno (I)




Hafder son of Tielvar

Gethar (II)




Guti, Grippa, Grumphin (the last name Gvelphin in Lyschander) joint rulers, the sons of Hafder

Siggo (II) or Gert




Guti son of Hafder sole ruler

Berico ([Berig] king of Sweden and Gothia “AM 2493”)





Humulfus son of Berico {c. 1702 BC}]


[Gaptus {Gapt}, successor of Berico


Vamling son of Guti

Humble (I).


{Jordanes XIV (79), inserts Hulmul here}


Habling son of Vamling

Dan (I) and Angul


Augis


Dan son of Habling

Humble II and Lother


Amalus, son of Augis, founding father of the Amali, whose genealogy into Byzantine times is given in Jordanes XIV (79)


Vesta daughter of Dan



Baltus {Baltus does not appear in Jordanes}





Gadaricus {Gadaric} son of Baltus





Philimerus {Filimer} son of Gadaricus


Velmar son of Vesta



Tanausius {Tanaus}.]


Dan (or Thanache) son of Velmar



{The first migration from Scandinavia occurred in the days of Berig, and “about” five generations intervened between Berig and Filimer the father of Tanausis, according to Jordanes. These generations appear in Johannes Magnus, Gothorum Sueonumque Historia, 1558, p. 46ff., as supra (middle column). According to Johannes Magnus, Humble I (left column) is the son of Humulfus the son of Berichus (Berig), who is the 14th in line from Magog. Humble begets Dan and Angul, according to Saxo Grammaticus. Dan is the eponymus of the Danes, and Angul of the Angles. (The Anglo-Saxons comprise two tribal groupings, according to the traditional accounts: viz. the Angles descended from Angul, c. 1600 BC, and the Saxons descended from Saxo, the son or grandson of Negua [Ingaevon] son of Alanus, c. 1100 BC., who appears in the Historia Brittonum’s genealogy of Odin.) According to Carron, Histoire universelle, 1621, pp. 138, 182, some attributed a third son, Norus or Nore, the eponymus of Norway, to Humblus (otherwise spelled Humeles). Bertius (Commentaria Rerum Germanicarum, Amsterdam, 1632, Lib. II, p. 357ff.) dates Humble’s granting of his son Dan to be king over the Danes to AM 2673 (sub nom. Humble, the 16th king of the Swedes), according to his chronological scheme in which the birth of Christ is dated AM 3947 (sub nom. Erichus III, the 40th king of the Swedes). As Bertius’ date of the birth of Christ is too early, according to the Scriptural chronology, by 144 years (true year of Christ’s birth Anno Adami 4091, and 4091 – 3947 = 144), but his chronology of the Flood does not allow for the omission of 144 years in the pre-diluvian period, 144 years must be added to the post-diluvian chronology, allowing an amended date of the granting of Dan by Humble to AM 2529 (144 years earlier than AM 2673) = 1562 BC. Similarly amending the date of the king preceding Humble, viz. Humulfus, the 15th king of the Swedes and successor of Berichus (Berig, the 14th king), we can date Humulfus to 1702 BC. This means Humble succeeded to the throne some time between 1702 and 1562 BC, more towards the latter date, according to Bertius. Jordanes says (§908, below, >>) “about five” generations intervened between Berig (Bertius’ Berichus) and Filimer (Velmar). In Bertius’ king-list two reigns intervene between Berig and Dan, viz. those of Humulfus and Humble. Dan I begets Humble II and his brother Lother by his wife Grytha. Petreius’ list mentions only the daughter of Dan, viz. Vesta. Saxo names his sons here Humble (II) and Lother.}

{(Dardanus

Erichthonius

Tros)

[Marpesia is an Amazon widow of a prince of the royal seed of Tanausius. The Amazons are the females deserted by the army of Tanausius, upon its withdrawal. Orithyia is the daughter of Marpesia.}


(Theseus of Athens, son of Aegeus son of Pandion, the last being fourth in descent from Erichthonius)

Theseus of Athens takes Antiope (or Hippolyta) sister of Orithyia as his wife. Orithyia invokes the aid of the Scythian king Sagillus against Theseus’ Athenians, and Sagillus sends her an army under his son Penasagoras.


Ilus

Penasagoras marries his sister Auge to the Greek hero Alcaeus, the Theban or Greek Hercules, so making peace



Telephus is the son of Alcaeus and Auge, who fights and dies at Troy.


Laomedon



Priam

Eurypylus, son of Telephus, fights and dies at Troy.]

{Aeneas marries Creusa daughter of Priam

Troana daughter of Priam



Thor


Ascanius

Loride



Henrede


Silvius

Vingethor



Vingener


Brutus of Britain

Moda and Magi (two sons of Hector son of Priam)


Locrinus marries Gwedoleu

Cespheth



Bedvig


Membyr

Atra



Itrman


Efroc (Ebraucus)}

Heremod}




Skiold {dateable c. 1000 BC


906.5 The date is deducible a) from his descent in the seventh generation from two sons of Hector of Troy (c. 1200 BC), viz. From Moda and Magi (§907.14, below, >>), b) from the fact that he is the founding father of the Skjoldungas, and corresponds as such to the Anglo-Saxon Skiold, father of Beaw, whilst Beaw is otherwise represented as the son of Ebraucus of the line of Brutus, of the royal line of Troy, who is dateable c. 1000 BC. In the Prologue to the Prose Edda the genealogy of Skiold, tracing his descent from Dardanus and his wife Bateia, is as follows: Dardanus, Erichthonius (Herikon), Tros, Ilus, Laomedon (Lamedon), Priam(us), his daughter Troan (Troana) married Mennon the Assyrian (Munon or Memnon), who had by her a son Tror or Thor (the god-man Thor), fostered by Loricus in Tracia (Thrace, Thrudheim). Thor married the golden-haired Sibyl or Sif, whose genealogy was unknown to the writer of this account (Snorri), and had by her a son called Loride, followed in succession by Henrede, Vingethor, Vingener, Moda, Magi, Cespheth, Bedvig, Atra (or Annan), Itrman, Heremod, Skialldun (or Skiold). Skiold is said by Saxo to have fought against Skat the king of Allemannia, implying the existence in his era of the Alemanni. These were the descendants of Alemannus, the son of Iscaevon (Hisition), the son of Alanus, according to the Historia Brittonum, and Alemannus in the same work is the brother of Brutus, which harmonizes with the chronology of Skiold established here. The genealogy from Skiold to Odin is as follows in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Skiold begets

Beaw

Taetwa

Geat

Godwulf

Finn

Frithuwulf

Frealaf

Frithuwald

Woden (Odin).


These occupy the period between c. 1000 and 350 BC.}

Gram

the father of Hadding, the latter being a contemporary of Odin {therefore Gram is dateable c. 350 BC}. Gram begot Guthorm by his wife Groa, and Hadding by Sige.

Hadding

the contemporary of Odin, {dateable to some time c. 300 BC}. Odin dwelt in Byzantium (that is, Asgard), but was already in his lifetime an object of worship in Scandinavia.

Frode I

the son of Hadding. Frode’s sons were Halfdan, Ro and Skat. Halfdan slew his brethren.

Halfdan

Ro and Helge

the sons of Halfdan shared the kingdom.

Rolf Krage (“Lopped tree-trunk” so called on account of his size)

the son of Helge by incest with his daughter Urse.

Hiartuar

brother-in-law of Rolf by his sister Skulde.

Hother

son of Athisl, the latter being Rolf Krage’s father-in-law. In his time lived Balder, son of Odin, {therefore the date is c. 250 BC}. Hother battled against Thor (husband of Sibyl-Sif and) son of Odin, as well as against Balder, over Nanna daughter of Gewar, Hother’s foster-father, as Hother and Balder both sued for her hand.

Rorik

son of Hother. His daughter Gerutha married Horwendil of Jutland and bore him Amleth {Shakespeare’s Hamlet Prince of Denmark}. Horwendil’s brother Feng murdered him out of jealousy and took his wife Gerutha, mother of Amleth. Amleth slew Feng and avenged his father.

Wiglek

defeated and killed Amleth.

Wermund

son of Wiglek.

Uffe

son of Wermund, also known as Olaf “the Gentle.”

Dan II

son of Uffe.

