[gothic-l] Tracing the Eruli

[george knysh]

--- åÇÏÒÏ× ÷ÌÁÄÉÍÉÒ <vegorov at ipiran.ru> wrote:
> Merry Christmas!
>
> George Knysh wrote:
>
> "Apparently (pace Mahomedov) the East European
> Eruli cannot be clearly identified except as being a
> part of the "Germanic" component of the Chernyakhiv
> culture..."
>
> This statement is correct by itself but one has also
>
> to bear in mind that no evidences exist that Heruli
> really were a component of the Chernyakhiv culture
> (Cc).
> Hence, any references to archaeological cultures
> seem
> irrelevant concerning Heruls' history.
>
> As far as know, archaeologists do not extent the Cc
> to NE shores of Maeotis Swamp (now the Sea of Azov)
> where initial Eruli were located by the narrative
> sources

*****GK: Jordanes (and Cassiodorus?) borrowed his
information about these "initial Eruli" from the lost
work of Ablabius. The latter apparently relied on
Deuxippos, who was a contemporary of the early raids
by Goths, "Borani" and Eruli against the Empire. It is
Deuxippos who interpreted "Eruli" as "Eluri" and
linked them with the "swampy" areas of the Sea of
Azov. The reason for this was simple: it was a staging
area for Germanic raids. Sporadic finds confirm this.
But it was not a settlement area for any Germanic
population until Hunnic times. So if we are looking
for Erulian SETTLEMENTS, we have to fall back on the
Cc. There is nothing else available for the 3rd and
4th centuries. This is one instance where Jordanes'
information is inaccurate.******

 though some latest excavations at the Don
> mouth exposed evident connections of separate
> settlements
> with the Cc. Here I can reference not only to same
> Magomedov (Mahomedov) but also to Tretyakov and
> Shchukin (Shukin, Sciukin). However, a common
> observation
> is remarkable uniformity of the Cc upon all its
> territory
> that might be explained only by some State
> formation.
> Shchukin defines this hypothetic formation as a
> "proto-state".
> I'd reinforce this definition. Since most of
> researchers,
> including Tretyakov, Magomedov and Shchukin, admit
> poly-ethnicity of the Cc (e.g. three subcultures by
> Magomedov),
> the mentioned striking uniformity assumes a strong
> enough
> State rather than the amorphous "proto-state".
> All this confirms Jordanes' attestation on greatness
>
> of the Hermanaricus' Power.
> (I already had suggested identifying this power with
> the initial
> Reidgotaland but I don't insist on this
> identification).

*****GK: We know from Ammianus Marcellinus that the
land of the Greutungi (and of their great ruler
Ermanaric, the "Golden Scythian" [this not Marcellinus
but Jordanes] extended from Dnister to the Alans of
the Don. And this is well confirmed by archaeology.
Beyond the Cc towards the east and southeast the land
was that of the Iranic nomads until you reached the
Bosporan and Graeco/Roman areas. Now if the Eruli were
located at the mouth of the Don in the mid-4th c.
their conquest would have incorporated this territory
into the area of the Cc. We know this is not so. We
know [again from Marcellinus] that this was the land
of the Alanic Tanaitae, whom the Huns subdued prior to
reaching the boundaries of the "uberes pagos" of
Ermanaric. The deduction must therefore ineluctably be
that the land of the Eruli was located somewhere
within the boundaries of the Cc, and if Mahomedov's
surmises are not accepted, then we have no way of
identifying the location more precisely.*****
>
> Now I invite you to tear yourselves away from
> quotations and
> let your imagination run away from dusty books to
> the open
> prairies, more exactly steppes. Let's imagine the
> spreading
> of Germanic tribes in 1st-3rd centuries to the Black
> Sea.
> My fantasy refuses to accept Jordanes' version of
> well-disposed
> Gothic columns marching in step (even a bridge has
> been crushed
> down!) to Oium as a Promised Land. I believe the
> spreading
> of Goths southward resembled acquiring the Wild West
> by American
> migrants one and half millennium later. Some most
> active and
> sportsmanlike groups went ahead like American
> pioneers. These
> "wild tribes" did not leave any archaeologically
> perceptible
> tracks. (What could they leave save bison/zubr
> bones?)
> The pioneering "wild tribes" were followed and urged
> by more
> settled population, which left distinct
> archaeological Wielbark
> tracks. But these tracks seem not to cross Dnepr.
> Finally,
> the settled population established on the territory
> close
> to the contemporaneous Ukraine and served as a basis
> for
> the Hermanaricus' Power associated with the Cc. The
> pushed out
> "wild tribes" remained at the periphery of the Cc's
> area.
> One can suppose Heruli among those tribes at the SO
> edge
> of the spreading Germanic tribes. Probably the "wild
> tribes"
> did not submit to Hermanarucus. According to
> Jordanes,
> Hermanarucus has been forced to conquer Heruli.
> But his decisive success I'd leave on Jordanes'
> conscience.

******GK: I don't disagree with the notion of
"exploring elements" preceding more settled
populations. There would be other issues to
investigate here [the Gothic advance as part and
parcel of their constant wars with the Vandals, and
the reaction of the powerful Spali to these "wild"
exploring groups].But I don't see any reason to
identify the Eruli with "wild tribes". The written
sources treat them on a par with other Germanic
populations in the East. And the story of their
conquest by Ermanaric is quite compatible with their
localization within the Cc. Frankly I don't see
Deuxippos' analysis as strong enough to override
this.******



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