SARMATIANS IN THE POLISH PAST

SARMATIANS IN THE POLISH PASTAuthor(s): TADEUSZ SULIMIRSKISource: The Polish Review, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Winter, 1964), pp. 13-66Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25776522 .

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TADEUSZ SULIMIRSKI

SARMATIANS IN THE POLISH PAST

THE PROBLEM

In a recently published article Jazdiewski1 quotes several instances which support belief in a popular oral tradition, a tradition which is confirmed by archaeological research and which goes back to the fourth

century A. D. (Gledzianowek) end even to the first half of the first millennium before Christ (Seddin). An even older popular oral tradi tion going back at least 3,500 years might be mentioned here, of which

we have an example in one of the barrows at Balice, near Mosciska2

dating from the beginning of the Bronze Age. Moreover, Jazdiewski shows that

among the hereditary aristocracy of the various peoples of Central, Eastern and Northern Europe, there existed conditions under which it was possible to preserve for at least several centuries a relatively uncorrupted oral tradition concerning the past.

The Polish "Sarmatian" tradition undoubtedly belongs to this type. A belief in the Sarmatian origin of Poland was widespread for centuries

among the Polish nobility. In sixteenth century Polish texts the name "Sarmatia" almost replaced the very name of Poland, and in a wide sense the term "Sarmatia,, embraced all the Slavic countries though only the Poles, to the exclusion of other Slavs, were called Sarmatians8.

Theories about the Sarmatian origins of the Slavs are now outdated4, and the Polish "Sarmatian tradition" has not found recognition in modern scholarship. Works dealing with the beginnings of the Polish nation and the Polish state no longer ascribe to the Sarmatians any role in the history of Polish territory, and generally discount any possibi

1K. Jazdiewski, "O trwalosci i wiarygodnosci ustnej tradycji historycznej u lu dow niepismiennych," Munera Archaeologica losepbo Kostrzewski... oblata. Poznan, 1963, p. 7 ff.

2 A. v. Chizzola, "Prahistoriscbe Funde aus Westgalizien," Jahrbuch der k. k. Zentrd-Kommission, Vol. I, Vienna, 1903, p. 152.

3T. Mankowski, "Geneza sarmatyzmu," Sprawozdania PAU, Vol. XLVII, Cracow, 1946, p. 148 ff.

4T. Lehr-Spiawinski, 0 pochodzeniu i praojczyznie Siowian, Poznan, 1946, p. 9.

13



14 The Polish Review

lity of their participating in the birth of the Polish nation; on the other

hand an interest has developed in the Sarmatian tradition itself, and in its origins, particularly since the war.

Mankowski5 believes that at the origins of the notion of "Sarmatism" is a historical fiction the basis of which was created by chroniclers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries?giving it a historical backing.

The purpose of this fiction was "to provide the nation with a link with as remote a past as possible.,, An important role in the creation of this fiction was also played by the consciousness of Poland's position in Eastern Europe. In the sixteenth century, "Sarmatian', is used to

signify a warrior full of knightly virtues. The Sarmatian type was that of a knight who, without ceasing to feel a Sarmatian, gradually changed into a land-owner. On this was formed the "philosophy of Sarmatism"? not always clear, rather vague, but with a tendency to emphasize Polish

particularity and originality. Akin to these views are those of Kiirbisowna6 whose expression on

them, however, was only incidental to a discussion of certain problems relating to ancient authorities on the geography of the Polish territories. She points out that

the history of the geographical concept of Sarmatia is a good example of how far the influence of one geographical term introduced in antiquity can extend, and what political and social purposes it is capable of serving.

According to this author, the term "Sarmatia" was taken over by the Poles from the outside, although whether it is derived from Ptolemy is not clear: the knowledge of this geographer in Poland could have

preceded humanism?as was the case in Western Europe. Ulewicz7 discussing the origins of "Sarmatism" mentions that

the development of the concept of Sarmatia appears to be the truly fantastic career of a term, which through a number of associations and progressions, evolved into an extraordinarily suggestive historical myth, which was not

completely superseded in Poland until the nineteenth century.

He also says that the names "Sarmatia" and "Sarmatians" as applied to Poland and the Poles, did not arise with the Renaissance. They were known before and used by writers and scholars in the Middle Ages?

5 T. Mankowski, op. cit., note 3. 6B. Kiirbisowna, "Ksztaltowanie si? pojec geograficznych o Slowianszczyznie w

polskich kronikach przed-Dhigoszowych," Slavia Antiqua, Vol. IV, Poznan, 1953, p. 253 ff.

7T. Ulewicz, "Pojecie i zagadnienie Sarmacji w literaturze polskiej doby Bato rianskiej," Sprawozdania PAU, Vol. LI, Cracow, 1950, p. 11 ff. ? Idem, "Z za gadnien slowianskich XV i XVI w.: Sarmacja i Sarmaci," Sprawozdania PAU, Vol. LI, Cracow, 1950, p. 63 ff. ? Idem, Sarmacja. Studium problematyki shwianskiej XV i XVI w. Cracow, 1950.



Sarmatians in the Polish Past 15

especially French scholars, and to a lesser extent, Germans?who, contin

uing an ancient and unbroken tradition, used them to describe both the Slavs and the Sarmatians of the time of the "Great Migrations."

The ancients included Sarmatia in their standard list of geographical and

cartographical nomenclature... It is comparatively easy to ascertain that as far as the "Sarmatian" problem is concerned, we are dealing with a tradi tion which, though perhaps attenuated and stylised according to the spirit of the age, goes back to antiquity transmitting its terminology and ideals to a new barbarian era and to new peoples and countries.

In the light of Ulewicz's researches, it is clear that the origins of the Polish Sarmatian tradition go back into a very remote past. But the

question arises: what was the real basis from which this tradition arose? Is its source to be found simply in the geographical ideas of

antiquity, later adopted and utilized for political and social purposes; cr is it perhaps, after all, a tradition based on genuine historical fact, which gave it a surprisingly long and widespread existence?

Recently, I drew attention to this problem in an article published in Polish8, in which I gave the results of my initial research in this field. To a large extent I relied there on works bringing out the im

portant role played by certain Sarmatian tribes in the formation of

8 T. Sulimirski, "Sarmaci w Polsce," XII Rocznik Polskiego Tow. Naukowego na

Obczyznie, London, 1962, p. 65 ff.

PLATE I. Sarmatian tamgas of the first to seventh centuries A.D. (from left to right): Two upper rows: Bronze buckle with two different tamga signs

(Kerch, Crimea), and a series of tamgas taken from grave-stelae, princely sepulchral vaults, and from various objects (all from the Crimea, mainly Kerch). 1st and 2nd centuries A.D.

Third row: Three tamgas from the stone pillar of Zazdrosc near Trembowla; bronze mirrors: two from Olbia; country of Kiev; Mar cauti, Bessarabia; Holboca north Moldavia. Ail from the 3rd century A.D.

Fourth row: Four tamgas from the stone block at Krivoi Rog on the Ingulets, Ukraine. 2nd to 4th century A.D.

Fifth row: Iron spear-heads with tamga signs of the Przeworsk culture found in Poland: Zadowice near Kalisz (two sides of a single specimen); Rozwadow; Jankowo near Mogilno; Kamienica near Ja roslaw; Mtinchenberg on the Oder near Guben, East Germany. 3rd to 4th century.

Bottom row: Tamgas on strap-ends of the 5th to 7th centuries A.D.: Candjavica in Croatia, Yugoslavia; Kiskroros on the Tisa, Hungary; Cadjavica; Oaricin near Leban in Serbia, Yugoslavia; Three tamgas from the silver hoard found at Mosin near Kaluga, Russia; two upper signs and the two last strap-ends: silver hoard of Martynivka, near

Kanev, Ukraine.

After: E.I. Solomonik, footnote 40; E.K. Rikman, footnote 63; N. Zaharia, footnote 63; W. Antoniewicz, footnote 66; A. Nadolski, foot note 84; M. Smiszko, Wiadomosci Archeologiczne, Vol. XIV, 1936, p. XX; N. Fettich, footnote 75; J. Kovacevic, footnote 81; B.A. Rybakov, footnote 73.







46

4

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ancient Russ9, and also that of the western and southern Slavs.10 I

also used the results of linguistic research, especially that of Polish

philologists, and referred to Iranian-Slavic relations. The aim of my article was not to exhaust the material relevant to the problem under

discussion: I was primarily concerned with drawing attention to the

existence of the problem. Professor Kostrzewski has suggested to me

(in a private letter) that I overestimate the role of the Sarmatians in

the history of Polish territories. Perhaps he is right but to me it seems

that what is more important (and at the same time surprising) is that

their role has so far passed completely unnoticed.

In taking this opportunity of publishing my article in English in The Polish Review (for which I am indebted to Professor L. Krzyzanow

* E.g.: B.A. Rybakov, Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, Vol. VI-1940, and Vol. XVII

1953.?G. Vernadsky, Ancient Russia. Vol. I, New Haven, 1944, pp. 104 ff., 155 ff.?S.P. Tolstov, Sovetskaya Etnografiya. Vol. VI-VII, 1947.

10 F. Dvornik, The Making of Central and Eastern Europe. London, 1949, p. 268

ff.?Idem, The Slavs. Their Early History and Civilization. Boston, 1956, p. 22

ff.?J. Czekanowski, Wstep do historii Slowian. 2nd edition, Poznan, 1957, pp. 173, 202 ff., 218 ff., 251 ff.

PLATE II. Selected Polish heraldry showing marked connection with the "Sarmatian" tamgas; their names are given (in quotation marks) and also their date. (From left to right)

Upper row: Mould from Horodnica near Horodenka, Galicia, 9-llth century; bronze ring, Plesnisko near Zloczow, 9-llth century; Polish coin of Sieciech, 11th century; seal of the 12th century with "Strze gomia-Kosciesza"; seal with "Czelusc," A.D. 1278.

Second row: Three Silesian coats of arms of unknown names, 12 13th century.

Third row: Three Silesian coats of arms, as above; sign on a mould of the 13th century, Grodno; seal with heraldry of Sasin, 1278; "Romany" or "Baranie Rogi," taken from a Silesian coin of the 13th century.

Fourth row: "Degno," 13-14th century; "Gryf-Swieboda," 1244; sign on a mould of the 13th century, Grodno; "Kopaszyna" from Silesia, 1282; "Kopaszyna," 1286.

Fifth row: "Czawja-Czewoja," 1531; seal from Cracow, 1234; "Gryf Swiebodzic," 1220; "Nowina" of a Ruthenian noble of the 14th century; "Czelusc-Zawotol," 1420.

Sixth row: Heraldry of the Voievoda of Nowogrodek, 1591; "Bo lesta." 1378; "Bolesta," 1408; "Lubicz," 1404; "Pobog," 1435; "Prus Turzyna," 1460; "Kopaszyna" from Greater Poland, 1382.

Seventh row: "Odrow^z," 1419; "Odrow^z," 15th century; "Odro w^z," 1385; heraldry of unknown name, 16th century; "Ogohczyk," 15th century; "Kotwica-Sztumberg," 1309.

Eighth row: "Nowina," 16th century; heraldry of a Lithuanian noble, 1431; "Szeliga," 1433; "M^drostki," 1417; "Harasimowicz," 1597; "Szeliga," 1388.

Bottom row: Established conventional forms of heraldry: "Szeliga"; "Nowina"; "Prus II"; "Suchekomnaty"; "Zbicewicz"; "Sas"; "Kali

nowa"; "Bialynia." After: F. Piekosihski, footnote 157; Encyklopedia Polska, S. Lam,

Paris; W. Hohibowicz, Slavia Antiqiui, Vol. I, p. 576, figs 8, 9; Ks. Majkowski, Frzeglc^d Archeologiczny, Vol. 1-2, 1921, p. 124, figs 1, 2; O. Patych, Drevnioruski arkheolohichni pamyatki na teritorii zakhii nykh oblastey URSR. Kiev 1957, pi. XI, XII.




ski) I am introducing a number of additions to the original Polish text, and have added a number of new maps which help to illustrate certain

points. I am most grateful for the many valuable comments which I received in response to my Polish article, especially from Professor T.

Milewski of Cracow. Mr. A. Michalski of the University of London School of Slavonic and East European Studies kindly undertook the work of translation. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to Mr.

E. Pyddoke of the University of London Institute of Archaeology for his advise and final revision of the whole article.

IRANIAN ELEMENTS

About fifty years ago, Rozwadowski11 drew attention to a number

of lexical parallels of a religious and ethical nature between the Slavic and Iranian languages. Later linguistic research12 fully confirmed these

observations. In the light of these findings, it cannot be doubted that the ethics, religion and rituals of the Proto-Slavs before the dispersion of the original Slavic community were greatly influenced by the Iranian

Near East.13

The so-called theophoric Slavic proper names, that is those con

taining the roots BOGO-, BOGU-, BOG, etc., were formed under Iranian influence. The name BOGUCHWAL is a loan translation, or simply borrowing of the Scythian-Median name BAGA-FARNA.14 The names

DOMASLAW, DOMAZYR, DOMAMIR, etc., are of similar origin, and they do not appear anywhere outside the Iranian and Slavic

groups. In other fields also one meets many Iranian roots in Slavic

languages.15 The character of these Iranian roots is controversial. Some scholars16

consider them not direct borrowings but analogous terms indicative of a close relationship between the Slavs and the Iranians at some period in the history of the Indo European languages. Lehr-Spiawinski17 points out that Iranian elements are the oldest group of foreign borrowings in

11J. Rozwadowski, Rocznik Orientalistyczny, Vol. I, 1914-1915, p. 95 ff. 12 T. Lehr-Splawinski, op. cit., note 4, p. 41. 13 K. Moszynski, Pierwotny zasieg jezyka praslowianskiego. Wroclaw-Cracow,

1957, p. 84.?See also: W. Antoniewicz, "Religia dawnych Siowian," Religte Swia ta. Warszawa, 1954, pp. 342 ff., 354 ff.?S. Urbanczyk, Religia poganskkh Sto

wian. Cracow, 1947, pp. 20 ff., 30 ff., 87.?W.A. Bohusevychs, "Zpbrazhennia Simargla v drevnoruskomu mystetsvi," Arkheolohiya, Vol. XII, Kiev, 1961, p. 76 ff.

14 T. Milewski, "Dwa ujecia problemu granic praslowianskiego obszaru jezyko wego," Rocznik Slawisfyczny, Vol. XXI, I960, p. 54 ff.?Idem, "O pochodzeniu stowianskich imion zlozonych," Vtace Qnomastyczne PAN, Vol. 5?Ksi?ga refera tow 1 Miedzynarodotvej Slawistycznej Konferencji Onomastycznej, p. 241 ff.

15 K. Moszynski, op. cit., note 13, p. 82 ff. 16 M. Rudnicki, Praslowianszczyzna. Lechia-Polska. Vol. II, Poznan, 1961, p. 59 ff. 17

Lehr-Splawinski, "Szkic dziejow jezyka praslowianskiego," Studia z filologii polskiej i slowianskie], Vol. Ill, 1958, p. 261.




the ProtoSlavic vocabulary. Some were direct borrowings (TOPOR, SWAROG) and some came into existence as a result of the semantic

evolution of native words which took place under the influence of

Iranian, as for instance the sacred significance of the words BOG and

SV?T (Polish SWIljTY etc.). He adds18 that not only in its vocabulary, but also in its structure, the Proto-Slavic language shows similarities

with the Iranian languages. In connection with these undoubted contacts between Slavs and Ira

nians the question arises exactly when and where there existed conditions which made possible such a strong Iranian influence on the Proto-Slavs, and on all the Slavs in general? And secondly, which of the various Iranian tribes is to be considered?