Hugleik

Frode II “the Vigorous”

according to some, he was the son of Odin. {Dated by Vitus Bering to BC 173-143.}

Dan III

Fridleif I “the Swift”

Frode III

son of Fridleif. {He is dateable to the first century AD, being a contemporary of Hoter (fifth in succession from Anthyr I), king of the Vandal dynasty of Mecklenburg, who is called Strunik king of the Slavs by Saxo Grammaticus, whilst relating the history of Frode III. Christ was born in the 34th year of Hoter, according to Buckholtz. (Nugent, Vandalia, ut cit. supra, p. 66 and p. 67, footnote.}


907. The line of Odin in the Prologue to the Prose Edda goes back to the royal family of Troy through a female, viz. through Troana, the daughter of Priam king of Troy, who was married to the Assyrian Memnon. From Priam and Dardanus it goes further back through the Etruscan kings of Italy identified with Jupiter (the father of Dardanus), his father Saturnus (Norse Njord) etc., as outlined up to Saturnus in the Prologue to the Prose Edda, and as detailed more fully in the Historia Brittonum c. AD 800, and later in the Defloratio Berosi of Giovanni Nanni. Memnon in the male line, on the other hand, was the son of Tithonus or Tautanes II in Castor’s Assyrian king-list, tracing his descent from Ninus and ultimately from Nimrod son of Cush son of Ham son of Noah, though Cush and Nimrod were also traced in another line from Shem son of Noah. The male line of the Norse kings of the family of Odin led back, therefore, through the kings of Assyria to Shem. Hence the figure Snorri calls Cespheth, otherwise written Seskef and Sceaf, was referred to in Anglo-Saxon tradition as a son of Shem; or was identified with Shem himself (the eponymus passing down through the line of descent, though the name Shem is exchanged in some texts for his pre-diluvian alter ego, Seth, son of Adam [for which Scriptural warrant might be claimed: Codex Alexandrinus reads Seth for Shem in Gen. 10. 31]); or was said to have been “born on Noah’s Ark” (as was Cush “son of Shem”). The identification with the son born on Noah’s container led to, or resulted from, the belief that Sceaf arrived in Scandinavia as a small child on a boat without oars, fast asleep, and his head laid on a sheaf of wheat, which is how he came to be called Sceaf, “Sheaf” (William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, lib. II §116). A similar story was told of Sceaf’s son Scyld, the eponymous ancestor of a great Danish royal house, according to the poem Beowulf. The meaning is that Sceaf (or any other king in that line) was a re-embodiment of Thor, who arrived by sea in Scandinavia when he himself had long since departed this world (sleep = death), that is, in the form of Anthyr son of Radegeis, the “seed (offspring) of the Sheaf (Sceaf).” This is an example of the Kabeiric tradition that the descendants of Mizraim (including particularly Hercules [= Thor], and the descendants of Dardanus, according to the Defloratio) reduplicated in their migrations along the Mediterranean and to the further West Noah’s journey over the waters of the Flood.


907.1. The relevant sections of the Prose Edda, Foreword and Afterwords, read as follows:

From The Prose or Younger Edda, trans. G. W. Dasent, London, 1842.

FOREWORD TO THE EDDA (op. cit. p. 99ff.)

“…. 2. In his old age shared Noe the world with his sons; for Cham he meant the western lands, and for Japheth the northern lands, but for Sem the southern lands, with those parts that will afterward be marked out in the trithing of the earth. In the time that these men’s sons were in the world, then grew strong forthwith the greed of gain and power; for that they knew then many crafts which beforetime had not been found out, and each was puffed up with his own handywork. And so long forward carried they their pride, that the Affricans, sprung from Cham, made war on that lot of the world that Sem’s offspring their kinsmen abode in; and when they had overcome them, it seemed to them that the world was too small for them, and they smithied a tower with tile and stone, which they meant should reach to heaven, on thd vales called Senniar. And when this smithying was so far forward that it almost stood above the air, and they had not a whit less eagerness to hold on with the work; and when God sees how their pride rages high, then sees he that he must in some way beat it down. And the same God, though he is all-powerful, and might have cast down all their work in the twinkling of an eye, and made themselves become dust, yet willed he rather to set at naught their purpose in this wise, that they might know their own littleness, in that none of them should skill to understand what the other talked, and in that none knew what the other bade him do, but one broke down what another wished to raise up; until that they strove among themselves, and with this their purpose in beginning the smithying of the tower came to naught. And he that was foremost hight Zoroastres, he laughed before he wept when he came into the world, but the master-smiths were two and seventy, and so many tongues have since been spread over the worlds after that the giants shifted their seats over the land, and the peoples waxed full. On this same place was made one burg the most famous, and it’s name was taken from the name of the tower, and it was called Babilon. And it was so when the mingling of tongues was, then waxed many the names of men and other things, and that same Zoroastres had many names, and though he understood that his pride was laid low by the said smithying, still bore he on to worldly power, and let himself be chosen king over many peoples of the Assirians; from him arose the bewildering of false Gods, and after he was worshipped, he was called Baal, whom we call Bel; be had also many other names, but as the names waxed many, then the truth was tint along at the same time, and from this first sin then worshipped every man that came after his foregoers, and beasts and fowl, the lift and heavenly balls, and countless lifeless things; until this bewildering went over the whole world; and so carefully tint they the truth, that none knew his shaper save those men alone who spake the Ebrew tongue, that which passed before the smithying of the tower; albeit they lost not the bodily gifts that were allowed them, and for that they skilled to deem of all things with earthly skill, for wisdom of the soul was not given them, so they deemed that all things were smithied of some one stuff.


907.2. “3. The world was shared into three parts; (one) from the south westward and till the Midland-sea, that lot was called Affrika, but the south side of this share is hot and burnt by the sun. The second lot from the west until the north and up to the sea, that is called Evropa or Enea, the nether side of this is cold, so that grass grows not, nor may it be dwellt in. From the north and round the east country all to the south, that is called Asia, in that lot of the world is all fairness, and pride, and wealth from the fruitfulness of the earth, gold and gemstones; there is also the midworld, and as the earth is there fairer and of better kind than in other steads, so was also the folk of man there most furnished with all gifts, wisdom and strength, fairness and all knowledge.


907.3. “4. Near the middle of the world was made the house and inn, the most famous ever made, that was called Troja, there in the land we call Tyrkland. This homestead was made much bigger than others, and with more craft in many ways, with cost and riches that were there about. There were twelve kingdoms and one overking, and much folk and land belonged to each kingdom: there were in the burg twelve lords; these lords have been before all men who have been in the world in all manly things. This every storyteller that hath said of these things doth not in the least gainsay, and for this sake, that all great men of the north country tell back their race thither, and set among the tale of the Gods, all who were Lords of the town, just as first of all they set Priamus’ self in Odin’s stead: nor may that be called wonderful, for Priamus was come of Saturnus, the same whom the north country longtime trowed to be himself God.


907.4. “5. This Saturnus waxed up in that island in Greekland’s sea hight Krit, he was greater and stronger and fairer than other men. So also was his wisdom before that of all men, like his other natural gifts; he found also many crafts which before had not been found out; he was also so mickle in the black art that he knew things about to be; he found also that red thing in the earth from which he smelted gold, and from such things as these he became speedily powerful; he foretold also harvests and many other hidden things, and for this and many other deeds took they him to be Lord over the isle, and when he had steered it a little space, then was there soon enough all kinds of plenty. There passed none other coin save goldpieces, such a store of gold was there; and though there were hard times in other lands, no crops ever failed there, so that men might seek thither for all the things that they needed to have: and so from these and many other unsearchable gifts of might that he had, they trowed him to be God, (and from him arose another bewildering among the Kritmen and Macedonians, just as the first among the Assirians and Challdeans from Zoroastres) and when Saturnus finds how great strength the folk think they have in him, then says be that he is God, and calls himself the steerer of heaven and all things.


