On the Paphlagonian Veneti Take 2

We’ve previously posted on Paphlagonia here.  An earlier and more detailed  map came up and we post it here.  This is Pierre Mortier’s “Paphlagonia Heroicis Temporibus Henetorum Populorum, etc” published in Amsterdam in 1700.

The source of all this, of course, is the same, i.e., ancient cartographers like Ptolemy and others.  Consequently, there is no reason to believe that this map is more historically accurate.  Nevertheless, it is bigger and clearer and shows all the interesting names such as:

In the West of Paphlagonia, the reference to the Paphlagonian Heneti or Eneti and, more interestingly, in the East:

• our favorite, Zagora (together will all the alternate spellings);
• Zalichus (Zalichus?) (za lasem?);
• the River Zaliscus;
• the River Halys (!);
• the town of Germanopolis (just north of the province of Galatia – see below) – for Germani see here;

We have noted several other interesting names.  Whether this means anything is, of course, less than certain.  Nevertheless, it is, as we wrote, interesting.

We also note that Paphlagonia is East of the province of Bithynia.  Bithynia was named, apparently, for the Thracian tribes of the Bithyni and Thyni – at least so claims Herodotus (7, 75).  We do not know what language these people spoke.

A few interesting things present themselves, however:

• the name sounds similar to Herodotus’ Budinoi;

• one of the earliest rulers of the province was Bas (perhaps a shortened form of the title  basileus) (but perhaps then Boz was also such a title?);

• they lost their independence to a king of Lydia named Croesus – the notion that Kadlubek could have thought that Croesus when mentioning his Crassus is, of course, preposterous, or is it?;

• two kings of the Bithynians were named Prusias (!);

• according to the same Herodotus, the place in Thracia where the Bithyni and Thyni came from was around the river Struma in, today’s Western Bulgaria; this, of course, is the Indo-European stream – except that, curiously, the form mentioned by Herodotus is Str(y)imon(as) – a form with an “n” which, form, appears only in Slavic languages (e.g., Polish strumień);

Finally, we note that one of the (many) stories about the origins of Poland, however preposterous, makes the origin of the country to be the Georgian Colchis – further East from Pahplagonia; Colchis is, of course, where the Argonauts headed for their Golden Fleece as we already discussed; and, argonauts were led by one Jason – whether Jason is “Chasson sive Jassen” is Jassa of “ash” mountains is another interesting question.

And speaking of the “ash” mountains, we note that the above area lay close or was part of the Biblical Ashkenaz.  As Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, 1, 6) reports: “those whom the Greeks now call Galatians were then called Gomerites”.  He then notes that of Gomer came:

• “Aschanaxians, who are now called by the Greeks Rheginians”;
• “Ripheans, now called Paphlagonians” (Mount Rip!? Rippean Mountains?);
• “Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians”;

Note also that, it is commonly believed that the Galatians were Galls (!) (see, e.g., Schenker, The Dawn of Slavic).  That is to say that one and the same people (at least in terms of language/culture) lived both in Ireland, across Europe and in Turkey.  This does not seem to be a problem to any historian.  However, to suggest that the Veneti included Paphlagonians, the Adriatic Veneti, the Gallic Veneti and the Slavic Veneti somehow is a problem.  Why? 

We may laugh at Kadlubek’s stories but why did he pick Galls, Romans and Macedonians as the Poles’ ancient enemies? If he were going for the most outrageous reach in terms of antiquity, why not Greeks, Scythians, Egyptians or Assyrians?

We will return to these questions later and to:

• the Paphlagonians and their role in the Trojan War;

• the question of the similarities between (1) the legend of Lech, Czech & Rus and (2) the tale of Hrvat or Khoryv, Shchek or Sczech & Kij or Kyi & (3) the tale of the Armenian writer Zenob Glak.

On the theory of a Balkan origin of (at least?) some Slavs see Heinrich Kunstmann’s Die Slawen.