Kimmerer

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The Cimmerians or Cimmerians ( ancient Greek Κιμμέριοι, Kimmerioi ; Assyrian Gimir-ri / Gimir-rai , singular Gimir, biblical Gomer ) were an Indo-European horsemen of antiquity, which according to Greek writers such as Herodotus originally the Cimmerian Bosporus today ( Kerch Strait between the Crimea and southern Russia ) and was resident in the northern Caucasus . According to consistent Greek and Assyrian sources, the Cimmerians moved from the late 8th century BC. BC across the Caucasus to Anatolia , where they first smashed the Phrygian Empire and for decades were a threat to the Greek cities of Asia Minor and the Lydian Empire .

Written sources

Greeks

In the Odyssey , Homer describes the land and city of the Cimmerian men, who lay in the outermost edge of the deep Ocean , near the entrance to Hades . In their area there was constant night and fog ("Cimmerian darkness"), Helios would not shine here. Perhaps the Hippemolges mentioned in the Iliad , “the most excellent of all peoples”, can be identified as cimmerians .

Aristeas of Prokonnesus mentions the Cimmerians as inhabitants of the steppes on the north shore of the Black Sea ( Arimaspeia ), around the 7th century BC. In the description of the earth by Hecataeus of Miletus , an invasion of the Scythians into the territory of the Cimmerians is described. This work is considered to be Herodotus' source for the Scythian campaign of the Persian king Dareios I.

Herodotus reports that the Kimmerer settled on the northern edge of the Black Sea long before his time and that the Scythians who lived there in Herodotus' time were once driven from their former homeland. According to Herodotus, this is indicated by place names such as Cimmerian festivals , Cimmerian ford and Cimmerian Bosporus . The Cimmerians were ruled by kings, but important decisions were apparently made by the popular assembly. A battle broke out because the Cimmerians were threatened by the Scythians and the people and kings could not agree on whether to flee or perish in the resistance. The dead were then buried on the Tyras River . Thereupon the Kimmerer fled, following the sea coast, to Asia Minor , only a few found refuge in the Crimea . The Scythians pursued them, but took a different route south, with the Caucasus on their right, that is, closer to the Caspian Sea, and therefore could not find them. Phillips believes that the Kimmerians used the Dariel Gorge in the middle of the Caucasus , while the Scythians advanced via Derbent in the east. Instead, they attacked the Medes . The Kimmerer later settled on the Sinop peninsula .

After Strabo the Kimmerer advanced to Paphlagonia and attacked the Phrygian empire . Their king Midas , son of Gordios , took his own life by "drinking ox blood" when the Cimmerians attacked the capital Gordion (696 or 679 BC). The Kimmerer settled around Sinop and killed the Milesian Habron.

Aristotle reports that the Cimmerians took Antadros at the foot of the Ida and ruled for a hundred years. The Kimmerer attacked the Lydian king Ardys II , son of Gyges , and took his capital Sardis up to the Acropolis . Together with the Trerians , they plundered the cities of the Aegean coast. Eventually they were defeated by King Alyattes II , son of Sadyattes II , grandson of Ardys II, and expelled from Asia Minor

Dionysios Periegetes , a writer of the 2nd century AD, describes the Kimmerer as neighbors of the Sinder and Kerketen , so probably as resident in the Caucasus .

Latin sources

According to Pomponius Mela , the Comars , Massagetes , Kadusians , Hyrcans and Hiberians lived on the coast of the Caspian Sea . Beyond it lived the Hyperboreans and Amazons , and above them the Cercetae , Kimmerer, Cissianti , Achaei, Georgili, Moschi , Phoristae , Rimphaces and Arimphaei .

Assyrian sources

Invasion of the Kimmerer in the 8th century BC Over the Caucasus to Anatolia

The Kimmerer are often equated with the Gimirri of the Assyrian sources. The name "umman-manda" (Meder), which has been used since the Akkad period , is often used as a name for nomadic tribes in the north . Cimmerians and Scythians are also often identified with this name. Furthermore, they are also called Guteans by Sargon II , which may have been used as a swear word. The Harper letter ABL 112 mentions Kimmerer in Mannai .

Crown Prince Sennacherib reported in 714 BC. BC to Sargon II that the Gimirri from Gamirru had invaded Urartu, whereby the governor of Uaiš fell. In the letter from God about his eighth campaign, Sargon II. a. the suicide of Rusa I of Urartu because of the fall of Musasir and the "captivity" of the god Ḫaldi . This success was possibly made possible by an incursion by the Kimmerers. Sargon himself fell in 705 BC. On his ninth campaign against the Kulummu . Some researchers (Winkler) believe, however, that the Kimmerer were responsible for his death.