THE SCYTHIANS

It is generally agreed among philologists that the Scythians were an Iranian tribe which stronly influenced the Slavs: thus, we may be

tempted to place the origins of the Iranian borrowings in the period from the sixth to the second centuries B. G, when the Scythians (known from Herodotus and other ancient writers) live*d in the Ukraine.

However, a clear look at the historical, archaeological and even

linguistic data rules out such an interpretation. According to the evidence of ancient writers, confirmed by archaeological research, the center of the Scythian empire at its height was on the steppes around the Black Sea.19 Scythian influence, and probably direct Scythian rule, extended over the Ukrainian "black-earth belt" and over the whole of Western

Podolia,20 but did not reach Volhynia. Around 500 B. C, one of the

Scythian tribes, probably the Sigynnae, invaded the Hungarian plain, which they held for 150 years, finally yielding to the Celts.21

The territories inhabited by the Proto-Slavs were never subject to

Scythian rule, and neither were the Neuri who, according to some

scholars, were a Proro-SIavic tribe. The Proto-Slavs came in contact with 18 T. Lehr-Splawinski, "O pochodzeniu i praojczyznie Siowian," Sprauozdania

PAU, Vol. XLVI, Cracow, 1945, p. 23 ff.?Idem, op. cit., note 4, p. 31. 19 The basic works on the subject are: E.H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks. Cam

bridge, 1913.?M. Rostovtsev, Iranians and Greeks in South Russia. Oxford, 1922.? Idem, Sky then und der Bosporus. Vol. I, Berlin, 1931.?Among the recent publica tions are: B. Grakov, Skify. Kiev, 1947.?V.A. Illinska and O.L Terenozhkin, "Ple

mena Skifskoho periodu," Narysy Starodavnoi Istorii Ukrainskoi RSR. Kiev, 1957, pp. 109-214.?T. Talbot Rice, The Scythians. Ancient Peoples and Places. London, 1957.?J.A.H. Potratz, Die Skythen in Sudrussland. Basel, 1963. 20 T. Sulimirski, Scytowie na zachodniem Podolu. Lwow, 1936.

21 See recent publications on the subject: B. Benadik, "Skythsky problem ve svetle novych archeologickych nalezu na Slovensku," Archeologicke Rozhledy, Vol. V, Prague, 1953, p. 672-683.?P. Patay, "Szkita leietek a nogradi dombovideken," Folia Archaeologica, Vol. VII, Budapest, 1955, p. 61-77.?M. Dusek, "Die thrako skythische Periode in der Slowakei," Slovenska Archeologia, Vol. IX, Bratislava, 1961, p. 155-174.




the Scythians during the latter's invasion of Central Europe circa 500 B. C.?about the same time as one of the Scythian inroads reached as

far as central France.22 This invasion and the ravages it brought were the main causes of the decline of the Proto-Slavic, Lusatian culture23; but it seems highly improbable that this sort of invasion, bringing nothing but destruction, could have anything to do with the Iranian influence on the language and spiritual life of the peoples affected by it.

At no time during the period of Scythian dominance and till the end of the second century B. C, did the Slavs inhabit territories under

Scythian rule; this conclusion is supported by linguistic and archaeologi cal evidence. All the ancient names of rivers flowing from the north into the Black Sea are of Iranian derivation; further to the west they are of Thracian-Dacian derivation, and indisputably Slavic terms do not occur at all.24 The oldest place-names recorded which can be traced back to Slavic roots are concentrated around the basins of the rivers Oder and Vistula,25 a long way from territories influenced or

ruled by Scythians. Indisputably Slavic tribal names are likewise

lacking in the basin of the river Dnieper, and names of tribes which can

be associated with the Slavs, noted by ancient authors (Tacitus, Pto

lemy) are concentrated in the basins of the Oder and Vistula. An impor tant fact emphasized by Milewski26 relates to proper-names appearing in

inscriptions found around the Black Sea on the sites of ancient Greek colonies. It is this: apart from Greek names, Scythian-Sarmatian (Iranian) names are most numerous and less are Thracian names, but not one is Slavic. It thus seems clear that up to the third century B.C. the Slavs inhabited areas far removed from the northern coast of the Black Sea, and the possibility is ruled out of identifying Herodotus' Scythian husbandmen with the Slavs, as some, especially Soviet scholars wish to do. Popov27 clearly demonstrates that up to the fourth century B. C. there is no linguistic evidence of contact between either the Slavs and

Greeks, the Slavs and the Iranians, or even between the Slavs and the Thracians.

22 T. Sulimirski, "Die Skythen in Mittel- und Westeuropa," Bericht uber den V. Kongress fur Vor- und Fruhgeschichte, Hamburg 1958. Berlin, 1961, p. 793 ff.

23 T. Sulimirski, "Zagadnienie upadku kultury hizyckiej," Slavia Antiqua Vol. I, Poznan, 1948, p. 152-165.?Idem, op. cit., note 22.?Z. Bukowski, "Nowe znale ziska 'scytyjskie' z Polski," Archeologia Polski, Vol. IV, I960, p. 257 ff.? Idem, "Several Problems concerning Contacts of Lusatian Culture with Scythians," Archaeo

logia Polona, Vol. Ill, I960, p. 65 ff. 24 T. Milewski, op. cit., note 14, p. 67 ff. 25 T. Lehr-Splawinski, op. cit., note 4, p. 53 ff.?M. Rudnicki, op. cit., note 16,

p. 97 ff. 26 L. Zgusta, Die Personennamen griechischer Stddte der nordlichen Schwarz

meerkuste. Prague, 1955.?T. Milewski, op. cit., note 14, p. 57. 27O.I. Popov, "Do naidavnishoi istorii Slovianstva." Arkheolohiya, Vol. IX,

Kiev, 1954, p. 55 ff.




It seems, therefore, that we can discount the Scythians in our con

siderations of the Iranian influence on the Slavs. The situation is

entirely different when we consider the Sarmatians who before the

second century B.C. conquered the Scythians and took possession of the Pontic steppe country.

THE SARMATIANS

The Sarmatians, an Iranian people like the Scythians and the Persians, were closely related in language to the Scythians; their dialect was the more archaic of the two. They first appear on the historical scene in the fifth century B. C. under the name of "Sauromatians" mentioned

by Herodotus and other Greek writers. Later they are known as "Aorsi"; Chinese sources of the second century B. C. call them "Antsai," that is "Antae." Towards the end of the first century A. D., the name "Alans"

appears which covered all East Sarmatian tribes, and in time superseded the older name of "Sarmatians."

All these names, presumably, belonged to individual tribes first en

countered by other peoples who then applied them to the Sarmatians in general. Tribes, whose names never assumed a wider connotation,

were the Siraces in the Kuban area, the Iazyges around the Sea of Azov and on the Hungarian Plain from the first century A. D., and the Ro xolani inhabiting the steppe around the river Dnieper towards the end of the pre-Christian era and later driven on to the Romanian Plain. The names "Asi" or "Yasi" usually considered synonymous with "Alans," "Aorsi" or even "Antae,"28 also occur frequently in various regions and at various times.

Literature concerning the ancient Sarmatians is very extensive. In the last few decades, interest in them has been aroused as a result of archaeo

logical findings on the steppes east of the river Volga, in the Ukraine29

28 N. Zupanic, "Izvor in ime Antov. L'origine et le nom des Antes," Etnolog, Vol. VII, Ljubljana, 1934, p. 88 ff.?-G. Vernadsky, "On the Origin of the Antae," Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 59, New Haven, 1939, p. 56 ff.? Idem, op. cit., note 9, p. 106.

29 See works and articles by the following authors: B.N. Grakov, K.F. Smirnov, V.A. Kuznetsov, S.A. Pletneva, A.I. Meliukova, I.V. Sinitsyn, M.P. Abramova, M.I.

Vyazmitina, etc., published in the periodicals: Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, Vols. XIV, XVII, 1957-3, 1957-4, 1959-1, 1959-2, 1962-1; Kratkie Soobshchenia IIMK, Nos.

32-1950, 34-1950, 37-1951; Arkheolohiya, Kiev, Vols. VII, VIII; Materialy i Issle dovania po Arkheologii SSSR, Nos. 101-1961, 106-1962; Vyestnik Drevniei Istorii, Vol. 1948-1; Narysy Starodavnoi Istorii Ukrainskoi RSR, Kiev, 1957, p. 215 ff.? See also: M. Rostovtsev, op. cit., note 19; and also by the same author the relevant account in the Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. VIII-1930 and Vol. IX-1936.?

M. Miller, Don i Priazovie v drevnosti. Vol. II, Miinchen, 1958, p. 36 ff.




and in Hungary.30 But publications on the subject deal either with certain areas which they inhabited or with particular periods of their

history. There is no general work on all the tribes from the earliest times until their disappearance. I have recently undertaken such a work.31

Here we deal only with tribes which played a significant role in the

history of the Slavs and especially those who lived within the boundaries of modern Poland.

EARLY SARMATIANS

The original home of the Sarmatians was on the steppe between the river Volga, the Urals and the Altai Sea32 (fig. 3). From there, the tribes pushed by their eastern neighbors moved successively on to the Black Sea steppes and then further to the west as they yielded to the

pressure of the oncoming wave. The fate of all the tribes who went west was more or less the same: sooner or later they were absorbed into the native population which they conquered. The Iazyges, who managed to retain their identity for several centuries, were an exception.

The first Sarmatian (Sauromatian) tribes must have crossed the Don not later than about 350 B. C. Other tribes followed them in the third

century. By about 200 B.C. they had probably reached the river

Dnieper. At that time they seem to have been united under a strong central authority. Galatus, king of the "Royal Sarmatians," is mention ed circa 179 B. C, and their queen Amage around 165 or 140 B. C.33

By the end of the second century B. C. the steppe east of the Dnieper was already in the possession of the Roxolani in the north, and of the

Ia2yges in the south. The Royal Sarmatians seem to have succumbed to the newcomers, and some of their tribes, at least, moved west of the

Dnieper. Discoveries indicating the presence of Sarmatian tribes in what is now Bulgaria

34 (fig. 1), suggest a date at the turn of the second

and first centuries B. C The Roxolani, and possibly the Iazyges, were among the second wave

of Sarmatians to cross the Don. In the second century B.C. the Iazyges 30

Important publications on the subject are: M. Parducz, "Denkmaler der Sar matenzeit in Ungarn," Archaeologia Hungarica, Vols. XXV-1941, XXVIIM944, XXX-1950.?Idem, Ada Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Vol. VII-1956.?A. Mocsy, Acta Archaeologica Acad. Scient. Hungar. Vol. IV, 1954.? For Romania see: S. Morintz, Dacia, Bucharest, Vols NS III-1959, NS IV, I960.

31T. Sulimirski, "The Forgotten Sarmatians," Vanished Civilizations. London, 1963, Thames & Hudson, p. 279 ff.?Idem, "Reiter der Steppe," Versunkene

Kulturen. Munchen-Zurich, 1963, Droemersche Verlagsanstalt, p. 279 ff.?A volume in the series "The Ancient Peoples and Places" is in preparation.

32K.F. Smirnov, "Sarmatskie plemena severnogo Prikaspia," Kratkie Soobshchenia IIMK, Vol. XXXIV-1950, p. 97 ff., map fig. 28.

33 J. Harmatta, Studies on the History of the Sarmatians. Budapest, 1950, p. 7 ff.

34 J. Harmatta, as above, p. 29 ff.



24 The Polish Revieiu

Fig. l. Sarmatian cemeteries and other remains in the basin of the lower Danube and the upper Dniester.

1. Finds, presumably connected with the Royal Sarmatians (1st century B.C.) (Szorce, Transylvania; Bucharest; Galiee, Bulgaria).

2. Graves attributable presumably to the Roxolani (lst-2nd centuries A.D.). 3. Sarmatian graves and other finds of the 2nd to the 4th centuries AI>. in

Romania, listed below. 4. Stone slabs with tamga sign. 5. Towns and villages with names of Sarmatian derivation (see footnote 67),

and Greek colony of Tomi. 6. Northern limit of the Bucovinian dialect of the Ukrainian language (after

K. Dejma, footnote 70). List of sites: 1 ? Giebultow (grave with elements of the Lipica culture); 2 ?

Ostrivets; 3 ? Zazdrosc; 4 ? Tetcani; 5 ? Chotyh near Kafusz; 6 ? Choci mierz; 7 ? Worochta; 8 ? Khotyn-Hotin; 9 ? Chotyniec near Radynmo; 10 ? Chotyn south of Dubno.

List of sites marked by circles: Bessarabia: Bokana, Dudesti, Lenkivtsi, Mar kauti; Romania: Bolintesti, Calara, Casciarele, Chilia, Chislalinga, Cioinogi, Dridu, Bpureni, Gabara, Glavanesti Vechi, Holboca, Larga Jijia, Largu, Mitoc, Fadureni, Piatra Frecatei, Pioenesti, Sendreni, Smeieni, Stefanesti, Tecuci, Trusesti, Valea Lupului, Vitriscoi.




lived north-west of the Sea of Azov. A hundred years later, according to Strabo, they were found west of the Dniepr, reaching the Roman

frontier which in that century was established along the length of the

Danube as far as its estuary in the Black Sea. In 78-76 B.C. a punitive

expedition against them was undertaken by the Romans, presumably after their incursion into Roman territory. This was the first of many recorded encounters between the Romans and the Sarmatians. The

Iazyges were known to Ovid in the years of his banishment at Tomi

(modern Constanta) in 8-17 A.D., a Greek city by then included in

the Roman province of Moesia (fig. 1).

Shortly after 20 A.D. the Iazyges moved west again, crossed the

Carpathians and settled on the Hungarian Plain between the Tisa

(Theiss) and the Danube (fig. 1). Their presence was soon felt by their neighbors. In 50 A.D. a Iazygian cavalry detachment fought in

the ranks of Vennius, king of the Sueves and a vassal of the Roman

Empire. Initially, they did not raid the Roman provinces but from the

middle of the second century A.D. were one of the most troublesome

neighbors of the Empire. They took a leading part against the Romans

in the Marcomanian Wars (166-180 A.D.). Later they frequently devastated the neighboring Roman provinces and were often severely

punished by the Emperors, six of whom took the title "Sarmaticus"

after defeating them; special coins were minted on several occasions

to commemorate victories over the Sarmatians.

The eclipse of the Sarmatian Iazyges began about the middle of the

third century A.D. when the Gepidae settled north of them, and a

little later, the Visigoths established a powerful kingdom in the for

mer Roman province of Dacia. Then, in the fifth century A.D., the

Hungarian Sarmatians were subdued by the Huns but freed themselves

after the death of Attila in 454 A.D. In 472 A.D., they were beaten by the Visigoths. This is the last recorded reference to the Hungarian Sarmatians.

SARMATIA

The Iazyges remained on the Hungarian Plain for about 450 years

and by their very presence there they influenced the formation of

some of the geographical concepts which interest us here. Thus Agrip

pa's map (circa A.D. 12) mentions the Dacians as the eastern neighbors of the Teutonic tribes, which was in accordance with the situation on

the northern frontiers of the Empire, along the Danube, prevailing at

the time: Dacian tribes lived east of the Germanic Sueves in the basin

of the river Tisa, on the Hungarian Plain. Thirty years later, however,




circa A.D. 44, Pomponius Mela introduces the new term "Sarmatia" for the country east of "Germania" (fig. 2). Thus his work, written

Fig. 2. Map of Europe according to the description by Pomponius Mela (circa A.D. 12). After F. Nansen and H. Lowmiafiski, footnote 35.

twenty years after the invasion of the Hungarian Plain by the Iazyges, takes into account the new status quo in the area, although it retains the old name of "Scythia" for the Pontic lands where the Sarmatians had replaced the Scythians several centuries earlier. It was only Ptolemy and his successors who extended the term "Sarmatia" to include the whole of Eastern Europe as well as Central Europe.

