Re: Vanir

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

>
> "[11.5.8] The next peoples to which one comes between
> Lake Maeotis and the Caspian Sea are nomads, the
> Nabiani and the Panxani, and then next the tribes of
> the Siraces and the Aorsi. The Aorsi and the Siraces
> are thought to be fugitives from the upper tribes of
> those names and the Aorsi are more to the north than
> the Siraces [[GK: The Siraces are located in today's
> Krasnodar (Kuban) region of Russia. The Aorsi were in
> the steppes directly to the east of the Don, up to the
> Volga and beyond]]. Now Abeacus, king of the Siraces,
> sent forth twenty thousand horsemen at the time when
> Pharnaces held the Bosporus[[GK: 63-47 BC]]; and
> Spadines, king of the Aorsi, two hundred thousand; but
> the upper Aorsi sent a still larger number, for they
> held dominion over more land, and, one may almost say,
> ruled over most of the Caspian coast."
>

Now you got me curious about how the story ended: Why did they send
all those troops there? This must have been during the Mithridatic
wars, judging from the Pharnaces date? Any etymology for "Spadines"
(he asked)?

Torsten