The Slavs of Leo VI’s Taktika

PublishedDecember 12, 2018 Post authortorino

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

PublishedDecember 8, 2018 Post authortorino

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

Book III

Chapter 4

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

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

Chapter 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

Book IV

Chapter 9

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

Book V

Chapter 4

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 5

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

Chapter 7

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

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

Olimar replied:

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

Erik answered:

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

Olimar objected:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 9

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

Book VI

Chapter 1

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

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

Chapter 2

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

Chapter 5

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

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

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

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

Northwestern European Rosettes

PublishedDecember 6, 2018 Post authortorino

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

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

Two articles on this topic are easily accessible on line:

The Vermand Treasure: A Testimony to the Presence of the Sarmatians in the Western Roman Empire by Deborah Schorsch

The Vermand Treasure by William H. Forsyth

Here is the whole thing:

Here is a buckle with a hexapedal rosette:

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

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

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

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

Kemathen
Zamość
Zagorzyn

Kemathen also featured a very similar umbo or shield boss.

Bavaria on top, France on the bottom

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

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

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

Similar umbos from southeastern Polish lands

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

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

The Rune “A”

PublishedDecember 2, 2018 Post authortorino

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

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

The Runes of Soshychne

PublishedNovember 24, 2018 Post authortorino

Having discussed the Rozwadów spear here, we can turn to another similar artifact found nearly 80 years before the Rozwadów spear.

The spear in question was found in Soshychne (Ukraine) (Ukrainian Сошичне, Polish Suszyczno) in the spring of the year 1858. Soshychne was then a village. The bigger town is Kovel (Ukrainian Ковель, Polish Kowel) southwest of Soshychne. Since Kovel is also easier to pronounce, the spear or really just the spearhead became know as the Kovel spear shaft or the Kovel spearhead if you will.

The spear was found, apparently by a farmhand, when a hill had been cleared for ploughing for the first time (well, first time in the then memory). The hill was situated in the direction of another village to the SW – Lychyny. Apparently, the local land tenant, a Mr. Jan Szyszkowski, for whom the farmhand probably worked was on site at the time and managed to preserve it. In the summer of the same year he was visited by a relative, one Aleksander Szumowski, to whom he gifted the artifact. Szumowski seeing the incrusted runes got excited and suggested continuing in the area with regular excavations. (As a result of these, in 1859 a hammer head was also discovered in the same location). In fact, if you look at the above picture in detail (here is another highlighted version), there appear to be there several splotchy areas which may have resulted from water flows or other reasons but which may merit further investigation.

In any event, in the meantime, Szumowski reports that he travelled to Kiev in 1859 and then in 1862 to Warsaw and Cracow to figure out what the runes which were clearly visible on the spearhead meant. There was issued, apparently, a brief newspaper publication (by a certain Kraszewski with whom Szumowski consulted), describing the discovery but, other than that, nothing major happened and no one took up the story. Szumowski hypothesized that the lack of interest in his discovery may have been caused by the then raging controversy around the so-called Mikorzyn Stones (Germ. Mikorzyner Steine) which came to light in 1855 and which featured runes. After a few years of examination, many analysts concluded that these were fakes. (You can see them here at the Cracow Archeological Museum). So what Szumowski suggests is that the scientific world did not want to get burned by reveling in the discovery of yet another allegedly ancient runic artifact.

He then notes that, after that initial disappointment, he was forced to actually give up possession of the spearhead. Whether he pawned it off for money and then got it back is uncertain. In the meantime, in 1865, another spearhead was found in Dahmsdorf-Müncheberg in Brandenburg and Szumowski began to look for another opportunity to publicize his finding. At first, he wanted to publish the discovery of the runic spearhead in the Zeitschrift fuer Ethnologie in Berlin, a task which the Kiev Archeological Congress offered to help him with. Szumowski began to correspond with the Danish runologist Wimmer who rejected the initial markings on the right side, read the writing right to left and concluded that the spear bore the name of the owner, namely, ARI[D]S. The “D” was hypothesized by Wimmer since he hadn’t previously encountered a rune like that. Szumowski disagreed with Wimmer in the latter’s rejection of the rightmost letters.

After all this travel, discussion and correspondence, the matter was finally brought to publication by Szumowski but not until 1876 in the Polish publication, Archeological News (Wiadomości Archeologiczne), volume 3.

Once it made its debut in Polish archeological literature, it came to the wider notice of German archeologists and a description was published in 1879 in volume 2 of the Materials for the Prehistory of Man in Eastern Europe (Materialien zur Vorgeschichte des Menschen in ostlichen Europa) published by Albin Cohn and Doctor Christian Mehlis. It was from that publication that the most well-known pictures of the spearhead come from. They also point out similarities to a spearhead catalogued by Dmitry Yakovlevich Samokvasov.

Another relevant publication was the 1886 article in the Polish “Physiographic Diary” (Pamiętnik Fizjograficzny), volume VI, part IV which also provided this detailed picture.

The spearhead itself was kept in Warsaw after that until WWII when it was stolen by the Nazis and disappeared – at least for now.

