Re: PS Emphatics

Supposedly Attila was buried in 3 coffins, one inside
the other --gold, silver and lead, I think. I've read
this in popular histories, so it may not be correct or
square with Jordanes
Was Attila the one for whom they diverted a river, dug
the grave, redirected the river and killed anyone with
exact knowledge of where he he was buried?

--- george knysh <gknysh@...> wrote:

. . .

>
> ****GK: Jordanes' text is not easy by any means. He
> is
> describing a series of ritual acts, allegedly
> performed by Huns only. He mentions (1)a silk tent
> on
> a plain, where Attila's body lay in state. He then
> mentions (2)a tumulus, which is NOT identical to the
> spot where Attila was eventually secretly buried.He
> finally mentions (3)the burial spot, Attila's three
> coffins (what that means I don't know), and various
> objects buried with the warlord. Now the "strava"
> ritual is connected with (2). The tumulus could have
> been some commemorative kurgan, either created for
> the
> occasion, or already there, and having royal/sacral
> connotation. We don't really know. What seems
> important to determine with respect to the "strava"
> ritual is the meaning of Jordanes' "commessatio
> ingens", which Mierow has translated as "intense
> revelling". What does "commessatio" actually mean? I
> have not found it in my Oxford Dictionary of
> Classical
> Latin, nor in my admittedly incomplete Dictionary of
> mediaeval Latin. But one on-line dictionary defines
> it
> as "eating together",i.e. we are back to some sort
> of
> wake or ritual common feast around a tumulus
> symbolizing the resting place of the dead monarch...
> What kind of "cover" (Gothic or Romance) could be
> involved? I've never heard of such a ritual. But a
> feast is another matter,were it not for the
> linguistic
> difficulties. Jordanes, a Romanized Goth was writing
> in 552, perhaps quoting Cassiodorus,perhaps someone
> else, perhaps speaking for himself. Might Torsten's
> query ("how do we know what transpired in a Gothic
> borrowing from Slavic?") provide an answer? "Cover"
> just doesn't seem to cut it, somehow, funeral pyre
> or
> whatever (or piles of swords on the
> mound)...Finally,
> is there any way "strava" could refer to some
> Turkic
> root? Somehow I doubt that too.****
>
>
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>

____________________________________________________________________________________

> Looking for last minute shopping deals?
> Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
>

http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

>

____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page.
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs