Pekkanen on Bastarnae

Pekkanen
The Ethnic Origin of the δουλοσπόροι
pp. 108-114

'THEIR DEGENERACY

The latter part of Tacitus' short passage about the Sithones, the words in tantum non modo a libertate sed etiam a servitute degenerant, has as a rule been regarded as an epigram invented by Tacitus himself and no importance has been attached to it in attempts to settle the question about the ethnic origin of these tribes. It seems to me, however, that the key to the whole riddle lies in this very statement.

It was established above that the Sithones, being identical with the Sidones of Strabo, represent the northern group of the Bastarnic tribes.1 Much established that Tacitus derived information about the Peucini-Bastarnae from the same source as Strabo in 7, 3, 17. Tacitus, however, may have supplemented this source with later records, in which the connection between the northern and southern tribes of the Bastarnae was no longer accepted. I also arrived at the conclusion that the tribes of the Sithones, Sithonum gentes, are identical with Str. 7, 3, 17 βαστάρναι . . . εις πλείω φυ~λα διη,ρημένοι except for the Peucini and Atmoni. This conclusion is based on the fact that Tacitus does not mention the different tribes when discussing the Peucini-Bastarnae. This implies that with one particular group of the Bastarnae he has associated information - that they were divided into individual tribes - information which in Str. 7, 3, 17 is connected with all of them. In these circumstances there is enough reason to presume that the idea of the Sithones being degenerate may originally have also had some bearing on the main group, i. e. degeneracy may have been thought of as a characteristic of all the Bastarnae, although in Tacitus' account it is connected only with the northern group. In support of this assumption the following facts may bo presented.

Much has compared the name Bastarnae, Basternae with the Gothic widu-wairna 'orphan', actually 'son of a widow' ('Waise', 'Witwensohn'), *þiwairnō 'harlot', actually 'daughter of a menial' ('Dime', 'Knechtstochter').1 In his opinion the name should be considered as a compound, the latter part of which has a common origin with the Greek `έρνος 'shoot', 'sprout', 'offspring' ('Spross', 'Sprössling'). The first part of it he connects with Old French bast 'unlawful intercourse' ('Kebsehe'), which he considers to be of German origin, and the meaning of the compound is thus 'the Offspring of unlawful intercourse', 'the Bastards'. The opposite of this name would be that of the Sciri, which is derived by Much and others from German *skīra- (cf. Gothic skeirs, Old Nordic skírr) 'clear', 'bright', 'sheer', 'unblemished' ('glanzend', 'hell', 'lauter, 'unvermischt'), cf. Old Nordic skírborinn, skírgetinn 'of genuine birth' ('von echter Geburt'). Much's etymology has been widely accepted among scholars,2 although - as Fromm points out 3 - it docs not rest on a firm enough foundation.

In support of his etymology Much also referred to Tacitus' statement in Germ. 46, 1 Peucini, quos quidam Bastarnas vocant . . . conubiis mixtis nonnihil. in Sarmatarum habitum foedantur. Since he was convinced of the essentially German origin of the Bastarnae, he thought that this group should be considered as offspring of marriages between German conquerors and women of Sarmatic origin.
Much's explanation that the Bastarnae actually were 'bastards' implies that this group of tribes had got its name because it was considered to be of low birth or degenerate. Therefore, Tacitus' statement about the degeneracy of the Sithones fits well my earlier conclusion that they represent in reality the northern Bastarnic tribes. And if the name of the Bastarnae bears evidence of the fact that they were looked upon as degenerate, there is, as it seems to me, every reason to assume that Tacitus' statement about the degeneracy of one Bastarnic group is ultimately derived from a source dealing with all of them. Much's etymology implies, as Schmidt points out,1 that the Bastarnae must already have been considered degenerate at the time when their name first appears in history, i. e. in the latter half of the third century B.C. However, no evidence of their degeneracy at such an early date has thus far been found; Schmidt is therefore apt to reject Much's etymology altogether. Nevertheless, it seems to me that such evidence can be found in the extant literary records.