Pomponius Mela, in his description of north-west Europe uses data obtained by a Roman maritime expedition of A.D. 5, which sailed as far as Jutland.85 Of all the Germanic tribes in the area only one, the

Hermiones, lived east of the river Elbe; all the others lived to the west of it. Pomponius Mela did not know the names of the non-Germanic, presumably Proto-Slavic tribes who lived east of the Elbe and were the

neighbors of the ancient Germans. It seems that he assumed that just 35 B. Bilinski, "Zachodnia granica Prasiowianszczyzny wedle Pomponiusza Meli,"

Archeologia, Vol. II, Wroclaw, 1948, p. 129 ff.?H. towmianski, Poczatki Polski. Warsaw, 1963, p. 156 ff., map p. 144.




as along the Roman frontier on the Hungarian Plain, so here the eastern neighbors of the Germanic tribes were Sarmatians, and accord

ingly he gave the name "Sarmatia" to the whole territory inhabited by non-Germanic tribes north of the Danube and east of the Elbe (fig. 2).

"Sarmatia," once introduced as the name for the non-Germanic countries of Central Europe, persisted although the dividing line between Germania and Sarmatia was not always the same. Ptolemy shifted it to die river Vistula.

OTHER SARMATIAN PEOPLES The Roxolani, the other Sarmatian people of the second wave, are

not of great importance to our study. From the second century B.C.,

they lived east of the Dnieper, to the north of the Iazyges. They took

part in the Mithridatic Wars with Rome. Under the pressure of the third Sarmatian wave, which crossed the Don about the middle of the first century A.D., they moved west of the Dnieper. Some of the tribes settled between the Dnieper and the Danube delta, while a recently discovered early Sarmatian cemetery seems to indicate86 (fig. 1) that some possibly moved further west into the area between the upper

Dniester and the upper Pruth. However, the greater part of the Roxolani moved south and took possession of the south-Romanian Plain between the Olt and the bend of the Danube. In A.D. 62, they raided Roman

Moesia and subsequently made frequent inroads into Roman territory, for which they were often severely punished by the Romans. A Roman

victory over a Roxolani detachment is depicted on Trajan's Column. The decline of the Roxolani began with the arrival of the Visigoths

in Dacia, but it was only in A.D. 377 that they were forced to retreat before the Ostrogoths. Some migrated westward and joined the Iazyges in Hungary; others crossed the Danube and surrendered to the Romans.

It is, however, the third wave of Sarmatians, who crossed the Don in the first century A.D., which is the most important to our considera tions. Pushing out the Roxolani, they occupied the steppe on the lower

Don and north of the Sea of Azov. They were known as "Aorsi-Asi"

and later as "Alans," after a tribe which had in the meantime subjugated all the Sarmatian tribes east of the Don and the Volga, as well as some

of the tribes on the Black Sea steppe. They were sometimes given the name "Alanorsi" or "Alan-Aorsi" to distinguish them from the original eastern Alans.

The life and culture of the western Alans, the "Alanorsi," was

greatly influenced by the Bosporan Kingdom to which we must now

turn our attention.

36 M. Iu. Smishko, "Sarmatski pokhovannya bilya s. Ostrivets," Materialy i Doslidz

hennya z Atkheolohii Prikarpattya i Volyni, Vol. 4, Kiev, 1962, p. 54 ff.




THE BOSPORAN KINGDOM

The origins of the Bosporan Kingdom go back to the sixth century B.C., with the foundation of several Greek colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea. Of these, the chief center in the west was

Olbia on the estuary of the Boh, and in the east Panticapaeum, modern

Kerch, on the eastern tip of the Crimea, on the Sea of Azov. Shortly afterwards, almost all the colonies around the Sea of Azov united to

form the Bosporan Kingdom which assumed the character of a hered

itary monarchy.37 By the end of the second century B.C. the Bosporan Kingdom fell

under the rule of Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, a country situated to the south-east of the Black Sea and well-known for the bitter wars it led against Rome. After his death, the Bosporan Kingdom became a vassal-state of Rome for several centuries. Royal power was

assumed by a new dynasty of Sarmatian, or Sarmato-Thracian origin which ruled till the country was conquered by the Goths in the fourth

century A.D.

Despite considerable efforts on the part of the large Greek element in the population, the Bosporan state failed to retain its Greek character.

The Sarmatian origins of the ruling dynasty and the greater part of the aristocracy, though they were superficially Hellenized, were one

major obstacle to this. A large number of slaves of foreign origin and the inclusion in the kingdom of extensive territory on the east .side of the Sea of Azov from Kuban to the Don with its Sarmatian

population, contributed further to the loss of its Greek character. Life in the cities attracted the neighboring Sarmatians from beyond the borders of the kingdom and induced them to settle in large numbers. All these factors finally led to the Bosporan Kingdom's assuming an almost completely Sarmatian character in the first few centuries. A.D.

The first two centuries after Christ, and to a lesser extent the third, were periods of great prosperity for the Bosporan Kingdom. It thrived on maritime trade with the countries of the Black Sea and of the Aegean. Its craftsmen catered for local needs and the needs of the neighboring Sarmatian tribes. The workmanship of Panticapaean goldsmiths was famous and, as many of their products discovered in graves show, it was very popular with the local aristocracy and with the Sarmatian

princes around. Its characteristic polychromatic style was created largely by Bosporan craftsmen but also by those of the Kuban Siraces;38 it combined traditions of local art with a technical skill which went back to Scythian times and had added Iranian elements introduced by

37V.F. Gaydukevich, Bosporskoe Tsarstvo. Moscow-Leningrad, 1948. 38 M.Rostovtsev, op. cit.} note 19 (Iranians and Greeks), p. 132 ff.




the Sarmatians. This style, adopted later and somewhat modified by the Goths, spread westwards during the Migration Period and became the basis of the early mediaeval style of Western Europe.

In the sphere of religion, the Bosporan Kingdom was equally strongly influenced by Iranian ideas. These influences were largely due to the contacts existing between the Bosporus and the Kingdom of Pontus at the time of Mithridates VI. After the conquest of the Persian Empire of the Achemenides by Alexander the Great a movement developed in

Iran, Asia Minor and the neighboring countries which attempted to combine various elements of Hellenistic and Iranian cultures. And so Iranian gods were identified with Greek gods which were considered their equivalent For example, Mithra was associated with Apollo,

Helios and Hermes.39 This movement extended as far as the neighbor ing Sarmatian tribes.

TAMGA SIGNS

An interesting expression of these new ideas was the appearance in

the first century A.D. in the Bosporan Kingdom of the so-called

"tagma" signs (PL I). These religious symbols, incorrectly called Sarma

tian, have for a long time attracted the attention of the archaeologists and many conflicting theories exist as to their origins. Recent works on the subject have greatly contributed towards establishing their

proper character. The territorial extent of the tamgas, i.e. of objects bearing these

particular signs, as established by E. I. Solomonik,40 is very limited (fig. 3). This applies especially to the earlier specimens. Tamgas dating from the first century A.D. and the great majority of those of the second and third centuries are found mainly within the limits of the Bosporan

Kingdom. Outside it only two larger groupings appear, one in the hilly part of the Crimea, the other in the Kuban area in the north-western Caucasus. A small number of these objects (dating from the second and third centuries A.D.) has been found on sites scattered throughout the steppes of the Ukraine, but none has been recorded from the Sarma tian steppes further east Two objects found on the lower Volga were

presumably imported from Bosporan territory or the Kuban country. Thus the geographical extent of the tamgas and their chronology

show that they could not have originated in the Sarmatian cultural

sphere and prove their Bosporan provenance.

39 R.C. Zaehner, The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism. London, 1961, p. 175. 40 E.I. Solomonik, Sarmatskie znaki severnogo Prichernomoria. Kiev, 1959, map

p. 15.?M. Ebert, Prahistorische Zeitscbrift, Vol. I, Berlin, 1909, p. 65 ff.




Fig. 3. Geographical distribution of tamga signs of the l-4th cen turies A.D. (After E.I. Solomonik, footnote 40 ? Eastern Europe; A. Nadolski, footnote 84 ? Poland).

Black circles: sites in which tamgas were found in the Crimea (l-3rd centuries), in Eastern Europe (2-3rd centuries), Bessarabia and Mol davia (3rd century), and Poland (3-4th centuries).

Squares: princely graves of the 4th century in Poland: Zerniki Wiel kie (Gross Stirding), Zakrzdwek (Sackrau), Gl^dzianowek.

Broken line: the territory ruled by the Antae, according to F. Dvornik, footnote 10.

Shaded area: the original country of the Sarmatians, according to K.F. Smirniv, footnote 32.

About the same time similar symbolic signs appear in Asia in the territories of ancient Choresmus and Fergana.41 They are an expression of similar ideas, but at the present stage of research it is difficult to

decide what was the connection between them and whether they are

related genetically. In any event, these considerations lie outside the

scope of the present study. The oldest Bosporan tamgas followed strictly defined patterns which

represent the monograms of several Greek gods such as Apollo, Helios and Dionysius.42 These gods were on the one hand associated with die cult of the sun, and on the other with the belief in life after dfeath.

Monograms are usually engraved on the grave-stelae or inscribed on the walls of burial chambers and catacombs of Bosporan princes and members of the aristocracy. Frequently they are found on bronze

41S.P. Toistov, "Iz predistorii Rusi," Sovetskaya Etnografiya, Vol. VI-VII, 1947, p. 47 ff., pi. I, II.

42 E.I. Solomonik, "O dvukh zagadochnykh znakakh na stele iz Olvii," Kratkie Soobshchenia Instituta Arkheol. No. 6, Kiev, 1956, p. 50 ff.?H. Humbach, "Die sogenannte sarmatische Schrift," Die Welt der Slawen, Vol. VI, Miinchen, 1961, p. 225 ff.




buckles (PL I, top) which points to the belief in their magic power to protect the owner from misfortune. Tamga signs placed in relief on small bronze mirrors provided with a short perforated handle, worn on a belt on the hip, must have had the same significance. Solomonik48 has shown that in the Bosporan Kingdom at an early date cattle and horses were marked by the protective tamga signs. They evidently developed later into property marks with which cattle and horses were marked by

North Caucasian herders up until recent times. The appearance side by side on a large number of buckles of two

different tamga monograms (PI. I, top), both very faithfully adhering to the original pattern, clearly suggest that the tamgas came into being as monograms of Greek gods. Their religious significance is confirmed

later, after the spread of Christianity, by the monograms of Christ, or the sign of the cross, or religious scenes known as Maestas Domini, appearing on belt buckles in place of pagan symbols.44

Fairly soon the stria fidelity to the original pattern of the Bosporan monograms was lost. Certain details were omitted or altered. Never

theless, the tamgas always retained their most characteristic features, distinguishing them from ordinary decorative motifs. In this simplified form they were adopted in the second century A.D. by the Sarmatians

living in the Kuban valley, in the Crimea, and on the Ukrainian steppe. We may presume that they became the symbol of the sun god, Symargei

(Semurv), the equivalent of the Hellenic Apollo-Helios, taken over later by the Slavs under the name of Svarog.45

Unlike the Bosporans, the Sarmatians did not associate the tamgas with belief in life after death. Their tamgas are found in places clearly connected with worship, notably on the outer side of the rocky walls at the entrance to several caves in the north-west Caucasus and the hilly part of the Crimea. On the steppe near Kryvyi Rih (Krivoy Rog) on the river Ingulets a huge stone block was found covered with tamga carvings (PI. I). There are also tamgas on a large stone slab found at Tetcani in northern Bessarabia, and on a stone pillar at Zazdrosc near Trembowla in West Podolia. Apart from this, the tamgas appear most often on bronze mirrors and only exceptionally on buckles, no doubt because

48E.I. Solomonik, "O tabtenii skota v severnom Prichernomorie," Istoria i Ar kbeolobiya drevnego Kryma. Kiev, 1957, p. 210 ff.

44 N. Fettich, "Eine gotische SilbeKchnalle im Ungarischen National Museum," Seminarium Kondakovianum, Vol. II, Prague, 1925, pi. XVI:1.?E. Beninger, Der westgotiscb-alanische Zug nacb Mitteleuropa. Leipzig, 1931, Mannus-Bibliothek No. 51, p. 41, fig. 17 (Dombovar).?V.V. Kropotkin, "Iz istorii srednevekogo Kryma," Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, Vol. XXVIII, p. 210, figs 3, 4 (Chufut-Kale, Crimea).?D. Csallany, "Archaologische Denkmaler der Gepiden im Mitteldonaubecken," Archaeol ogist Hungarica, Vol. NS XXXVIII, 1961, pi. XXXIX:4 (Szentes-Nagyhegy).?A. France-Lanord, "Die Giirtelgarnitur von Saint-Quentin," Germania, Vol. 39, 1961, p. 412 ff.

45 K. Moszynski, op. tit., note 13, p. 87 ff.?S.P. Tolstov, op. tit., note 41, p. 51 ff.




the latter were not in common use among the Sarmatians. The tamgas were not adopted by the eastern i.e. Transvolgan Alans, nor by the

Goths who invaded the Ukraine and created a powerful Ostrogoth king dom there; nor were they known to the Iazyges and the Roxolani, that

is to those Sarmatian tribes who left the steppe around the Bosporan

Kingdom before the spread of these symbols. So, among the Sarmatian

tribes they were only used by the Siraces of the Kuban country in north

west Caucasus, and the western Alanic tribes, i.e. the Aorsi-Antae.

THE GOTHS

At the beginning of the third century A.D. great changes took place on the Black Sea steppes. They were initiated by the migration of the

eastern Alanic tribes from beyond the Volga who pushed the western

Alans west of the Dnieper. Shortly afterwards, the Goths appeared and

gradually made themselves masters of the whole of the Ukraine west of

the Dnieper, from which they expelled the western Alans driving them

even further to the west. Towards the end of the third century, the Goths

conquered Olbia and part of the Crimea and subsequently, together with

minor Germanic tribes, they moved down to the shores of the Sea of

Azov. These changes were among the causes of the decline of the Bo

sporan Kingdom, which finally crumbled when the Goths took posses sion of the straits of Kerch. In the fourth century the river Dniester

was their western boundary. The river Don is erroneously considered to

have been their eastern boundary; archaeological evidence points to

the fact that only a narrow strip of land on the Sea of Azov up to the

estuary of the river Don could have been in their possession. Further to the north the steppeland between the Don and the Dnieper was oc

cupied by the Sarmatian Alans. It is not yet clear by which way the Goths came to the Ukraine.

Tymieniecki46 is of the opinion that they travelled due south from the

Baltic, first along the Elbe and then eastwards along the Danube. But this could only be true of the western branch of the Goths, viz. the

Visigoths, who around the year 260 A.D. conquered Transylvania which

up to then constituted the Roman province of Dacia. The Ostrogoths could not have taken this route. According to their own tradition trans

mitted by Jordanes, they came on to the Ukrainian steppe drectly from the north, as has been well shown by Stender-Petersen47 whose map is

reproduced here (fig 4).

46K. Tymieniecki, Ziemie polskie w starozytno'sci. Poznan, 1951, p. 517 ff. 47A.A. Stender-Petersen, "Jordanes* Bericht von der Auswanderung der Goten,"

KULM, Vol. 1957, p. 68 ff., map p. 70.




Fig. 4. Stages in the southward migration of the Goths, according to A.A. Stender-Petersen, footnote 47.




This is also confirmed by archaeological evidence. They did not pass through Poland.48 Moora49 shows on the basis of the geographical dis tribution of Gothic enamelled buckles of the second century A.D. (fig.5)

Fig. 5. Distribution of sites with enamelled objects. After H. Moora, footnote 49.