907.5. “6. Once on a time fared he in a ship to Greek-land, for that there was a king’s daughter on whom he had set his mind, he got her love in this wise, one day as she was out with her handmaidens, then took he on him the likeness of a bull and lay before her in the wood, and so fair was he that a golden hue was on every hair: and when the king’s daughter sees him, then patted she him on the mouth, he springs up and threw off the bull’s shape, and took her in his arms and bare her to the ship, and had her home to Krit. When his wife Juno finds out this, he turned her (the king’s daughter) into the likeness of a heifer, and sent her eastward into the Nile country, and let the thrall hight Argulus tend her, there was she twelve months ere he changed her shape. Many things did he like this, or more wondrous. He had three sons, the first hight Jupiter, the second Neptunus, the third Plutus, They were all mighty men, yet was Jupiter long before them, he was a man of war and won many kingdoms; he was also crafty like his father, and took on him the likeness of many beasts, and so he wrought out much, that for mankind is unable to be done: and in this wise and by other things, he awed all peoples, so that Jupiter is set in Thorr’s stead, since all evil beings fear him.


907.6. “7. Saturnus let be raised up in Krit two and seventy burgs, and when he thought him fast-seated in his realm, then shared he it with his sons, whom he had set up with himself as Gods: and to Jupiter gave he the realm of heaven, but to Neptunus the realm of earth, and to Plutus hell, it seemed to him that lot was the worst, so he gave him his hound, which he called Serberus, that he might guard hell; this Serberus the Greeks say Erkulus dragged out of hell up to earth. And though Saturnus had shared to Jupiter the realm of heaven, yet was he not less greedy to have for his own earth also, and now makes war on the realm of his father; and so it is said he let take and geld him, and for great works like this he says he is God; and the Macedonians say that he let the parts be taken and cast out into the sea; and longtime trowed they that thereof had been made a woman, whom they called Venus, and set her in the tale of the Gods, and for that hath Venus eversince been called the Goddess of love, for they trowed that she might turn all hearts of men and women to love. When Saturnus was gelded by Jupiter his son, then fled be from the east out of Krit and hither into Italy; there abode then such kind of people as worked not, but lived on acorns and grass, and lay in caves or holes in the earth: and when Saturnus came thither, then changed he his name, and called him Njӧrdr, for the sake that he thought his son Jupiter might afterward seek him out. He first taught the men there to plough and plant vineyards; there was good land and raw, and there were soon great crops, they took him for their lord, and so got he all the realms there about, and let build there many burgs.


907.7. “8. Jupiter his son had many sons from whom the races are come; his son was Dardanus, his son Herikon, his son Tros, his son Ilus, his son Lamedon, father of Priamus the headking. Priamus had many sons, one of them was Ektor, he has been most famous of all men in the world for strength and growth, and grace, and for all manly deeds of knightly rank; and it is found written, that when the Greeks, and all the strength of the north and east country, bore down on the Trojan men, they had never been overcome unless the Greeks had called on the Gods, and so went the answers that no strength of man might overcome them, unless they were broken by their own men, which afterward was done. And from their fame men that came after gave themselves titles, and among the first, just as the Romans have been the most famous men after their days in many things, so it is said that when Rome was built the Romans turned their customs and laws, as near as they could come, after those which the Trojan men their forefathers had. And so mickle might followed these men, that many ages after when Pompeius a leader of the Romans harried in the east country, (and) Odin fled away out of Asia, and hither into the north country, then gave he himself and his men their names, and said Priamus had hight Odin but his queen Frigg, and from this took the realm since it’s name, and there where the burg stood was called Frigia. And whether it be that Odin said that of himself out of boasting, or that it had been so in the mingling of tongues, yet have many wise men held that for a sooth saying, and for a long time after every great lord took for himself a pattern therefrom.


907.8. “9. A king in Troja hight Munon or Mennon, he had (to wife) a daughter of Priamus the headking, she hight Troan, they had a son, who hight Tror, (him call we Thorr) he was in fostering in Tracia with the duke who is named Loricus. Now when he was ten winters old then took he to him his father’s arms; so fair of face was he when he stood by other men as when ivory is set in oak, his hair is fairer than gold. When he was twelve years old he had full strength, then lifted he from earth ten bear’s hides at once, and then slew he duke Loricus his fosterfather, and his wife Lora or Glora and took for his own the realm of Tracia, that call we Thrudhheim. Then fared he wide over the land and knew the countries of the world, and quelled then alone all baresarks, and all giants, and one the biggest dragon, and many beasts. In the north of the world found he that spaewife hight Sibil, whom we call Sif, and got her to wife. None can tell Sif’s stock, she was of all women fairest, her hair was as gold, their son was Loride who was like his father, his son was Henrede, his son Vingethor, his son Vingener, his son Moda, his son Magi, his son Cespheth, his son Bedvig, his son Atra, whom we call Annan, his son Itrman, his son Heremod, his son Skialldunn, whom we call Skiold, his son Biaf, whom we call Biar, his son Jat, his son Gudholfr, his son Fiarleif, whom we call Frithleif, he had the son who is named Vothinn, him call we Othin. He was a famous man for wisdom and all craft, his wife hight Frigidha who we call Frigg.


907.9. “10. Othin had spaedom, and so also his wife, and from this knowledge found he out that his name would be held high in the north part of the world, and worshipped beyond all kings; for this sake was he eager to go on his way from Tyrkland, and he had with him very much people, young men and old, churls and wives, and he had with him many costly things. But whithersoever they fared over the land much fame was said of them, so that they were thought to be liker Gods than men: and they stayed not their faring till they came northward into that land that is now called Saxland, there dwelt Othinn longtime, and had that land far and wide for his own. There set Othinn three of his sons to keep the land. One is named Veggdegg, he was a strong king and ruled over East Saxland, his son was Vitrgils, his sons were these, Ritta father of Heingez, and Sigarr father of Svebdegg, whom we call Svipdag. The second son of Othinn hight Beldegg, whom we call Balldr, he owned that land now hight Vestfal, his son was Brandr, his son Friothigar, whom we call Frotha, his son was Freovit, his son Yvigg, his son Gevis whom we call Gave. The third son of Othin is named Siggi, his son Verir. These forefathers swayed in the land now called Frankland, and from them is come the race that is called Vavlsungar. From all these are great and many races come.


907.10. “11. Then went Othinn on his way northward, and came into the land that they called Reithgotaland, and had for his own in that land all that he would, he set up there in the land his son that hight Skiolld, his son hight Frithleif; thence is the race come that hight Skioldungar, those are the Danekings, and that bight now Jotland which was then called ReithgotaIand.


907.11. “After that fared he northward thither to the land now hight Svithiodh, there was this king who is named Gylfi, but when he learnt the faring of these Asiamen, who were called Asa, he fared to meet them, and bade that Othinn should have so much power in his realm as he himself willed; and such luck followed their path, that wheresoever they dwellt in the land, then was there plenty and good peaces and all trowed that they swayed these; and this too the mighty men of the land saw, that they were unlike other men whom they had seen in fairness and wit. In that land Othinn thought there were fair lands, and he choose for himself a stead for a burg, where it is now called Sigtunir, he set up there lords, in the same likeness as had been in Troja, and set twelve headmen in the stead to doom the law of the land, and he so moulded all rights as had been before in Troja and as the Tyrks were wont. After that fared he northward until he fell upon the sea, which they trowed to lie about all lands, and set up there his son over the realm now hight Norway; he is called Saemingr, and Norway’s kings tell their race up to him, and so also earls and other mighty men, as is said in Haleygiatale: but Othinn had with him that son of his who is named Yngvi, who was king in Svithiod, and from him are come the stock who are called Ynglingar. These Asa took to them wives there within the land, but some for their sons, and these races waxed full many, so that about Saxland, and all thence about the north country they spread so, that the tongue of these Asiamen was the true tongue over all these lands; and men think they can deem from the way that the names of these forefathers are written, that these names have belonged to this tongue, and (that) the Asa brought the tongue hither into the north country; into Norway and into Svithiod, into Denmark and into Saxland; but in England there are old names of the land and towns, which one may skill to know that they have been given in another tongue than this.




907.12. AFTERWORD TO GYLFI’S MOCKING (p. 112).

“But the Asa set them now to talk, and take their rede and call to mind all these tales that were told him, (Gylfi) and give these very same names, that are named before, to the men and steads that were there; for the sake that when long times pass by, men should not doubt, that those Asa of whom these tales were now told, and these to whom the same names were given, were all one. Then was there (one) called Thorr, and he is Asathorr, the old one he is Okuthorr, and to him are given those great deeds that Ektor wrought in Troja; but men think that the Tyrks have told about Ulyxes, and have called him Loki, because the Tyrks were his greatest foes.”




