Alcis

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The Alcis , also Alken , are in Germanic mythology a brother couple of two youths who were venerated in the first century AD by the East Germanic tribe of the Nahanarvalers and resemble the Greek Dioscuri .

swell

Publius Cornelius Tacitus.

The Alcis are only attested by the Roman historian Tacitus in his work Germania , which was written around 100 AD. He writes about them:

“Apud Naharvalos antiquae religionis lucus ostenditur. praesidet sacerdos muliebri ornatu, sed deos interpretatione Romana Castorem Pollucemque memorant. ea vis numini, noun Alcis. nulla simulacra, nullum peregrinae superstitionis vestigium; ut fratres tamen, ut iuvenes venerantur. "

“The Nahanarvalers show a grove, an ancient place of worship. Head is a priest in women's costume. The deities, it is reported, could be called Castor and Pollux according to Roman interpretation. They correspond in their essence: they are called alkene. There are no portraits, no trace of a foreign origin of the cult, nevertheless they are venerated as brothers, as youths. "

- Tacitus, Germania, 43.3 (translation by Manfred Fuhrmann )

research

Dioscurian gods

Roman marble statuettes of Castor and Pollux from the 3rd century AD

Tacitus describes the Alcis as two fraternal youths who, according to his Interpretatio Romana, resemble Castor and Pollux. These are the Roman equivalent of the Greek twins Castor and Polydeukes , who were called Dioscurs , Greek dios kuroi "sons of Zeus". Originally they were worshiped in the form of horses and were, by their very nature, the patrons of riders, as well as helpers and rescuers in all dangers, especially in battles and on the open sea. Her mother was Leda ("the woman"), her father was the sky god Zeus . The beautiful Helena was her sister.

“Polydeukes was immortal, while Castor was mortal. When he died, the brother did not want to part with him. So the two of them always spent one day together in the underworld and one day upstairs with their father. […] What Polydeukes chose was to share in light and darkness for all times. [...] They lived in their dark underground dwelling when they weren't enjoying the heavenly light. "

- Karl Kerényi : The Mythology of the Greeks

The divine twins, one of which is mortal and the other immortal, go back to the mythical world of the Indo-Europeans . They are seen as horse or bird-shaped children of the sky god and liberate or court the virgin daughter of the sun. They do not represent a force of nature, but guide the sun across the sky. They were generally revered as saviors and protectors. They were of great importance not only to the Greeks and Romans, but also to the Indians and Balts , while they are only shadowy among the Celts and Teutons. In addition to the Alcis nor the legendary, almost mythical in the Germanic tradition can tribal leader Ibur and Aio or Aggi and Ebbi with the Lombards , Raos and raptos with the Vandals and the Anglian brothers Hengest and Horsa in which even shines still clearly on behalf a horse shape to be compared with the Dioscuri.

etymology

If one understands Alcis as a vulgar Latin form of Latin alces , then her name means "elk". Alces is a Latin borrowing from ancient Germanic * algiz ~ elxaz ~ elxōn (e.g. anord. Elgr , aengl . Eolh , ahd. Elaho ) with the same meaning that has been part of the Latin vocabulary since Caesar's book The Gallic War . This is certainly a folk etymology .

Alcis would mean “protective deities” if the word actually had an Urm. * alxaz would go back, so that it is from commonerm . * alh "protection, house, temple" would be derived. In this case the word would be in connection with got. Alhs "temple", asächs. alah "ds.", anord. - áll , aengl . ealh 'protection, house', ealgian 'protect, protect, defend ”, as well as lit. al̃kas , alkà , elkas "grove of gods, holy grove" and lett. ę̀lks "the idol, the idol".

It can be assumed that a Roman reader read Germania alcis as alces "Elche". However, the different derivations do not have to contradict each other. The meaning “elk” is based on the Roman horizon of understanding, which does not necessarily have to have grasped the real meaning. For the interpretation as “protective deities” speaks above all the agreement in the name meaning of other Dioskuric deities, namely the ancient Indian Nasatyas “the healers” or “protectors, helpers” and the Greek “saviors”, the σωτηρες (soteres).

shape

Elk, from the Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers

In what form the Alcis was worshiped is uncertain.

Their veneration as brothers and young men suggests a human figure. The equation of the brothers with Castor and Pollux is irrelevant here, since Tacitus does not compare the exterior of the Alcis, but expressly only the essence with them.

A Roman reader of Germania had to draw the conclusion, because of the name, that the brothers were venerated in the shape of an elk. The fact that moose do not occur today in Silesia, where the cult of Alcis is located (see below), is not an obstacle, as moose lived in Central Europe in earlier times. In addition, the Germanic elk word could also be used to denote other species of deer. The relation of the Alcis to the elk or other deer species is supported solely by the interpretation of their name as "elk".

For a while it was believed that a Latène period urn vase found in eastern Silesia near Lahse (today a district of Orlová in the Czech Republic ) would substantiate the moose shape thesis. On the vase there are carved pairs of animals, which are connected by a horizontal line, and which could be interpreted as deer (but just as well as horses). But nowadays the vase is no longer associated with the Alcis. Dioscuric motifs among the Teutons in the form of figures or as portraits on bracteates from the migration period otherwise only show twin pairs in human or horse form.