Smaller circles: one or two objects found in one site. Larger circles: larger number of objects found in one site.

that for a time Goths must have inhabited the S.E. shores of the Baltic

(in particular East Prussia) and have then moved further south. Their

path, as marked by their buckles, led along the rivers flowing into the

48 J. Kostrzewski, "Germanie przedhistoryczni w Polsce," Przeglad Archeologiczny,

Vol. VII-1, 1946, p. 83 ff. 49 H. Moora, "Zur Frage nach der Herkunft des ostbaltischen emailverzierten

Schmuckes," SKY A, Vol. XL, Helsinki, 1934, p. 75 ff.?Idem, "O drevnei territorii

rasseleniya baltiyskikh piemen," Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, Vol. 1958-2 p. 27 ff., map fig. 6?A.M. Tallgren, Eurasia Septentrionalis Antiqua, Vol. XI, Helsinki, 1937, p. 147, ff., mag fig. 10.




upper Dnieper, and then down the river. There, between the towns

of Kiev and Kanev, they are found in greatest concentration. The earliest buckles in the area date from the third and fourth centuries

A.D., and are more recent than the Baltic ones. Moreover, the con

centration occurs precisely in that region where a large number of Sarmatian graves from an earlier period is found. These graves, fairly widely distributed, are the relics of a small group of Sarmatians driven norrhwards from the steppe at the end of the second cenrury B.C.50

(fig. 6). The Sarmatians lived there scattered among the local popula

Fig. 6. Distribution of cemeteries and settlements'k)f the "Burial Fields culture" and of Sarmatian graves. After I.V. Kukharenko, foot note 50.

1. Remains of the Zarubintsy culture (1st century B.C. to 2nd cen tury A.D.).

2. Remains of the Chernyakhov culture (3-4th centuries A.D.). 3. Sarmatian graves (2nd century B.C. to 4th century A.D.). Larger black points: Sarmatian graves in the Kiev province (2nd cen

tury B.C. to 2nd century A.D.).

tion which is represented by the so-called "burial-fields culture" con

sidered to be the archaeological equivalent of East Slavic tribes. The Sarmatian group vanished suddenly at the beginning of the

soi.V. Kukharenko, Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, Vol. XIX, 1954, p. 144 ff.




third century A.D., and their disappearance coincides with the first

appearance of "Gothic" buckles in the same region. Significant is like

wise a large number of hoards of Roman coins51 found just within

the same area, hidden at the very beginning of the third century. These facts bring to mind Jordanes' account of how the Goths, after

defeating the Sarmatian Spali, occupied their fertile land of "Oium"

with the way south to the sea lying open before them.

The continuous contact of the Goths in the Ukraine with Baltic

lands also points to the route along the Dnieper by which the Goths had reached the Ukraine. Czekanowski52 draws attention to Jordanes' statement that in the middle of the fourth century, under the rule of

Hermanaric the Ostrogoths embraced East Prussia and perhaps other

Baltic territories as well. Later still, between A.D. 523 and 526 after the Ostrogoths had left the Ukraine, the Aesti, that is the ancestors

of the old Prussians, according to Cassiodor sent a gift of amber to

Theodoric. Further evidence of these contacts is seen in the princely grave containing remains of the "Gothic" type at Mioteczno (Ham mersdorf) near the delta of the Vistula. Aberg53 dates it around A.D. 400 and connects it with a group of the Ostrogoths who, after being beaten by the Huns in 375, retreated northwards along a track well known to them.

As Aberg points out,54 both in the Baltic and the Ukraine the Ostro

goths were only the upper strata ruling over the local population. In the Ukraine this population was East Slavic and its archaeological equivalent is the "burial fields culture" (map, fig. 6). During an earlier phase, known as the "Zarubintsy culture,"55 it was genetically connected with the "Przeworsk (Venedian) culture" which embraced almost all Poland and is considered the archaeological equivalent of the West Slavic Venedi.56 The finds of the Zarubintsy culture are

mainly confined to the northern part of the Ukraine, but in the neigh

51M.Iu. Braichevskyi, Rymska moneta na teritorii Ukrainy. Kiev, 1959, p. 17.? V.V. Kropotkin, "Klady rimskikh monet na territorii SSSR," Arkheologiya SSSR, Vol. G4-4, Moscow, 1961, Diagram, p. 32-33.

52 J. Czekanowski, op. cit., note 10, p. 122 ff.

53 N. Aberg, Ostpreussen in der Volkerw underungszeit. Uppsala, 1919, p. 67 ff. 54 N. Aberg, as above, p. 5 ff. 55

J. Kostrzewski, "Od mezolitu do okresu wedrowek ludow," Prehistoria Ziem Polskich. Cracow, 1939-1948, p. 334 ff.?M.I. Braichevskyi, "Starodavni skhidni Sloviany," Narysy Starodavnoi Istorii Ukrainskoi RSR, Kiev, 1957, p. 315 ff.? P.N. Tretiakov (editor), "Pamiatniki zarubinetskoi kultury," Materialy i lssledovania po Arkheol. SSSR, No. 70, 1959.?I.V. Kukharenko, "K voprosu o proiskhozhdenii zarubinetskoi kultury," Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, Vol. 1960-1, p. 289 ff.?See also: K. Jazdzewski, "Z zagadnien ciaj^osci kulturalnej i osadniczej na ziemiach Slowian iszczyzny pierwotnej," Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu hodzkiego, Seria 1-8, todz, 1958, p. 14 ff.

56 J. Kostrzewski, as above, p. 319 ff., 340 ff.?Idem, Pradzieje Polski, Poznan,

1949, pp. 173 ff., 192 ff., 209 ff.




borhood of Kiev they extend further to the south. It is precisely this

part of the country which was, as mentioned earlier, under the rule of the Sarmatian Spali. In the third century, clearly under the influence of the Gothic conquerors, the Zarubintsy culture disappears and its

place is taken by the "Chernyakov culture"57 which spread south along the Dnieper almost as far as the sea.

At the same time another large center grew up around the middle Dniester and from there it spread southwards into Romania. These shifts were presumably the result of the movements of the Goths who

brought with them part of the subdued Slavic population. It is in correct to assume, as some authors do,58 that excavations on a number of sites in Romania (including Transylvania) "have thrown light on the part that the indigenous Daco-Getians played in the creation of the Chernyakov culture (the Sintana-de-Mures culture in Roma

nia) which was not attributable to the Goths, Slavs, Sarmatians or Dacians alone." The bearers of this culture were undoubtedly Slavs who in their new places of settlement mixed with the indigenous po

pulation and took over elements of its culture.

Jordanes and other Byzantine historians attest to the presence of the Slavs on the Danube in the sixth century A.D., although the earliest archaeological remains of "Slavic" type date from the seventh

century. As pointed out by Nandris,59 the movement of the Slavs to

wards the south, up to the Danube and into the ancient Roman province of Dacia (Transylvania), began long before any reference to it in historical sources. Linguistic evidence quoted by Nandris60 suggests an early arrival of the Slavs in Romania, in particular in those parts of the country which have yielded remains of the Chernyakhov-Sinta na-de-Mures culture. The study of the typonomy of Romania shows that the Slavs adopted unromanized Dacian place names in the Ro

man province of Dacia, or Latin names, e.g. the name of the.river Olt, and transmitted them to the Romanians. In the sphere of social and political life, the oldest Romanian terminology shows that Latin terms were translated or replaced by Slavic words. Slavic elements came into Romania during the period of Common Romanian and before the division of the language into its four main dialects. The

57 "Chernyakhovskaya kultura," Materialy i Issledovania po Arkheol. SSSR, No.

82, I960.?See also: K. Jazdzewski, op. cit., note 55, p. 15 ff.?K. Majewski, "Kul tura pol grzebalnych na Ukrainie a problem genezy Slowian wschodnich," Archeologia,

Vol. II, Wroclaw, 1948, p. 167-176. 58 COVA Survey (Editor R.W. Ehrich),: Balkans, area 6, No. II. Cambridge Mass.,

1962, p. 17. 59 G. Nandris, "The Earliest Contacts between Slavs and Roumanians," The Slavonic

and East European Review, Vol. XVIII, No. 52, London, 1939, p. 146. eo As above, p. 149 ff.




phonetic structure of Romanian words of Slavic origin often reveals

their great antiquity. The study of the Slavic names of the Tisa and of other rivers of

the Hungarian Plain confirms also the theory that the Slavs were on

the southern side of the Carpathians well before the sixth century A.D.61

All the above circumstances imply that the Slavs must have met

the Romans in the country which is now Romania. They must have arrived in Trajan's Dacia at the end of the fourth century, possibly with the Goths, and yielding to pressure from the Huns who destroyed the Gothic kingdom in A.D. 375. When one considers the archaeolo

gical evidence it is evident that there Slavs can only have been those who had the Chernyakhov culture.

BESSARABIA AND MOLDAVIA

A group of Western Alans driven out by the Goths from the West Ukrainian steppe, moved south and reached the Danube in southern Romania.62 Some of them retreated westwards out of the steppeland proper and settled in central and northern Bessarabia and in northern Moldavia. The Sarmatian archaeological remains from this region63 (fig. 1) date mainly from the third and fourth centuries A.D., although a few items of second century date have been discovered. They are

grouped on both banks of the Pruth but are also further to the north, and more widely scattered to the south. Professor T. Milewski of the

University of Cracow, in a private communication to the present author points out that the river Pruth retained its Iranian name as mentioned in the fifth century B.C. by Herodotus, which is not note

worthy considering that almost all the other rivers flowing from the north into the Black Sea have names which are different from those which they had at the end of the pre-Christian era. Apparently, there

fore, the Sarmatian tradition lingered on for a longer time on the river Pruth.

61J.B. Rudnyckyj, "Slavo-Hungarica. Zur Typonomie der Karpato-Ukraine," Orbis, Vol. VIIM, Louvain, 1959, p. 198 ff.

62Istoria Ruminiei. Bucharest, I960, p. 676 ff.?S. Morintz, "Nekotorie voprosy sarmatskogo naselenia v Moldavie i Muntenii v svyazi s fokshanskim pogrebeniem,"

Dacia, Vol. NS III, Bucharest, 1959, p. 451 ff. 63E.R. Rikman, "Raskopki u s. Budeshty," Materialy i Issledovania po Arkheol

lugo-Zapada SSSR i Rumynskoi Narodnoi Resp. Kishinev, I960, p. 197 ff.?Idem, Sovetskaya Archeologiya, Vol. 1958-1, p. 187 ff.? G.B. Fedorov, "Naselenie prutsko dnestrovskogo mezhdurechia v I tysiacheletii n.e.," Materialy i Issledovania po Arkheol. SSSR, No. 89, I960, pp. 57 ff., 62 ff., 86 ff.?N. Zaharia, "Mormintul sarmatic de la Mitoc," Materiale si Cercetari Arheologice, Vol. VI, Bucharest, 195S>, p. 20 ff.?Studii si Cercetari de Istorie Vecbe, Vol. Ill, Bucharest, 1952, p. 107.




No Sarmatian barrow-graves, similar to those of the steppeland, appear in this area, most Sarmatian burials being found in cemeteries of the local Daco-Getian (in Moldavia), and the "Chernyakhov" i.e. Slavic population (in Bessarabia). This testifies to close co-existence of the Sarmatians and the local population, which in time led to their

complete assimilation with the natives.

Many grave-goods in Sarmatian burials, and especially the pottery which was usually in the local style, do not differ at all from those found in the graves of the native population. Sarmatian graves, how

ever, are distinguished by a different burial ritual and a few specifical ly Sarmatian objects such as bronze mirrors. They also often yield

weapons which are not found in the other graves, and this points to the dominant position of the Sarmatians.

THE SARMATIAN ANTAE

Bronze mirrors bearing tamga signs (PI. I) and the stone slab from Tetcani are important in any attempt to identify the Bessarabian Moldavian group of Sarmatians and establish their origins. These

objects indicate that this group of Sarmatians constituted one of the west Alanic tribes, the Aorsi-Asi-Yasi, who previously dwelt on the

steppe just outside the Bosporan Kingdom. The name "Alania" used in Byzantine sources to designate the

country around the river Pruth corroborates this theory as do the

topographical names in the area. Among these names the root "yas" is found several times (cf. the town of Iasi, the capital of Moldavia) (% 1).

Furthermore, this group of the Alans-Yasi may be identified with the Antae who, according to Jordanes,64 lived in the same area in the fourth century in which were found the Sarmatian remains described above.

Jordanes mentions that "the Venedi, although of one stock, took on three names, i.e. Venedi, Antae and Scalvines," but this in no way invalidates the identification of the Antae with the Alans-Asi. It is difficult to imagine that changes in the name of the "populous nation" of the Venedi, who "inhabit a great land stretching from the sources of the river Viskla (Vistula)" southwards to the Dniester and the

Dnieper, could have taken place otherwise than by a change of the

ruling class or as a result of divisions or changes within it. The Sarma

64 M. Plezia, Greckie i lacinskie zrodla do najstarszych dziejoiv Slowian. Part I. Poznan-Cracow, 1952, p. 57 ff.




tian Alans-Asi composed the ruling class in this area, but likewise in the regions further to the west, which will be discussed below.

The name "Antae" is of Sarmatian origin.65 It first occurs, as already mentioned, in Chinese historical sources of the second century B.C. in

the form "An'ts'ai" to designate a leading Sarmatian tribe of the time inhabiting the Transvolgan steppes, and known to ancient Greek

authors under the name of "Aorsi." In the second century A.D., the

Antae were already living on the steppe about the Sea of Azov and

their name is mentioned on contemporary slabs within the bounds of the Bosporan Kingdom. From there they moved further to the west

and, according to the evidence of Jordanes, in the fourth century A.D.

they were living in Moldavia and Bessarabia, within the area in which the Sarmatian remains mentioned previously were found.

The north-western boundaries of the Antae probably stretched further than the distribution of their graves and cemeteries as known to us today. Thus a stone-slab with engravings of tamga signs (PL I) was found further to the north-west, at Zazdrosc near Trembowla.66

Topographic names of Alanic origin noted by Kucharski67 appear outside the area, mainly in western Podolia but also further to the west and the north. Kucharski points out that the names of several ancient fortified places north-west of the Bessarabian center (fig. 1) are of Alanic origin, as for instance the Bessarabian Hotin on the

Dniester, Chocin near Kahisz, Chocimierz near Thimacz, to which

may be added Chotyniec near Radymno north of Przemysl,68 Chocin near Rowne and Chotyn south of Dubno both in the western part of

Volhynia. Kucharski includes here the name of Worochta near Nad

worna, and he considers that at least some of the Huculs (Hutsuls) are probably descended from the Alans. The Huculs are an Ukrainian tribe inhabiting the north-eastern slopes of the Carpathians close to the pre-war Polish-Romanian frontier. The anthropological links between the population of the Trans-Dnieper Ukraine and the Huculs have often been noted;69 they probably go back to the Migration Period. The same applies to some elements of Hucul material culture which shows similarities to that of East Ukraine.

It is interesting to note that the northern limits of the Bucovina

65 See footnote 28. 66 W. Antoniewicz, "2elazne oszczepy inkrustowane z Kamienicy w pow. jaroslaw

skim," Przeglad Archeologiczny, Vol. 1-3/4, Poznan, 1919, p. 105, fig. 10.? B. Ja nusz, Zabytki przedhistoryczne Galicyi Wschodniej. Lwow, 1918, p. 253.?E.I. Solo monik, op. cit., note 40, p. 70, f., fig. 23.

67 E. Kucharski, "^ywiol alanski (jaski) w Karpatach Wschodnich," Drugi Zjazd Sprawozdawczo-Naukowy poswiqcony Karpatom polskim w Krakowie. Warsaw, 1938.