907.13. AFTERWORD TO THE EDDA (p. 113ff.).

“1. But this is now lo be said to young bards, to those who are eager to take to them speech meet for song, or fill their store of words with old names, or are willing to skill to understand what is sung darkly; that they must master this book for their learning and passtime: but these sayings are not to be so forgotten or disproved, as to take away from songship names used of yore, which great bards have been pleased with; yet should not christian men trow on heathen Gods, nor on the truth of these sayings, otherwise than as is found in the beginning of the book, where it is said of the chances which led the folk of man away from the true belief, and next to that of the Tyrks, how the Asiamen, who are called Asa, falsed the tales of the tidings which were done in Troja, for that the landfolk should trow them to be Gods.


907.14. “2. Priamus king in Troja was a great lord over all the Tyrkish host, and his sons were most worshipped of all his host; the famous hall, which the Asa called Brimirs hall or Biorsalr, that was king Priam’s hall; but as for the long story they made of the twilight of the Gods, that is the wars of the Trojan men; that which is said, how Okuthorr angled with an oxhead, and drew on board Midgardsworm, but the worm kept his life so that he sank into the sea, that is said from this pattern, that Ector slew Volukrontes a famous champion, in the sight of the mighty Akillevs, and so drew him on to him with the head of the slain, which they likened to the head of the ox which Okuthorr had torn off: but when Akillevs was drawn into this risk through his daring, then was it his life’s help that he fled before the baneful stroke of Hector, and as it was wounded: so also it is said that Ector waged the war so mightily, and so mickle was his rage when he saw Akillevs, that no thing was so strong that it might stand before him; and when he missed Akillevs he soothed his wrath in this wise, that be slew the champion hight Roddrus; (and) so say the Asa that when Okuthorr missed the worm, then slew he Ymir the giant. But in the twilight of the Gods came Midgardsworm unawares upon Thor, and blew on him with venom and struck him to his bane, but the Asa could not make up their minds to say that Okuthorr had so fared, that any one stood over him dead, though so it had been, but they hurried over old tales more than was true, when they said that Midgardsworm took there his bane, and they added this, that though Akillevs bore away the fame of Ector’s death, yet lay he dead on the same field in the same way; that was the work of Elenus and Alexander, this Elenus call the Asa Ali. They say that he avenged his brother, and he lived when all the Gods were dead and the fire was slaked, when Asgard was burnt and all the goods of the Gods: but Pirrus they likened to Fenriswolf, he slew Odin; but Pirrus might be called a wolf in their belief, for that he spared not holysteads when he slew the king in the shrine before Thor’s altar. That which they call Surtr’s fire, is Troja’s burning. But Mothi and Magni Okuthor’s sons came to crave land of Ali or Yitharr, he is Eneas, he came away from Troja and wrought afterward great works. So is it also said that Ector’s sons came to Frigialand and set themselves up in that realm and drave away Elenus.”




908. Jordanes’ account of the early history of the Goths now follows (trans. Mierow, with some alterations). In this account Jordanes refers to three “homes” occupied by the Goths under various kings, the first in Scythia around the Maeotic marshes north of the Black Sea, the second in Moesia, Dacia and Thrace, within the mainland of Europe, but forming that part of Scythia known as “Oium,” and the third the vast area of Scythia north of the Black Sea. The first of these homelands was occupied by Goths who were originally resident in Scandinavia (“the island of Scandza”). The first migration from Scandinavia occurred in the days of Berig, and “about” five generations intervened between Berig and Filimer the father of Tanausis. These generations appear in Johannes Magnus, Gothorum Sueonumque Historia, 1558, p. 46ff., as follows: Berico, Gaptus, [Jordanes XIV (79) inserts Hulmul here] Augis, Amalus, Baltus [Baltus does not appear in Jordanes], Gadaric, Philimerus, Tanausius.

“[The Origin and Deeds of the Goths] IV (25) Now from this island of Scandza, as from a hive of races or a womb of nations, the Goths are said to have come forth long ago under their king, Berig by name. As soon as they disembarked from their ships and set foot on the land, they straightway gave their name to the place. And even to-day it is said to be called Gothiscandza. (26) Soon they moved from here to the abodes of the Ulmerugi, who then dwelt on the shores of Ocean, where they pitched camp, joined battle with them and drove them from their homes. Then they subdued their neighbors, the Vandals, and thus added to their victories. But when the number of the people increased greatly and Filimer, son of Gadaric, reigned as king — about the fifth since Berig — he decided that the army of the Goths with their families should move from that region. (27) In search of suitable homes and pleasant places they came to the land of Scythia, called Oium in that tongue. Here they were delighted with the great richness of the country, and it is said that when half the army had been brought over, the bridge whereby they had crossed the river fell in utter ruin, nor could anyone thereafter pass to or fro. For the place is said to be surrounded by quaking bogs and an encircling abyss, so that by this double obstacle nature has made it inaccessible. And even to-day one may hear in that neighborhood the lowing of cattle and may find traces of men, if we are to believe the stories of travellers, although we must grant that they hear these things from afar. (28) This part of the Goths, which is said to have crossed the river and entered with Filimer into the country of Oium, came into possession of the desired land, and there they soon came upon the race of the Spali, joined battle with them and won the victory. Thence the victors hastened to the farthest part of Scythia, which is near the sea of Pontus; for so the story is generally told in their early songs, in almost historic fashion. Ablabius also, a famous chronicler of the Gothic race, confirms this in his most trustworthy account. …. V …. (38) We read that on their first migration the Goths dwelt in the land of Scythia near Lake Maeotis. On the second migration they went to Moesia, Thrace and Dacia, and after their third they dwelt again in Scythia, above the Sea of Pontus. ….

“(39) To return, then, to my subject. The aforesaid race of which I speak is known to have had Filimer as king while they remained in their first home in Scythia near Maeotis. In their second home, that is in the countries of Dacia, Thrace and Moesia, Zalmoxes reigned, whom many writers of annals mention as a man of remarkable learning in philosophy. Yet even before this they had a learned man Zeuta, and after him Dicineus; and the third was Zalmoxes of whom I have made mention above. Nor did they lack teachers of wisdom. ….

“(43) …. In earliest times they sang of the deeds of their ancestors in strains of song accompanied by the cithara; chanting of Eterpamara, Hanala, Fritigern, Vidigoia and others whose fame among them is great; such heroes as admiring antiquity scarce proclaims its own to be.

“(44) Then, as the story goes, Vesosis waged a war disastrous to himself against the Scythians, whom ancient tradition asserts to have been the husbands of the Amazons. Concerning these female warriors Orosius speaks in convincing language. Thus we can clearly prove that Vesosis then fought with the Goths, since we know surely that he waged war with the husbands of the Amazons. They dwelt at that time along a bend of Lake Maeotis, from the river Borysthenes, which the natives call the Danaper, to the stream of the Tanais. (45) By the Tanais I mean the river which flows down from the Rhipaeian mountains and rushes with so swift a current that when the neighboring streams or Lake Maeotis and the Bosphorus are frozen fast, it is the only river that is kept warm by the rugged mountains and is never solidified by the Scythian cold. It is also famous as the boundary of Asia and Europe. For the other Tanais is the one which rises in the mountains of the Chrinni and flows into the Caspian Sea. (46) The Danaper begins in a great marsh and issues from it as from its mother. It is sweet and fit to drink as far as half-way down its course. It also produces fish of a fine flavor and without bones, having only cartilage as the frame-work of their bodies. But as it approaches the Pontus it receives a little spring called Exampaeus, so very bitter that although the river is navigable for the length of a forty days’ voyage, it is so altered by the water of this scanty stream as to become tainted and unlike itself, and flows thus tainted into the sea between the Greek towns of Callipidae and Hypanis. At its mouth there is an island named Achilles. Between these two rivers is a vast land filled with forests and treacherous swamps.

