Re: Sulones = Suiones?

> Anyway, Pekkanen has some data which might corroborate the
> scenario you mentioned.
>

Same argument, improved version:

Tuomo Pekkanen
The Ethnic Origin of the δουλοσπόροι
pp. 48-55

'THE SULONES OF PTOLEMY
Ptolemy describes Scandinavia as follows:
Geog. 2, 11, 16
`απ`ο ανατολω~ν δ`ε τη~ς κιμβρικη~ς χερσονήσου δ' νη~σοι α´ι καλούμεναι σκανδίαι, γ' μ`εν μικρα`ι . . . μία δε μεγίστη και `ανατολικωτάτη κατ`α τ`ας `εκβολ`ας του~ ο`υιστούλα ποταμου~ . . . καλει~ται δ`ε `ιδίως κα`ι αυτ`η σκανδία, κα`ι κατέχουσιν αυτής τ`α μ`εν δυτικ`α χαι­δεινο`ι, τ`α δ' `ανατολικ`α φαυόναι κα`ι φιραι~σοι, τ`α δ' `αρκτικά φι~ννοι, τ`α δ`ε μεσημβριν`α γου~ται κα`ι δαυκίονες, τ`α δ`ε μέσα λεύωνοι.
http://www.duerinck.com/ptolemy.html
[To the east of the [Cimbrian] peninsula four [islands] called Scandia, ... The greatest one and more to the east near the mouth of the Vistula river, ... And this is called Scandia locally, and is occupied in the west by the Chaideini, in the east by the Fauona, and the Firaisi, and in the south by the Goutii and the Dauciones, and in the centre by the Leuoni.]
Of the ancient writers, only the sixth-century historiographer Jordanes was more familiar with this area than Ptolemy. Therefore it is surprising that the Suiones do not appear among the seven Scandinavian tribes that Ptolemy enumerates. K. Müller, however, has pointed out that Ptol. Geog. 3, 5, 8 σούλωνες, the name of an otherwise unknown tribe on the eastern bank of the Vistula, may easily be emended to σουίωνες.1 Ptolemy's passage on the Suiones reads as fol­lows:
`ελάττονα δ`ε `έθνη νέμεται τ`ην σαρματίαν παρ`α μ`εν τ`ον ο`υϊστούλαν ποταμ`ον ´υπ`ο το`υς ο`υενέδας γύθωνες, ε`ι~τα φίννοι, ε`ι~τα σούλωνες· ´υφ` ο´`υς φρουγουδίωνες, ε`ι~τα α`υαρινο`ι παρ`α τ`ην κεφαλ`ην του~ ο`υϊστούλα ποταμου~· ´υφ` ο´`υς `ό μ β ρ ω ν ε ς κτλ.
http://tinyurl.com/342s42x
[Lesser races inhabit Sarmatia near the Vistula river. Below the Venedae are the Gythones, then the Finni, then the Sulones; below whom are the Phrungundiones; then the Avarini near the source of the Vistula river; below these are the Ombrones]

In his argumentation, Müller refers to the fact that Ptolemy locates the Sulones south of the Finns. Since according to Ptolemy there were also Finns in Northern Scandinavia, Müller thinks that the conjunction φίννοι - σούλωνες on the Vistula belongs in reality to Scandinavia: »Ego in codi­cum scriptura σσύλωνες nescio an lateat σουίωνες. Quemadmodum Finni, sic juxta eos Suiones in maxime septentrionali tabulae parte ponendi erant. His populis e falsa sua positione remotis, Phrugundiones, qui deinceps nomi­nantur, locum obtinebunt juxta Burguntas ad sinistram Vistulae ripam col­locatos, a quibus Phrugundiones (i. e. Burgundiones) nonnisi corrupta nominis forma differre censeo».

Schönfeld does not accept Müller's suggestion,2 but his words - »Die Sulo­nes ... wohnten in der Nähe der Weichsel; daher ist eine Änderung in *σουίω­νες (Müller) nicht empfehlenswert» - reveal that he had not even made himself familiar with the viewpoints of Müller, for the latter thinks that the location of the Sulones on the Vistula is merely Ptolemy's mistake.