68 G. Lenczyk, "Na sladach miejsc umocnionych," Z Otchlani Wiekow, Vol. XXVII, Wroclaw-Poznan, 1961, p. 109.

69 J. Czekanowski, "Les Alains et les reliquats karpathiques des migrations," Rocz

nik Orientalistyczny, Vol. XVII, Cracow, 1953, p. 374 ff.




dialect of Ukrainian, as laid down by Dejna,70 reach as far as a line drawn between the towns Halicz, Buczacz and Husiatyn; the same line marks the northernmost limit of the style of folk embroidery popularly known as "Turkish." Czekanowski71 attributes the existence of the limit of the "Turkish" style in embroidery to the short-lived frontier between Poland and Turkey as established at the Treaty of Buczacz (A.D. 1672). However, the origin of this demarcation line is undoubtedly much older. It is almost identical with the centuries old eastern frontier of the Polish province of "Red Ruthenia" (Woje wodztwo Ruskie), and together with the limits of the Bucovina dialect, marks roughly the extent of the rule of the Bessarabian-Moldavian Alans-Antae (fig. 1).

It appears from Jordanes' account that the Antae were for a time

subject to the Ostrogoths.72 Archaeological evidence confirms this: it showns in the relevant group of Sarmatian remains, and that of the local Burial Fields culture, a number of elements best accounted for by a close contact with the Goths. When the Ostrogoth Kingdom was smashed by the Huns in 375, and with the death of Emanaric, king of the Ostrogoths, the Antae wanted to free themselves of their Ostro

gothic masters. But the son and successor of Emanaric, Vimthorius, was still strong enough to suppress the rebels. He murdered the captured king of the Antae, Boza, together with his sons and seventy tribal chieftains under his command. This number shows that the Antae were a populous nation.

THE SLAVIC ANTAE

According to historical sources, in the sixth century A.D. the rule of the Antae extended from the Dniester to the Dnieper and beyond. In the fifth century, they had presumably thrown off the Ostrogoth supremacy and retaken possession of their land, absorbing at the same

time, most probably, those of the Ostrogoths who did not retreat to

the north or move on to the west. At the same time the center of the

Antae kingdom must have shifted eastwards to the river Dnieper. In the Kanev district there appears a large concentration of remains ascribed to the Antae, which points to the existence of such a center.73

70 K. Dejma, "Gwary maloruskie na zachod od Zbrucza," Sprawozdania PAX], Vol.

XLVI1J, Cracow, 1947, p. 217 ff., map p. 221. 71

J. Czekanowski, Polska-Slowianszczyzna. Perspektywy antropologiczne. Warsaw, 1948, p. 319, and also p. 328.

72 G. Vernadsky, "Goten und Anten in Siidrussland," Suddeutsche Porschungen, Vol. III-2, Miinchen, 1938.

73B.A. Rybakov, "Drevnie Rusy," Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, Vol. XVII, 1953, p. 50 ff., map fig. 15.?J. Werner, "Slawische Biigelfibeln des 7. Jahrhunderts," Reinecke Festschrift. Mainz, 1950, p. 150 ff.




From Jordanes' account it does not appear that the Antae, Le. the

ruling class of Sarmatian-Alanic descent, were completely Slavicized

by the fourth century: they probably were by the sixth century, although

retaining many Sarmatian traditions. Among these traditions, which concern us most here, are the tamgas and the beliefs associated with

them, which were largely taken over also by the conquered Slavic

population. The tamgas appear on many silver objects (PI. I, bottom), mainly

on belt buckles, attributed to the Antae and dated at the fifth to seventh

centuries, although some authors tend to limit them to the seventh

century alone.74 These objects usually form part of hoards consisting of a number of valuable pieces of silverware buried in the ground at

times of danger, which the owners failed to retrieve. These hoards, the largest and most important of which was found at Martynivka in the district of Kanev,75 undoubtedly belonged to princes or rulers of the Antae. The fact that all of them were buried at more or less the same time, around the beginning of the seventh century, suggests that they were hidden in an attempt to save them from the conquer

ing Avars. This coincides with the last mention of the name "Antae" in historical sources.

THE TAMGAS OF THE ANTAE

The tamga signs on the objects found in the silver hoards are the same as the older ones of the third and fourth centuries (PI. I, bottom).

They continue an old Sarmatian tradition,76 but some of them exhibit certain stylistic changes. There is sometimes a tendency to develop tamgas into decorative designs with floral or animal motifs. Hie geographical distribution of late tamgas (of the fifth to seventh

centuries) (fig. 7) points to their derivation from a single center and to their connection with the Antae. Apart from the concentration around

Kanev and the neighboring district of Poltava where most of the silver hoards were buried, tamgas appear in several places further north, but are clearly of a later date than those found around the Dnieper. We have them in one of the seventh century hoards in the vicinity of

Kaluga77 and in a cemetery dating from the seventh and eight centuries at Zaria, south-east of Riazan.78 These finds were possibly left by the Antae who retreated to the north under pressure from the Avars.

74 J. Werner, as above.

75N, Fettich, "Archaologische Studien zur Geshichte der Spathunnischen Metall kunst," Archaeologica Hungarica, Vol. XXXI, 1951, P- HO ff.?B.A. Rybakov, op. tit., note 73, figs 17-20.

76 B.A. Rybakov, as above, fig. 25. 77 B.A. Rybakov, as above, fig. 15. 78

M.F.Zhiganov, "K istorii mordovskikh piemen v kontse I tysyacheletia n.e." Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, Vol. 1961-4, p. 158 ff., fig. 6:7-9.




Fig. 7. Distribution of tamga signs of the 5-7th centuries A.D. in Eastern Europe, and of the 7th century in Central Europe.

Black points: Sites in which objects were found with tamga signs. Squares: Graves of Hunnic governors; Nowa Wies, district of Legnica;

Lugi, district of Gora; J?drzychowice (Hochricht), district of Olawa; Oszczywilk, district of Kalisz; Przem^czany, district of Miechow; Ja kuszowice, district of Pinczow; Straze in Slovakia.

Broken line: The territory ruled by the Antae, according to F. Dvor nik, footnote 10.

Shaded area: "White Serbian'' territory after F. Dvornik, as above.

There are also tamgas of this period west of the Kanev area. At least one of the objects of the sixth century hoard found at Zalesie near

Czortkow in West Podolia,79 i.e. at the western extremity of the ter

ritory of the Ukrainian Antae, bears tamga signs. Tamgas were also found on the other side of the Carpathians80 (PL I, bottom) stretching in a line across the Hungarian Plain from the upper Tisa up to Slavonia

(fig. 7). They are certainly pre-Avar in origin and can probably be traced back to a group of Slavic Antae who crossed the Carpathians, retreating before the Avars from the middle Dniester. Such, no doubt, is also the derivation of objects bearing tamga signs which were found on the Serbo-Bulgarian borders.81 The designs on all these tend to be

developed into decorative motifs; this tendency is particularly marked in the case of buckles from Cadjavica in Slavonia. The lack of tamgas of a later date shows that their influence was short-lived.

N. Fettich, op. tit., note 75, p. 109 ff., pi. VIII:2. SON. Fettich, as above, pi. X, XII, XXII.?D. Csallany, op. tit., note 44 pi.

CXCVIIL5. 81

J. Kovacevic, Varvarska kolonizacija juznoslovensk'ih oblasti. Novi Sad, I960, figs 4, 11.




THE SARMATIANS IN POLAND The problem of the Sarmatians and their role in Poland proper

has not been dealt with so far although many authors have referred to

their presence there. Czekanowski82 notes that in the population of a

number of places in the Lesko district there are anthropological elements similar to those found in the Trans-Dnieper Ukraine and the Caucasus.

He attributes them to the Alans and says that although the evidence is not sufficient for an accurate dating of their arrival in the Carpathian region, they must have appeared there somewhere about the tenth

century, at the time of the migration of the Pechenegs. The problem of White Croatia, which will be dealt with later, is also bound up with the Sarmatians.

The earliest mention of the presence of Sarmatians in Poland is

found in the fifth century Langobardian chronicle (Origo Gentis

Langobardorum). In describing the travel of the Langobards from their

original home on the lower Elbe to Lower Austria, it says that they were forced to fight their way through the "Anthaib," that is the land of the Antae. This mention has been variously interpreted. It seems,

however, that the most likely interpretation is that given by Dvornik.83 He extends Antae territories so as to include Silesia and Lesser Poland,

through which the Langobards passed on their way southwards towards Vienna. On Dvornik's map the southern part of Greater Poland is also shown as being under the rule of the Antae (fig. 3 & 7). Archaeology provides evidence in support of Dvorniks views on the western limits of Antian rule. Iron spear-heads bearing typically Sarmatian tamgas in laid in silver (P1.I) appear within the same limits.84 It is interesting to note that most of the spear-heads are found along the northern border of the area attributed by Dvornik to the Antae (fig. 3). The

spear-heads themselves are not of the Sarmatian type but peculiar to the Proto-Slavic Przeworsk culture, and date from the third and fourth centuries A.D.

Looking at the map of the distribution of all the "Sarmatian" tamgas

(fig. 3), one cannot doubt that the Polish tamgas originated by the Black Sea. This was noted by Antoniewicz,85 and later by Kostrzewski86 and others. However, these writers all attribute the appearance of

tagmas in Poland to a Gothic invasion coming from the south-east, or to the influence of the Pontic Gothic culture.

82 J. Czekanowski, op. cit., note 69, p. 377 ff.

83 F. Dvornik, op. note 10 (1949), p. 284 ff., map p. 278. 84 A. Nadolski, "Kilka uwag o inkrustowanych grotach oszczepow z poznego okresu

rzymskiego," Slavia Antiqua, Vol. II, Poznan, 1949-1950, p. 220 ff., map. fig. 236 (p. 236).

85 W. Antoniewicz, op. eft., note 66, p. 99 ff. 86

J. Kostrzewski, Pismo obrazkowe, znaki wlasnosci czy symbole religijne?," Prze

glad Archeologiczny, Vol. 1-2, Poznan 1921, p. 127 ff.




Chronological considerations and, even more important, the fact that the Goths never adopted the tamgas, invalidate this interpretation. As

already stated, only those Sarmatian tribes which, in the first and third centuries A.D., lived closest to the Bosporan Kingdom adopted tamga signs from the Bosporan Greeks. These tribes were the Western

Alans, i.e. the Aorsi, the Antae and the Siraces of the Kuban valley. With only one of these tribes can we associate th;e appearance of

tamgas in Poland and the Langobard Chronicle singles out the Antae. We may presume that they moved west from Bessarabia, which may have had some connection with Ostrogoth conquests.

GREY POTTERY

Tamgas are not the only evidence of the presence of the Antae in Poland proper, which is corroborated by the discovery of "grey" pottery, a wheel-made ware, which was the product of special potteries working for export. Several of these centers of industry with a perfected type of kiln have been discovered in different parts of southern Poland,

especially around Cracow (Igotomia, Tropiszow, etc.). This type of pottery appeared in Poland around the middle of the

third century A.D., although, possibly, it was already produced a little earlier.87 It continued to be made throughout the fourth and fifth centuries and maybe also in the sixth.88

Hensel89 points out that in the Roman period Poland was divided into two regions?northern and southern. "Grey" pottery was produced only in southern Poland;90 it is not found north of the river Notec, nor in the basin of the middle Vistula except for the province of

Kuyavia. Its distribution corresponds almost exactly with that of the

tamga spear-heads and with the limits of Antian rule in Poland as

defined by Dvornik (fig. 3). Like the tamgas, this pottery has south eastern connections. It must have been introduced into Poland by experienced professional potters who came from the Pontic area.91

87 L. Gajewski, "Badania nad organizacja. produkcji pracowni garncarskich z okresu

rzymskiego w Igolomii," Archeologia Polski, Vol. Ill, 1959, P- 121. 88 S. Buratynski, "Artisan's Centres of Ceramic Production from the I Half of the

First Millennium A.D. in Little Poland," Palaeologia, Vol. V, Osaka, 1957, p. 218. 89 W. Hensel, "Les plus anciens organismes d'etat en terres polonaises," Slavia

Antiqua, Vol. VIII, Poznan, 1961, p. 47 f. 90 W. Antoriiewicz, "Slady kultury gotyckiej na ziemiach slowianskich do najaz

dow Hunow," Prohny Zeszyt Slownika Starozytnosci Slowianskich. Warsaw, 1934, p. 5.?T! Reyman, "Problem ceramiki siwej na kole toczonej na tie odkryc w gornym dorzeczu Wisly," Wiadomosci Archeologiczne, Vol. XIV, 1936, p. 171 ff.?J. Kmie

cinski, "Osadnictwo slowianskie i ceramtka 'siwa' na terenie Kujaw i Ziemi Leczyc kiej," Dawna Kultura, Vol. II, 1955, p. 16 ff., map.

91L. Gajewski, op. cit., note 87, p. 105, and the literature quoted there.




It is usually thought that the Polish "grey" ware derived from the "Gothic" pottery of the Chernyakhov culture in the Ukraine, but

chronological considerations again invalidate this explanation. "Grey" ware appeared in Poland about the same time that the Chernyakhov culture was coming into being in the Ukraine. It must have been introduced into Poland from a center in North Moldavia or Bessarabia,

where this type of pottery had been known and produced for a long time.92 There, among the products of the Chernyakhov culture (develop ed on an earlier Daco-Getian substratum) are found the nearest analogies to the Polish "grey ware." There are similarities in the shapes of vessels and in their technical characteristics as well as in the construction of the perfected pottery kilns.

From the same center, which was dominated politically by the

Sarmato-Alanic Antae, spread Oriental religious currents which found

expression in such objects as the bronze figurines of Isis and Horus and

phalli found in the neighborhood of Kalisz, Ostrow Wielkopolski and Gniezno93 in Western Poland. Tamgas provide further evidence of die existence of these religious currents. The appearance at the same time

in Poland of numerous Pontic (Olbian) imports, in particular Pontic

tendril brooches, is evidence of contacts with the south-east. These contacts and influences have often been emphasized94 but erroneously connected with the Goths or the Gepidae.

Neither the introduction of a new type of wheel-made pottery nor

any of the other facts mentioned above implies that a change in the

population of the country took place at the turn of the second and

third, or in the fourth century A.D. "Grey ware" appears in settlements and graves of the Przeworsk culture which continued to develop as

before. The new pottery, of a quality superior to the ordinary home-made ware, partly replaced the old variety but never ousted it

completely. As already mentioned, spear-heads with tamga signs are

weapons typical of the Przeworsk culture.

PRINCELY GRAVES

A new type of pottery, produced in special industrial centers, the

spread of the new religious ideas, the sudden appearance of Pontic

imports unknown in the preious period?these were not the outcome

92 R. Jamka, "Geramika siwa w swietle zespolow grobowych odkrytych na obszarze Polski srodkowej, zachodniej i pohidniowo-zachodniej," Wiadomosci Archeologiczne, Vol. XVI, 1939-1948, p. 206 ff.

93 K. Majewski, Importy tzymskie w Polsce. Warsaw-Wroclaw, I960, p. 44 ff.? J. Wielowiejski, "Wymiana handlowa miedzy pohidniowa. Polska. a Imperium rzym skim," Archeologia, Vol. VII, Warsaw, 1956, p. 89.