“VI (47) This was the region where the Goths dwelt when Vesosis, king of the Egyptians, made war upon them. Their king at that time was Tanausis. In a battle at the river Phasis (whence come the birds called pheasants, which are found in abundance at the banquets of the great all over the world) Tanausis, king of the Goths, met Vesosis, king of the Egyptians, and there inflicted a severe defeat upon him, pursuing him even to Egypt. Had he not been restrained by the waters of the impassable Nile and the fortifications which Vesosis had long ago ordered to be made against the raids of the Ethiopians, he would have slain him in his own land. But finding he had no power to injure him there, he returned and conquered almost all Asia and made it subject and tributary to Sornus, king of the Medes, who was then his dear friend. At that time some of his victorious army, seeing that the subdued provinces were rich and fruitful, deserted their companies and of their own accord remained in various parts of Asia. (48) From their name or race Pompeius Trogus says the stock of the Parthians had its origin. Hence even to-day in the Scythian tongue they are called Parthi, that is, Deserters. And in consequence of their descent they are archers — almost alone among all the nations of Asia and are very valiant warriors. Now in regard to the name, though I have said they were called Parthi because they were deserters, some have traced the derivation of the word otherwise, saying that they were called Parthi because they fled from their kinsmen. Now when Tanausis, king of the Goths, was dead, his people worshipped him as one of their gods.

“VII (49) After his death, while the army under his successors was engaged in an expedition in other parts, a neighboring tribe attempted to carry off women of the Goths as booty. But they made a brave resistance, as they had been taught to do by their husbands, and routed in disgrace the enemy who had come upon them. When they had won this victory, they were inspired with greater daring. Mutually encouraging each other, they took up arms and chose two of the bolder, Lampeto and Marpesia, to act as their leaders. (50) While they were in command, they cast lots both for the defense of their own country and the devastation of other lands. So Lampeto remained to guard their native land and Marpesia took a company of women and led this novel army into Asia. After conquering various tribes in war and making others their allies by treaties, she came to the Caucasus. There she remained for some time and gave the place the name Rock of Marpesia, of which also Virgil makes mention:

“‛Like to hard flint or the Marpesian Cliff.’

“It was here Alexander the Great afterwards built gates and named them the Caspian Gates, which now the tribe of the Lazi guard as a Roman fortification. (51) Here, then, the Amazons remained for some time and were much strengthened. Then they departed and crossed the river Halys, which flows near the city of Gangra, and with equal success subdued Armenia, Syria, Cilicia, Galatia, Pisidia and all the places of Asia. Then they turned to Ionia and Aeolia, and made provinces of them after their surrender. Here they ruled for some time and even founded cities and camps bearing their name. At Ephesus also they built a very costly and beautiful temple for Diana, because of her delight in archery and the chase — arts to which they were themselves devoted. (52) Then these Scythian-born women, who had by such a chance gained control over the kingdoms of Asia, held them for almost a hundred years, and at last came back to their own kinsfolk in the Marpesian rocks I have mentioned above, namely the Caucasus mountains.

“VIII (56) Fearing their race would fail, they sought marriage with neighboring tribes. They appointed a day for meeting once in every year, so that when they should return to the same place on that day in the following year each mother might give over to the father whatever male child she had borne, but should herself keep and train for warfare whatever children of the female sex were born. Or else, as some maintain, they exposed the males, destroying the life of the ill-fated child with a hate like that of a stepmother. Among them childbearing was detested, though everywhere else it is desired. (57) The terror of their cruelty was increased by common rumor; for what hope, pray, would there be for a captive, when it was considered wrong to spare even a son? Hercules, they say, fought against them and overcame Menalippe, yet more by guile than by valor. Theseus moreover, took Hippolyte captive, and of her he begat Hippolytus. And in later times the Amazons had a queen named Penthesilea, famed in the tales of the Trojan war. These women are said to have kept their power even to the time of Alexander the Great.

“IX (58) …. Dio, I say, makes mention of a later king of theirs named Telefus. Let no one say that this name is quite foreign to the Gothic tongue, and let no one who is ignorant cavil at the fact that the tribes of men make use of many names, even as the Romans borrow from the Macedonians, the Greeks from the Romans, the Sarmatians from the Germans, and the Goths frequently from the Huns. (59) This Telefus, then, a son of Hercules by Auge, and the husband of a sister of Priam, was of towering stature and terrible strength. He matched his father’s valor by virtues of his own and also recalled the traits of Hercules by his likeness in appearance. Our ancestors called his kingdom Moesia. This province has on the east the mouths of the Danube, on the south Macedonia, on the west Histria and on the north the Danube. (60) Now this king we have mentioned carried on wars with the Greeks, and in their course he slew in battle Thesander, the leader of Greece. But while he was making a hostile attack upon Ajax and was pursuing Ulysses, his horse became entangled in some vines and fell. He himself was thrown and wounded in the thigh by a javelin of Achilles, so that for a long time he could not be healed. Yet, despite his wound, he drove the Greeks from his land. Now when Telefus died, his son Eurypylus succeeded to the throne, being a son of the sister of Priam, king of the Phrygians. For love of Cassandra he sought to take part in the Trojan war, that he might come to the help of her parents and his own father-in-law; but soon after his arrival he was killed.

“X (61) Then Cyrus, king of the Persians, after a long interval of almost exactly six hundred and thirty years (as Pompeius Trogus relates), waged an unsuccessful war against Tomyris, Queen of the Getae. Elated by his victories in Asia, he strove to conquer the Getae, whose queen, as I have said, was Tomyris. Though she could have stopped the approach of Cyrus at the river Araxes, yet she permitted him to cross, preferring to overcome him in battle rather than to thwart him by advantage of position. And so she did. (62) As Cyrus approached, fortune at first so favored the Parthians that they slew the son of Tomyris and most of the army. But when the battle was renewed, the Getae and their queen defeated, conquered and overwhelmed the Parthians and took rich plunder from them. There for the first time the race of the Goths saw silken tents. After achieving this victory and winning so much booty from her enemies, Queen Tomyris crossed over into that part of Moesia which is now called Lesser Scythia — a name borrowed from great Scythia, — and built on the Moesian shore of Pontus the city of Tomi, named after herself.

“(63) Afterwards Darius, king of the Persians, the son of Hystaspes, demanded in marriage the daughter of Antyrus {Herodotus’ Idanthyrsus}, king of the Goths, asking for her hand and at the same time making threats in case they did not fulfil his wish. The Goths spurned this alliance and brought his embassy to naught. Inflamed with anger because his offer had been rejected, he led an army of seven hundred thousand armed men against them and sought to avenge his wounded feelings by inflicting a public injury. Crossing on boats covered with boards and joined like a bridge almost the whole way from Chalcedon to Byzantium, he started for Thrace and Moesia. Later he built a bridge over the Danube in like manner, but he was wearied by two brief months of effort and lost eight thousand armed men among the Tapae. Then, fearing the bridge over the Danube would be seized by his foes, he marched back to Thrace in swift retreat, believing the land of Moesia would not be safe for even a short sojourn there.

“(64) After his death, his son Xerxes planned to avenge his father’s wrongs and so proceeded to undertake a war against the Goths with seven hundred thousand of his own men and three hundred thousand armed auxiliaries, twelve hundred ships of war and three thousand transports. But he did not venture to try them in battle, being overawed by their unyielding animosity. So he returned with his force just as he had come, and without fighting a single battle.

“(65) Then Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, made alliance with the Goths and took to wife Medopa, the daughter of King Gudila, so that he might render the kingdom of Macedon more secure by the help of this marriage. It was at this time, as the historian Dio relates, that Philip, suffering from need of money, determined to lead out his forces and sack Odessus, a city of Moesia, which was then subject to the Goths by reason of the neighboring city of Tomi. Thereupon those priests of the Goths that are called the Holy Men suddenly opened the gates of Odessus and came forth to meet them. They bore harps and were clad in snowy robes, and chanted in suppliant strains to the gods of their fathers that they might be propitious and repel the Macedonians. When the Macedonians saw them coming with such confidence to meet them, they were astonished and, so to speak, the armed were terrified by the unarmed. Straightway they broke the line they had formed for battle and not only refrained from destroying the city, but even gave back those whom they had captured outside by right of war. Then they made a truce and returned to their own country.

