Hellespont (Duna)

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Hellespont ( Russian Геллеспонт ) was a principality in the 8th and 9th centuries, probably at the mouth of the Dunes in what is now Latvia . It is mentioned several times by Saxo Grammaticus in the Gesta Danorum .

It was not synonymous with Gardarike , the Kiev area .

Surname

The meaning of the name is unclear. Pontos means in the Greek Sea , Helles- could be derived from Holger or a similar name.

Hellespont was also the name for the Dardanelles , a strait in the Aegean Sea . Since the people mentioned came exclusively from Denmark or Sweden , this area cannot have been meant. Saxo Grammaticus often used Greek-sounding forms of names in the Gesta Danorum : "Dian" like "Diana", "Vespasus" like "Vespasian" etc.

location

In Russian-language literature, Hellespont is usually equated with Gardarike, the area around Kiev or Novgorod .

But: Hellespont was attacked several times by Danish Viking princes in the 8th and 9th centuries . These acted mainly in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea . There are no records of journeys to Kiev. Hvitserk ruled z. B. around 835 in the Danish Reidagotland ( Jutland ) and Hellespont.

Saxo Grammaticus named the castle "Duna" as the seat of the "King" of Hellespont. Their name could refer to the Daugava , a river that flows into the Baltic Sea near Riga . The name "pontos", "sea" indicates a location on a coast.

Hellespont was therefore probably in an area around the mouth of the Dunes in the Baltic Sea.

history

Hellespont is only mentioned briefly in Saxo Grammaticus. After that, in the 8th century, a "King" Handwanus ruled in the castle "Duna" , who was attacked twice by Danish Viking princes. Handwanus was obviously not a Viking, he had a name not common in Scandinavia.

Around 835, the Swedish-Danish Viking king Ragnar Lodbrok conquered Hellespont and installed his son Hvitserk as ruler. After five years he was killed there.

Princes of Hellespont

swell

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Helles- derived there from Helle , a person of Greek mythology .
  2. ↑ Danish Vikings were not Swedish Varangians who were traveling in Gardarike.
  3. ↑ Novgorod or Kiev cannot have been meant, they are very far from Jutland. And Hvitserk was killed by the Huns in the Norse Ragnar saga , at that time also a name for Gardarike, he himself was not one of them.
  4. ↑ Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum 1, 9.