From the Indo-European tradition, animal figures such as horses or birds can be deduced for Dioskuric deities, but no deer. Deer as draft animals of a chariot of gods are documented for the cult of the Greek Artemis , deer and hind were considered their animals. There is also evidence that a Gothic king had a float that was pulled by domesticated deer. One could therefore think of the fact that the horse, as the draft animal of the sun chariot, took on the mythological role that the deer had previously, the cult is described as ancient. However, this would presuppose that the deer had been domesticated before the horse, which it was not.

cult

The Alcis are an example of the fact that the Germanic peoples cultivated their cults in sacred groves without images, as Tacitus describes as a general characteristic of Germanic cults elsewhere in Germania . This place of worship evidently represented the central sanctuary of the Lugians.

priest

The sanctuary was presided over by a male priest who was endowed with female characteristics. Tacitus uses the Latin expression muliebris ornatus "equipment, garment or jewelry of women". Colorful (unstrapped) women’s clothing or female jewelry items come into question. But it is also conceivable that the Alcis priest only used a female headdress. Georges Dumézil put forward the thesis that muliebris ornatus mean female hairstyle. In his opinion, Tacitus' expression is related to the name of the Vandal family of Hasdingi , whose first syllable can be translated as "hair" and which are related to the Nordic twins named Haddingjar , but this thesis does not find any in the literal sense of muliebris ornatus Basis.

The sense of the female presentation is not clear. There was also ritual transvestism in the Roman world. In Rome the priest of the great mother , the magna mater or terra mater , wore women's robes, on Kos the priest of Heracles wore , as did a priest on a Cretan mural. Perhaps the opposite-sex clothing is related to fertility cults, since twins were considered a symbol of particular fertility. The female equipment could also echo female shamanism ( Sergej A. Tokarev ). However, it is just as conceivable that it goes back to male shamanism.

location

The Zobtenberg.

The sanctuary of Alcis was probably in Silesia , since according to ancient authors, the Lugians , to whom Tacitus counts the Naharnavaler, settled in this landscape. Another spatial limitation may allow his remark that the cult is very old. Provided that the holy place was never moved, it follows that the place of worship of the Alcis was also very old. The older research therefore believed that the sanctuary of the Alcis was on the Zobtenberg . The Zobtenberg, which is also called Ślęża, gave Silesia its name. It is located in Central Silesia and represents the highest elevation in its area. Old traces of cult were actually found on the hill, but there are no remains that indicate a cult site in the 1st century. The remains found are dated to the Bronze Age or the Early Iron Age , so that there is a gap of at least 500 years between this and the time of Tacitus.

literature

In the order of the year of publication.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tacitus: Germania. In the translation by Manfred Fuhrmann. Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 1971
  2. ↑ Karl Kerényi: The mythology of the Greeks. 2 volumes. 11th edition. dtv-Verlag, Munich 1988, Volume 2, p. 89
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Gerhard Perl: Tacitus - Germania. 1990, p. 248
  4. ^ A b Karl Kerényi: The Mythology of the Greeks. 2 volumes. 11th edition. dtv-Verlag, Munich 1988, Volume 1, p. 86
  5. ↑ Karl Kerényi: The mythology of the Greeks. 2 volumes. 11th edition. dtv-Verlag, Munich 1988, Volume 1, p. 86 f. and Volume 2, p. 94
  6. ↑ a b c Jan de Vries: Old Germanic history of religion. 1957, § 496
  7. ↑ a b c d Åke V. Ström: Germanic and Baltic religion. 1975, pp. 87-89
  8. ^ A b Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 71.
  9. ^ Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic Mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 12.
  10. ↑ a b c d Jan de Vries: Old Germanic history of religion. 1957, § 499
  11. ^ A b Rudolf Simek: Lexicon of Germanic mythology (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 368). 3rd, completely revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-520-36803-X , p. 11.
  12. ↑ Compare Julius Pokorny: Indo-European Dictionary. A. Francke Verlag, Bern 1959, Volume 1, p. 303
  13. ↑ Caesar: De bello Gallico. Book 6, Chapter 27, 1: “Sunt item, quae appellantur alces.” Caesar wrote his work around 52/51 BC. That is about 150 years before Tacitus. Some researchers believe that the chapter was added later (in the 1st century AD?).
  14. ↑ Gerhard Köbler: Germanic dictionary. 3. Edition. 2003. Keyword "alh"
  15. ^ Gerhard Köbler: Old English dictionary. 2nd Edition. 2003. Keyword: "ealgian". Online ( Memento of the original from October 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / homepage.uibk.ac.at
  16. ^ Hjalmar Falk , Alf Torp : Vocabulary of the Germanic language unit. 1909, p. 15
  17. ^ Wilhelm Heizmann: Hirsch. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. 2nd Edition. Vol. 14, p. 595
  18. ↑ Jan de Vries: Old Germanic history of religion. 1957, § 498
  19. ↑ a b c Will-Erich Peuckert : Hirsch. In: Concise dictionary of German superstition . Vol. 4, Col. 89 f.
  20. ^ Åke V. Ström: Germanic and Baltic religion. 1975, p. 88
  21. ^ A b Wilhelm Heizmann: Hirsch. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. 2nd Edition. Vol. 14, p. 607
  22. ^ Tacitus: Germania. 7, 9
  23. ↑ a b c d e Gerhard Perl: Tacitus - Germania. 1990, p. 247
  24. ↑ Jacques Brosse: Mythology of Trees. 4th edition. Ostfildern 2003, ISBN 978-3-530-11616-8 , p. 34
  25. ↑ Jan de Vries: Old Germanic history of religion. 1957, § 498, which cites some references, but does not express an opinion itself. Also compare Manfred Fuhrmann in the notes to his translation of Tacitus: Germania. Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 1971, p. 56.