“(66) A long time later Sitalces, a famous leader of the Goths, remembering this treacherous act, in light of the previous military combination of the Athenians and the hundred and fifty thousand men {lit. “the Athenians having (viz. previously) joined forces with the 150,000 men”}, made war against Perdiccas, King of Macedon. This Perdiccas had been left by Alexander as his successor to rule Athens by hereditary right, when he drank his destruction at Babylon through the treachery of an attendant. The Goths engaged in a great battle with him and proved themselves to be the stronger. Thus in return for the wrong which the Macedonians had long before committed in Moesia, the Goths overran Greece and laid waste the whole of Macedonia.

{The Latin of X [66] and the following passage XI [67] reads as follows: “X [66] quod dolum post longum tempus reminiscens egregius Gothorum ductor Sithalcus, CL virorum milibus congregatis Atheniensibus intulit bellum adversus Perdiccam Macedoniae regem, quem Alexander apud Babylloniam ministri insidiis potans interitum Atheniensium principatui hereditario iure reliquerat successorem. magno proelio cum hoc inito Gothi superiores inventi sunt, et sic pro iniuria, qua illi in Moesia dudum fecissent, isti in Grecia discurrentes cunctam Macedoniam vastaverunt. XI [67] Dehinc regnante Gothis Sithalco [var. and add. Buruista] Dicineus venit in Gothiam, quo tempore Romanorum Sylla potitus est principatum. quem Dicineum suscipiens Buruista dedit ei pene regiam potestatem; cuius consilio Gothi Germanorum terras, quas nunc Franci optinent, populati sunt.”

Because of the importance of Jordanes’ reference to Sitalces in relation to the traditional history of Anthyr of Mecklenburg (see infra), parts of the translation of this passage by Mierow have been reviewed and retranslated to reflect, it is hoped, the original meaning of Jordanes more accurately. Most modern editors assume the Sitalces mentioned here, dateable to the generation following Alexander, has been confused by Jordanes with the earlier Sitalces who was in league with the Athenians against Perdiccas of Macedon, mentioned in Thucydides, not only because the names of the two rival kings in both eras are identical, but also because Jordanes refers to 150,000 men, which was the number of troops in the army of Sitalces in Thucydides’ account. However, the Perdiccas of Macedon referred to in this passage was the general and successor of Alexander, not the earlier king of Thucydides (who predated Philip, Alexander’s father), and this Sitalces in Jordanes attacked Greece and Macedonia after Alexander’s death. Certainly the 150,000 troops hark back to the era of the earlier Sitalces, but that is the point of Jordanes’ reference: the later Sitalces remembered both the treachery of Philip of Macedon, Alexander’s father, and the even earlier alliance between Athens and the previous Sitalces who fought together against Thucydides’ Perdiccas. Now, in the generation following Alexander, there was another Perdiccas on the throne of Macedon, and this Perdiccas had been given control of Athens, the Goths’ ancient ally. So, in revenge for the treachery of Philip, and, it is implied, to deliver their old ally Athens from the perfidious Macedonians, Sitalces and the Goths now attacked Perdiccas, the successor of Alexander, and overran Greece and Macedonia.}

“ XI (67) Then when Sitalces [var. Buruista] was king of the Goths, Diceneus [var. Buruista’s Diceneus or Buruista Diceneus] came to Gothia, at the time Sulla [also spelled Sylla] exercised the principate over the Romans, and Buruista adopted this Diceneus [variants: “and he adopted this Diceneus Buruista,” “and Diceneus Buruista adopted him”], giving him almost royal power. On his advice the Goths ravaged the lands of the Germans currently held by the Franks.

{Note: Depending on which variant readings, and modern conjectural emendations, are accepted: A) there are two possibilities regarding the king in whose reign Diceneus arrived in Gothia, 1) Sitalces, or 2) Buruista; B) there are two possibilities as regards the names Buruista and Diceneus, either 1) these are two different people, or 2) they are two names for the same person; and C) there are three possibilities regarding the adoption, 1) Buruista adopted Diceneus, 2) Sitalces adopted Diceneus Buruista, or 3) Diceneus Buruista adopted Sulla. In Strabo (VII. iii. 5, 11, XVI. ii. 39), king Burebista, dateable to the middle of the first century BC. is said to have revered Dicaeneus (Diceneus) as an oracular god, and to have moved into Germany on his advice (and Jordanes says similarly of Diceneus’ advice). Since Strabo’s Burebista seems to be the Buruista of Jordanes, then (B)(1) is more likely to be true than (B)(2). This also means that (C)(1) is more likely to be true than the other possibilities in (C). Buruista, therefore, according to Jordanes, adopted the sage Diceneus. Certainly it could be said of Strabo’s king Burebista that he “adopted” Dicaeneus, meaning, as his oracular god and guiding spirit in politics. In that case, the variant reading Buruista for Sitalces arose as a result of the juxtaposition of different historical eras in the very brief account of Jordanes. What Jordanes meant is that Dicaeneus was “adopted” as an oracular sage by king Buruista in the middle of the first century BC. As regards the remaining two possibilities (A)(1) or (A)(2), whether Dicaeneus lived in the days of Sitalces, around the turn of the third century BC, or in the days of Buruista, in the first century BC:

a) The reference to Dicaeneus’ arrival in Gothia when “Sulla/Sylla” exercised the principate of the Romans is ambiguous, because there was a Sulla in the third century BC (the first of that name, the decemvir P. Cornelius Rufus surnamed Sulla), as well as in the time of Buruista (the more famous dictator Sulla, the great-grandson of the first Sulla).

b) Strabo is commonly taken to mean that Diceneus was still living when he was consulted as an oracular sage by king Burebista or Buruista, the contemporary of Pompey, Julius Caesar, Octavian etc., in the middle of the first century BC. Strabo may, however, equally well be referring to an oracle of the dead sage Diceneus amongst the Getae consulted by Burebista, since Diceneus was then treated as a god, and his spirit as a living presence at the oracle. Notice here in Jordanes likewise infra (69), Diceneus is considered to have counseled the Getae in the days of Tiberius Caesar, and if the latter passage only had survived it would be presumed Diceneus lived in the first century AD. (As in fact he was imagined to have done, e.g. in Bonifacius Simoneta,1509, De Christianae Fidei etc., 1509, fol. CVIIIa, Charron, Histoire universelle, 1621, p, 461.)

c) Strabo and Jordanes are the sole literary sources, and a contemporary inscription mentioning the king Burebista of Pompey and Caesar’s time is extant. (Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, vol. 1, 1898, No. 342, p. 547ff.)

d) The floruit of Diceneus himself, therefore, may still have been in the reign of Sitalces in the generation following Alexander the Great at the turn of the third century BC, given that he was treated as an oracular god by king Burebista in the middle of the first century BC, and his cult continued thereafter, having considerable sway amongst the Getae. The variant reading which juxtaposes all three names (Sitalces, Buruista and Diceneus), may be translated this way: “Then when Sitalces was king of the Goths, Buruista’s Diceneus came to Gothia, at the time Sylla exercised the principate over the Romans ….” (Latin: “Dehinc regnante Gothis Sithalco, Buruista Dicineus venit in Gothiam, quo tempore Romanorum Sylla potitus est principatum.”) This was the reading followed by Grotius. The name Buruista is understood, in that case, to be in the genitive. That is how the genitive of the name Burebista (= Buruista) appears in the inscription referred to supra, viz., with final -a. The term “Buruista’s Dicaeneus” would anticipate the important role played by the oracular spirit of Dicaeneus in the religion and politics of king Buruista later in the first century BC. And that is what Jordanes proceeds to outline in the following phrases.

