Tacitus on the ancient amber-gatherers: A re-evaluation of Germania

NOTES

• The Latin text of Pliny's Natural History is that of the Loeb Classical Library edited by Rackham H. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press 1900 The Latin text of Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico is that of F. Kraner (Leipzig: Teubner, 1890).
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• Duff , J. Wight . 1964 . A Literary History of Rome , Vol. 2 , 447 – 447 . London : E. Benn . II “Concerning P. Cornelius Tacitus, … there is no dearth of problems to awake interest, though they do not affect his unchallenged mastery of one of the most wonderful styles in literature.”
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• Dorey , T.A. , ed. 1969 . Tacitus: Studies in Latin Literature and its Influence , 12 – 12 . London : Routledge and Kegan Paul . See also R. Syme, Tacitus, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958), 126–27: “If Cornelius Tacitus was even on the Rhine he discloses no sign of it in the Germania.
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• Syme . 126 – 126 .
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• Nordon , E. 1923 . Die germanische Urgeschichte in Tacitus Germania , 3rd ed. , 207 ff – 207 ff . Leipzig : Teubner . especially 212–13.
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• So, too Norden Mundliche oder briefliche Erkundigung bei Augenzeugen erscheint keineswegs ausgeschlosses, wenn wir an die Sorgsamkeit denken, mit der er sich wegen Brittaniens an Agricola, wegen der Todesart des alteren Plinius an dessen Neffen wandte 442 442
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• Anderson , J.G.C. 1938 . Cornelii Tacitii De Origine et Situ Germanorum , 210 – 210 . Oxford : Clarendon Press . 219. Cf. the journey of the Neronian knight referred to in Pliny's Natural History 37.11.45.
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• Germania 44.1 ff: “Suionum hinc civitates ipso in oceano, praeter viros armaque classibus valent.” (Here on the very shore of ocean are the states of the Suiones, a people secure in their fleet, men, and weapons.)
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• Cf. Die Germania des Tacitus Much R. Carl Winter Heidelberg 1959 404 404 for parallel descriptions of this sea. His notes on the geographical orientation of Tacitus's account are excellent.
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• See Anderson, notes on Germania 45.2
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• Sonum insuper emergentis audire formasque et radios capitis adspici persuasio adicit 718 – 718 . According to Syme this is the only occurrence of the word persuasio in the Germania. Anderson notes, in reference to Germania 45.1, that in contrast with fides and vera fama elsewhere this word reveals a lack of credence on Tacitus's part.
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• See Anderson 208 208 “The popular belief that the setting sun made a hissing sound as it dropped into the ocean … is first mentioned by Epicurus and later by many writers, e.g., Juvenal (14.280): but no other classical writer connects the belief with the rising sun.”
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• Rupainis , A . 1967 . Archeolingvistika , 63 – 63 . Waverly, Iowa : Latvju Grāmata .
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• Śvābe , A. , Strausbergs , K. and Hauzenberga-Śturma , E. , eds. 1953 . Latviešu tautas dziesmas , Vol. II , 390 – 390 . Copenhagen : Imanta . (No. 34014-342).
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• Cf. Gimbutas M. The Balts Praeger New York 1963 134 134 164–65; plates 31, 70–76.
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• Mannhardt , W. 1985 . Die Lettische Sonnenmythen . Zeitschrift für Ethnologie , 7 : 93 ff – 93 ff .
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• et al. II 358 358 (No. 33729-229-1) and III, vi.
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• Turkina , E. 1962 . Latvian-English Dictionary , 2nd. ed. , Riga : Latvijas Valsts Izdevniecība .
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• Cf. Spekke A. The Ancient Amber Routes and the Geographical Discovery of the Eastern Baltic M. Goppers Stockholm 1957 91 91
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• Anderson . xiii – xiii .
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• Fraenkel , E. 1950 . Die Baltischen Sprachen , 22 – 22 . Heidelberg : Carl Winter . note 1.
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• Gimbutas . 125 – 137 .
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• Gimbutas, 79, plate 16, who refers to W. La Baume; Cf. Glob P.V. The Bog People Cornell Univ. Press Ithaca, NY 1969 119 143 trans. R. L. S. Bruce-Mitford Gimbutas (122–23) speculates that the Balts may have been the intermediaries in a fur trade between Finno-Ugrians and Germans.
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• Spekke . 5 – 5 . fig. 2, provides an example (following E. Śturms) of an amber boar figurine from Danzig. However, it is important to note that the other animals are equally represented.
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• Ström , A. and Biezais , H. 1975 . Germanische und Baltische Religion , 356 – 367 . Stuttgart : W. Kohlhammer . Der Religion der Menscheit, 19.1
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• 1615 . Encomium Urbis Rigae Livoniae Emporii Celeberrimi 140 – 140 . Rostocki as cited in Ström and Biezais, 356.
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• Gimbutas . 193 – 193 .
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• Gimbutas . 182 – 183 .
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• Gimbutas . 182 – 183 .
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• Ström and Biezais . 368 – 368 .
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• Ström and Biezais . 369 – 370 .
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• Gimbutas . 194 – 194 .
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• In Baltic Literature and Linguistics et al. AABS Columbus, Ohio 1973 119 125
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• A wooden club was discovered at Foerlev Nymolle in 1961 by Anderson H. 180 180 cited by Glob
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• A convenient collection of material is found in Gelling P. Davidson H.E. The Chariot of the Sun (and Other Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age) Praeger London 1969 164 166 See also Much, 404.
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• Gelling and Davidson . 38 – 39 .
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• Gelling and Davidson . 165 – 165 .
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• See Burkert W. Structure and History in Greek Mythology Univ. of California Press Berkeley 1979 78 98
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• Gimbutas . 114 – 114 .
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• Gimbutas . 114 – 114 .
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• For a more exact description of amber sites in this area, see Gimbutas 56 57 and figs. 8 and 36.
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• Gimbutas . 23 – 24 .
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• Gimbutas . 23 – 24 .
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• Cf. Spekke 88 88
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• et al. I 45 45 (No. 29654-69).
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• Gimbutas . 56 – 57 .
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• Gimbutas . 129 – 129 .
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• Spekke . 85 – 85 .
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