Re: Ermanaric's El Dorado

--- In cybalist@..., george knysh <gknysh@...> wrote:

>
> --- Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> > Anything seems possible -- we only need an East
> > (k-epenthesis) Baltic speaking region called
> > *Auks(i)na or *Auks(i)ne. 'El Dorado'.
> >
> ****GK: This brings to mind Herodotus' story about the
> "griffins who guard the gold" (:=)). Well it's known
> that the Scythians got their gold from somewhere east
> (lots of it). Contemporary Russia still mines gold in
> the Krasnoyark, Irkutsk, and Magadan regions. It seems
> improbable that even the most sycophantic Gothic song
> writer would have extended Hermanaric's Empire that
> far. This would have far exceeded, not just equalled,
> Alexander. The Huns would have been included, and lots
> more besides. While the problem of the Baltic term
> would not be easily solved. I don't know of any
> evidence about significant gold mining in the
> northeast Baltic and immediately adjacent areas.I
> think Sergejus' theory about amber has some merit (if
> the use of "gold" for "amber" can be verified as a
> Gothic borrowing). What stands against it though is
> the potentially redundant passage about the Aestii,
> and the odd redundancy of a Gothic reconstruction
> about "golden Scythian people in the gold area [El
> Dorado]". So on balance, and in the absence of further
> arguments, I still think "the Golden Scythian"
> [perhaps a borrowing from steppe colour symbolism
> where yellow is the "center" of things] Hermanaric of
> lost Gothic epic songs, conqueror of northern
> "thiudos" here's the list preferable to Hermanaric
> the conqueror of an unidentifiable (because
> non-existent?)golden people in a Baltic El Dorado.*****
>

They still pan gold in northern Swedish and Finnish rivers. I believe
recently, they arranged for tourists to try it.

Torsten