After him Schütte has examined very closely the sources of Ptolemy's geographical work and also discussed the location of the Sulones and the origin of their name.3 Schütte based his research on the assumption that Ptole­my's atlas was constructed mainly on the basis of already-existing maps - not mainly on the basis of descriptive works - and he set out to reconstruct the supposed original maps or 'prototypes' used by Ptolemy and his predeces­sor Marinus.4 He divides these prototypes into eleven groups.5 The passage containing the Sulones belongs to the tenth group (E & F), which comprises Eastern Germany, Sarmatia, and Scythia. Schütte characterizes the proto­types E & F as follows: »The prototypes are duplicates of each other . . . E has Latin marks . . . , but seems to have been translated into Greek before the stage of Ptolemy. F has only Greek marks. - E & F are executed after the introduc­tion of a well established Roman amber trade with the Baltic regions under the reign of Nero . . . E is totally displaced, F is correctly localised . . . E has been turned round, so that west becomes south, and east becomes north . . . The displacement was to a great deal due to the misinterpretation that the Baltic coast was taken for the river Vistula. This fact appears clearly from the Ptolemaic tribes, localised east of the Vistula: Ombrones = Ambrones, the companions of the Cimbri and Teutones; Auarinoi = the Varines, a well-known tribe from Mecklenburg; Frugundiones = Burgundians, inhabitants of Pomerania».6 In this way he comes to the conclusion that the names on the east­ern bank of the Vistula, φίννοι, σούλωνες, φρονγουδίωνες, α`υαρινοί, `όμβρωνες, enumerated from north to south, really belonged to the Baltic coast, the Om­brones being the farthest to the west, the Finns farthest to the east. He writes the names corrected Finnoi, Gutones, Burgundiones, Ouarinoi, Ambrones.7 This suggestion of Schütte is very interesting and it seems to be confirmed by many facts. When the α`υαρινοί and `όμβρωνες are transferred to the western part of the Baltic, it is no doubt easy to indentify them with the historically well-known Varines and Ambrones.8 The location of the Finns in the eastern part of the Baltic is also in accord with historical facts. Our earliest record of the Burgundians9 is the mention of them in Plin. nat. 4, 99, where they are ex­pressly located next to the Varines (Varinnae).10 Furthermore, the emendations α`υαρινοί > ο`υαρινοί, φρουγουδίωνες > βουργουνδίωνες, `όμβρωνες > `Άμβρωνες are palaeographically very easy to understand. Only Schütte's identification of the name σουλωνες with that of the Goths is too drastic.

Schütte pays no attention at all to the emendation of the name σουλωνες proposed by Müller, but is nevertheless convinced that the Suiones must have appeared in the original Ptolemaic lists: »It would have been impossible in a detailed list of tribes ... to omit mention of the Swedes, the only Scandi­navian tribe of real Gothonic nationality noticed by Tacitus».11 He tries to find the Suiones in the Scandinavian φαυόναι. The emendation, however, is much too drastic and must definitely be rejected.

The results of Müller and Schütte have been combined by Malone,12 who like Müller regards the Sulones as Suiones, but agrees with Schütte in so far as he believes the Ptolemaic tribes from the Vistula actually to belong to the Baltic coast. In his argumentation for the emendation σούλωνες > σουίωνες Malone attaches importance to the fact that the Sulones appear in the list between the Finns and the Burgundians (φρουγουδίωνες): »this emenda­tion is compelling, for we know that the Suiones dwelt between the (Scrid-) Finns, i. e. Lapps, and the Burgundians (of Bornholm), the former being to their north, the latter to their south ... In Ptolemy's day the Burgundians actually held lands on both sides of the Baltic, in Pomerania as well as in Born-holm. And tribes known as Finns likewise lived east as well as north of the Baltic. When the Ptolemaic sources were consolidated, then, and when there took place that elimination of duplicates which any consolidation involves, the Swedes, who actually lived between Burgundians and Finns, were by an easy error located between the Burgundians and Finns of the south-eastern Baltic coast, instead of in Skandia».13

The views of Müller and Malone differ in that the former regards Ptole­my's location of the Finns to the south of the Baltic as completely false, but Malone admits that tribes known as Finns lived on both sides of the Baltic. In this his views must be accepted, for it cannot be denied that the Fenni of Tacitus belonged to the east of the Baltic, but the Scridifinns (σκριθίφινοι, Screrefennae) of Procopius and Jordanes to Scandinavia.14 Much takes the Fenni for Baltic Finns and thinks that Tacitus erroneously connected reports with them that actually related to the Lapps.15 Fromm, however, presumes that the Fenni were in reality Lapps, who at that time extended far towards the south, possibly as far as Estonia.16 The Burgundians are mentioned in literary sources only as living to the south of the Baltic. From archaeological finds, however, it has been deduced that they may well have come there from Scandinavia by way of Bornholm.17 Consequently the view of Malone is also in this respect in agreement with the modern standpoint. This being the case, it must be admitted that the historical habitat of the Scandinavian Swedes lay to the south of the Finns, but to the north of the Burgundians. On the other hand, the literary records show that there were both Burgundians and Finns on the other side of the Baltic, too. In these circumstances it is no doubt possible that in Ptolemy's lists of names the Suiones might by error have been located on the wrong side of the Baltic. It is understandable that Cary and Warmington fully accept the argumentation of Malone and regard the emenda­tion σούλωνες > σουίωνες as convincing.18