A few observations are in order:

In their discussion of the Szumowski find, Cohn and Mehlis raise the possibility that the Mikorzyn Stones are, in fact, not fakes. I’ll leave it at that.

It is not at all clear what the writing on the spear says. It has been read as TILARIDS but that assumes that the “O” looking symbol really is a “D” and that you read this from right to left. One could also read SOIRALIT or SDIRALIT. All that assumes that these other letters are clear.

There are several interesting symbols etched on the spear. Generally speaking, there is:
- a circle with a dot inside repeated several times and a double circle with a similar dot,
- there is a line marking that at least in the German article appears curving downwards,
- there are two symbols that appear to look like swastikas (which, by the way, the authors interpret either as luck talismans or as, perhaps, a symbol of fire by comparing the sign to the image of two sticks being rubbed together to get fire), but
- on closer examination, at least one of them seems to look more like the Polish air force “chessboard,”
- there are several etchings next to one another,
- interestingly, there is a symbol shown once on each side which looks like the number “2” with another “2” sharing a base and etched inverted. The same symbol, albeit in that case, shown parallel, as opposed to inverted (though connected with a similar inverted set of the same parallel 2’s) is shown on the Dahmsdorf-Müncheberg spear. Strangely, ignoring the curves, what appears in this version is the rune for “S” (albeit newer than the rune actually shown in the writing so I assume that this is a bit of a fluke).

Note the number “2” that is otherwise visible. The “lightning” “rune” combined with that “2” makes it tempting to look at Thor/Piorun or, if you will, Taranis/Taran. Notably, Jupiter too comes into play as the staff of Jupiter, the planet’s symbol, contains that same “2”. Note too that the “staffs” on each side are mirror images of each other.

The other symbols can be interpreted as solar and, perhaps, as a moon symbol too. Arguably, there is also a fire symbol in the chessboard/swastika. Perhaps, one side can be interpreted as containing a set of solar/fire symbols and the other (the side with the writing) as containing a set of lunar symbols.

Of course, the Arabic or Hindu numbers had not been introduced to Europe at that time yet – their first known Western use being in the Codex Vigilanus of the 10th century.

The Indian Devanagari number “2” is similar but that cannot be taken back before the 7th century. Before that the Indian number system has sticks for the number two like the Romans.

Another possibility is that, the rune writer was using a form of the Greek beta (ultimately, Phoenician “beth”). That letter, being the second letter of their alphabet was used to designate the number “2”.

But perhaps the most promising lead is the Sarmatian. The following comes from Tadeusz Sulimirski‘s work on the Sarmatians by way of Deborah Schorsch‘s article on the Vermand treasure. That is, these signs may just be “tamgas”. The spear shafts are from Zadowice by Kalisz (two sides of the same spear), Jankowo by Mogilno, Kamienica by Jarosław. Another example of the double “2” may be on a spear from Pudliszki near Leszno.

Here is an example of folk embroidery from the town of Perebrody in Ukraine by the Belorussian border – note the base.

Signs of Lada Part VII – Harmonia, the Amazon Gardzyna

PublishedNovember 21, 2018 Post authortorino

The God or Goddess Lada is mentioned in Polish sources multiple times but the Deity is characterized only three times.

The Postilla Husitae anonymi aka Postilla Husitae Polonici uses the words “Alado gardzyna Yesse” meaning most likely “Lad(a), the guardian/hero/champion of Yesse.”
Insignia seu clenodia regis et regni Poloniae of Jan Długosz says “Lada is a name of a Polish goddess which was venerated in Mazovia in the place and village Lada.” (Lada a nominee dee Polonice, que in Mazouia in loco et in villa Lada celebatur, vocabulum sumpsit exinde)
In his Annales, Długosz refers to Lada as a male war God: “Mars they called Lada. The imagination of poets made him a leader and a war god. The prayed to him for victory over their enemies and for courage for themselves, honoring him with the wildest rites.”

So we have: a Champion (male or female), a female Goddess worshipped in Mazovia and a God of War.

What can you do with this?

Well, first of all we can ask what does the Name Lada mean?

Brueckner gives us the etymology or at least meaning of the word ład as this:

“ład, ładny; łado łado w przyśpiewie pieśni weselnych, ładzić z kim (‘zgadzać się’); prasłowiańskie; w cerk. tylko ładĭn, ‘równy’, u Czechów i na Rusi ład, jak u nas, rus. razład, ‘rozstrój’; niema odpowiednika w litew. i dalej. Służyło oznaczaniu »ładzącej z sobą pary« i przeszło wręcz na ‘męża i żonę’, albo ‘kochanków’ (tak w dawnem czeskiem i ruskiem, np. w Słowie o Igorze z r. 1186), i dlatego ten przyśpiew weselny, chociaż o żadnej bogini (niby o Wenerze słowiańskiej) niema w nim mowy.”

Essentially ład meant “order” and “harmony.” (Out of that original meaning the words ładny/ładna began to mean “pretty”).

