Gothic Royal Insignia

[Ingemar Nordgren]

In fact nobody knows for sure in this case. I do however presume we are talking of necklace rings. Cf. the Pietroassa- and  Zsilágy rings. They could be used both as a royal insignia and as oath-rings where the warriors swore their allegiance and as symbol of the höggode, the high priest, which office also was executed by the king. He could, like the Svia king wear a gold bracelet-ring. The warriors who were sworn in also wore individual arm rings and the word for warrior in Scandinavia is 'rinker' which is short of 'ringkarl', ringman. The ring also in the old fertility kingdom symbolized the sun since the king  was the reborn sun. Later the ring Draupnir symbolized the sun producing still a new day during a week but in  the story it is expressed that it drips nine rings in a week - it has become a mystical, magic symbol. You also see the importance of rings in  sacrifice finds of fertility statuettes equipped with one or two neck rings.

Best
Ingemar



--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, Thomas Chelmowski <the_lothian at ...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
> 
> It's me again with another Gothic question.
> I was studying Wolfram's "History of the Goths" and found this:
> 
> Among the Tervingi there was a
> preeminent "royal family" that we may perhaps identify as
> the Balthi. The Romans, however, noticed other people among the Goths
> who wore the "royal insignia" and who assumed a special
> position because of their "dignity and descent."
> 
> Now, my question is, since this Royal Insignia is not mentioned anywhere in his book, does anyone know what that insignia might have been?
> 
> Thanks again for all your help.
> 
> Tom
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>


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