Suebian knot

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Suebi knot on the head of the Osterby bog body
Hair fashion among the Teutons (including Suebi knots)

The Suebi knot is a typical Germanic male hairstyle ascribed to the Suebi tribe , which is proven by illustrations, archaeological finds and written records.

description

Coat of arms of the municipality of Osterby with a stylized Suebian knot

According to Tacitus , the warriors of the Germanic tribe of the Suebi combed hair sideways and tied them on the crown to a node high. The point of the knot was to appear bigger and more terrifying in battle. The fashion of the Suebi knot also prevailed among the tribes that were adjacent to the Suebi, but only among the younger warriors, while the Suebi knot was worn into old age. It was also considered a status symbol .

Tacitus wrote in his Germania that the noble Suebi wore the most elaborate knots:

Now I have to report from the Suebi ...; namely, they inhabit most of Germania ...
A hallmark of the tribe is to flick the hair sideways and tie it up in a bun. This is how the Suebi differ from the other Germanic peoples, so with them even the free ones from the slaves ...
In the case of the Suebi, on the other hand, they comb their reluctant hair back into old age and often tie it together exactly on the parting; the noble wear it even more artfully. This is beauty care, but of a harmless kind; because they do not prepare themselves to love or to be loved, but to appear quite big and terrible when they go to war: the plaster is intended for the eye of the enemy ...

Finds and representations

Roman bronze figure of a kneeling Germanic with Suebian knot

The Suebi knot is proven on two bog bodies , the men of Osterby , with the knot on the right temple, and Dätgen , on the back of the head. The municipality of Osterby (Rendsburg-Eckernförde district) , the place where one of the bog bodies was found, has a Suebian knot in its coat of arms. According to the finder , the male bog body from Hooghalen, which was found near the Dutch municipality of Beilen in Drente in 1866 , had long hair like a woman, tied in a knot. Whether this topknot is a suebian knot cannot be confirmed, however, as the body was buried in a cemetery shortly after it was found and has now passed.

Historical pictorial representations of Teutons with Suebi knots or similar hairstyles can be found on, for example:

Carrying method

Tying a Suebi knot requires long hair. The hair is divided into two even strands at the back of the head, combed smooth and placed around the head in opposite directions . On one side of the head, usually in the temple region , the two strands are individually and firmly twisted in the same direction. The two strands are then twisted against each other , with the twist of the two individual strands loosening up again. Finally, a loop is formed from the resulting plait and the protruding end of the plait is put through the loop in a loop. The twisting pulls the resulting knot tight and holds without any further aids.

The man from Osterby was beginning to be bald and had very long and thin hair. Experimental archaeological attempts to wear this hairstyle have shown that the knot only holds as well with very long and thin hair as with the bog body. A certain amount of hair oil also improves the durability of the hairstyle. Strong and full hair is less suitable for this hairstyle due to the fullness.

literature

  • Birte Haak: A few comments on the so-called “Suebian knot” . In: Stefan Burmeister, Heidrun Derks, Jasper von Richthofen (eds.): Forty-two. Festschrift for Michael's 65th birthday fee . Leidorf, Rahden / Westf 2007, ISBN 978-3-89646-425-5 , p. 175-180 .
  • Karl Schlabow : Hairstyle and fur shoulder collar of the bog body from Osterby . In: Offa: Reports and messages from the Schleswig-Holstein museum of prehistoric antiquities in Schleswig and the seminar for prehistory and early history at the University of Kiel . No. 8 , 1949, ISSN  0078-3714 , p. 3-7 .
  • Publius Cornelius Tacitus: Germania - Latin / German. Translated, explained and edited with an afterword by Manfred Fuhrmann. Reclam Verlag, Ditzingen 1972, ISBN 3-15-009391-0 .

Web links

Commons : Suebi knot  - collection of images, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ^ WAB van der Sanden: Mens en moeras . Drents Museum, Assen 1990, ISBN 90-70884-31-3 , p. 53-54 .
  2. ↑ a b c Georg Girke: The costume of the Germanic peoples in prehistoric times . tape 2 . Kabitzsch, Leipzig 1922, p. 1-5, Plates 31-32 ( online [accessed April 6, 2013]).
  3. ↑ M. Macynska, D. Rudnicka, Abstract: A grave with Roman imports from Czarnówko, Lębork district, Pomerania, Poland ( PDF ( Memento from May 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ))
  4. ^ The 'Germanenkessel' by Mušov and Czarnówko Austrian Academy of Sciences (accessed on June 6, 2012)
  5. ↑ http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/Content.Node/schausammlung/funde/a27.html Natural History Museum Vienna
  6. ↑ Michael Cell: Head of a Germanic (head Somzée) . In: 2000 Years of the Varus Battle - Myth . Theiss, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-9808505-8-2 , pp. 282 .
  7. ↑ Christian Heintz: On the Germanic image of the Romans from an archaeological perspective . In: 2000 Years of the Varus Battle - Myth . Theiss, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-9808505-8-2 , pp. 22 .
  8. ↑ Jutta Frings (ed.): Rome and the barbarians. Europe at the time of the Great Migration . Hirmer, Munich 2008. ISBN 978-3-7774-4585-4 . P. 105
  9. ↑ Jutta Frings (ed.): Rome and the barbarians. Europe at the time of the Great Migration . Hirmer, Munich 2008 ISBN 978-3-7774-4585-4 . P. 29 (Standing barbarian on the right edge of the side panel)
  10. ^ British Museum London, Blacas Collection, inventory number no. GR1867.5-8.644
  11. ↑ http://www.osterby.de/osterby/Haartracht_Pelzschulterkragen/aussehen_moorleiche.htm
  12. ↑ Schlabow: Hairstyle and fur shoulder collar of the bog body from Osterby .
  13. ↑ Haak: A few remarks on the so-called "Suebian knot" . P. 179.