All three scholars, Müller, Schütte, and Malone, agree that the Sulones of Ptolemy belonged in reality farther to the north.19 Müller and Malone, who support the reading *σουίωνες, place them in Scandinavia, but Schütte, identifying them with the Goths, believes that they belonged to the southern shores of the Baltic. There remains a third possibility that, according to the view of Müller and Malone, the Sulones were Suiones, but, as Schütte be­lieves, they dwelt on the south-eastern side of the Baltic. As far as I know, this possibility has not so far been taken into consideration by anybody. Yet it seems to me that the facts give support both to the location proposed by Schütte and to the emendation of Müller and Malone.

Schütte concluded from linguistic marks that the prototype E, to which the displaced names φίννοι, σούλωνες, etc. belonged, was originally Latin, but had been translated into Greek before Ptolemy.20 It is surprising that Schütte did not compare this result of his with those already reached earlier by Miller.21 The omission may be due to the fact that the main subject of Miller's research was medieval maps and their Roman prototypes, whereas Schütte confined his study to Ptolemy. In the last part of his work, Miller undertook the reconstruction of Roman maps.22 He based his work partly on the oldest medieval maps published by himself, which he believed retained the characteristic features of their Roman predecessors, and partly on ancient literary records. Miller considered as the most important and reliable result of his work the establishment that in the Roman maps of the world the east was at the top: »Als ein vollständig gesichertes Ergebnis unserer Sammel­arbeit betrachten wir, dass die römische Weltkarte Osten oben hatte. . . . Nachdem . . . jetzt das Material der mittelalterlichen mappae mundi gesammelt und gesichtet vorliegt, dürfte ein Widerspruch kaum mehr zu er­warten sein . . . Wenn die Römer eine andere Orientierung gehabt hätten als die mittelalterlichen Karten, dann müsste im frühen Mittelalter das eine oder andere Exemplar mit jener Orientierung sich in Abschrift erhalten ha­ben, und es ist kaum denkbar, dass dieselben spurlos verschwunden wären. Wir sind jedoch nicht auf diesen indirekten Beweis beschränkt, sondern kön­nen Schritt für Schritt von Jahrhundert zu Jahrhundert bis zur Zeit des Augustus hinauf diese Art der Orientierung verfolgen und aus den alten Schriftstellern erweisen».23 It was the most characteristic difference between the Greek and Roman maps that the former, as in modern ones, had the northern quarter at the top. This fact is already evident from the Ptolemaic maps.24 The reversion to the Greek type in modern times is attributed to the great influence of Ptolemy upon the cartography of the 15th and 16th cen­tury.25 When two kinds of maps were in circulation at the same time, con­fusion of the quarters easily occurred. A Greek, when reading a Roman map, could mistake the east for the north, the north for the west, etc. An example of this kind of confusion in Ammianus Marcellinus has been pointed out by Miller.26

In a Latin map of Eastern Germany, Sarmatia, and Scythia, such as according to Schütte the Ptolemaic prototype E was, the Baltic coastline must, in conformity with the results of Miller, have been situated to the left of the viewer. In a Greek map corresponding to a modern one, the river Vistula was on the same side, i. e. to the left of the spectator. When the φίννοι, σούλωνες, etc., mentioned in the Latin source of Ptolemy, were transferred from the Baltic coast to the bank of the Vistula, the displacement is accounted for in a most natural way by the difference in orientation between the Greek and Roman maps. Schütte concluded that the prototype E »has been turned round, so that west becomes south, and east becomes north». I would like to make his conclusion more accurate putting it as follows: The map, from which the displaced names originate, was not turned round, although it should have been, when a Roman map was translated into Greek and in­cluded in a Greek atlas. The Sulones and their neighbours remained in their previous place, to the left of the spectator, although the west and not the north was now in this quarter. Since Schütte arrived at his solution of the »Ptolemaic riddle» quite independent of Miller, the results of these two schol­ars confirm one another in a surprising manner and explain the displace­ment of the Ptolemaic tribes in question quite satisfactorily.