The next step is to hearken back to Yessa/Yassa which, likely, refers to Iasion. Here perhaps we can rely on Greek myths a bit to help us solve this riddle. Specifically, Diodorus Siculus in his “Library of History” (5, 48, 2) says the folllowing:

“There were born in that land [of Samothrake (Samothrace)] to Zeus and Elektra (Electra), who was one of the Atlantides, Dardanos and Iasion and Harmonia . . . Zeus desired that the other of his two sons [Iasion] might also attain honour, and so he instructed him in the initiatory rites of the mysteries [of Samothrake], which had existed on the island since ancient times but was at that time, so to speak, put in his hands; it is not lawful, however, for any but the initiated to hear about the mysteries. And Iasion is reputed to have been the first to initiate strangers into them and by this means to bring the initiatory rite to high esteem. After this Kadmos (Cadmus), the son of Agenor, came in the course of his quest for Europe [i.e. his sister who had been abducted by Zeus] to the Samothrakians, and after participating in the initiation [into the Mysteries of Samothrake] he married Harmonia, who was the sister of Iasion and not, as the Greeks recount in their mythologies, the daughter of Ares. [N.B. The usual account was that Harmonia was given to Elektra mother of Iasion to raise as her own.] This wedding of Kadmos and Harmonia was the first, we are told, for which the gods provided the marriage-feast, and Demeter, becoming enamoured of Iasion, presented him with the fruit of the corn, Hermes gave a lyre, Athene the renowned necklace and a robe and a flute, and Elektra the sacred rites of the Great Mother of the Gods [Rhea-Kyebele], as she is called, together with cymbals and kettledrums and the instruments of the ritual; and Apollon played upon the lure and the Mousai (Muses) upon their flutes, and the rest of the gods spoke them fair and gave the pair their aid in the celebration of the weding. After this Kadmos, they say, in accordance with the oracle he had received, founded Thebes in Boiotia, while Iasion married Kybele (Cybele) [here identified with Demeter] and begat Korybas (Corybas) [leader of the Korybantes]. And after Iasion had been removed into the circle of the gods, Dardanos and Kybele [Demeter] and Korybas conveyed to Asia the sacred rites of the Mother of the Gods and removed with them to Phrygia . . . To Iasion and Demeter, according to the story the myths relate, was born Ploutos (Plutus, Wealth), but the reference is, as a matter of fact, to the wealth of the corn, which was presented to Iasion because of Demeter’s association with him at the time of the wedding of Harmonia. Now the details of the initiatory rite are guarded among the matters not to be divulged and are communicated to the initiates alone; but the fame has travelled wide of how these gods [the Kabeiroi (Cabeiri)] appear to mankind and bring unexpected aid to those initiates of their who call upon them in the midst of perils. The claim is also made that men who have taken part in the mysteries become both more pious and more just and better in every respect than they were before. And this is the reason, we are told, why the most famous both of the ancient heroes and of the demi-gods were eagerly desirous to taking part in the initiatory rite; and in fact Jason and the Dioskouroi (Dioscuri), and Herakles and Orpheus as well, after their initiation attained success in all the campaigns they undertook, because these gods appeared to them.”

Thus, we have Harmonia, a sister of Iasion. Harmonia is the Goddess of, well, harmony and concord. And Diodorus connects Her with Iasion.

Diodorus, however, says something else as well. He says that other myths relate Harmonia to be a “daughter of Ares,” i.e., the God of War. And, indeed, the earlier writer Apollonius of Rhodes says the following in his Argonautica (2, 986):

“The Amazons of the Doiantian plain [by the river Thermodon on the Black Sea] were by no means gently, well-conducted folk; they were brutal and aggressive, and their main concern in life was war. War, indeed, was in their blood, daughters of Ares as they were and of the Nymphe Harmonia, who lay with the god in the depths of the Akmonian (Acmonian) Wood and bore him girls who fell in love with fighting.”

Harmonia, in this telling is a nymph and a mother of the Amazons. A mother of Amazons and daughter of Ares would certainly make a worthy Champion for Jassa, whether or not She was His Sister…

Then there is something else… Lada was a Goddess worshipped in Mazovia. Mazovia’s etymology has always been unclear (it may refer to a marsh region) although a number of people tried to derive the name from the Amazons. Now, according to King Alfred’s Orosius, north of the northern Croats there lay the country of Maegdaland (Be norþan Horoti is Mægþa land; and be norþan Mægþa londe Sermende oþ þa beorgas Riffen), a land of virgins (maids).

The idea of a female warrior Goddess, an Athena (Minerva) that is a protector (gardzyna) of a male Chief God who Himself comes and wanes with the seasons is appealing to explain the worship of Mary in Poland. Here is a painting of the Mary the Green Mother of God (Matka Boża Zielna) – the “green” refers to the harvest. This is a feast celebrated on August 15th and is commonly known as the Feast of the Assumption of Mary (the painter is Adam Setkowicz).

Going back to Greek myth we also note that, according to Diodorus, Harmonia marries Cadmus. Cadmus is the founder of Thebes but he also is involved in the killing of Ismenios, a dragon whose teeth were then sown by Jason (but, according to Pseudo-Apollodorus‘ Bibliotheca (1, 128 – 130), Iason) to produce warriors (spartoi). Here we see that Jason too sows seeds into the Earth much like the “agricultural” Iasion and, here, even, the name Iason (not Jason) is used.

