The Germany and the Agricola of TacitusTacitus, Cornelius
History
The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
Tacitus, Cornelius
Agricola, Gnaeus Julius, 40-93; Germanic peoples -- Early works to 1800; Statesmen -- Rome -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
[64] That is, as in the preceding case, a deity whose attributes
corresponded to those of the Roman Mars. This appears to have been
not _Thor_, who is rather the representative of the Roman Jupiter, but
_Tyr_, "a warrior god, and the protector of champions and brave men!"
"From _Tyr_ is derived the name given to the third day of the week in
most of the Teutonic languages, and which has been rendered into Latin
by _Dies Martis_. Old Norse, _Tirsdagr_, _Tisdagr_; Swedish, _Tisdag_;
Danish, _Tirsdag_; German, _Dienstag_; Dutch, _Dingsdag_; Anglo-Saxon,
_Tyrsdaeg_, _Tyvesdag_, _Tivesdaeg_; English, _Tuesday_"--(Mallet's
North. Ant. ch. v.)--_White_.
[65] The Suevi appear to have been the Germanic tribes, and this also
the worship spoken of at chap. xl. _Signum in modum liburnae figuration
_corresponds with the _vehiculum_ there spoken of; the real thing being,
according to Ritter's view, a pinnace placed on wheels. That _signum
ipsum _("the very symbol") does not mean any image of the goddess, may
be gathered also from ch. xl., where the goddess herself, _si credere
velis_, is spoken of as being washed in the sacred lake.
[66] As the Romans in their ancient coins, many of which are now extant,
recorded the arrival of Saturn by the stern of a ship; so other nations
have frequently denoted the importation of a foreign religious rite by
the figure of a galley on their medals.
[67] Tacitus elsewhere speaks of temples of German divinities (e.g. 40;
Templum Nerthae, Ann. i. 51; Templum Tanfanae); but a consecrated grove,
or any other sacred place, was called templum by the Romans.
[68] The Scythians are mentioned by Herodotus, and the Alans by Ammianus
Marcellinus, as making use of these divining rods. The German method of
divination with them is illustrated by what is said by Saxo-Grammaticus
(Hist. Dan. xiv, 288) of the inhabitants of the Isle of Rugen in the
Baltic Sea: "Throwing, by way of lots, three pieces of wood, white in
one part, and black in another, into their laps, they foretold good
fortune by the coming up of the white; bad by that of the black."
[69] The same practice obtained among the Persians, from whom the
Germans appear to be sprung. Darius was elected king by the neighing
of a horse; sacred white horses were in the army of Cyrus; and Xerxes,
retreating after his defeat, was preceded by the sacred horses
and consecrated chariot. Justin (i. 10) mentions the cause of this
superstition, viz. that "the Persians believed the Sun to be the only
God, and horses to be peculiarly consecrated to him." The priest of the
Isle of Rugen also took auspices from a white horse, as may be seen in
Saxo-Grammaticus.
[70] Montesquieu finds in this custom the origin of the duel, and of
knight-errantry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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