Our most important source about the early history of the Bastarnae is the anonymous Periegesis ad Nicomedem regem (= Nic.), generally known as Pseudo-Scymnus.2 The poem was in all probability written between 133 - 116 B.C.3 The Bastarnae appear in Nic. 794 as neighbours of the Thracians: θρα,~κες τε βαστάρναι τ` `επήλυδες . . . Müllenhoff concluded that Pseudo-Scymnus derived his information about the Bastarnae from Demetrius of Callatis,4 whom he mentions by name in vv. 117, 719, 793(796), 879, and Müllenhoff's views have generally been accepted.5 The adjective `επήλυδες gives evidence of the fact that Demetrius, who lived circa 200 B.C., was aware of the arrival of the Bastarnae to the regions around the mouth of the Danube. On the evidence of Pomp. Trog. prol. 28 the time of the Bastarnic migration has been fixed to 233 - 230 B.C.6

From Nic. 794 we know that the Bastarnae were regarded as newcomers, but we do not know exactly from where they came. Neither is the extent of their habitat at that early date at all clear. These difficulties are to a great extent due to the fact that the text of Pseudo-Scymnus is preserved in a very fragmentary state.7 Only about half of the work is preserved in codex D, the only one we have, but additional fragments of it are embedded in the Periplus Ponti Euxini (= Eux.), likewise anonymous, which according to Diller is not earlier than the latter half of the sixth century A.D.1 Nic. describes the coast of Europe from the Pillars of Heracles to Mt Haemus on the left side of the Euxine Sea, where the text breaks off and the end of the codex is lost. The remaining part of Nic, from v. 744 onwards, thus consists of reconstructions only, based on Eux.; Nic. 794 has been reconstructed from Eux. 63 ο´υ~τοι θρα,~κες κα`ι βαστάρναι `επήλυδες. The reconstruction θρα,~κες τε βαστάρναι τ` `επήλυδες ... is that of Diller himself; Müller gives in brackets the suggestion of Holsten (1630) ο`υτοι δ`ε θρα,~κες βαστάρναι τ` `επήλυδες. Both editors, Müller and Diller, place the verse in question so that there is a lacuna both before and after it. In these circumstances, we do not know what the original context was in which the Bastarnae appeared. The only thing about which we may be sure is that the Bastarnae were mentioned in it as newcomers and neighbours of the Thracians. As Nic. is a description of the coast, we can also say that the name βαστάρναι. belonged to those who lived on the western shore of the Euxine Sea in the neighbourhood of the Thracians. Since Nic. describes the coast from south to north, the mutual order of these two groups must have been such that the first mentioned of them, the Thracians, were farther to the south and the Bastarnae to the north of them. That being so, it is worth while examining the information the same author gives in the other parts of his poem about the northern neighbours of the Thracians.