The next mention of the Kimmerer comes from the year 679 BC. BC Assurhaddon subjugated the Cimmerian king Teušpa in Hubušna. From a letter from the Crown Prince Assurbanipal to his father Assurhaddon it is known that the Kimmerer had taken the city of Kudana . The badly broken letter also mentions the “son” of ú-ak-sa-ta ( Kyaxares ?) And a certain pa-ra-m [u] ( Phraortes ?). Another letter (83-1-18, 283) mentions Kimmerer in Minda.

The annals of Ashurbanipal report that Guggu ( Gyges ?), King of Luddu, sent two Gimirri chiefs captive to Nineveh and sought an alliance with Assyria. Shortly afterwards Guggu allied himself with Psamettich and sent this mercenary. Ardys , the son of Guggu, established around 646 BC. BC again friendly relations with Ashurbanipal. Dugdamme , king of the Saka Ugutumki, destroyed Sardis and moved on to Cilicia , where he fell ill. He spat blood and his genitals rotten.

Bible

In the Bible "Gomer", a people from midnight (north) "from the ends of the earth" is mentioned, which is often equated with the Kimmerern. The table of people in Genesis 10: 2 leads Gomer among the children of Japhet . The other descendants of Japhet are Magog , Madai (Meder), Thubal ( Tabal in what is now eastern Turkey), Mesech ( Phrygians ) and Thiras . Gomer was also interpreted as Cimbri in the Middle Ages and early modern times and thus became, for example, the ancestor of the British and Swedes. Ashkenaz is found among the children of Gomer . a. is equated with the Scythians .

Ez 38.6  EU names Gomer together with the group Thogarma (Tilgarimmu?) Among the followers of Gog in the land of Magog and overlord of Mesech and Thubal (39.2) and prophesies that he will come on horses over Israel like a cloud (38 , 16). But YHWH will destroy him with pestilence, blood and rain of fire and sulfur and will knock the bow out of his hand. The prophet describes how the inhabitants of Israel burn the shields, bows, arrows, clubs and sticks of Magog and Gomer and thus do not need firewood for seven years (39:10). The remains of the army are buried in the Abarim or Hamon Gog valleyeast of the Dead Sea .

Isaiah (5,26–28 LUT ) describes the bows, horses and chariots of Gomer.

Armenian sources

According to Armenian sources, the Cimmerians settled Anatolia, which is named after them Gamirk.

Ruler of the Cimmerians

Archaeological finds

The finds of the Chernogorovka and Novocherkassk cultures of the early Iron Age , between the 9th and 7th centuries BC BC, on the north shore of the Black Sea are traditionally ascribed to the Kimmerern. These cultures replaced the Belozjorka culture , the bearers of which lived in permanent settlements and lived on agriculture and animal husbandry. With the beginning of the early Iron Age, a change in the economy to nomadic cattle breeding can be seen. The finds are almost entirely limited to the forest steppe and the steppe, forested areas are avoided, the Tschorny-Les culture can be found here . Their fortified settlements are interpreted by some researchers as protection against nomadic attacks. However, trade between Chorny-Les and Novocherkassk is likely, as even full nomads are dependent on certain agricultural products.

Chernogorovka

The Chernogorovka culture dates back to the 9th and early 8th centuries BC. Dated. It is named after a place where it was found near the village of Chernogorovka (today the city of Siversk near Bachmut ). Typical are east-west-oriented stool burials under burial mounds , sometimes in niches that emanate from a central underground shaft. Men received brass arrowheads, horse harness and iron daggers with bronze handles as gifts. The metallurgy of the Chernogorovka culture is believed to have been influenced by the North Caucasian Koban culture .

Novocherkassk

The Novocherkassk culture is derived from the Bronze Age bar grave culture . It dates to the 8th and 7th centuries and is named after a site in Rostov Oblast . It was widespread between the Danube and the Volga . Extended burials under low burial mounds ( Kurganen ), oriented west-east, are typical , and subsequent burials in older mounds also occur. The grave goods of the men consist of weapons, composite bows, diamond-shaped spout arrowheads as well as lances, swords and daggers made of iron, stone clubs, whetstones and horse harness made of bronze and bone. Horse burials (Girejewa Mogila) are rare. Women's graves mainly contain ceramics. Individual graves are very richly decorated, including gold jewelry, which indicates social differentiation. A hoard of the Novocherkassk culture is known from Surmuschi in Georgia. The Novocherkassk culture ended abruptly in the 7th century and is replaced by finds that are attributed to the Scythians. This could support Herodotus' information about the Scythian invasion of Cimmeria.