Jason himself, like Cadmus, confronts a dragon and also, in some tellings, comes across a dragon called Ladon (incidentally, spawned by a half-snake, half-woman creature known as Echidna – compare with the Polish ohyda/ohydna)… Also, here too note that Cadmus sows the dragon’s teeth (in this telling Ares’ dragon’s) much as Jason in the Jason myth.

Whether Jason’s Colchis refers to kołki, that is a peg, a stake or a spike (like a sown dragon tooth sticking out of the ground) I’ll let the reader to think through.

Cadmus (or Jason?) fighting the dragon with Harmonia (or Lada?) on the left (or right?)

Beginnings: The Annals of Johannes Longinus or Dlugossius aka Jan Długosz (Part I)

PublishedNovember 11, 2018 Post authortorino

Given the celebration of Poland’s independence (one of the few happy results of the Great War which brought freedom for some though not all European nations), here are some excerpts from Długosz’s Polish Annals regarding the founding of various Suavic countries. We’ll do this in parts as the story told here of the Suavs entrance onto the pages of history is a long one in Długosz’s telling.

“…The first member of the kin of Japheth, by the name Alan, arrived in Europe together with his three sons, whose names were Isycyon, Armenon and Negno…. The third and last son of Alan, Negno, had four sons and the names of these were: Vandal, from whose name the Vandals took their name, who are now called Poles, and who desired to name the river that today is commonly called the Vistula, by the name Vandal. The second son of Negnon was Targ, the third Saxo and the fourth Bogor….”

“From Negnon, the third son of Alan, a variety of nations spread throughout the whole of Europe such as: all of Ruthenia till the ends of the East, Poland of all these lands, the largest, the Pomeranians, Kashubs, the people of Sweden, Sarnia ([Sorbia] which now is called Saxony) and Norway. From the third son of Negnon called Saxo, Czechia, Moravia, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola Kraina] which is these days called Dalmatia, Lissa/Lisna, Croatia, Serbia, Pannonia, Bulgaria and Elisa..”

“Therefore, [Negno] the descendant of the sons of Japheth, the forefather of all the Suavs, having come out of the Sennar steppe, traversed Chaldeia and Greece, near the Black Sea, crosse the river Hister that we now call the Danube (and which river begins in the German hills, flows out of that mountain that is called Rauracus). This river crosses all of Europe, having its source in the land of the Celts…”

“… And he [Negnon] together with his sons, his relatives and his kinsmen settled first in Pannonia, the very first and oldest seat of the Suavs, their cradle and their provider, which nowadays after the expulsion of the Suavs by the Lombards and the surrender of her to the Huns, earned its name of Hungary. From there he peopled Bulgaria, that is Moesia, Dalmatia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Rascia, Carinthia, Illyria and other parts by the the following shorelines and seas: the Adriatic, the Ionian, the Aegian parts and islands, bordering on the East and South with the Greeks, on the West with the Latins, the Italics and the Teutons.”

“It is worth noting hereby that the Suav nation possessed great luck for fortune gave it such splendid lands. For no other lands in the world – save for India – which lands the Suavs possessed, produce more gold, silver, salt, brass, copper and other metals which the human race has learned of and values. But this [Suavic] nation’s misdeeds against God have resulted therein that God, having decided to take this land away from the Suavs by reason of their sins, delivered this rich and bountiful land to the Huns, Turks and other nations – thus, expressing the depth of his anger against the Suavs, also allowing barbarian cruelty to befall onto the Suavs and permitted them to leave their original seats. God’s love for the Suav nation delivered to it great and wonderful gifts and the same would have remained eternally with this nation, had it more diligently followed God’s commandments and laws. But from those who sin against God’s law with countless misdeeds all was taken away and given to tother tribes and nations. Of the provinces which the Danube separates, in the direction of the Mediterranean, from barbarian lands, the first is Moessia that Missial so called because of its bountiful harvests. And that is why the ancients have called it the Ceres’ granary. Our contemporaries call it Bulgaria; and it borders on the south east with Thrace, on the south with Macedonia and on the west with Istria.”

“Thus, just as the Pannonian kingdoms were populated thanks to the creation of settlements of the kinsmen and of fresh arrivals, just as thick villages and some cities arose so too did discord and hatred began to ravage the land; and then even open wars and calamities befell the descendants of Japheth, fighting about borders, villages and towns, escalating into the spilling of kin blood in frequently fought conflicts. Add to this that they’d grown so populous that in numbers that the kingdoms that they held seemed to them too modest.”