When commencing his description of Thrace, Pseudo-Scymnus says that the Thracians occupied the land extending to the river Danube in the north: Nic. 664 f. τ`ην ´υπεράνω χώραν δ`ε μέχρι τον ποντικου~ / `ίστρου παρεκτείνουσι θρα,~κες νεμόμενοι. Later on he makes this definition more accurate by stating that the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of Odessos (modern Varna) were still Thracian Crobyzi, but that Dionysopolis lay in the frontier between the Crobyzi and the Scythians:
Nic. 748 ff.
(`οδησσ`ος πόλις) μιλήσιοι /
κτίζουσιν `αστνάγης ´ότ` `η~ρχε μηδίας· /
θρα,~κας κροβύζους `εν κύκλω, δ` α´υτη~ς `έχει. /
(διονυσόπολις) πρω~τον `ωνομάζετο /
κρουνο`ι δι`α τ`ας τω~ν `εγγ`υς ´υδάτων `εκρύσεις· /
διονυσιακου~ δ`ε προσπεσόντος ´υστερον /
`εκ τη~ς θαλάττης το~ις τόποις `αγάλματος, /
διονυσπόπολιν λέγουσι κληθη~ναι πάλιν· /
`εν μεθορίοις δ`ε τη~ς κροβύζων κα`ι σκύθω~ν /
χώρας μιγάδας ´έλληνας ο`ικητ`ας `έχει.
Cf. Eux. 78 and 80. In the sequel, Tomi is mentioned as surrounded by Scythians on every side:
Nic. 764 f.
(τομέοι πόλις) `άποικοι γενόμενοι μιλησίων, /
´υπ`ο σκύθω~ν κύκλω, <δ`ε περι>οικούμενοι.
Cf. Eux. 72. The northern frontier of the Thracians on the coast of the Euxine Sea is defined in the passages quoted in a completely unambiguous way, for the region of Dionysopolis is expressly mentioned as being the frontier between the Crobyzi, the northernmost of the coastal tribes of the Thracians, and the Scythians. On the other hand, in Nic. 794 the Bastarnae are also mentioned as the northern neighbours of the Thracians on the same coast. It seems to me a reasonable solution to assume that the neighbours of the Thracians, who in Nic. 794 are called βαστάρναι and in Nic. 756, 765 σκύθαι, were in reality σκύθαι βaστάρναι, in other words the same group had two names, the connection between which, however, is difficult to perceive owing to the fragmentary state of Nic1

As a matter of fact, compound names are not unusual in Nic, particularly when the author mentions tribes living in the frontier area between two main groups of nations. So, for example, in his description of the Adriatic coast he separates the `ίστροι from the `ενετοί, which he mentions as of Paphlagonian origin, by saying that they are θρα,~κες `ίστροι:
Nic. 387 ff.
`ενετω~ν δ` ε`ισι πεντήκοντά που /
πόλεις `εν α`υτω,~ κείμεναι πρ`ος τω,~ μυχω,~, /
ο´`υς δ`η μετελθει~ν φασιν `εκ τη~ς παφλαγόνων /
χώρας κατοικη~σαί τε περ`ι τ`ον `αδρίαν. /
`ενετω~ν `έχονται θρα,~κες `ίστροι λεγόμενοι.
In a similar manner in the actual description of Thrace (Nic. 664 ff.) the names of the southernmost and northernmost Thracian tribes, the βίστονες and κρόβυζοι are given with the attribute θρα,~κες:
Nic. 673 ff.
`εκ δ`ε τω~ν προς `ανατολήν /
μερω~ν λαβου~σα το`ύνομ` `απ`ο τω~ν βιστόνων /
θρα,κω~ν προμήκης `εστί λίμνη βιστονίς;
ib. 750 θρα,~κας κροβύζους `εν κύκλω, δ` α´υτη~ς `έχει.
In these circumstances it is quite reasonable to expect that, when beginning his description of the coastal area after Thrace with Scythia, the author would provide the first individual name with an explanation. The reconstruction σκύθαι βαστάρναι corresponds perfectly to Nic. 391 θρα,~κες `ίστροι, 674 f. βίστονες θρα,~κες, and 750 θρα,~κες κρόβυζοι and therefore it is quite possible that in the original context the connection between the names βαστάρναι and σκύθαι was still apparent. One might easily complete Diller's reconstruction of Nic. 794 by adding the missing σκύθαι so that the result would be θρα~κές τε βαστάρναι τ' `επήλνδες <σκύθαι>.