94 W. Antoniewicz, "Zagadnienie Gotow i Gepidow na ziemiach polskich w okresie rzymskim/' Przeglad Zacbodm, Vol. VIMI, Poznan, 1951, p. 26 ff.




of spontaneous development. They must have been the result of im

portant political changes which were accompanied by considerable

disturbances. The many hoards of coins buried in Poland during the first half of the third century A.D., at the beginning of the period when these changes took place, bear witness to this.85

Hensel,96 in his discussion of the division of Poland according to

the occurrence or absence of the "grey ware" and other relics already mentioned, notes that this division does not correspond with the frontiers of contemporary cultures, or with the distribution of Roman

imports. He explains this fact by assuming that the distribution of

"grey ware" corresponded with a consolidated political organism pre

sumably centering on southern Poland. This theory is supported by the occurrence in southern Poland, within the "grey ware" territory, of

contemporary richly furnished princely graves (fig.3). Grave-goods from these burials connect them with the Pontic area and likewise point to the south-east as containing the source of these changes. We can,

therefore, conclude that the changes which took place during the

first half of the third century A.D. were a consequence of a migration or conquest by a people of Pontic origin who took possession of the

greater part of Poland and created there one, or more, political units.

Historical, chronological and archaeological evidence, all favor the

assumption that these people were the Sarmatian Antae. The princely graves at Zakrzow (Sackrau) near Wroclaw97 and at

Zerniki Wielkie (Gross Siirding) nearby98 from the fourth c. A.D., belong to this Alano-Sarmatian wave (fig. 3), as does a similarly dated burial

mound at Glfdzianowek near Eeczyca excavated by Jazdzewski.99 Ac

cording to a local legend, it was a grave of a "ksi%dz" (priest) which in Old Polish had the same meaning as the modern "ksi$Z?," a prince or duke. It was robbed in ancient times, but this together with the fact that the grave was under a mound, proves the high social standing of the person buried there. Sherds of "grey ware" found under the mound show connection with the graves in Silesia mentioned above. The hoard

found at Zagorzyn near Kalisz,100 which included gold and silver coins

and ornaments, belonged to the same group of relics.

All these graves contained objects of Pontic character; in archaeol

ogical literature they have been regarded as "Gothic" or sometimes

as "Gepidic" burials, but this does not seem justified. The Goths,

95 K. Majewski, op. cit., note 93, p. 31 f. ?? W. Hensel, o/>. <& note 89, p. 47. 97 K. Majewski, op. cit., note 93, p. 18 ff. 98 Altschlesische Blatter, Vol. VI, 1931, p. 50 f. ??K. Jazdzewski, Z OtcbUm Wiekow, Vol. XVII, 1948, p. 42 ff. 100 E. I^tersen, "Ein neuer Schatzfund der Volkerwanderungszeit im Breslauer

Museum," Scblesiens Vorzeit in Bild und Scbrift, Vol. X, 1933.




having reached the Pontic area at the beginning of the third century A.D., gradually assimilated the highly developed Sarmato-Bosporan culture and art and to some extent transformed them by infusing them with a number of new elements.101 These, however, were likewise

accepted and adopted by other peoples living in the Pontic area at

that time. Thus "Gothic" culture was common to all the peoples who lived in the Ukraine in the late third and in the fouth centuries. The culture was later carried westwards by the Goths in their retreat before the advancing Huns and also by the Alans who were in the same posi tion.102 These were the Western Alans, whereas the next Sarmatian wave consisted of Eastern Alans. The latter formed part of the Hunnic

army which entered Central Europe at the beginning of the fifth century. In the Hunnic train, besides the Eastern Alans, were also some Gothic detachments and a few smaller Germanic tribes which did not succeed in retreating from the Ukraine before the arrival of the Huns and were overrun by them. Under these circumstances it is exceedingly difficult to distinguish Alanic and Gothic relics in those territories where, on historical evidence, both these peoples are known to have lived for some time.

There is no historical data testifying to the presence of the Goths in the southern part of Poland. The distribution of the so-called "Gothic" remains corresponds with the distribution of the "grey ware"

(fig. 3) and of spear-heads with Sarmatian tamgas, within the area which I>vornik regards as being occupied by the Antae in the third and fourth centuries. These facts provide us with sufficient evidence for considering the contemporary "Gothic" remains and the princely graves in southern Poland as relics of the Antae, or possibly some other Sarmato-Alanic tribe in the area.

According to certain German scholars, the graves at Zakrzow and their related finds are attributable to the Germanic Vandals. This, however, is inconsistent with the Sarmato-Pontic element well distin

guishable in these remains, and also with the circumstance that at that time the southern part of Poland was being strongly influenced by the Pontic civilization, although old connections with provincial Roman culture were still maintained to some extent.

It should be noted that the group of remains discussed above were not the earliest Sarmatian relics north of the Carpathians. A Sarma tian cemetery was recently investigated at Ostrivets near Horodenka

(fig. 1), the most north-westerly Sarmatian cemetery so-far known,

101L. Schmidt, Geschichte der deutschen Stdmme. Vol. I, Berlin, 1910, p. 469 ff. 102 E. Beninger, op. cit., note 44.?M. Rostovtsev, op. cit., note 29, p. 186 ff.?E.

Thurlow Leeds, "Visigoth or Vandal?," Atchaeologia, Vol. XCIV, London, 1951, p. 210 ff.




dated to the first century A.D. by M. Smishko,103 who sees in it a trace of the presence of the Iazyges. However, most gravegoods were typical of the second century which would mean that the cemetery should be attributed to the Roxolani.

HUNNIC INFLUENCE

Another problem is presented by several richly equipped "princely" graves of more recent date (fig. 7) in the same part of southern Poland.

They are distinguished by their particular Hunnic character. The grave at J^drzychowice (Hockricht) near Otawa,104 apart from ornaments and gold objects contains a typically Hunnic bronze cauldron. Excava tion of another grave, at Jakuszowice near Pinczow,105 uncovered a

large number of golden ornaments and a golden bow of Hunnic type. Finally, a human skull found in a grave at Przem^czany near Mie chow106 is deformed in a manner characteristic of the Huns and of the Eastern Alans.

We may conclude from this that southern Poland was dominated by the Huns, probably at the time of Attila in the first half of the fifth century. Attila's empire embraced almost the whole of Central Europe stretching nearly as far as the Rhine in the west and the Baltic in the north.107 In the west, a record of struggles with the Huns survives in Old Germanic sagas and legends.108 A telling reminder of the Huns is the popular name "Hiinenbetten" i.e. the "lair of the Huns," given to large megalithic structures in Mecklenburg and in the areas further to the west. Its derivation is analogous to that of "Swedish ramparts" or "Tartar graves" in Poland, and similar names in other countries associat ed with events which have left a strong imprint on the popular imagina tion.

There are no such traditions of invasion by the Huns in Poland, from which we may infer that their conquest was not accompanied by long and bitter struggles. It must, however, have caused local skirmishes in various parts of the country and this seems to be the best explana tion of the destruction of the great pottery center in the Cracow area.

103 M. Smishko, op. cit., note 36, p. 67 ff. 104 E. Krause, "Der Fund von Hdckricht, Kreis Ohlau," Schlesiens Vorzeit in Bild

mid Schrift, Vol. NF 3, 1904, p. 46 ff.?R. Jamka, Slqsk w zaraniu dziejow w swietle wykopalisk. Wrodaw-Warsaw, 1948, p. 60, fig. 23.

105 N. Aberg, "Zur Beleuchtung des gotischen Kultureinschlags in Mitteleuropa und Skandinavien," Pornvdnnen, Vol. 31, 1936, p. 264 ff., pi. I-IV.?J. Kostrzewski, op. cit., note 55, p. 353 f.

106 J. Kostrzewski, as above, p. 222.

107 E.A. Thompson, A History of Attila and the Huns. Oxford, 1948, pp. 76, 177. 108 Qt Labuda, Zrodla, sagi i legendy do najdawniejszych dziejow polskich. Warsaw,

I960, p. 91 ff.




Nevertheless, the "grey ware" continued to be in use throughout the

fifth century, so there can be no question of a wholesale destruction of the country or the extermination of its population.

The Hunnic conquest put an end to domination by the Antae in southern Poland. Hunnic graves, though close in age to Alanic graves containing "Gothic" remains, differ greatly from them in other respects. But the fact that the objects found in them are executed in the Hunnic

style (related to and derived from the Sarmato-Bosporan-Gothic style) does not necessarily mean that the individuals buried in them are, eth

nically, Huns. G. Laszlo,109 in his analysis of the finds from Jakuszo wice in Poland, draws attention to a number of characteristics alien to

the Huns, especially in the burial ritual. He suggests that it is the

grave of a Hunnic governor of Sarmatian or Gothic origin. His rank is confirmed by the Hunnic golden bow. The rule of Attila and the administration of his enormous kingdom, which embraced a vast

number of differing peoples and tribes, depended on governors drawn from among the Huns but mainly from the ranks (princes) of the

subjected peoples, the East Alans, Ostrogoths, etc.,110 and undoubtedly also the Slavs. The latter is suggested by Slavic words, e.g. "strava,"

meaning a meal, used in the description of funeral feasts at Attila's funeral. While still on the Trans-Volgan steppes, the East Alans were

associated with the Huns and were probobly subject to them politically. In Central Europe, they were among the most loyal of Attila's troops and, after his death, fought on the side of his sons against the Gepidae and other Germanic peoples, until the latter finally put an end to the rule of the Huns in Central Europe.

The content of the graves discovered in southern Poland, and even the deformed skull from Przemeczany, may be attributed to Hunnic or East Alanic?but far less probably to Ostrogothic?governors. The

practice of cramping the heads of young children, and so deforming the skull in a particular way, was very common among the East Alans in their ancient homeland on the Volga (maps fig. 3 and 9). Thus it seems reasonable to assume that these graves belonged to Attila's East

Alanic governors. The much discussed problem of White Croatians and the cognate problem of White Serbia also have a bearing on the

question of the origin of these individuals. Here again we find evidence to support the view that they were members of an Alanic, and not an

Ostrogothic, tribe.

109 G. Laszlo, "The Significance of the Hun Golden Bow," Acta Arcbaeologica Acad. Scient. Hungaricae, Vol. I, Budapest, 1951, p. 96.

110 E.A. Thompson, op. cit., note 107, p. 163 ff.




WHITE CROATIA AND WHITE SERBIA

Tenth century historical sources mention a tribe called the "White" Croats as living in north-east Bohemia, but also further east, in the

Carpathian foothills in the region on the upper Dniester. Furthermore,

according to an account by the Byzantine emperor, Constantine Porphyro genitus (912-925), there was in his time a people living on the upper Vistula known by the name of Croats (Khorvats).111

This account conflicts with those from other contemporary sources which name only the Vistulanians as the inhabitants of the area. In an

attempt to explain these differences, the well-known Czech scholar, Niederle, put forward the hypothesis that the Czech and East Carpathian Croats were a remnant of a large group of Croats which originally in habited an area from the Sudetes and the upper Vistula in the west, and the upper Dniester in the east. This group eventually split up as a result of the southward movement of the central tribes of the group. In this manner, Yugoslav Croatia came into being. This general theory is widely accepted,112 although many authorities question the

presence of the Croats in Lesser Poland.113 Who were these Croats and where did they come from? Neither

this question nor the problem of the etymology of the name "Croatia" itself have yet been solved. There is an extensive literature on the

subject and likewise on the subject of the name and origin of the Serbs.

Opinion is divided between a Slavic and an Iranian etymology of the name "Khorvat-Croat." Lehr-Sptawinski114 favors the interpreta tion that "Khorvat" (Croat) is a native Slavic name derived from an extinct Proto-Slavic word-root chrv, probably meaning "arms" or

"weapons." Khrv, khvat, that is "a well armed man," "a warrior," became in time an ethnic name.

Much more convincing are the arguments for an Iranian origin of the name "Croat-Khorvat" and, therefore, of the Iranian origin of the

people who first bore it.115 This certainly applies also to the name

"Serb," which cannot have a Slavic derivation, and to the people who

brought this name to Central Europe. Many scholars favor the theory that both names have an Iranian origin.116

The Serbs, "Serboi," are first mentioned by Pliny the Elder in the

111 The literature on these topics has been discussed by: G. Labuda, Pierwsze pan stwo siowianskie. Panstwo Samona. Poznan, 1949, p. 194 ff.

112 T. Lehr-Splawinski, "Zagadnienie Chorwatow nadwislanskich," Pamietnik Slo wianski, Vol. II, 1951, p. 17-32.?Idem, Rozprawy i szkice z dziejow kultury Slowian.

Warsaw, 1954, pp. 99-111. 113

J. Widajewicz, Panstwo Wislan. Biblioteka Studium Slowianskiego U.J., Cracow, 1947.

114 T. Lehr-Splawinski, op. cit., note 112, p. 109. 11J> F. Dvornik, op. cit., note 10, p. 268 ff. 116 K. Moszynski, op. cit., note 13, p. 148.




first century A.D., and a hundred years later by Ptolemy. Both writers name them together with a number of Sarmatian Alanic tribes and locate them somewhere north-east of the Sea of Azov. That the Alanic Croats probably lived near-by is suggested by stone slabs found on the lower Don with the words "Choroatos" and "Chorouatos" engraved on them. The words are clearly a form of the name "Croat-Khorvat." From their geographical position it appears that the Serbs and the Croats living around the Don, or perhaps the Volga, were East Alanic tribes.117

It may be presumed that at the very end of the fourth century and

beginning of the fifth, both these tribes moved west with the Huns to whom they must have been politically subject. Probably they were then stationed as garrisons to enforce the rule of the Huns over conquer ed populations in those areas where we later come across their names, the Croats in northern Bohemia, the Serboi-Serbs further to the north

west, in Saxony. The presence of Serbs in Saxony at the beginning of the fifth century is well attested by Vibius Sequester118 who says that "the Elbe divided the Suevi from the Serbs." Both Alanic tribes were called "White," this word being the equivalent of the term "western" in the vocabulary of several peoples of the steppe. With the fall of the Hunnic empire, these tribes became independent

and ruled the countries in their charge in their own right. There was

simply no organized power in a position to match and oust them. This is well illustrated by conditions in the neighboring country of

Thuringia which was also part of the Hunnic Empire. After the collapse of the Huns, a strong kingdom appeared there on the stage of history, which reached its summit at the end of the fifth century. In A.D. 531, the Thuringians were beaten by the Franks allied with the Saxons and their country was annexed by the Franks who pushed their eastern frontier up to the river Saale.

According to the scholars who dealt with this period of Thuringias past,119 the beginnings of the Thuringian state are obscure and so are the conditions which brought about its formation. It seems, however, that a proper drawing together of known historical records and archeoi

ogical evidence may lead us to the answer to these questions. The name of Thuringia, the country of Toringi, appears first in

written records at the beginning of the fifth century. Of importance 117

J. Widajewicz, Set home nadlabscy. Biblioteka Studium Slowianskiego U.J., Cracow, 1948, p. 3 f.?This author considers the Serbs of the Don-Volga region to have been a Slavic people, but remarks at the same time that their presence on the Sea of Azov is hard to explain.

118 G. Labuda, Slowiamzczyzna pierwotna. Wybor tekstow. Warsaw, 1954, p. 81.?J. Neustupny, Vorgeschichte der Lausitz. Berlin-Leipzig, 1951, p. 84 ff., 91.

119 G Mildenberger, Mitteldeutschlands Ur- und Fruhgeschichte. Leipzig, 1959, p. 110 ff.




for our study is that P. Vegetius Renatur who first mentioned them, says that the Toringi had "Hunnic horses," evidently East European steppe horses. Significant is also the circumstance that, according to

Apollinarius Sidonius, the Toringi fought in the ranks of Attila's Hun nic army in the famous battle of Chalons in France. These facts seem to indicate that the Toringi were a Hunnic garrison posted in the

country which later retained their name, as was the case with the Serbs in the area east of the Toringi.

The Toringi were probably a splinter of the Goths or of a smaller Germanic tribe, evidently mixed with the Alans, likewise overrun by the Huns in the steppe lands of Eastern Europe, and then compelled to move to Central Europe. There, they served their masters faithfully until their downfall, and later became the sole masters of the country which now bears their name.