e) The decemvir P. Cornelius Rufus, the first of his line to call himself Sylla or Sulla, in the third century BC, was alleged to have so named himself after the “Sibyl” (Latin Sibylla, the Cumaean Sibyl, the daughter of the Babylonian Berossus priest of Bel, whence “Sylla” [for “Sibylla”] or “Sulla”) whose prophecy he promoted at the time of the Punic Wars to institute the Games of Apollo (Livy XXV. xii. 9ff., XXVII. xxiii. 5, Macrobius, Saturnalia I. xvii. 27ff.). In medieval tradition, Sibyl or Sif was believed to be the daughter of the very king of the Goths Sitalces mentioned by Jordanes, and dated to the generation following Alexander, §906.1, above, >>. This association of the Sibyl with Sitalces must surely have something to do with the combination of the names Sitalces and Sylla in Jordanes. It might be reasoned the medieval Song of Anthyr drew on a false understanding of this very passage in Jordanes to connect the third century BC Sitalces with the Sibyl. However, the mass of detail derived from some other source in the Mecklenburg tradition concerning Anthyr and the era of Alexander, and the genealogy of Anthyr’s descendants in a long series from that generation forward, suggests the Sylla or Sulla of Jordanes was indeed the third century Sulla, who promoted the Cumaean Sibyl, and that the association of the third century Sitalces with the Sibyl, and with the line of Odin through her, as well as with Dicaeneus, was historical. It is noteworthy that Berossus, the Babylonian father of the Sibyl Sambethe, the Cumaean Sibyl, was present in the territory of the kingdom of Pergamum, on the Aegean island of Cos, around the middle of the third century BC (his daughter accompanying him thus far west, then removing farther west to Cumae near Rome), and that he was feted in Athens for his learning in the period consequent on Sitalces’ removal of Perdiccas from power in Athens, according to Jordanes’ account.

f) An interesting observation is that if, as would seem probable in this light, the Sibyl-Sif whom Anthyr (and Thor) married was the Sibyl Sambethe, the daughter of the Babylonian priest Berossus, then Anthyr was a “son” (son-in-law) of Berossus. The name Anthyr is a later form of the name Idanthyrsus or “Idan-Thor,” viz. Tanaus, the eponymus of the River Don (Gk. Tanais = Don). In the De Fluviis ascribed to Plutarch (XIV), Tanais, the eponymus of the famous river, is described precisely as the son of Berossus. The fable explains that Tanais fell in love with his mother, as a result of a curse put on him by Aphrodite (the goddess of love), because he paid too much attention to Ares (the god of war and male pursuits). Wishing to maintain his purity, Tanais jumped into the River henceforth named after him, and perished. (This relates to the migration of Anthyr-Tanais to the North, and to his sailing away for ever [disappearing] from the waters of the Don: see §626.48.2, above, >>, for a comparable myth.) The love of son for mother might be taken to indicate that Tanais’ mother was not his genetic mother, but a female relative holding equivalent status. She is called the “Amazon” Lysippe in De Fluviis, which implies, if there is an historical kernel to the story, that Berossus married into a Gothic family. The name Berossus is known elsewhere only as that of the famous priest of Bel of Babylon. What more likely than that Berossus married a close female relative, perhaps a daughter, of the Gothic king Sitalces who delivered Athens from Perdiccas? Hence Tanais (Anthyr) would be a “son” (son-in-law) of Berossus, as in De Fluviis, and Sibyl-Sif a “daughter” (grand-daughter or other close female descendant) of Sitalces, as in the Song of Anthyr. According to a medieval tradition (§884, above, >>) the Sibyl Sambethe, the Hebrew Sibyl, was actually born in Syria of Manasseh (a Hebrew name) by Papilia, a female related to Alexander of Macedon. The marriage of a woman with this family background to Anthyr, a foreign auxiliary of royal status in the forces of Alexander, is comprehensible. Doubtless Sambethe was a “daughter” of Berossus in the ancient sense, viz. female disciple, or priestess, though it is possible, if not probable, there was also a ritual sexual relationship between them. The father of Anthyr in the Song of Anthyr is named Radageis (Rhadagaisus). Rhadagaisus or Rhadagastus was the chief god of the Baltic region Anthyr settled. He had equivalent status in Slavic mythology to the Norse Odin. Adam of Bremen describes his temple at Rethra (Mecklenburg-Strelitz), calling him the “princeps” of the demons worshiped there (Gesta Hammaburg. II. 18, MGH Script. VII. 312, PL CXLVI. 513), whilst Thietmar calls the “primus” of the gods worshiped at that same shrine “Zuarasici” (Thietmar, Chronicon VI. 17, MGH Script. III. p. 812.) This is a Latin transcription of the Slavic divine name Svarozhich, the “son of Svarog,” Svarog being god of the sun, fire and light, and his son similarly a god of fire. In a Russian gloss on a passage from Peri Theon, repeated in the Hypatian Chronicle under the year 1114, the god-man Hephaistos of that account is identified with Svarog, “the first to forge weapons,” and Hephaistos’ son Helios with the “son of Svarog,” otherwise known as the “Czar” Dazdbog (an alternative Slavic name for the sun-god, Dazdbog being also titled Svarozhich). The passage reads as follows: [An adaptation from the Greek of the Chronicle of George Hamartolos quoted in the Hypatian Chronicle sub anno 1114] “Now after the Flood and the separation of languages Mestrom [Mizraim] began to reign of the tribe of Ham, after him Eremia [Greek: Hermes], after him Feosta [Greek: Hephaistos], which is what the Egyptians called Svarog. For while Feosta ruled Egypt, there fell tongs from the sky and then people began to forge arms, since before that they fought with sticks and stones. Now this Feosta established a law for women that they could only marry one man, and that they must live chastely, and he ordained to punish those who committed adultery. This is why he was called Svarog. Before that time women offered themselves to whomever they desired and lived a bestial existence. When they had a child they handed it over to whomsoever they desired, saying, “Here is your child,” and the man would make a feast and accept it. Now Feosta abolished this law and established the custom whereby each man could have no more than one wife, and each woman no more than one husband. Whoever violated this law had to be thrown into a burning furnace. That is why he was called Svarog, and the Egyptians worshiped him. After him reigned his son named the Sun [Greek: Helios], which is called Dazbog, during a period of 7470 days. Now the king Sun son of Svarog, who is Dazbog, was a vigorous man. He found out about a person who had a rich Egyptian wife, with whom someone had committed adultery. He wanted to take her into custody, since he could not tolerate her violating the law of his father Svarog; so he took some men with him, and, having noted the precise time when she had committed adultery, surprised her that night with her accomplice. He made her suffer for her crimes and made a public disgrace of her throughout the land. Thus a pure lifestyle was established in the land of Egypt.” The two successive forms of the sun-god in Peri Theon, Hephaistos (Amun II), and Helios (Amun III), became in the Slavic scheme Svarog and Svarozhich, sun-god senior and junior. Therefore the Svarozhich worshiped at Rethra was originally the sun-god Helios, viz. Pan, Faunus, or Amun III of the Egyptian Trinity, the oracular god of Siwa, who was further equated with the Greek Hermes, and the Roman Mercurius, and therefore also with Odin, the Norse Mercurius (Wodan [Odin] = Mercurius, Paulus Diaconus I. 9, etc.). In a Latin vocabulary written by Solomon III bishop of Constance, obit AD 920, with glosses added by a Bohemian monk, and in the standard Renaissance expositions of Slavic mythology, based on earlier medieval sources, Rhadagastus is equated with the Roman god Mercurius, precisely corresponding in that regard to the Norse Odin. (See Grimm [Stallybrass], Teutonic Mythology, 1880, I. p. 130, note 2, p. 248f. The Old Bohemian gloss is from a codex of the 13th century, Hanka, Mater Verborum, 1833, p. 14a [“Mercurius, a mercibus est dictus, Radihost wnukk Kirtow,” that is, “Mercurius is named from merchandise, Radihost, grandson of Kirt.” Kirt or Krodo is taken by Grimm as a name of Saturnus the grandfather of Faunus-Hermes, as in the Peri Theon genealogy, possibly, albeit “hardly,” with a reference also etymologically to Crete, Grimm, ibid. p. 249, note 1, viz. the Cretan Curetes of Nimrod-Saturnus, §884.4.5.8, above, >>].) In Peri Theon, additionally, Helios is the father of Sosis-Ares (the “Libyan Hercules”), Thouros-Ares in the Assyrian scheme, as in the Norse scheme Odin is the father of Thor (= Ares, Mars), and in the Slavic scheme the Odin-like Radegeis father of the Thor-like Anthyr. Radegeis was in all likelihood the personal name of Anthyr’s father, and Svarozhich, Odin, etc., the titles of divinity variously applied to him. As the husband of Sibyl, the daughter of Berossus, the genealogy of Thor son of Odin (Anthyr son of Rhadageis), acquired now a status similar to that of the god-kings of Babylon. In the Prologue to the Prose Edda, accordingly, Odin’s line is traced back to Memnon son of Tautanes II in Ctesias’ king-list, and so forth back to Semiramis (Hammurabi), Ninus, and ultimately to Nimrod of the generation of the Shinar Tower (the First Dynasty of Uruk). This genealogy seems more broadly to be a list of divine names reflecting different aspects or divine titles of the god Thor. As Thor was the Bel-like thunder-god of the Goths, the genealogy could be understood as a list of the titles of Bel applied to succeeding generations of Gothic priest-kings as though they were so many incarnations of Bel himself, like the priest-kings of Babylon. Perhaps the marriage of his daughter to a Gothic king was a deliberate attempt on the part of Berossus to foster favor, and even the glimmerings of a revived “Babylonian” empire, amongst the Goths, as he seems to have done in Pergamum under the Attalids, and as his daughter the Sibyl was no doubt attempting to do amongst the Romans in the farther west. It was the Romans who stood most firmly behind the Attalids militarily in the days of the Sibyl, and who in the end inherited the Attalid throne, as well as the Sibylline blessing, towards the end of the second century BC.}

