[gothic-l] Re: Heruls - Religion

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., trbrandt at p... wrote:
> Hi Dirk
>
> --- In gothic-l at y..., dirk at s... wrote:
> > --- In gothic-l at y..., trbrandt at p... wrote:
>
> > > This could be the royal Herulian family -
> > > according to Procopius a Gothic tribe. But please keep this out
> > > of the argumentation at this stage, as I did not use it.
> >
> > Again, I belief that the name Ases simply means wooden beam or
> wooden
> > idol, (see Wolfram's  Rom und die Germanen). Tanais is apparently
> the
> > river that separated Europe from Asia in medieval thinking. I
> suspect
> > that medieval authors could have re-interpreted the name Ases as
> Asia,
> > as the meaning for wooden idol was lost.
>
> I answered this in my other posting.
>
> >
> > One problem that I see with the Heruls as transmitter of a
> Wodan/Odin
> > cult to Scandinavia is that by 500AD I would have thought that the
> > Heruls had adopted either a form of Christianity or some pagan
> Roman
> > cults given that they were often employed as mercenaries in the
> Roman
> > army. The Germanic people which came in direct contact with Rome
> > adopted Christianity, with the Eastern tribes tending to adopt
> > Christianity even earlier and more thoroughly than the western
> tribes.
> > It has been argued that the Langobards adopted Arian Christianity
> when
> > they were subject to the Heruls in Pannonia, possibly through the
> > contact with the Heruls.
> >
> >
> > cheers,
> > Dirk
>
> You are guessing too much about the religion of Heruls. The first
> Herulian mercenaries we know were probably Western Heruls (together
> with Bataves). In the next 75 years the Eastern Heruls joined the
> Huns. In the great battle between these Heruls and the Lombards
> Procopius explained the Lombardian victory in 508 with their
> Christian faith - opposite the Heruls.


Hi Troels,

I didn't know that, and it certainly changes the picture.



Procopius description of the
> Heruls (an earlier host of gods (553 in Illyria)) makes no room for
> Christianity, although the Herulian mercenaries known by Procopius
> were forced to baptise after settling in Illyria. However their
royal
> family had left for Scandinavia before this baptism. The story about
> the Illyrian Heruls, who against the will of Justinian had to send
> for a new candidate of royal blood in Scandinavia more than 1000
> kilometres away leading to the final disaster for the "Christian"
> group, indicate that even this group kept remains of their former
> ancestorcult. Please read Procopius and not the Goffart-
> interpretation - as you remember.


It is always good to read the original, but as non-historian I am not
qualified to interpret the original unfortunately. In fact, I think
there is nothing more harmful that non-professionals trying to
interpret historical sources and draw conclusions from text that they
are unable to put in the right historical context.


cheers,

Dirk


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