Next time you'll be telling the list that
the Erminones/Herminones worshipped Hermes (invoking Tacitus [Germ. 9], of
course: "deorum maxime Mercurium colunt"). Tacitus pairs (West) Germanic and
Roman gods/heroes according to his _interpretatio Romana_. With minor
modifications this pairing survives in the names of the days of the week.
Tacitus' "Germanic Mercury" refers not to unknown *Merxurjaz but to Woden.
His "Mars" is Tiu, and Hercules (later Jove) was identified with Thunar by
the Romans. No Latin/Greek names of gods are found among the Germani despite the
above identifications, so there is no reason why Hercules should have been the
only one known under his "original" name.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 1:14 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: I, Hercules [was: A "Germanic"
query]
The Etruscan, Greek and Romans knew Hercules under that or a
similar name, so did the Scythians, says Herodotus, and the Armenians. Now if
Tacitus informs us that the Germani knew Hercules, was it then under that or
under another name? Which is more likely? I'd say under the Hercules name. And
what would that be in the Germanic of that time? Etc...