Even if we suppose that in the original context of Nic. the Bastarnae were not expressis verbis called Scythians, the fact in itself that both the σκύθαι and the βαστάρναι were said to be neighbours of the Thracians along the same coast already justifies us assuming their identity. The truth is that a tribe or group of tribes known by a compound designation like the reconstructed σκύθαι βαστάρναι is quite commonly mentioned in the ancient records by only one part of the compound. Our literary sources on the Bastarnae alone abound in examples of this wide-spread practice:
Plu. Aem. 9, 6 γαλάτας . . ., βαστέρναι καλου~νται;
ib. 12, 4 βαστέρναι;
ib. 13,1 το`υς γαλάτας;
Plb. 25, 6 (26, 9) τω~ν γαλατω~ν,
but later in the same passage το`υς βαστάρνας;
Liv. 40, 5, 10; 40, 57 - 58; 41, 19, 4 ff.; 42, 11, 4;
perioch. 134 Bastarnae (Basternae),
but the same group 44, 26, 2 ff. Galli;
App. Mac. 18 γέται (cf. Liv. 44, 26, 2 ff. Galli);
App. Mac. 11; App. Mith. 15; 69; App. Ill. 4; 22 βαστάρναι (βαστέρναι);
App. Syr. 6 γαλάται.
In all these cases the context and the historical facts mentioned in it prove that these different names relate to one and the same group of tribes, the Bastarnae.13 If the context had been corrupted, as it is in Nic. 794, the γαλάται (Galli) and γέται of the sources enumerated might very easily be regarded as different groups bearing no relation to the Bastarnae.

The Scythians bordering on the Thracian Crobyzi on the western coast of the Euxine Sea are also known from other sources. An important argument in support of the above assumption of their identity with the Bastarnae is that the elder Pliny in nat. 4, 80 describes them as Scythae degeneres et a servis orti aut Trogodytae, although, as Müller points out,14 he has transferred them together with the Crobyzi,18 mentioned in nat. 4, 82, too far north. The identity of the Scythae degeneres . . . aut Trogodytae with the northern neighbours of the Crobyzi in Nic. 756 is based on the comparison of the following sources, quoted by Müller:
Nic. 756 κροβύζων κα`ι σκυθων . . . ;
Str. 7, 5, 12 κρόβυζοι κα`ι ο´ι τρωγλοδύται . . . ;
Ptol. Geog. 3, 10, 4 τρωγλοδύται . . . κρόβυζοι.
Since the neighbours of the Crobyzi are called alternately σκύθαι and τρωγλοδύται in these sources, their identity with the group called by Pliny Scythae . . . aut Trogodytae is in my opinion quite indisputable. The Scythae degeneres might quite well be called 'Bastard-Scythians' and as a matter of fact Cuno calls them by this name,16 although he is not in any sense aware of their connection with the Bastarnae, whose name, according to Much's widely-accepted explanation, means 'the Bastards'. That being so, we know 'bastards' from two different sources and both these sources allow us to place them in the immediate neighbourhood of the northernmost Thracians on the western shore of the Euxine Sea. I am fully convinced that it is absolutely impossible to separate these 'bastards' from one another and therefore I regard the Scythae degeneres et a servis orti as identical with the βαστάρναι of Nic. 794, and the σκύθαι of Nic. 756, 765. These combinations allow us to establish that the Bastarnae appeared as a 'degenerate' group from the very beginning of their history, which gives strong support to Much's explanation of their name, and at the same time refutes the objections raised by Schmidt against it. It also becomes quite evident that Tacitus' statement about the degeneracy of the Sithones cannot be an invention of his own but must have been derived from the same tradition which appears in the Plinian words degeneres et a servis orti. As a matter of fact, there is a striking similarity in these words to Tacitus' expression non modo a libertate sed etiam a servitute degenerant. The verb degenerant in this expression is equivalent to degeneres sunt17 and considering the inconcinnity, a well-known characteristic of Tacitus' style,15 it seems to me quite possible that a servitute is even equivalent to a servis, the lack of symmetry being in this case expressed with the parallelism of two abstract nouns (a libertate - a servitute), the latter, however, having a secondary, concrete meaning. The words a servitute degenerant may in this way be understood in the sense of a servis degeneres sunt, thus making the similarity to the Plinian degeneres et a servis orti more pronounced.




