Culture Cimbri

gundestrup cauldron, plate e

strabo gives vivid description of cimbric folklore (geogr. 7.2.3, trans. h.l. jones):

(the priestess mentioned below called, in danish: en vølve (a voelve)).

their wives, accompany them on expeditions, attended priestesses seers; these grey-haired, clad in white, flaxen cloaks fastened on clasps, girt girdles of bronze, , bare-footed; sword in hand these priestesses meet prisoners of war throughout camp, , having first crowned them wreaths lead them brazen vessel of twenty amphorae; , had raised platform priestess mount, , then, bending on kettle, cut throat of each prisoner after had been lifted up; , blood poured forth vessel of priestesses draw prophecy, while still others split open body , inspection of entrails utter prophecy of victory own people; , during battles beat on hides stretched on wicker-bodies of wagons , in way produce unearthly noise.

the cimbri depicted ferocious warriors did not fear death. host followed women , children on carts. aged women, priestesses, dressed in white sacrificed prisoners of war , sprinkled blood, nature of allowed them see come.

if cimbri did in fact come jutland, evidence practised ritualistic sacrifice may found in haraldskær woman discovered in jutland in year 1835. noosemarks , skin piercing evident , had been thrown bog rather buried or cremated. furthermore, gundestrup cauldron, found in himmerland, may sacrificial vessel 1 described in strabo s text. work of thracian origin.

language

a major problem in determining whether cimbri speaking celtic or germanic language @ time greeks , romans tended refer groups north of sphere of influence gauls, celts, or germani rather indiscriminately. caesar seems 1 of first authors distinguish 2 groups, , had political motive doing (it argument in favour of rhine border). yet, 1 cannot trust caesar , tacitus when ascribe individuals , tribes 1 or other category, although caesar made clear distinctions between 2 cultures. ancient sources categorize cimbri germanic tribe, ancient authors include cimbri among celts.

there few direct testimonies language of cimbri: referring northern ocean (the baltic or north sea), pliny elder states: philemon says called morimarusa, i.e. dead sea, cimbri, until promontory of rubea, , after cronium. contemporary gaulish terms “sea” , “dead” appear have been mori , *maruo-; compare well-attested modern insular celtic cognates muir , marbh (irish), môr , marw (welsh), , mor , marv (breton). same word “sea” known germanic, (*mari-), whereas cognate of marbh unknown in dialects of germanic. yet, given pliny had not heard word directly cimbric informant, cannot ruled out word in fact gaulish instead.

the known cimbri chiefs have celtic names, including boiorix (which may mean king of boii or, more literally, king of strikers ), gaesorix (which means spear king ), , lugius (which may named after celtic god lugus), although may not mean celtic elements work in germanic (compare name of vandalic king gaiseric, identical gaesorix). also, although kings of cimbri , teutones carry celtic names, origin of name need not ethnicity or language of individual carrying name. other evidence language of cimbri circumstantial: thus, told romans enlisted gaulish celts act spies in cimbri camp before final showdown roman army in 101 bc. take evidence in support of celtic rather german theory .

jean markale wrote cimbri associated helvetii, , more indisputably celtic tigurini. these associations may link common ancestry, recalled 2 hundred years previous, though may not. henri hubert states these names celtic, , cannot else . authors take different perspective.

countering argument of celtic origin literary evidence cimbri came northern jutland, area no celtic placenames, instead germanic ones. not rule out cimbric gallicization during period when lived in gaul. boiorix, may have celtic name if not celticized germanic name, king of cimbri after moved away ancestral home of northern jutland; boiorix , tribe lived around celtic peoples during era j. b. rives points out in introduction tacitus s germania , name boiorix can work in proto-germanic celtic.