If we agree with Schütte that the Sulones of Ptolemy originate from a Latin source, their name is also easy to explain. Müller and Malone, who held that the Sulones were Suiones, did not give any examples of the con­fusion of L and I in other words. However, it is easy to establish that these two letters in particular have most frequently been interchanged in Latin MSS. The following examples are from Pliny's Natural History:27

L for I
90, 4 fieri B1, fluere B2 = fieri
92, 21 ungulum B = unguium
280, 1 lacus d r, locus R = Iasus
284, 7 praestreglatorem V d = praestigiatorem
284, 9 lala r v = Iaia
308, 21 lurgis V d = iurgiis
309, 10 metallum r = talium
310, 1 culus V d h = cuius
310, 7 locorum r = iocosam
310, 13 lasii B S, lasi V d = Iasii
357, 10 follis B = foliis
398, 3 fluuere B1, fluere B2 S = fieri

I for L
85, 18 pusuias V = pusulas
275, 8 stephanopio cos B = stephanoplocos
280, 10 muineratumo B = vulnerato
285, 11 ilio B = illo
286, 20 - 21 iusippi B = Lysippi
290, 4 trailis B = Trallis
293, 6 aliis B = vallis
294, 10 trailibus B = Trallibus
297, 11 dieique r = oleique
373, 15 iucilianus F = Lucilianus
385, 18 iussorium B = lusorium

This list of examples could easily be multiplied, but these already suffice to prove how easily in Latin MSS. the name Suiones could be distorted into Suiones. It is worth noticing that for this very name in Tac. Germ. 44 we have the readings Suluonum b, Suiuonum zeR instead of Suionum.298 The most important argument, however, for the identity of the Suiones and the Sulones is, I think, the location of the latter in the vicinity of the Goths, as suggested by Schütte, for the Guiones of Plin. nat. 37, 35 also belonged to the same region, according to all those scholars who identify them with the Goths.2 The names Sulones and Guiones, which have both been associated with the Goths, can be connected with each other only on the condition that the original form was Suiones.

If the Suiones are identified with the Suiones and the Finns, mentioned by Ptolemy as next to the Sulones, are located in Estonia, which was the centre of the Baltic-Finns at the beginning of the Christian era,30 there remains as the habitat of the Ptolemaic Suiones the Baltic coast to the west of the Baltic-Finns. This region corresponds fairly well to the dextrum Suebici maris litus, on which the Aestii and the Suiones were living together according to the account of Tacitus correctly interpreted.