“Therefore to sons of John [Iavan?], the descendant of Japheth, Lech and Czech, who had heretofore ruled in the Sirmian Dalmatia, Suavonia, Croatia and Bosnia, desiring to avoid both current and future strife and dangers, having voted in agreement decided to forsake their primordial fatherland and seek out new lands to people. Thus, leaving their other brothers in Pannonia, they, together with all their settlers and families and all the property that was subject to their rule, set out from Suavonia, Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia, from the castle Psary that sat on the shores of the river Hui which meanders round that keep and separates Suavonia and Croatia – and the ruins of which castle are still visible to this day and testify to its past glory. The name of this castle was later transferred to the village – Psary – that sat at its feet. It was in that castle that the above-mentioned dukes – Lech and Czech – had usually lived with their family and their estates and from there did they pass laws to their subjects. Thus, did Lech and Czech set out towards the neighboring and near lands towards the West for they knew that the East was full of many other nations. Moving through the lands through which the rivers Morava, Eger, Elbe and Moldava flow. When they finally found a fertile land, properly watered and rich in pastures yet uncultivated and largely a vast wilderness, Czech, the younger of the two, on account of his many pleas, finally received from his older brother Lech, this land into Czech’s and that of his descendants care and eternal possession and use. Thus, after they have camped out there together for some time, namely upon the mountain that in their tongue is called Rip and lies between the Elbe, Moldava and the Eger, Czech the second duke, was so captivated and taken by the fertility of the land, the mildness of the climate, the thick folds of the hills and valleys (and together with him so too his relatives and subjects) that they all forsook the sight of other lands deciding that that this land shall suffice for then and their progeny. When the second brother, Lech, acquiesced to his young brother’s pleadings, Czech founded two cities: one on the shore of the Moldava he named in his language Praha and the other on the shore of the river Morava and he named this one Welehrad; he divided his land amongst his subjects and established many villages and hamlets and all of that country, taking its name from his own, till this day is called the Czech country although in Latin, in which the Suavic name cannot be properly pronounced, it is called Bohemia because the Suavs in their language call God Boh.*”

[* note: Thus Bohemia becomes “God’s country”. This idea likely comes from the Pulkava Chronicle]

“Whereas that part of the land that is traversed by the river Morava received a different name, that is Moravia, on account of the forests and groves found there which encompass green plains and grassy glades. Czechia, they claim, has an equal width and length, formed as if to resemble a garland, surrounded on all sides by forest which the ancients called the Hercynian and which is mentioned by Greek and Latin writers; and the Czech land is provided for by rivers amongst them the Elbe or Laba which has its beginnings in the mountains that separate Czechia from Moravia and which cuts through the middle of that country. This river also forms the border of Poland, that is of the European Sarmatia, with Germania and together with the Moldava these two rivers are deemed the most important. Moldava itself flows past the capital of Prague which is distinguished by a stone bridge of fourteen spans. And the river Ruda flows through the town of Brno.”

“So Lech, having said his farewells to his younger brother Czech, rode onwards with his relatives, wagons and all of his wealth and, having crossed the mountains and forests that separate Poland from Czechia, which of old were called the Hercynian, and finding a wide country, rich in forests, groves and woods, a land filled with vast emptiness and wilderness and seemingly ancient backwoods, a land of many rivers, streams and lakes, having, it is true, good soil but whose fertility would not last were it not bolstered by compost, a country which yet turns stolid from frost and snows, lying between the seventh and the very last clime, [he] settled therein and claimed, as the first, this country as his own inheritance and possession for himself and his offspring…”

“…[Lying in] the North is Poland a part of Suavonia and borders on the East with Ruthenia, on the South with Hungary on the Southwest [?] with Moravia and the Czechs, and on the West with Denmark and Saxony. And on the Northern side the land of the Poles with the Sarmatians who are also called the Getae, all the way to Denmark and Saxony; it separated from Thrace by Hungary, or rather, Pannonia, and moving from thence through Carinthia, [it borders] with Bavaria. On the South near the Mediterranean Sea and Epirus cutting across Dalmatia, Croatia and Istria, [Poland] borders with the shores of the Adriatic Sea and separates from it where there stands Venice and Aquileia.”

The Seven Main River of Poland Labeled with Names, Sources and Their Mouths

“The Suavic language has given its own names to the seven most important rivers, which we also sometimes calle amnes, for they enhance the beauty of the places that they water and through which they flow. They flow through this country, sometimes falling from the mountains and sometimes erupting from the hidden insides of the Earth and, strengthened and broadened by other rivers, beginning in this land, they flow into the Ocean. One of these rivers is called the Wisła [ˈpronounced viswa] which name is mentioned by ancient authors and historians as Vistula, yet by others as Wandalus from the name of Wandal, the son of Negnon, the oldest son of Alan, son of Japheth, son Noe; or from the name of Wanda, the Polish queen, who, in thanksgiving for having gotten a victory over the Germans, sacrificed herself to the Gods by throwing herself into the Vistula. This river is called White Water by those nations which border the Poles on the East [!] for the white color of its waters. Yet, even though this river has been gifted four names [that is, Wisła, Vistula, Wandalus, White Water], it is most properly called Wisła, that is “dangling or hanging.” And that is because its source is near the town of Skoczów above the village Ustronie in the land of Cieszyn [and it is there that] with great and loud thunder [its] waters fall from the top of the mountain that is commonly called Skałka; and there from the uppermost top of the Sarmatian Alps, ere it falls onto the ground that lies below, it appears rather as a dangling rather than a flowing stream…”