Finds in the Kuban area prove contacts with Assyria. So were in stool graves in Klin-Jar III. near Kislovodsk several Assyrian pointed iron cone helmets from the time of Sennacherib or Ashurbanipal together with harness of the Novocherkassk type found. It could be mercenary graves or booty. Askold, however, points out that they are riveted from sheet metal, not cast like the pieces from the Near East, and considers them to be local products. From Verkhnyaya Rutcha in North Ossetia , a cast bronze helmet comes with an inscription of I. Argišti , king of Urartu .

Kelermes stage

In order to clearly identify Cimmerian finds, I. Askold investigated areas in northern Asia Minor in which, according to Greek writers, Cimmerians, but not Scythians, settled. He also ascribes two graves from Norşuntepe to the Cimmerians, as well as two graves in Imirler and near Amasya in Turkey (without exact origin), which Ünal ascribes to the Scythians or Sarmatians . The tombs on the Acropolis of Norşun-Tepe are overlaid by a building that dates back to the middle of the 7th century BC due to the pottery found in it. Is dated. Grave 3 contains objects with inscriptions of the Urartian king Argišti II , a number of Urartian snaffle gag and a snaffle gag with a predator's head, which is typical of the Kelermes stage. The finds belong to the Kelermes stage, which is usually assigned to the Scythians. The typical ceramics are missing, but according to Askold it is not to be expected. Burglaries by horseback nomads "leave ... only sparse traces that are difficult to recognize using archaeological methods." He refers to analogies with the Huns and Hungarians in Europe.

Asia Minor / Middle East

A horizon of destruction in Sardis is attributed to the Cimmerians, but it contained few Cimmerian finds. A bone band in the form of a roller animal of early Kythian form comes from a layer that also contains Proto-Corinthian pottery from the 7th century BC. Chr. Leads. Arrowheads from Ephesus are sometimes ascribed to the cimmerians. However, it cannot be proven that they actually came from Cimmerian attackers. Three-winged bronze arrowheads are also known from Sardis, Norsuntepe grave 2, Nusch-i-Jan (Median layers), Boǧazköy, Ayanıs , Bastam , from the cella of the temple of Kayalıdere and Samaria . But they still occur until the 5th century.

Riders on reliefs in Nimrud ( Assur-Nasirpal II. , 884–858 BC) are sometimes interpreted as Cimmerians or Scythians, but according to Ivanchik (2001) they ride in a typical Middle Eastern way and can therefore not be identified as members of equestrian peoples .

Central Europe

In Central Europe , the so-called Thraco-Cimmerian horizon (especially daggers with openwork grip plates and certain forms of horse bridles ) was traced back to the Kimmerer. In fact, these horse snaffles, which are widespread in Hungary, Poland and Germany, are similar to finds from the Black Sea region and the Caucasus ( Koban culture ), but it is unclear whether these go back to the historically documented Kimmerer. Eastern influence at the beginning of the Hallstatt culture , e.g. B. the appearance of larger horses is also often assigned to this steppe people.

chronology

language

Only a few personal names have been passed down from the Kimmerern (Teušpa, Lygdamis / Dugdamme), some linguists also try to assign place names (toponyms) to them. Many linguists consider them to be part of the Iranian language group , but, following Greek sources, a Thracian or, rarely, a Celtic language is also considered. The classification as a Thracian may go back to the frequent confusion with the Trerians . According to Carl Ferdinand Friedrich Lehmann-Haupt , the language of the Kimmerer is a link between Thracian and Iranian.

Kimmerer and the Crimea

The name of the Kimmerer is said to have been preserved in the name of the Crimea . However, in antiquity this peninsula was commonly referred to as Tauride or Scythian Chersonesos , "rough" Chersonesos or simply as Chersonesos. The name "Crimea" is much younger than these ancient names and can be traced back to the Turk - Tatar qyrym = "fortress" without having to use the name of the Kimmerer .