1 Ptol. Geog. vol. I: 1, 424.
2 Wörterbuch pp. 217 f.
3 Ptolemy's Maps of Northern Europe, Copenhagen 1917. Schütte already presented his views concerning the Sulones in »Die Quellen der Ptolemäischen Karten von Nordeuropa,» PBB 41, 1916, 10; later he repeats them in »A Ptolemaic Riddle Solved,» Classica et mediae­valia 13, 1952, 236 - 284. The »riddle» in question was for him the location of the Sulones and their neighbours.
4 Ptolemy's Maps p. 35.
5 Op. cit. pp. 35-38.
6 Op. cit. pp. 127 f.
7 Op. cit. pp. 32, 128.
8 See e. g. Schwarz, Germ. St. pp. 55, 114.
9 For the sources see Schönfeld, Wörterbuch p. 55.
10 Vandili, quorum pars Burgodiones, Varinnae, Charini, Gutones
11 Op. cit. p. 137.
12 «Ptolemy's Skandia,» AJPh 44, 1924, 362-364.
13 Art. cit. p. 363
14 For the sources on the Scridifinns see Zeuss, Die Deutschen pp. 684 ff.
15 Die Germania p. 533 »Die ganze Schilderung dieser Fenni passt schlecht auf die Finnen im heutigen Finnland. die damals wohl noch nicht in diesem Lande sassen, jedenfalls aber schon längere Zeit germanischen und baltischen Kultureinflüssen ausgesetzt gewesen waren. Vermutlich hat Tac. - gleichwie Ptolemaios - von Finnen an zwei Stellen Kunde erhalten. Für seine Darstellung passte es ihm aber besser, sie nur einmal zu nennen. Er tat dies, indem er die östlichen Finnen aufgriff, die skandinavischen fallen liess. Fur seine Schilderung der Fenni verwertete er aber Mitteilungen, die sich auf letztere bezogen, fur die ihm wohl allein ein Bericht zur Verfügung stand, wie uns ja auch eine Reihe späterer Gewährsmänner nähere Kunde nur über deren, d. i. der Skridefinnen, Lebensweise geben, weil allein diese auffällig und interessant war»; the same standpoint has also been adopted by: Linkomies, Keisari Au­gustus ja Rooman perinto p. 211; Setälä, Suomen suku I, 161 f.; T. I. Itkonen, Suomen suku II, 253; Vuorela, Suomensukuiset kansat p. 28.
16 In his supplements to Much's commentary' (pp. 533 f.) Fromm points out: Man muss annehmen, dass unter den Fenni Lappen zu verstehen sind, die damals noch weit nach Süden vorstiessen. (Über finnische ON lappischen Ursprungs und die Ausbreitung des Lappen-Namens - 'möglicherweise bis nach Estland'- jetzt zusammenfassend V. Nissilä, Suomalaista nimistön­tutkimusta . . . 1962. S. 112 -15 . . .) ... An skandinavische Lappen - Much sprach von skandinavischen Finnen, die es erst seit der Neuzeit gibt - wird kaum gedacht sein, weil die Südbewegung der Lappen bis Härjedalen erst im 16. Jh. einsetzte». It seems to me that Fromm has misunderstood Much's explanation and forgotten the φι~ννοι already mentio­ned in Ptol. Geog. 2, 11, 16 (quoted on p. 48 above) in Northern Scandinavia. Much only means that the name Fenni (Finni) in Tacitus' time was already used by the Germans about both Lapps and Baltic Finns, and that Tacitus had confused the two groups, mentioning the habitat of the Baltic Finns but giving a description that referred to the Lapps.
17 Schwarz, Germ. St. pp. 74 f.; Bosch-Gimpera, El Problema Indoeuropeo p. 229.
18 The Ancient Explorers pp. 145, 274 n. 67.
19 Müllenhoff, DA II, 23 also regards Ptolemy's location of the Sulones as incorrect and places them in the neighbourhood of the Goths.
20 Ptolemy's Maps pp. 127 f., quoted on p. 49 above.
21 Mappae mundi I-VI, Stuttgart 1895 -1898.
22 Op. cit. VI, Rekonstruirte Karten
23 Ibid. p. 143; Crone, Maps and their Makers p. 26 regards the question as still unsettled; Kejlbo, Historisk kartografi p. 13 is ready to admit that the so-called T-O maps of the Middle Ages, always oriented with the east at the top, represent the Roman tradilion; the city map of Rome (Forma urbis Romae, the last edition by Carettoni & Colini & Cozza & Gatti, La pianta marmorea di Roma antica, Roma 1960, see esp. pp. 229 ff.) was oriented with the south-east at the top.
24 Specimens of these maps in Kiepert, Formae orbis antiqui pls. 35-36.
25 Miller, op. cit. VI, 145; cf. Crone, op. cit. p. 21.
26 Op. cit. VI, 84.
27 The references are to pages and lines in Mayhoff's edition vol. V.
28 Robinson, The Germania p. 230.
29 See p. 34 n. 1 above.
30 See e. g. E. Itkonen, Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher 32, 1960, 23.'

I think Schütte divided the Tacitus quote in
http://tinyurl.com/342s42x
as follows:
prototype E: 'Below the Venedae are the Gythones, then the Finni, then the Sulones; below whom are the Phrungundiones; then the Avarini near the source of the Vistula river; below these are the Ombrones,'
prototype F: 'then the Anartophracti, then the Burgiones, then the Arsietae, then the Saboci, then the Piengitae and the Biessi near the Carpathian mountains.'

So Pekkanen, following Schütte, arrives at the following sequence of tribes on the southern coast of the Baltic, from west to east:
Ambrones, Varini, Suiones, Finnoi.
Assuming they took their names from an island or river which was the center of their habitation, we can assign them thus:

Ambrones: around the island of Fehmarn, old name Imbria, Widsith Ymbre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fehmarn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrones
http://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/7/0900.html

Varini: around the river Warnow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warnow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warnabi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warni
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warnem%C3%BCnde

Suiones: around the river Świna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oder_Lagoon
Świnoujście or Swinemünde
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Awinouj%C5%9Bcie

And from there there's still a long way to go to Estonia and Finland. If we assume these tribes had approximately equal stretches of coast, the Fennoi should be placed either at the mouth of the Vistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vistula
or in Sambia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambia
which would make them identical to the Aesti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestii


Torsten