[There follows a further description of Wisła along with other rivers, Odra, Warta, Dniester, Bug, Neman and Dnieper]

A Description of Poland From Four Sides of the World and Why Ruthenia is Known For Its Exquisite Furs

“This whole country, through which course and spill out the above mentioned severn rivers together with a others from their sources all the way up to the waters of the Ocean, Lech the forefather and duke of the Lechites, that is Poles, took for his possession and in it he and his descendants hold hereditary rule over many nations and will so hold it, God’s Grace given. He bordered from the East with no one except for the Greeks and the Lion Sea, to reach which in those times one had to go through forests and woods of two hundred miles and longer, which were unknown even to the founder himself.”

“That eastern tract took the name of Ruthenia from one Lech’s descendants by the name of Rus; for many years it was deserted and ravaged but over time it spread itself out into richer countries and cities which we now sea, brimming with the wealth of fauna delivered by the surrounding forests. The inhabitants of those lands put on richly the fashionable black of these exquisite furs, though they themselves live modestly and in poverty.”

“On the South side those mountains whose unbroken chain of peaks separates Hungary and which run great distances all the way to the Lion Sea, taking a lot of space and having a great length, for many years and generations were governed by and remained under the rule of the dukes of Poland, for the proof of which we may cited the testimony of a number of ancient authors. Thus, Putoleanus, a historian and a meticulous student of history writes that in the third year of the rule of Emperor Marcian [that is in 453 A.D.] who ruled till A.D. 458 [actually 457], there arose in Poland a duke who governed over the Bulgars and over the Moesians and desired also to take over Pannonia. But the Hungarians, having lured him in with all kinds of presents and gifts and having discovered the weakening of his power, unexpectedly attacked him and destroyed him together with all his armies.”

“And on the West side, it [that is Poland] borders with Germania, from which it is separated by the Łaba River, that is Albis; and on the North it borders the Ocean, opening the sea route to Denmark [written as Dacia], Sweden, Norway and even farther lands that in those days were yet unreachable…”

[There follows another description of Polish rivers and towns lying on their shores]

“… and what we have told about Wisła, that is Wandalus and Odra, that is Guttalus, is based on the testimony of Solinus. For he, when starting to write about the beginnings of Germania says the following*: ‘The mountain Emaus Ewo is great, not smaller than the Riphean Mountains, and it begins Germania. The tops of the mountains are inhabited by the Eones who were the first to make the name Germani famous among the Scythians. The land is rich in people and inhabited by many countless and savage nations between the Hercynian Forest and the Sarmatian rocks. It begins where the Danube pours into it and it ends on the Rhine. From its depths the very wide rivers Alba, Gutthalus and Wisła rush towards the Ocean.'”

[*note: this is from Chapter 31 of Solinus – an English translation is available, though old, by the 16th century writer Arthur Golding (I cleaned it up a bit to address some changes in the English language): “Germanie takes his beginning at the Mountain Sevo which is great of itself, and not lesser than the Hills of Ryphey. This hill is inhabited by the Inge∣uons, at whom first next after the Scithians beginneth the name of Germaines. It is a land rich of men, and inhabited with peoples innumerable and altogether savage. It stretcheth from the Forrest of Hercinia, to the Hills of Sarmatia. Where it beginneth it is watered with Danow, and where it endeth it is watered with the Rhyne. Out of the inward parts thereof, Albis, Guttallus, and Vistula very deepe Ryvers runne into the Ocean.”; the paragraph can be traced to Pliny’s Natural History, Book IV, chapter 96]

Wherefrom the Names: Lechites, Poles, Vandals, Scythians, Germans As Well as an Assessment of Rus, From Whom Descends Ruthenia

“Even though the name of the country and the nation itself were named Lechia and the Lechites, from the first ruler and settler Lech, the nation as well as the country lost its old name and began to be called Poland even by some scholars; for the [agricultural] land, [already] in many places flat and ripe to be sowed, through the hard work and cleverness of the tillers and by means of clearing of the forests was further turned into similar flatlands that seemed much like natural fields and the Lechites, especially those who dwelt in such fields, began to be commonly called Polanie, that is “field-dwellers” and this both by their close relatives and by those more remote living in the forests and by the neighboring nations. And the neighboring nations, first of all the Ruthenians, who in their annals boast of being descended from the generation of duke Lech, to this day call Poles and their lands Lechites. Similarly, too, among the Suavs, Bulgars, Croats and Hungarians this same name remains, though in many places some writers call us and describe us, by reason of the river Vandalitus, that is Wisła, as the Vindelici which is fully confirmed by the primacy of that river.”