Literary reception

The American writer Robert E. Howard described a people of the Cimmerians who have almost nothing in common with the historical Cimmerians. Howard's Cimmerians live in the Hyborian Age and are the descendants of the Atlanteans . In the poem I remember , Cimmeria is referred to as "Land of darkness and deep night" in the chorus, so Howard probably knew Homer . Howard's most famous fictional character, Conan , is a Cimmerian .

literature

  • JB Bury: The Homeric and the historic Cimmerians. In: Klio . Vol. 6, 1906, pp. 79-88.
  • Kurt Bittel : Basics of the prehistory and early history of Asia Minor. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1945.
  • ED Phillips: The Scythian domination in Western Asia: its record in history, scripture and archeology. In: World Archeology. Vol. 4, No. 2, 1972, ISSN  0043-8243 , pp. 129-138, doi : 10.1080 / 00438243.1972.9979527 .
  • Harald Hauptmann : New finds of Eurasian steppe nomads in Asia Minor. In: Rainer Michael Boehmer, Harald Hauptmann (ed.): Contributions to ancient history of Asia Minor. Festschrift for Kurt Bittel. von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein 1983, ISBN 3-8053-0585-0 , pp. 251-270ff.
  • Renate role, Michael Müller-Wille, Kurt Schietzel (ed.): Gold of the steppe, archeology of the Ukraine. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1991, ISBN 3-529-01841-4 .
  • Askold I. Ivantchik: Les Cimmériens au Proche-Orient (= Orbis biblicus et orientalis. Vol. 127). Editions Universitaires et al., Freiburg (Switzerland) et al. 1993, ISBN 3-7278-0876-4 .
  • Sergej Tokhtas'ev: The Cimmerians in the ancient tradition. In: Hyperboreus Vol. 2, 1996, 1-46 online (PDF; 1.7 MB)
  • Askold I. Ivantchik: The Cimmerian Ethnicity Problem and Cimmerian Archaeological Culture. In: Prehistoric Journal. Vol. 72, 1997, pp. 12-53.
  • Hermann Sauter: Studies on the Kimmerierproblem (= Saarbrücker Contributions to Antiquity Volume 72). Habelt, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-7749-3005-8 (also: Saarbrücken, University, dissertation, 1997).
  • Askold I. Ivantchik: Cimmerians and Scythians. Cultural-historical and chronological problems of the archeology of the Eastern European steppes and the Caucasus in pre- and early Kythian times. = Киммерийцы и Скифы (= steppe peoples of Eurasia. Vol. 2). Paleograph Press et al., Moscow 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2977-6 .
  • Askold Ivantchik: The archaeological traces of the Cimmerians in the Middle East and the problem of dating the pre- and early Kythischen cultures. In: Ricardo Eichmann , Hermann Parzinger (Hrsg.): Migration und Kulturtransfer. The change in Near Eastern and Central Asian cultures in the upheaval from the 2nd to the 1st millennium BC (= colloquia on prehistory and early history. Vol. 6). Files from the international colloquium, Berlin, November 23-26 , 1999. Habelt, Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-7749-3068-6 , pp. 329–342.
  • Carola Metzner-Nebelsick :  Kimmerier. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 16, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016782-4 , pp. 504-523.
  • Carola Metzner-Nebelsick: "Thraco-Cimmerian" find complexes between Southeast Styria, Southwest Transdanubia and Northern Croatia and their significance for the cultural development during the early Iron Age. In: Andreas Lippert (ed.): The Drau, Mur and Raab region in the 1st millennium BC (= university research on prehistoric archeology. Vol. 78). Files from the international and interdisciplinary symposium from April 26th to 29th, 2000 in Bad Radkersburg. Habelt, Bonn 2001, ISBN 3-7749-3072-4 , pp. 137-154.
  • Mikko Luukko, Greta van Buylaere: The political correspondence of Esarhaddon (= State Archives of Assyria. Vol. 16). Helsinki University Press, Helsinki 2002, ISBN 951-570-539-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Homer, Odyssey XI, 12-19.
  2. ↑ Homer, Iliad XIII, 5-6.
  3. ↑ Herodotus, Historien IV, 12.
  4. ↑ Herodotus, Historien IV, 11.
  5. ↑ Herodotus, Historien IV, 11.
  6. ↑ Herodotus, Historien IV, 2.