1 See above, pp. 83-86.

1 PBB 17, 1893, 37; Germanistische Forschungen p. 22; Die Germania p. 528; OV p. 104.

2 Gutenbrunner, Germanische Frühzeit p. 93 »Die Bastarnen sind also 'Sprösslinge aus nicht ebenbürtigen Ehen'; ihr Name bestätigt also, was Tacitus aus der teilweise ungermanischcn Körpergestalt geschlossen hat, dass sich nämlich die Bastarnen auf dem Zug nach dem Südosten mit Angehörigen fremder Völker verbunden hatten. Dass die Germanen selbst den Namen so verstanden haben, zeigt der entgegengesetzte Sinn des Namens der Skiren»; Schwarz, Germ. St. p. 49; Fehrle & Hünnerkopf, Germania p. 134; Petersen VDS III, 868; Kluge & Mitzka, Etymol. Wörterbuch s. v. Bastard; Wenskus, Stammesbildung p. 22; Klein, Südosteuropa I, 1959, 34 n. 9.

3 In Much, Die Germania p. 528.

1 Die Ostgermanen p. 88 n. 6 »Die Deutung des Namens durch Much als 'Bastarde' im Hinblick auf die durch Tacitus bezeugte Mischung mit Sarmaten ist durchaus abzulehnen, da zu der Zeit, als der Name zuerst auftritt, von einer D e g e n e r a t i o n (the typographical spacing is mine) keine Rede sein konnte».

2 Diller, The Tradition of the Minor Greek Geographers p. 165.

3 Ginsinger, RE III A, 674.

4 DA II, 104; III, 38; cf. Ginsinger, RE III A, 685.

5 Schmidt, Die Ostgermanen pp. 87 f.; Schwarz, Germ. St. p. 47.

6 Schmidt, loc. cit.

7 Published by Müller, GGM I, 196 - 237; vv. 722 - 1026 by Diller, op. cit. pp. 165 - 176.

1 In the later sources the Bastarnae are classed among the Scythians by Dio Cassius and Zosimus:
D. C 28, 10, 3 τ`ο δ` α`υτ`ο του~το κα`ι ηερ`ι το`υς συμμάχους το`υς `εν τη,~ μυσία ποιήσας (scil. G. Antonius) ´ηττήθη <πρ`ος> τη,~ τω~ν `ιστριανω~ν πόλει προς τω~ν σ κ υ θ ω~ ν τω~ν β α σ τ α ρ ν ω~ ν, `επιβησάντων α`υτοι~ς, κα`ι `απέδρα;
51, 23, 2 ´ο κράσσος ´ο μα~ρκος `ές τε τ`ην μακεδονίαν κα`ι `ες τ`ην ´ελλάδα πεμφθε`ις τοι~ς τε δακοι~ς κα`ι < τοις > βαστάρναις `επολέμησε. κα`ι περ`ι μ`εν `εκείνων, ο´ίτινες τέ ε`ισι κα`ι δι`α τί `επολεμώθησαν, ε`ίρηται· β α σ τ ά ρ ν α ι δ`ε σ κ ύ θ α ι τε `ακριβω~ς νενομίδαται κτλ.;
Zos. 1,71,1
β α σ τ έ ρ ν α ς δέ, σ κ υ θ ι κ `ο ν `έ θ ν ο ς, ´υποπεσόντας α`υτω,~ προσέμενος κατω,~κισε (scil. Probus) θρα,κίοις χωρίοις.

13 For the history of the Bastarnae cf.
DA II, 104 - 112;
Schmidt, Die Ostgermanen pp. 86 - 99;
RE III, 110 - 113;
Schwarz, Germ. St. pp. 47 - 53.

2 Ptol. Geog. vol. I: 1, 463.

3 For this tribe see Detschew, Die thrakischen Sprachreste p. 268.

16 Forschungen I, 125.

17 Persson, Tacitus' mindre skrifter p. 259.

18 Gudeman, De Germania (1938) p. 372; Voss, Der pointierte Stil des Tacitus p. 13.'


Thus, the 'Bastard Scythians'.



Torsten