(68) Then came Caesar, the first of all the Romans to assume imperial power and to subdue almost the whole world, who conquered all kingdoms and even seized islands lying beyond our world, reposing in the bosom of Ocean. He made tributary to the Romans those that knew not the Roman name even by hearsay, and yet was unable to prevail against the Goths, despite his frequent attempts. Soon Gaius Tiberius reigned as third emperor of the Romans, and yet the Goths continued in their kingdom unharmed. (69) Their safety, their advantage, their one hope lay in this, that whatever their counselor Dicineus advised should by all means be done; and they judged it expedient that they should labor for its accomplishment. And when he saw that their minds were obedient to him in all things and that they had natural ability, he taught them almost the whole of philosophy, for he was a skilled master of this subject. Thus by teaching them ethics he restrained their barbarous customs; by imparting a knowledge of physics he made them live naturally under laws of their own, which they possess in written form to this day and call belagines. He taught them logic and made them skilled in reasoning beyond all other races; he showed them practical knowledge and so persuaded them to abound in good works. By demonstrating theoretical knowledge he urged them to contemplate the twelve signs and the courses of the planets passing through them, and the whole of astronomy. He told them how the disc of the moon gains increase or suffers loss, and showed them how much the fiery globe of the sun exceeds in size our earthly planet. He explained the names of the three hundred and forty-six stars and told through what signs in the arching vault of the heavens they glide swiftly from their rising to their setting. (70) Think, I pray you, what pleasure it was for these brave men, when for a little space they had leisure from warfare, to be instructed in the teachings of philosophy! You might have seen one scanning the position of the heavens and another investigating the nature of plants and bushes. Here stood one who studied the waxing and waning of the moon, while still another regarded the labors of the sun and observed how those bodies which were hastening to go toward the east are whirled around and borne back to the west by the rotation of the heavens. When they had learned the reason, they were at rest. (71) These and various other matters Dicineus taught the Goths in his wisdom and gained marvellous repute among them, so that he ruled not only the common men but their kings. He chose from among them those that were at that time of noblest birth and superior wisdom and taught them theology, bidding them worship certain divinities and holy places. He gave the name of Pilleati to the priests he ordained, I suppose because they offered sacrifice having their heads covered with tiaras, which we otherwise call pillei. (72) But he bade them call the rest of their race Capillati. This name the Goths accepted and prized highly, and they retain it to this day in their songs.

“(73) After the death of Dicineus, they held Comosicus in almost equal honor, because he was not inferior in knowledge. By reason of his wisdom he was accounted their priest and king, and he judged the people with the greatest uprightness.

“ XII When he too had departed from human affairs, Coryllus ascended the throne as king of the Goths and for forty years ruled his people in Dacia. I mean ancient Dacia, which the race of the Gepidae now possess. (74) This country lies across the Danube within sight of Moesia, and is surrounded by a crown of mountains. It has only two ways of access, one by way of the Boutae and the other by the Tapae. This Gothia, which our ancestors called Dacia and now, as I have said, is called Gepidia, was then bounded on the east by the Roxolani, on the west by the Iazyges, on the north by the Sarmatians and Basternae and on the south by the river Danube. The Iazyges are separated from the Roxolani by the Aluta river only. etc. ….

“XIII …. (78) …. Their genealogy I shall run through briefly, telling the lineage of each and the beginning and the end of this line. And do thou, O reader, hear me without repining; for I speak truly.

“XIV (79) Now the first of these heroes, as they themselves relate in their legends, was Gapt, who begat Hulmul. And Hulmul begat Augis; and Augis begat him who was called Amal, from whom the name of the Amali comes. This Amal begat Hisarnis. Hisarnis moreover begat Ostrogotha, and Ostrogotha begat Hunuil, and Hunuil likewise begat Athal. Athal begat Achiulf and Oduulf. Now Achiulf begat Ansila and Ediulf, Vultuulf and Hermanaric. And Vultuulf begat Valaravans and Valaravans begat Vinitharius. Vinitharius moreover begat Vandalarius; (80) Vandalarius begat Thiudimer and Valamir and Vidimer; and Thiudimer begat Theodoric. Theodoric begat Amalasuentha; Amalasuentha bore Athalaric and Mathesuentha to her husband Eutharic, whose race was thus joined to hers in kinship. (81) For the aforesaid Hermanaric, the son of Achiulf, begat Hunimund, and Hunimund begat Thorismud. Now Thorismud begat Beremud, Beremud begat Veteric, and Veteric likewise begat Eutharic, who married Amalasuentha and begat Athalaric and Mathesuentha. Athalaric died in the years of his childhood, and Mathesuentha married Vitiges, to whom she bore no child. Both of them were taken together by Belisarius to Constantinople. When Vitiges passed from human affairs, Germanus the patrician, a cousin of the Emperor Justinian, took Mathesuentha in marriage and made her a Patrician Ordinary. And of her he begat a son, also called Germanus. But upon the death of Germanus, she determined to remain a widow. Now how and in what wise the kingdom of the Amali was overthrown we shall keep to tell in its proper place, if the Lord help us.

(82) But let us now return to the point whence we made our digression and tell how the stock of this people of whom I speak reached the end of its course. Now Ablabius the historian relates that in Scythia, where we have said that they were dwelling above an arm of the Pontic Sea, part of them who held the eastern region and whose king was Ostrogotha, were called Ostrogoths, that is, eastern Goths, either from his name or from the place. But the rest were called Visigoths, that is, the Goths of the western country….

“XVII (94) …. Should you ask how the Getae and Gepidae are kinsmen, I can tell you in a few words. You surely remember that in the beginning I said the Goths went forth from the bosom of the island of Scandza with Berig, their king, sailing in only three ships toward the hither shore of Ocean, namely to Gothiscandza. (95) One of these three ships proved to be slower than the others, as is usually the case, and thus is said to have given the tribe their name, for in their language gepanta means slow. Hence it came to pass that gradually and by corruption the name Gepidae was coined for them by way of reproach. For undoubtedly they too trace their origin from the stock of the Goths, but because, as I have said, gepanta means something slow and stolid, the word Gepidae arose as a gratuitous name of reproach. I do not believe this is very far wrong, for they are slow of thought and too sluggish for quick movement of their bodies.”

XXIV (121) But after a short space of time, as Orosius relates, the race of the Huns, fiercer than ferocity itself, flamed forth against the Goths. We learn from old traditions that their origin was as follows: Filimer, king of the Goths, son of Gadaric the Great, who was the fifth in succession to hold the rule of the Getae after their departure from the island of Scandza, — and who, as we have said, entered the land of Scythia with his tribe, — found among his people certain witches, whom he called in his native tongue Haliurunnae {meaning “Sibyls,” Turmair, Germania Illustrata, ed. Leidinger, 1908, p. 153}. Suspecting these women, he expelled them from the midst of his race and compelled them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army. (122) There the unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered through the wilderness, bestowed their embraces upon them and begat this savage race, which dwelt at first in the swamps, — a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human, and having no language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech. Such was the descent of the Huns who came to the country of the Goths.

(123) This cruel tribe, as Priscus the historian relates, settled on the farther bank of the Maeotic swamp.



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