  7. ^ A b c d E. D. Phillips: The Scythian domination in Western Asia: its record in history, scripture and archeology. In: World Archeology. Vol. 4, No. 2, 1972, pp. 129-138.
  8. ↑ Herodotus, Historien I, 12.
  9. ↑ In some publications the name is also given as Habrondas or Abrondas. See Askold I. Ivantchik: The founding of Sinope and the problems of the initial phase of the Greek colonization of the Black Sea area. In: Gocha R. Tsetskhladze (Ed.): The Greek Colonization of the Black Sea Area. Historical Interpretation of Archeology. Fran Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07302-7 , p. 298, note 2.
  10. ↑ Herodotus, Historien I, 16.
  11. ↑ Pomponius Mela, Chorographia 1, 12.
  12. ^ Anne Katrine Gade Kristensen: Who were the Cimmerians, and where did they come from? Sargon II, the Cimmerians, and Rusa I (= The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. Historisk-filosofiske meddelelser. Vol. 57). Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1988, ISBN 87-7304-191-2 .
  13. ^ ED Phillips: The Scythian domination in Western Asia: its record in history, scripture and archeology. In: World Archeology. Vol. 4, No. 2, 1972, pp. 129-138, here p. 136.
  14. ↑ Askold Ivantchik: The archaeological traces of the Cimmerians in the Middle East and the problem of dating the pre- and early Kythischen cultures. In: Ricardo Eichmann, Hermann Parzinger (Hrsg.): Migration und Kulturtransfer. 2001, p. 339.
  15. ↑ Askold Ivantchik: The archaeological traces of the Cimmerians in the Middle East and the problem of dating the pre- and early Kythischen cultures. In: Ricardo Eichmann, Hermann Parzinger (Hrsg.): Migration und Kulturtransfer. 2001, p. 340.
  16. ↑ Askold Ivantchik: The archaeological traces of the Cimmerians in the Middle East and the problem of dating the pre- and early Kythischen cultures. In: Ricardo Eichmann, Hermann Parzinger (Hrsg.): Migration und Kulturtransfer. 2001, p. 330.
  17. ↑ Askold Ivantchik: The archaeological traces of the Cimmerians in the Middle East and the problem of dating the pre- and early Kythischen cultures. In: Ricardo Eichmann, Hermann Parzinger (Hrsg.): Migration und Kulturtransfer. 2001, p. 332.
  18. ↑ Askold Ivantchik: The archaeological traces of the Cimmerians in the Middle East and the problem of dating the pre- and early Kythischen cultures. In: Ricardo Eichmann, Hermann Parzinger (Hrsg.): Migration und Kulturtransfer. 2001, pp. 329-342.
  19. ↑ Askold Ivantchik: The archaeological traces of the Cimmerians in the Middle East and the problem of dating the pre- and early Kythischen cultures. In: Ricardo Eichmann, Hermann Parzinger (Hrsg.): Migration und Kulturtransfer. 2001, p. 329.
  20. ↑ Askold Ivantchik: The archaeological traces of the Cimmerians in the Middle East and the problem of dating the pre- and early Kythischen cultures. In: Ricardo Eichmann, Hermann Parzinger (Hrsg.): Migration und Kulturtransfer. 2001, p. 330.
  21. ^ A. Henry Dettweiler, George MA Hanfmann, DG Mitten: Excavations at Sardis, 1965. In: Türk Arkeoloji Dergisi. Vol. 14, 1965, ISSN  0564-5042 , pp. 151-160, online (PDF; 28.93 MB) .
  22. ^ British Institute of Persian Studies (ed.): Nush-i Jan. Volume 3: John Curtis: The small finds. British Institute of Persian Studies et al., London 1984, ISBN 0-901477-03-6 .
  23. ^ Rainer Michael Boehmer: The small finds from Boǧazköy. From the excavation campaigns 1931–1939 and 1952–1969 (= Scientific publications of the German Orient Society. Vol. 87 = Boğazköy-Ḫattuša. Vol. 7). Mann, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-7861-2193-1 .
  24. ^ CA Burney: A first season of excavations at the Urartian Citadel of Kayalidere. In: Anatolian Studies Vol. 16, 1966, ISSN  0066-1546 , pp. 55–111, here p. 79.
  25. ↑ Askold Ivantchik: The archaeological traces of the Cimmerians in the Middle East and the problem of dating the pre- and early Kythischen cultures. In: Ricardo Eichmann, Hermann Parzinger (Hrsg.): Migration und Kulturtransfer. 2001, p. 331.
  26. ↑ Herodotus, Historien I, 15.
  27. ↑ Herodotus, Historien I, 16.
  28. ^ Strabo, Geography VII 4.1.
  29. ↑ Herodotus, Historien IV 99.3.
  30. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus , XXII 8.32.