> And my conclusion is that they were minted near a seashore, by
> pirates wanting to buy Slaves from the Dacians.
>
>
> Note
> Jordanes, Getica XI (67)
> (written approx. 551 CE)
> http://people.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html
> 'Then when Buruista
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burebista
> was king of the Goths, Dicineus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decaeneus
> came to Gothia at the time when Sulla [consul first time 88 BCE -
> retired 81 BCE] ruled the Romans. Buruista received Dicineus and
> gave him almost royal power. It was by his advice the Goths ravaged
> the lands of the Germans, which the Franks now possess.'
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frankish_Empire_481_to_814-en.svg
>
> Which means the Dacians may have passed on Germanic POWs as slaves
> to whoever wanted to buy them (pirates). Selling your neighbour as
> usual would not have been something Burebista would want to promote.
> This might be where the Germani in Spartacus' army came from. In
> the
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Mithridatic_War (88 - 84 BCE)
> and
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Mithridatic_War (83 - 81 BCE)
> the slave port of
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panticapaeon
> in the
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosporan_Kingdom
> would have been inaccessible to the Romans, and the Latin
> colonization of devastated formerly hostile Italic territory after > the
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_War_%2891%E2%80%9388_BC%29
> would have demanded the acquisition of slaves in large numbers
>
Further background, on Mithridates alliances.
Appian's History of Rome: The Mithridatic Wars §112
http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_mithridatic_23.html#%A7112
'He [Mithridates] made alliances with the Samnites and the Gauls, and he sent legates to Sertorius in Spain.'
Some time between 90 and 88 BCE
(attalus.org says 103 BCE
http://attalus.org/bc2/year103.html#19
but that, given the context, is certainly wrong)
Mithridates sends ambassadors to
the Cimbri, the Gallograecians, the Sarmatians, and the Bastarnians, to request aid,
(Justinus: Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' "Philippic histories" 38.3.6)
http://attalus.org/translate/justin6.html#38.3
'4 Nicomedes, too, dying at the same time, his son, who was also named Nicomedes,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicomedes_IV_of_Bithynia
was driven from his dominions by Mithridates, and, having gone as a suppliant to Rome, it was decreed by the senate that "both the kings should be restored to their thrones;" and Aquilius and Manlius Maltinus (L. Manlius?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manius_Aquillius_%28consul_101_BC%29
were commissioned to see the decree executed.
5 On being informed of this proceeding, Mithridates formed an alliance with Tigranes,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigranes_the_Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Armenian_Empire.png
with a resolution at once to go to war with the Romans; and they agreed that the cities and territory that should be taken from the enemy should be the share of Mithridates, and that the prisoners, and all booty that could be carried off, should belong to Tigranes.
6 In the next place, well understanding what a war be was provoking, he sent ambassadors to the Cimbri, the Gallograecians, the Sarmatians, and the Bastarnians, to request aid;
7 for all the time that he had been meditating war with the Romans, he had been gaining over all these nations by acts of kindness and liberality. He sent also for an army from Scythia, and armed the whole eastern world against the Romans.'
It is surprising to find the Cimbri at this late time as a force to be worth having an alliance with, after their total defeat at Vercellae in the Po valley in 101 BCE.
I suggest to identify these Cimbri with the Jastorf part
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jastorf_culture
of the Przeworsk culture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przeworsk_culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ArcheologicalCulturesOfCentralEuropeAtEarlyPreRomanIronAge.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ArcheologicalCulturesOfCentralEuropeAtLatePreRomanIronAge.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Przeworsk2.PNG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cimbrians_and_Teutons_invasions.svg
and BTW the Bastarnians with the PoieneÅti-Lukashevka culture southeast of it
(this is now a traditional opinion) even though PoieneÅti-Lukashevka is hardly mentioned in Wikipedia
(but plenty of it in the archives, mainly from George Knysh)..