“Among the ancient writers and historians there exists the European Sarmatia and so both the Poles and the Ruthenians are called Sarmatians. For this reason I believe this name which antiquity bestowed upon Poles and Ruthenians to be correct and true. Thus, too the mountains that border these peoples are in all the [ancient] works called the Sarmatian. Many call Poles Scythians, while some call them Germans, not a particularly correct appellation for this entire land between the Don River [Tanais] and the Łaba River [Albis] was in days past called by writers Scythia; and this land, Poles and Ruthenians having in time entered and peopled were then labelled by some as Scythians but since Wisła, at point was the boundary between Germania and Scythia and flows right through the center of Poland and since from its source to its mouth, on both the East as well as the West shore no other nation but the Polish inhabits and tills these lands, thus they sometimes also call Poles Germans.”

“And some have tried to argue that Rus was not a descendant of Lech but rather his brother and that together with him and with Czech as the third brother, having left Croatia filled a great Ruthenian country with people; a country with its main capital city of Kiev and watered by very great rivers such as Dniestr, Dniepr, Neman, Prut, Sluch, Styr, Zbruch, Smotrych and Seret; and [they argue] that he extended his borderlands beyond Novogrod, a city of Ruthenia that is the richest in gold, silver and furs and most important; it lies among bogs and lakes close to the ends of the Earth. This difference in [scholarly] opinion as to the beginnings of the Ruthenian nation rather than clearing it up makes this beginning shrouded in darkness.”

The Ruthenian Duke Who Ruled Rome and All of Italy for Fourteen Years Is Struck Down by Theodoric, the King of the Goths Who Takes Italy

“Also from this Rus, the first father and founder of Ruthenia, there came the Ruthenian Odoacer and his people, who with the Ruthenian armies arrived in Italy in the year 509 of the Christian calendar during the time of Pope Leo I and Emperor Leo I; and, having taken Ticinum, he razed it with fire and sword and having taken him prisoner executed Orestes, banished Augustulus – who intended to seize the imperial rule – and entered Rome with his soldiers as a victor and ruled all of Italy without any interference by anyone. When he had ruled in complete peace and security for fourteen years, the king of the Goths – Theodoric – having traversed Bulgaria and Pannonia with great difficulty, arrived in Italy and rested himself and his armies in the rich pastures surrounding Aquileia. It was then that Odoacer with armies from all over Italy attacked him [Theodoric] but was defeated by Theodoric and the Goths and having fled with bur a remainder of his force fled for Ravenna when the people of Rome denied him [Odoacer] entry; and here, after the torment of a three year siege, was forced to surrender. Theodoric took him prisoner and executed him; after which he transferred the rule of Italy from the Ruthenian conquerors onto himself and the Goths.”

[There follows a description of Polish lakes and mountains]

Al-Qarawi on the Slavs

PublishedNovember 4, 2018 Post authortorino

Abu-l-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Mohammed al-Maqqari (or Al-Makkari, circa 1578 – 1632) was an Algerian scholar known for his book on Andalusia “The Breath of Perfume from the Branch of Green Andalusia and Memorials of its Vizier Lisan ud-Din ibn ul-Khattib.” That book, as the title suggests, is made of two separate parts. The first is a compilation of many authors on Andalusia. The second part is a biography of the famous writer, historian, and politician from Arab Spain, Ibn al-Khatib (1313 –1374). Ibn al-Khatib was a minister and a poet who wrote over 60 books. It is, however, the first part of the book that is of interest to us.

In his Book I, chapter V, Maqqari quotes Katib Ibrahim Ibnu-l-Qasim Al-Qarawi (Al-Karawi aka Ar-rarik-beladi-l-andalus (the slave of Andalus) who, according to al-Makkari’s translator Pascual de Gayangos, was a geographer living sometime in the 11th or early 12th century (Gayangos says Al-Qarawi is known too to the 14th century historian Ibn Khaldun). Al-Qarawi has this to say about the Slavs (again, in the Pascual de Gayangos translation).

“The Andalusians are a brave and warlike people, and great need have they of these qualities, for they are in continual war with the infidel nations that surround them on every side. To the west and north they have a nation called Jalalcah (Galicians), whose territories extend from the shores of the Western Ocean all along the Pyrenees. The Galicians are brave, strong, handsome, and well made; in general the slaves of this nation are very much prized, and one will scarcely meet in Andalus with a handsome, well made, and active slave who is not from this country. As no mountains or natural barriers of any kind separate this country from the Moslem territories, the people of both nations are in a state of continual war on the frontiers.”

“To the east the Moslems have another powerful enemy to contend with; that is the Franks, a people still more formidable than the Galicians, on account of the deadly wars in which they are continually engaged among themselves, their great numbers, the extent and fertility of their territory, and their great resources. The country of the Franks is well peopled, and full of cities and towns; it is generally designated by geographers under the name of Ardhu-l-kebirah (the “great land”). The Franks are stronger and braver than the Galicians, —they are likewise more numerous, and can send larger armies into the field. They [the Franks] make war on a certain nation bordering on their territory, and from whom they dissent in manners and religion; these are the Sclavonians, whose land the Franks invade, and, making captives of them, bring them to be sold to Andalus, where they are to be found in great numbers. The Franks are in the habit of making eunuchs of them, and taking them to castles and other places of safety in their territory, or to points of the Moslem frontier, where the Andalusian merchants come to buy them, to sell them afterwards in other countries. However, some of the Moslems who live in those parts (near to the frontiers) have already learnt that art from the Franks, and now exercise it quite as well as they do.“

