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The yellow area is a Baltic culture (probably the Aesti); the red area is the extent of the Wielbark culture in the first half of the 3rd century. The green area is the Przeworsk culture, and the pink area is the Debczyn Culture. The purple area is the Roman Empire
The yellow area is a Baltic culture (probably the Aesti); the red area is the extent of the Wielbark culture in the first half of the 3rd century. Wielbark culture also known as Willenberg culture (Wielbark/Willenberg-Kultur Kultura wielbarska Вельбарська культура ( Vel’bars’ka kul’tura The 3rd century is the period from 201 to 300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. The green area is the Przeworsk culture, and the pink area is the Debczyn Culture. The Przeworsk culture is part of an Iron Age archaeological complex that dates from the 2nd century BC to the 4th century. The purple area is the Roman Empire

The Aesti (or Aestii) were a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his treatise Germania (ca. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (ca 56 &ndash ca 117 was a senator and a Historian of the Roman Empire. The Germania ( Latin title De Origine et situ Germanorum, English for the Origin and Situation of the Germans) written by Gaius 98 CE). Year 98 was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Julian calendar. [1] According to this account, the Aestii lived on the shore of the Suebian Sea (Baltic Sea), eastward of the Suiones (Scandinavians) and westward of the Sitones. The Baltic Sea is a Brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N Latitude and from 20°E to 26°E Longitude. The Swedes (svear Old Norse: svíar; Old English: Sweonas; Suiones Suehans or Sueones) were an ancient North Sitones were a people living somewhere in Northern Europe in the 1st century CE. They were a population of Suebia. Tacitus did not know whether to assign the nearby Fenni to Germania or Sarmatia (which extended as far west as the Vistula in places). Fenni were a people living in Fennoscandia in the 1st century mentioned by Cornelius Tacitus in Germania in 97 A The Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae ( Old Iranian Sarumatah 'archer' Σαρμάτες

Contents

Historical sources

Tacitus

Tacitus is apparently the first author known to refer explicitly to the Aestii. [2] The Aestii are said to have used a language related to that spoken in Britain; they worshipped a deity known as the 'mother of the gods', as well as the wild boar commonly found in the region; for weapons they used wooden clubs and occasionally iron implements; they were also the only people to gather and trade amber. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Amber is Fossil tree Resin, which is appreciated for its color and beauty

There is as yet no way to reconcile this mysterious statement of Tacitus about the language of the Aestii with any known data. It cannot, however, be written off as impossible. The British after which Britain was named in the ancient geographers were the Pretanni, or Picts, whose extinct language is recorded now only in a few epitaphs and has not been deciphered. The Picts were a Confederation of tribes in what was later to become eastern and northern Scotland from Roman times until the 10th century At some point the name was extended to the speakers of the Celtic, who, as far as the Picts are concerned, arrived in north Britain as the Scots from Ireland. The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world There is no known ancient presence of Celts on the eastern shores of the Baltic; however, this possibility cannot be certainly written off either: the Celts are known to have been in Denmark earlier and also are believed to have been a strong element in Slavic ethnogenesis.

The Aestii are most easily identifiable as ancient inhabitants of Prussia, most likely speaking a Finno-Ugric language closely related to modern Estonian and Finnish as well as to the historical but now extinct language known as Old Prussian. Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state Prussian is an extinct Baltic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the area that later became East Prussia (now north-eastern Poland At this early date they could not have spoken any known Baltic language.

The placement of the Tacitean Aestii is based primarily on their association with amber, a popular luxury item during the life of Tacitus, with known sources at the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Sea is a Brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N Latitude and from 20°E to 26°E Longitude. The Baltic amber trade, which appears to have extended to the Mediterranean Sea, has been traced by archaeologists back to the Nordic Bronze Age; its major center was located in the region of Sambia. The Amber Road was an ancient Trade route for the transfer of Amber. The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age) is the name given by Oscar Montelius to a period and a Bronze Age culture in Scandinavian Sambia (Земландский полуостров Zemlandsky poluostrov) or Samland ( is a Peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Other sources make it clear that the land of the Aestii extended indefinitely to the east into country that must have been populated by other Finno-Ugrian speakers.

Ptolemy


Jordanes

Sixth Century historian Jordanes makes two references the Aesti in his book "The Origins and the Deeds of the Goths", which was a treatment of Cassiodorus' longer book (which no longer survives) on the history of the Goths. Jordanes (also Jordanis or even Iornandes) was a 6th century Roman Bureaucrat, who turned his hand to History later in life Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c 485 - c 585 commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and great writer serving in the administration The first quote places the Aestii beyond the Vidivarii, on the shore of the Baltic:

"But on the shore of Ocean, where the floods of the river Vistula empty from three mouths, the Vidivarii dwell, a people gathered out of various tribes. Beyond them the Aesti, a subject race, likewise hold the shore of Ocean. "

The next quote concerns the subjugation of the Aesti by Hermanaric, king of the Getae:

"This ruler also subdued by his wisdom and might the race of the Aesti, who dwell on the farthest shore of the German Ocean"

Alfred the Great

In a 11th century manuscript of King Alfred's account of the voyage from Hedeby to Truso by Wulfstan, held by the British Museum, there are several references Æstum - "Aestii", Æstmere - "sea of the Aestii" and Æstland - "land of the Aestiis"[3][4]

Archaeological sources


Later uses of the name

The name survived as specifically Estonians and is the origin of the modern national name of Estonia: Eesti in Estonian, Eistland in ancient Scandinavian sagas, and Estia, Hestia and Estonia in early Latin sources. Ermanaric (died 376 was a king of the Gothic Greuthungi at the eve of the Migration Period. Alfred the Great (also Ælfred from the Old English Ælfrēd ˈælfreːd (c Hedeby (ˡheðəby Old Norse Heiðabýr, of heiðr = heathland and býr = yard thus "heath yard" sometimes known Distinguish from Trousseau. Truso, situated on Lake Druzno, was an Old Prussian ( Pomesanian town near the Baltic Wulfstan of Hedeby (Latin Haithabu) was a late 9th century traveller and trader The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London. Estonians ( Estonian: eestlased, previously maarahvas) are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting primarily the country Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region Estonian (; ˈeːsti ˈkeːl is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1


Notes

  1. ^ Chapter 45.
  2. ^ For a theory that the Aestii are the Osismii of Strabo and the Ostimii of Pytheas also mentioned by Strabo, see Bojtàr, Endre (1999). The Osismii were a Gaulish tribe on the western Armorican peninsula Strabo ( Greek: Στράβων 63/64 BC – ca AD 24 was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher. Dates Pliny says that Timaeus (born about 350 BC believed Pytheas' story of the discovery of Amber. Foreword to the Past: a Cultural History of the Baltic People. Central European University Press, page 104. ISBN 9639116424.   This is not a majority view as there is evidence of the continuity of the Osismii in France. The Osismii were a Gaulish tribe on the western Armorican peninsula
  3. ^ Kemp Malone, On King Alfred's Geographical Treatise, Speculum, Vol. 8, No. 1. (Jan. , 1933), pp. 67-78
  4. ^ Samuel H. Cross, Notes on King Alfred's North: Osti, Este, Speculum, Vol. 6, No. 2. (Apr. , 1931), pp. 296-299

See also

References

External links

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