Undoubtedly similar was the role and fate of the Alanic Croats and

Serbs, although less apparent in the light of the historical and archaeol

ogical evidence so far available.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

The suggestion that the name of the West-Slavic Croats and Serbs had an East-Alanic origin is supported by the archaeological evidence

from the countries concerned. The works by Beninger120 dealing with the migrations of the Goths, contain very valuable data concerning the subject even if some of his conclusions are obviously faulty. His lists of the relative finds, published thirty years ago, need to be supple

mented by finds which came to light in the meantime.

Beninger distinguishes four successive migrations ("Ziige") of East Teutonic tribes which, beginning in the third century A.D., penetrated into Central Europe. We are only concerned here with archaeological remains of the period around A.D. 400, which are supposed to mark the "third Teutonic migration," attributed to the Visigoths. The pro nounced East Alanic character of these remains led the author to believe

that "the Alans stood in the first line of the Visigothic western migra tion,"121 which he, therefore, described as a "Gothic-Alanic migration."

The remains in question lie in two distinct concentrations in Central

Europe, one in Lower Austria east and north of Vienna, the other in

north-west Bohemia (fig. 8). The latter belonged to the so-called

120 E. Beninger, op. cit., note 44.?Idem, Die Germanenzeit in Niederosterreich.

Vienna, 1934, p. 84 ff.?Idem, Die germanischen Bodenfunde in der Slowakei.

Reichenberg-Leipzig, 1937. Anstalt f. siiddeutsche Heimatsforschung, p. 157 ff.? E. Beninger and H. Freising, Die germanischen Bodenfunde in Mdhren. Reichenberg, 1933, Anstalt fur siiddeutsche Heimatsforschung, p. 96 f.

121 E. Beninger, op. cit., note 44, p. 125.




Fig. 8. Distribution in Central Europe of selected 5th century graves the furniture of which showed marked south-eastern (Pontic) connections. (Graves of the Rositz-Stossen group in Thuringia, of the Vinarice group in Bohemia, and of their related groups in other areas).

Germany: BLschleben, Grossorner-Molmeck, Hedersleben, Leuna, Liitzen, Magdeburg-Neustadt, Oberwerschen, Reppichau, Reuden, Rositz Stossen, Suiza, Trebnitz, Weimar.

Bohemia: Duchcov, Karnyk, Lovosice, Praha-Kobylisy, Podbaba and Vele slavin, Radobin, Tisice, Tousen, Vinarice, Zaluzi-Celakovice, Zvoleneves. Moravia: Mackovice, Polkovice, Raksice, Sedlesovice, Sokolnice, VicernHice,

Znojmo. Slovakia: Komarno, Hul, Levice, Straze (cross in the circle, Hunnic grave). Austria: Baumgarten, Eisenstadt, Carnuntum, Laa a.d. Thaya, Pulkau, Unter

siebenbrunn, Wien-Simmering.

Hungary: Scorna.

Poland: Jedrzychowice, Lugi, Nowa Wie?, Oszczywilk, Przemexzany (see also map fig. 7).




Vinarice group proper to the Migration period.122 Filip123 emphasizes that influences from the Black Sea region are strongly reflected in the cultural evolution of this group.

There is no common agreement as to who were the original owners of the Vinarice remains in Bohemia. Beninger124 suggests the Visigoths, others the Thuringians125 or some other Teutonic tribe.126 However, the character of a large portion of these remains indicates that they

were an East Alanic tribe, or at least that the Alans played a considerable

part. The burial ritual, as shown by several graves, and also cranial

deformation, are definitely Alanic, and so are many grave-goods in

particular weapons and personal ornaments (diadems, brooches). Some of the vessels, handled jugs in particular, were apparently imported into Central Europe from the original East Alanic centre on the lower

Volga, that is over a distance of about 2500 km. Hunnic elements, which appear in a few cases, imply that the East

Alans to whom the remains in question are attributable, arrived as

part of the Hunnic army which at the beginning of the fifth century

conquered most of Central Europe. They were not actually left by the Huns themselves, whose remains have been dealt with by Werner.127 Genuine Hunnic graves, e.g. that from Straze in Slovakia128 (fig. 8), differ considerably from the Bohemian burials. The latter are undoubt

edly those of members of an East Alanic tribe who had been posted by their Hunnic conquerors to serve as a military garrison to secure Hunnic domination over Bohemia. The fact that soon afterwards North

Bohemia, including the area from which came the remains in question, bore the name of White Croatia allows us to assume that the Croats were the relevant Alanic tribe.

Thuringia further west was also conquered by the Huns. Milden

berger129 emphasizes that the Hunnic domination resulted in the ap pearance in Thuringia of Pontic and lower Danubian forms ("Kultur gut"), of cranial deformation and of graves of riders buried with their

122 E. and J. Neustupny, Czechoslovakia. London, 1961. Ancient Peoples and

Places, p. 179. 123

J. Filip, Praveke Ceskoslovensko. Prague, 1948, p. 312 ff., or p. 412 of the French summary.

124 E. Benninger, op. tit., note 44, p. 128 f. 126 E. and J. Neustupny, op. tit. note 122, p. 179. 126 H. Preidel, "Die Abwanderung der Markomanen," Prabistoriscbe Zft, Vol.

XIX, 1928, p. 250 ff. 127

j. Werner, Beitrdge zur Archdologie des Attila-Reiches. Miinchen, 1956.?See also: M. Parducz, Die ethnischen Probleme der Hunnenzeit in Ungarn. Budapest, 1963.

128 J. Neustupny, "Prispevky k dobe stehovani narodu v Karpatske kotline," Obzor

Prehistoricky, Vol. IX, Prague, 1936, p. 11 ff.

129G. Mildenberger, op. tit., note 119, p. 112 ff.




horses or with pieces of horse harness.130 I do not know of any work

devoted to the study of the archaeological traces of the Hunnic garrison in Thuringia.

The impact made on the local culture by south-eastern influences at

the beginning of the fifth century, and its lasting effects imply that the relatively short Hunnic reign was not the sole factor which provoked them. Cranial deformation has been noted there even in a grave dating from the middle of the sixth century, a whole century after the decline of Hunnic power.131 The only conclusion to be drawn from these facts is that the Hunnic garrison remained in the country long after the death of Attila in A.D. 454, and the subsequent collapse of his

empire. Remains of Rositz, Stossen, Teppichau, etc. type must be taken into

account when looking for archaeological evidence of the Hunnic garri son. Their south-eastern connections have been emphasized by several

authors,132 and Beninger133 links them with his alleged West- Gothic

migration; close agreements with the Bohemian Vinarice group have also been pointed out.134 Remains of this type extend north of Thuringia at least up to Magdeburg on the Elbe.135

The group was an alien assemblage in Thuringia, and according to several authors, it owed its appearance to the influx into the country of some alien south-eastern racial elements. This is confirmed by the find

ings of a number of Mongoloid skulls found in these graves.136 Con nections with the Vinarice remains in Bohemia, which as mentioned

previously, are attributable to the Alans, vessels, especially typical Alan handled jugs137 and some other remains suggest that those in Thuringia were likewise archaeological indicators of an East European, Pontic,

people which entered Thuringia in the service of the Huns. According to historical data, we may identify them with the Alanic Serbs east of the Saale, and with the Toringi, a Germanic people mixed with the

Alans, west of that river.

130 H.H. Miiller, "Osteologische Untersuchungen der Pferde von Grossorner-Molmeck vom Ende des 5. Jh.n.Chr.," Wissenschaftlicbe Zft d.M. Luther Universitat, Halle, Vol. 4/5, 1955, p. 661 f.?B. Schmidt, Die spate Volkerwanderungszeit in Mitteldeutsch land. Halle, 1961, p. 82 ff.

131 J. Werner, op. cit., note 127, p. 112.?B. Schmidt, as above, p. 160 ff.

132 E.g.: Mildenberger, op. cit., note 119.?W. Schulz, "Mitteldeutsche Drehschei

bengefasse mit eingeglatteten Mustern in spatrdmischer Zeit," Jahresschrift-Halle, Vol. XVII, 1929, p. 58 ff.?B. Schmidt, op. cit., note 130, p. 173 ff.

*33E. Beninger, op. cit., note 44, p. 125, and note 120 (1934), p. 84 ff. 134 H. Preidel, op. cit., note 126.?E. and J. Neustupny, op. cit., note 122. 135 B. Schmidt, "Ein Graberfeld der spaten Volkerwanderungszeit in Magdeburg

Neustadt," Wissenschaftlicbe Zft d.M. Luther Universitat, Halle, Vol. VIII-4/5, 1959, p. 807 ff.

136 B. Schmidt, op. cit., note 130, p. 161 ff. 137 B. Schmidt, "Die spate Volkerwanderungszeit in Ostthiiringen und das Einzugs

gebiet der Slawen in Mitteldeutschland," Wissenschaftlicbe Zft d.M. Luther Univer sitat, Halle, Vol. III-3/4, 1954, p. 787 ff., pi. VIII:2.




In this context a grave at Liitzen138 should be mentioned since it is of importance for our considerations. Its grave-goods imply that the descendants of the bearers of the Thuringian group mentioned above, extending east of the Saale, survived at least up to the beginning of the eighth century, and into the period in which the country was populat ed by the Slavs then referred to in historical records under their proper name.

In discussing Bohemian and Thuringian remains, we must bear in mind that only a relatively small number of grave-goods are of Alanic or Pontic origin. But we must expect that the further away were the Alans from their original country, as time passed the weaker were their contacts with it, until finally they ceased altogether. The effect of this

development was a gradual replacement of genuine Alanic goods by those available in the countries of their more recent sojourn. It resulted in a progressive obliteration of the eastern character of the culture of the Alanic tribes in the west, which was finally almost indistinguishable, except for a few specific features, from that of the surrounding popula tion. In the area west of the Saale held by the Toringi, there was felt at an early date a strong Frankish influence, which greatly accelerated this development.

The geographical distribution in Central Europe of deformed skulls also favors the assumption that Western, or White Croats and Serbs were of East Alanic origin.

The problem of artificial cranial deformation has for a long time attracted considerable interest. As far as European countries are concern

ed, it has recently been dealt with by Werner.139 Cranial deformation

appears sporadically in the second millennium B.C. in Egypt, Crete and in several others countries. It became particularly widespread around the time of the birth of Christ among Central Asian peoples including the Huns who were then leading a nomadic existence on the

steppes of Central Asia and Siberia. In the third century A.D. the

practice was adopted by the East Alans who were possibly influenced

by the Huns. Nearly 80% of the skulls from the third to the fourth centuries A.D. found in East Alanic cemeteries on the Volga steppes are artificially deformed. The practice was never adopted by West Alanic tribes and deformed skulls are only exceptionally found in their graves.

On Werner's map140 (fig. 9) showing the distribution of deformed

138 N. Niklasson, "Graber der Merowingerzeit in Liitzen, Kr. Merseburg," Jahre schrift-Halle, Vol. XVII, 1929, p. 80.

13? J. Werner, op. cit., note 127, p. 5 ff., pi. 69, 73.

140 The map, fig. 9, after J. Werner (as above) supplemented by O. Klindt-Jensen ("Nomadeneinfluss in der spateren europaischen Eisenzeit." Folk, Vol. I, Copenhagen, 1959, p. 53) has been reproduced here with the relevant finds from Poland (Prze

meczany) and Romania marked on it.




Fig. 9. Distribution of graves with deformed skulls in Europe. After J. Werner, supplemented (see footnote 140).

Black point: Eastern Alanic graves of the 3-4th century A.D. Circles: Graves of the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. Arrow: shows the direction of Hunnic pressure.

skulls in Europe, their original center appears quite clearly as being on the Volga steppe, which the East Alans inhabited in the third and fourth centuries A.D. In the fifth and sixth centuries, the Volga center

declines and the deformed skulls appear not only in various parts of Eastern Europe but also, as a result of the invasion of the Huns and their East Alanic followers, as far as France. Werner attributes to the Huns and the Alans only those skulls which

were found in the Hungarian Plain. The other concentrations found in Central and Western Europe, he attributes to various Germanic tribes. He explains their appearance in these areas by the fact that the custom,

applied among the Huns almost exclusively to members of the ruling classes, was adopted by the aristocracy of some of the Germanic tribes

conquered by them. The practice of cranial deformation disappeared from Central and Western Europe after the death of Attila in 454 and the fall of the Hunnic empire.

This view does not seem fully justified, especially when applied to

the territories of Thuringia and Bohemia. In Thuringia deformed

skulls were found in the graves of the Toringi, to which reference was

made in the preceding Section, but east of the river Saale they probably belonged to the Alanic Serbs who held the country on behalf the Huns and later became its rulers in their own right, as did the Toringi west

of the river. This is suggested by the fact that the country east of the

Saale, and further east including Saxony, in early historical times was

known by the name of "White Serbia," evidently a relic of the Sarmatian




Alans whose tribal name was taken over and retained by the conquered Slavic population. The Slavic Wends, a small remnant of the extensive ancient Slavic people, who inhabit the country of Lusatia in the south-eastern corner of East Germany close to the Bohemian border, still call themselves by the name of "Sorbs."

Far fewer deformed skulls have been found in Bohemia and Werner141 has been unable to suggest an attribution. Here again, it is now

proposed that they be attributed to the East Alanic chieftains who ruled the country for the Huns. They were probably the "White" Croats (Khorvats) whose name appears later to denote the northern

part of Bohemia. The furniture of the respective graves and the burial ritual point to an eastern origin for the persons buried.

SLAVIC WHITE SERBS AND WHITE CROATS

Archaeological evidence implies that the river Saale was an ancient and lasting boundary line between different peoples. In the period of the Hunnic conquest some Germanic tribes lived west of the river,

while east of it were the Slavs. Some German scholars142 are unwilling to admit their presence earlier than in the first half of the seventh

century. Majewski143 however, shows that in the third and fourth

centuries, before the Hunnic conquest, the eastern boundaries of solid Germanic territory were the Elbe and the Saale. Vibius Sequester,144 the author mentioned above, states clearly that, at the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries, the Germanic Suevi only reached as far as the Elbe. Jazdzewski145 has gathered ample evidence to prove that in the sixth century certainly, and probably in the fifth, Slavic tribes extended westwards up to the Saale. Labuda146 thinks that the Slavs

appeared on the middle Elbe as early as the fifth century, and studies

by Neustupny147 of fifth, sixth and seventh century pottery from the area point to similar conclusions.

141J. Werner, op. cit., note 127, p. 17. 142 G. Mildenberger, op. cit., note 119, p. 118 f.?B. Schmidt, op. cit., note 130,

p. 175. 143 K. Majewski, op. cit., note 93, p. 57 f.?Idem, "Obszar Slowianszczyzny za

chodniej w swietle importow rzymskich," Archeologia, Vol. I, Wroclaw, 1947, p. 185 ff.

144 See footnote 118. 145 K. Jazdzewski, "Wzajemny stosunek elementow slowianskich i germanskich w

Europie Srodkowej w czasie od najscia Hunow az do usadowienia si? Awarow nad

srodkowym Dunajem," Prace i Materialy Muzeum Archeol. i Etnograf. w Lodzi, Seria archeologiczna, No. 3, ?6dz, I960, p. 51 ff.

i46G. Labuda, op. cit., note 111, p. 272 f. 147

J. Neustupny, "Prispevek k datovani hradisni keramiky v Polabi," Slavia

Antiqua, Vol. I, Poznan, 1948, p. 397 ff.




The Alanic White Serbs, living among the numerically superior Slavic population, became in time Slavicized retaining, however, their former Alanic tribal name, which was also taken by the population which they had subdued.