Now if Cimbri was another name at that time for the people of the Przeworsk culture, from where Ariovistus came, Caesar's equation of the threat posed by that king with that of the Cimbri makes sense,
and their abode in Northern Jutland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmerland
plus that of the Teutones ibd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thy_(district)
was thus a Rückzugsgebiet, withdrawal zone, into which they were pushed after being replaced in the Jastorf area, their original home, by Elbe Germani coming from Przeworsk.
This means also that the Jastorf language was pre-Grimm Germanic, the immediate ancestor of Proto-Germanic (since k > x in Cimbri and t > þ in Teutones had not yet taken place, that would happen in Proto-Germanic, the language of the Przeworsk culture, influenced by the new upper class coming from the south, probably from Slovakia),
and the PoieneÅti-LukaÅ¡evka culture of the Bastarnae,
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/66387
into which Burebista was expanding).
Appian Mithridatic wars 15,69
[Pelopidas, Mithridates emissary, to Roman generals and ambassadors:]
'He [Mithridates] has allies also ready to obey his every command, Scythians, Taurians, Bastarnae, Thracians, Sarmatians, and all those who dwell in the region of the Don and Danube and the Sea of Azov.
Tigranes of Armenia is his son-in-law and the Arsacid king of Parthia is his ally. He has a large number of ships, some in readiness and others building, and apparatus of all kinds in abundance.'
but Plutarch:
On the Fortune of the Romans, 11
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Fortuna_Romanorum*.html#T324
'the Sarmatian and Bastarnian wars restrained Mithridates during the time when the Marsian war was blazing up against Rome', ie. 91 - 88 BCE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_War_%2891%E2%80%9388_BC%29
which seems to suggest that Mithridates had to wage war on the Sarmatians and Bastarnians at some time in 91 - 88 BCE in order to make them join him.
Later, in the beginning at the Third Mithridatic war, in 75 BCE, according to
Appian: History of Rome: The Mithridatic Wars §69
http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_mithridatic_14.html
the situation was this:
'From Europe he drew of the Sarmatian tribes, both the Basilidae and the Iazyges, the Coralli, and those Thracians who dwelt along the Danube and on the Rhodope and Haemus mountains, and besides these the Bastarnae, the bravest nation of all.
Altogether Mithridates recruited a fighting force of about 140,000 foot and 16,000 horse.
A great crowd of road-makers, baggage carriers, and sutlers followed.'
The Bastarnae ally was active in the siege of Chalcedon, 74 BCE
Appian: History of Rome: The Mithridatic Wars §71
http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_mithridatic_15.html
'The Romans from all directions flocked to Cotta at Chalcedon. ...
The Roman loss was about 3,000, including Lucius Manlius, a man of senatorial rank. Mithridates lost twenty of his Bastarnae, who were the first to break into the harbor.'
and
Memnon: History of Heracleia 27, 7
http://attalus.org/translate/memnon2.html#27
'The navies of Rome and Pontus met in battle by the city of Chalcedon, and a battle also broke out on land between the king's army and the Romans; the generals of the two sides were Mithridates and Cotta. In the land battle the Bastarnae routed the Italians, and slaughtered many of them. There was a similar outcome in the naval battle, and on one and the same day the land and sea were covered with the bodies of dead Romans. In the naval battle 8,000 men were killed and 4,500 were captured; in the land battle 5,300 of the Italians were killed, and out of Mithridates' army about 30 Bastarnae, and 700 others. Everyone was cowed by this success of Mithridates.'
To sum up:
According to historical sources:
1) The Cimbri existed as a unified force, presumably (where else?) in Przeworsk-land, in appr. 88 BCE
2) The Bastarnae existed as a unified force, presumably in PoieneÅti-Lukashevka-land at the same time.
3) The Bastarnae existed as a unified force, presumably in PoieneÅti-Lukashevka-land in 75 BCE
(called the bravest of all; some recent exploit?).
4) No mention of the former ally, the Cimbri, in 75 BCE or at any later point, which means they either left the alliance or ceased to exist.
3) The Bastarnae existed outside of PoieneÅti-Lukashevka-land in 74 BCE
And where is Burebista, whose Daci/Getae on the advice of Decaeneus waged war on the Germans, in all this?
Watch this space.
Torsten