The Runic Spear of Rozwadów

PublishedOctober 28, 2018 Post authortorino

Rozwadów is a town southeast of Sandomierz on the river San. Nowadays it’s basically a suburb of Stalowa Wola. In 1932 local workers discovered a cremation grave with pieces of a spear there. The spear was one of the few that had inscriptions on it including some form of writing. The Polish archeologist Marcjan Śmiszko published a study of the spear in the Polish publication Archeological News (Wiadomości Archeologiczne), the oldest Polish archeological journal. Śmiszko thought he discovered the word KRLUS on the spear. What does KRLUS mean? A number of hypotheses were put together (and repeated mindlessly by others). Mees, Pallych and then Garbacz came up with their theories. Most recently, an interpretation of the writing has been put forth translating it as either: [i]k (e)r(u)ls, or [i]k (e)rlas. Both are “East Germanic”. But what does this spear actually look like?

Well, the spear picture is available in the original Śmiszko article:

Here is the flip side which does not contain writing but only symbols:

This is Śmiszko’s interpretation of the same:

In case it’s not obvious, there is no IK ERULS, or IK ERLAS or even KRLUS. There is instead just the following – RPA. In the first instance the “R” is a regular curved Latin “R” – not a runic “R” at all. The supposed *laguz rune looks more like a “P” – though admittedly – maybe it’s an “L” but this is far from clear. Finally, the “A” is also quite like a Latin “A”. Nothing special here.

But what about the alleged “k” (*kaunan) or the “s” (*sōwilō)? They are impossible to see in the above. Here is a highlighted version for better visibility – even here, it’s not clear whether they really are runes – they may be small etchings or just represent damage to the artifact.

Note too how much smaller they are than the other letters. The spear is damaged but yet somehow these much smaller “letters” manage to “fit” which suggests that whatever they are, they were not part of the original inscription. But, hey, you can see what you want if you are desperately looking to see if you can locate some runic letters.

Rosettes & Other Such Symbols

PublishedOctober 26, 2018 Post authortorino

Continuing on the topic of rosettes (see here and here and here for earlier iterations, including a version with the God Esus). Here are some late antiquity rosettes (in the Bavarian artifact alongside alternating swastikas whatever their meaning may have been back then).

Kemathen (Kipferberg) Warrior
(Krieger aus Kemathen)
Germany (Bavaria)
early to mid 5th century?

This has been classified as the “first Bavarian”. Strictly as a matter of looking at a where this warrior died, I suppose that’s true.

Note that Kemathen pops up all over south German geography. You have:

Kemathen (Kipferberg)
Kematen Bad Feilnbach
Kemathen (Arnstorf)
Kematen an der Ybbs (Austria)
Kematen in Tirol (Austria)
Kematen an der Krems (Austria)
Kematen am Innbach (Austria)

The etymology of this is unclear but (perhaps like the Polish kmieć, kmiotek, kmiotówna, kmiotowic, kmiotaszek, kmiecy that Brueckner brings up) it comes from the Latin comites or, maybe, the Latin comites has the root as these words (compare with »kmetones regni« cited by Brueckner) – basically, a wealthy villager – originally, perhaps, meaning a war companion (who then settled down).

Zamość
Poland
first half of the fifth century?

This pic and the next one come from the “Barbarian Tsunami” presentation which, while fancifully named, fails to prove that any such tsunami actually took place in north central Europe.

Zagórzyn
Poland
second quarter of the fifth century?

Note that the non-highlighted cross (Sun symbol?) on the left side is the same as is shown (there highlighted in yellow) in the Kemathen picture.

Similar rosettes have been seen in a number of places around the world.

Interestingly, for the above also as part of the so-called Vermand treasure (which also included Stars/Shields of David, symbols that, quite interestingly, were adopted rather late as a symbol of Judaism). These had been interpreted as Sarmatian (for more on that you can check out Deborah Schorsch’s “The Vermand Treasure: A Testimony to the Presence of the Sarmatians in the Western Roman Empire”). But Vermand had been sacked in 406 by the “Vandals, Suevi and Alans” so the question is of the dating of that treasure.

As a follow up, here is another – this time eight-pedaled – rosette from a belt buckle – now in Cracow (likely from Mokra, Silesia):

And here are some other examples (can’t recall from which article) from Cecele, Siemiatycze (“Wielbark”), Mokra again (“Przeworsk”) and Tiszaladány, Hungary:

Note that the combination of the eight- or six-pedaled rosette with the swastika has a long history as well with examples from Mycenaean, Greek (for example, on the Dipylon krater in the National Archeological Museum in Athens; simpler solar symbols along with swastikas can be seen on a chariot artifact from Dupljaj or Duplaj in Serbia) and Armenian cultures. Finally, note this piece from the useful nutjobs at Ahenenerbe.

This is supposedly “Westgothic”, which may actually be true given that the rosette ended up being highly popular in Visigothic Spain.