Re: [tied] Geats

--- In cybalist@..., Håkan Lindgren <h5@...> wrote:

> I also took a look at the web page Torsten referred to -
>
> http://gotland.luma.com/origin%20of%20svear.html
>
> And if you ask me, this looks like one of the private histories

that are common on the net. Maybe his comments on Gotland (that the
ancient sources, when talking about the island of Scandia, didn't
mean Scandinavia, but the island of Gotland) are good, but
otherwise... Some comments to his points -

>
> "3. The Svear used the Roman Julian calendar which is considered to

have been introduced in Uppland about the year 500. Still in the 17th
century the Disthing-day in Uppsala was calculated according to this
calendar."

>
> Confirmation, please.
>
> "9. The helmets in the Vendel graves in Uppland are also

interesting. They are identified as the helmets of the Roman Imperial
guards, the model that was in use in the 5th century."

>
> Oh yeah? I've never heard this before and would like some sources

for this. Was there even a Roman Imperial guard as late as the 5th
century? And this doesn't imply (as the author seems to mean) that
the people buried in those helmets were Roman guards. There was a lot
of long-range trade going on, for example, in the viking-age town
where I grew up Arabian silver coins have been found in the ground,
but this doesn't mean that Arabs once inhabited this town.

>
> "6. In the Old Uppsala mounds the burial build-up, according to

professor Sune Lindqvist, has been done in a similar way as the Roman
Royal cremations."

>
> "Roman Royal"? Were there burial mounds in Rome?
>
> "10. Snorri Sturluson tells in Heimskringla about the origin of the

Æsir (the men from Asia) --"

> [I would like to hear what an etymologist says about this - are the

Asa gods (I use the modern Swedish form of this word) really related
to Asia?]

> "--- Odin thought that they had found beautiful fields and good

soil and he chose a place that now is called Sigtuna."

> [I grew up in that town. Somehow all this seems a little ridiculous

to me. Anyway, if this is what Snorre says, given the distance in
time and space (Snorre died in the 13th century), how much can we use
him as a reliable historical source?]

>
> Etc.
>
> Hakan

To add one more note of scepticism- the webpage also says
"The Æsir-religion which can be interpreted as the religion of the
warlike masters makes its appearance whilst the Vana- belief probably
was the religion of the peaceful farming people. The Æsir-religion
can be considered a child of an Iranian religion, which after its
founder, Mani, is called Manikeism. This religion gained, from the
4th century, wide acceptance outside of the Persian state of the
time. The Æsir-religion has also borrowed ideas from early
Christianity."

In what way can the Aesir-religion be considered a child of
Manichaeism?

Ned Smith