Nahanarvalians
The Nahanarvaler (Latin Nahanarvali , also Naharvali ) were a Germanic tribe . The Roman historian Tacitus counted them together with the Hariern , Helvekonen , Manimern and Helisionen to the five main tribes of the Lugians . Tacitus also reports:
“The Nahanarvalers show a grove with an ancient cult. The head is a priest in woman's costume, but the gods should correspond to Castor and Pollux according to the Roman view. For this is the essence of the deity, her name is Alken. But there are no images of gods, no evidence of a foreign cult; but they are venerated as brothers, as young men. "
Tacitus describes a cult that the Germans are said to have practiced around the Alcis brothers. As the Interpretatio Romana he gives the brothers Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri (for a detailed interpretation of the passage see also the article Alcis ). There are various theories about the etymological origin of the name. The Nahanarvalers later became part of the Vandals .
literature
- Volker Bierbrauer , Helmut Castritius : Vandals. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 33, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2006, ISBN 3-11-018388-9 , pp. 168-217.
- Helmut Castritius , Günter Neumann : Lugier. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 19, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017163-5 , pp. 30-35.
- Helmut Castritius : cult associations (§ 3e). In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 17, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016907-X , p. 463. ( online )
- Alfred Franke : Naharvali . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XVI, 2, Stuttgart 1935, Sp. 1584.
Remarks
- ↑ Quoted from Tacitus, Germania , Latin and German by Gerhard Perl , Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1990, p. 121.