It seems that the territory ruled by the "White Serbs" extended a

good deal further eastwards than indicated by Dvornik on his map (fig. 7), and embraced also a larger part of Poland. This becomes evident when one refers to the map prepared by Lewicki148 which shows thirty-six place names on Polish territory derived from the ethnic name of Serbs (fig. 10). These names are most common in Greater

Poland, south of the river Noted Several are found further to the east around the Vistula, and even a few in the south between Cracow and Sandomierz.

148 T. Lewicki, "Litzike Konstantyna Porfirogenety i Biali Serbowie w pdinocnej Polsce," Roczniki Historyczne, Vol. XXVII, 1956, p. 21 ff., map p. 31.

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Fig. 10. Distribution of place-names in Poland derivative from the tribal name of the Serbs (White Serbs). After T. Lewicki, footnote 148.




The southern part of Poland north-east of the Sudetes, but in partic ular the area round Cracow and the upper Vistula, was probably ruled

by the Alanic "White" Croats who, like their brethren, the White Serbs eventually became Slavicized. This is suggested by the name

of "White Croatia" (Khrobatia) often met with in early historical sources and used to denote not only North Bohemia but also that part of the country.149 It was used concurrently with the name "land of the

Vistulanians," evidently the name of the subdued population of the

country. Hunnic graves, or rather those of the Hunnic governors, found there must have belonged to these Croats, probably a branch of the Bohemian White Croats, posted there by the Huns who defeated its former dulers, the Antae, and took possession of the country.

There are many hints in early written sources of Polish history which

sugest that the foregoing explanation is correct. Thus many character istics of "White Serbs" and "White Croats" living on West Slavic

territory, noted by Arab travelers in the middle of the tenth century,

testify to their eastern origin. Ma'sudi draws attention to the funeral rites of the Serbs, comparing them with those of the Hindu (Indians) and the Caucasian Khazars. An important fact confirming their eastern

origin is a tradition of the Yugoslav branch of the Serbs who, as late as the ninth century, referred to an undefined "Eastern Serbia" as their

original homeland.150 That the ruling class among the Serbs has been Slavicized for several centuries need not imply that the homeland of the tradition was Slavic and not Sarmato-Alanic.

According to other Arab accounts, the White Croatian state in south ern Poland was organized in a manner similar to that of the Alans and the Huns, for beside the supreme ruler, the king, it had a viceroy or

"Zhupan." They also report that the White Croatian king, "Svet Malik," drank mare's milk which was a custom unknown to the Proto-Slavs, introduced by invaders from the steppes. Lewicki151 draws attention to the fact that "A-ld-a-jr," the name of the king of the Vistulanians,

whom the author identified with the White Croats,152 transmitted by Ma'sudi, has an equivalent in the Osetian-Alanic language in the

Caucasus, which is a dialect of Sarmatian. It is the word "aeldar," which had the archaic form "aldair" meaning "chieftain" or "king." From this it appears that the name noted by Ma'sudi was not a proper name of the king of the Vistulanians, but a Sarmato-Alanic title.

149 See footnote 111.

150G. Labuda, op. cit., note 111, p. 128 f.

151T. Lewicki, "Panstwo Wislan-Chorwatow w opisie al-Mas'udi'ego," Sprawozda nia PAU, Vol. XLIX, Cracow, 1948, pp. 24-34.

152 T. Lewicki, "Najdawniejsza wzmianka frodlowa o Wislanach," Przeglad Za chodni, Vol. III-VII, 1951, p. 488 ff.




THE CHRONOLOGY OF LINGUISTIC BORROWINGS

We must now verify that the chronology of linguistic borrowings, as established by philological research, does not conflict with the

chronology of Sarmato-Slavic contacts presented in this study. Lehr-Spiawihski153 maintains that up to the end of the third century

A. D., the Proto-Slavic territory embraced a uniform linguistic block with hardly any dialectical differences. Soon afterwards, the linguistic unity of the group was impaired and certain changes which did not embrace the whole, began to take place. But it was only in the sixth and seventh centuries that the Proto-Slavic language ceased to develop as a single entity, and Slavic languages as we know them today began to evolve independently.

According to Moszynski,154 who follows Rozwadowski on this point, the Sarmatian word "bog" (god) became widespread among the Slavs as a result of the expansion of Zoroastrianism. This religion was not known to the Scythians at the time of Herodotus in the fifth century B. C., but it must have been known to those Sarmatian tribes who were within the sphere of influence of ancient Chorasmia. Zoroaster Zarathustra lived and preached there in the sixth century B.C., and it was there that the Books of Avesta were written.155 In the time between the fourth and second centuries B.C., Chorasmia was an important center of civilization in Central Asia.156 It is, therefore, possible that those Sarmatian tribes which, before the end of the second century B.C., moved from the Volga steppes to the steppes of the Ukraine, i.e. the Western Alans (Aorsi), brought Zoroastrianism to Europe in its

original form. It is more likely that the spread of Iranian religious terminology was due to those Sarmatians who, as mentioned earlier,

were strongly influenced by religious ideas which had been developed in the Bosporan Kingdom in the first few centuries after Christ, i.e. the

Western Alans. From the above considerations it follows that the Iranian influences

on the Slavs must have taken place in the period between the 1st

century B.C. and the end of the sixth century A.D. This coincides with the time of the Sarmato-Slavic contacts discussed above.

POLISH COATS OF ARMS

Linguistic traces of the Sarmato-Slavic contacts to which atten tion has been drawn by philologists are not the only evidence of the

presence of the Sarmatians (Alans) on the territory of present Poland. 153 x. Lehr-Spiawinski, op. cit., note 17, p. 262 ff. 154 K. Moszynski, op. cit., note 13, p. 92 f. 155 R.C. Zaehner, op. cit., note 39, pp. 33, 175.?E. Herzfeld, Zoroaster and his

World. Princeton, 1947, Vol. I, p. 30. 156 S.P. Tolstov, Drevnii Khorezm. Moscow, 1948, pp. 33, 84 ff.




Archaeological remains have been discussed above as have place-names connected with the name of the Serbs (fig. 10). There are, however, yet other significant items which must be considered as survivals from the period of the Sarmato-Alanic rule of the country.

The Hunnic conquest in the fifth century A.D. put an end to the rule of the Antae in southern Poland. The Antae had ruled the area for a hundred years at most and did not leave many lasting signs of their presence. It seems, however, that the Hunnic conquest did not

destroy them utterly. Their descendants, mingling with their kindred Croatians who after the invasion assumed the overlordship of the

country, retained their high social standing. It must have been in this

way that the old tradition of Sarmatian tamgas, brought to Poland by the Antae, survived. As engravings on iron javelins they had a

religious and magic character, but this they lost and most probably became first of all property marks and, finally, towards the end of the Middle Ages, assumed a heraldic character.

Many conflicting theories have been put forward on the subject of the origin of Polish coats of arms, none of them very convincing. The

attempt made by Piekosinski,157 repeated more recently by Haydebrand u.d. Lasa,158 to derive nearly all Polish coats of arms from runic signs is misguided, for, at the very most, only a few of them can be ascribed to this source. However, the striking similarity between Polish coats of arms and Sarmatian tamgas and, in the case of some of the oldest of

them, their almost complete identity with the tamgas, has so far gone

entirely unnoticed. It is not the aim of this study to delve deeply into this problem. It

is enough just to examine a few Polish coasts of arms of the twelfth

century and later, selected from a large number of similar ones (PI. II), and to compare them with tamgas of various periods (PL I) to see that the majority, or at least a high proportion of them, are derived from Sarmatian tamgas. Polish coats of arms underwent a number of changes before their final form was established. This is well illustrated by the different drawings of the arms of "Nowina," "Ogonczyk," "Szeliga" etc. (PL II). Even in their final form, through stylized half-moons, horse-shoes and arrows, they clearly betray the original design from which they evolved and their affinity with the tamgas.

It is important to note that armorial designs which appear to derive from Sarmatian tamgas, appear in the areas which yielded ancient

tamgas, that is Poland including Silesia, and the Ukraine, countries

which were under Antian rule or bound up with the traditions of their

157 F. Piekosinski, Heraldyka polska wiekow srednich, Cracow, 1899, p. 19 ff. 158 F.v. Heydebrand und der Lasa, "Die Bedeutung des Hausmarken- und Wappen

wesens fur die schlesische Vorgeschichte und Geschichte," Altschlesien, Vol. 6, 1936, pp. 339-376.




rule. The coats of arms of the Old Russian (Rus) Rurikovich dynasty, the central seat of which was in Kiev, were thus derived.159

There are, however, no such armorial signs in Bohemia and I have

only managed to find one in Moravia. It appears on the coins of king Bretislav I of Moravia, dating from 1034-1039, in a form similar to

that of the Polish arms "Kotwica" (Anchor) (PL II, row 7).160 It is

associated with the cult of St. Clement, the third Pope after the apostles, who according to the Roman Martyrology was sent to Chersonesus in

the Crimea during the persecutions under Trajan, and martyred by being thrown into the sea with an anchor tied round his neck. In

Moravia, the cult of St. Clement was associated with the Slavic rite.161 The prototype of the anchor sign is easily distinguishable among

the Bosporan tamgas of the first to the third centuries A.D. (PL I). We may presume, therefore, that the existing tamga sign was adopted and associated with the cult of St. Clement, martyred as he was in the

Crimea, the country of origin of the tamgas. But neither the Polish armorial bearing "Kotwica" (Anchor), nor any of the other armorial

signs of similar design, have any connection with it.

Finally, as noted by Kucharski,162 a large proportion of the mottos

of Polish coats of arms, such as "Chamiec," "Roch," "Mora," "Doliwa,"

"Jaxa" etc., are of Alanic origin.

OTHER VESTIGES

The original social organization of the Sarmatians was matriarchal, and traces of this were long noted by ancient writers who described their life and customs. They are also noticeable in Sarmatian archaeol

ogical material from the East European steppes. Traces of matriarchal organization, evidently handed down from

their Sarmatian ancestors, are distinguishable in the traditions and customs of the Polish nobility, in particular with regard to rules concern

ing the order of inheritance. Thus the records of the Courts of Law of

pre-partition Poland (mediaeval and later up to the end of the eighteenth century) reveal that land, usually inherited in the male line, was often inherited by daughters in spite of there being male descendants. But

more striking in another, a thoroughly matriarchal usage of which several instances have been recorded. This is the practice of naming a

boy after his maternal uncle instead after his own father; cases are

159 B.A. Rybakov, "Znaki sobstvennosti v kniazhevskom khoziaystve Kievskoi Rusi," Sovetskaya Arkheologiya, Vol. VI, 1940, p. 227 ff.?See also: P.N. Tretiakov, Vostochnoslavianskie plemena. 2nd edition. Moscow, 1953, p. 209 ff., fig. 46.

160 P. Radomersky, "Koruna kralu Moravskych," Sbornik Narodniho Musea v Praze, Vol. XII A, 1958, pp. 195, 217 ff.

161J. Kramarek, "Ze studiow nad problematyka. archeologiczna, zwiazana. z dzia ialnoscia. Konstantyna (Cyryla) i Metodego," Munera Archeologica losepho Kostrzeu^ ski... oblata. Poznan, 1963, p. 397 ff.

162 E. Kucharski, op. cit., note 67, p. 5.




also recorded of the boy taking the surname after his mother's father, or even after his maternal grandmother's brother.163

The important role of women in Polish family and social life is also possibly an echo of the Sarmatian matriarchal system.

There is, finally, an unsolved problem which is possibly connected with the Sarmatians and to which Dr. P. Wojtowicz has drawn my attention. This is the question of the origin of a large class of freemen, known as "Smerds," which existed in Poland and Russia-Ukraine right up to the fourteenth century.164 A tentative explanation is that the freemen were the descendants of the lower orders of the Sarmatians

(Antae or rather White Croats).

CONCLUSION

We have come to the end our considerations. The results may be

briefly summarized as follows: 1. The Iranian people, which exerted such a strong influence on

the Proto-Slavic language and the religious terminology of the Slavs, were Sarmatians.

2. Almost all Slavic tribes were for a time, though not necessarily simultaneously, under the rule of the Sarmato-Alans, and this was the principal manner in which Iranian influence was exerted.

3. The most important part in the history of the Slavs was played by two groups of Sarmatians:

(a) One of them was the Western Alans, and, in particular, the

Antae; it was they who brought the tamgas to Poland and Kievan Russia. The tamgas, which were first of all monograms of Greek gods, became the symbols of Iranian gods worshipped by West Alanic tribes and were later transformed into property marks for the aris

tocracy and finally of the gentry. Since many Polish armorial mottos are of Alanic origin, we may presume that a high proportion of the Polish gentry is descended from the tribal aristocracy of the ancient Sarmato-Alans. Many other circumstances, traces of matriarchal social

organization in particular, support this view.

(b) The other Sarmatian people who had an influence on the life of the Slavs were the East Alans and, especially, the tribes of Croats

(Khorvats) and Serbs. With them was closely bound up the destiny of some West Slavic tribes and of a large section of the Southern Slavs who still bear their names. They also influenced the fate of the Slavic tribes who, in time, gave rise to the Polish nation; their descendants were undoubtedly among the elements which went to the

163 F. Piekosinski, op. tit., note 157, pp. 347-352.?Idem, Rycerstwo polskie. Vol. II, Cracow, 1897, pp. 24-200.?F.v. Heydebrand und der Lasa, op. tit., note 158, p. 340.

164 K. Tymieniecki, Smardowie polscy. Poznan, 1959.




making up the Polish nobility.

4. The role of the Sarmatians in the development of Slavic nations and countries has so far been almost completely unrecognized. Their role in Central and, to some extent, Eastern Europe may be compared with that of Germanic peoples in Western Europe, who gave their names to a number of modern nations and countries after being assim ilated by the peoples they conquered. The invasions of later nomads from the east destroyed, to a large extent, the political pattern left by the Sarmato-Alans, while in Western Europe the political structure

established by the Germanic tribes, has largely survived.

POST-SCRIPT I should finally like to mention the account of the Baltic Prussians

found in Wulfstan (ninth century) and noted by Bujak,165 which illustrates the extent of Sarmato-Alanic power and influence in the north.

According to this account, the population of Prussia in the ninth

century was divided into rich people (kings), poor people (simple folk) and subject people (serfs). The culture of the rich, that is of the ruling class, displayed strong steppe features which were preserved up to the thirteenth century. They drank mare's milk (kumiss) while the simple people and the serfs drank mead. The rich fought on horses and the people were armed with bows, catapults and sticks. A character istic of steppe culture is also the custom of burying the bones of horses in graves under cremation urns and of placing the grave stelae, the so-called "Stone Babas." Pledges were made under oath with the ritual killing of an ox, which is apparently associated with the cult of Mithras brought over from the south-eastern steppes. Bujak is of the opinion that the Old Prussian upper classes must have come from the steppes, as a result of the fall of the Ostrogoth Kingdom under

pressure from the Huns in the fourth century, or of the fall of Attila in the fifth century. The Sarmatian character of these phenomena points to the Alans, perhaps mixed up with the Goths who retreated to the north along the old Gothic track. They were probably not the Antae retreating, in the seventh century, before the Avars, for among the Prussian archaeological discoveries, there are no tamgas typical of the Antae and of their descendants and heirs. On the other hand, as Milewski has pointed out, it must be remembered that there are no Iranian elements in the languages of the Old Prussians, which is an

argument against the presence of the Sarmato-Alans on Prussian ter

ritory. This is a matter which requires further investigations. 165 F. Bujak, "Wenedowie na wybrzezach Bakyku," Sprawozdania PAU. Vol.

XLVH, Cracow, 1946, p. 90 f.



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SARMATIANS IN THE POLISH PAST