Pyrene (city)

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Pyrene is one of the Greek historians Herodotus in the 5th century BC. Celtic city mentioned above, which is said to have been at the origin of the Danube .

Mentioned by Herodotus

The oldest source statements about the Celts can be found in the histories of the Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus (* 484 BC, † 425 BC). He locates a town called Pyrene in the Celtic country at the source of the Danube. However, Herodotus, who never stayed there himself, probably refers to an even older source, Hecataus of Miletus (* 560 BC, † around 485/475 BC). However, the written sources do not go back any further.

The Nile flows out of Libya and cuts through Libya; and as I suspect in any case - whereby I conclude from the known to the unknown - it comes from the corresponding distances like the Istros (the Danube). The Istros rises from the Celts and the city ​​of Pyrene , flows through the middle of Europe and divides it - but the Celts are outside the pillars of Heracles, neighbors of the Kynesians, who are the last of the peoples of Europe to live to the west -; but the Istros flows into the sea, flowing through all of Europe into the Pontos Euxeinos, where Istria is a colony of the Milesians. (Herodotus II 33).

Both Greeks lived, traveled and wrote in the period from the late 6th to the second half of the 5th century BC. In his description of the earth, Hekataios reports about Celts who settled north of the Alps. The name "Celts" for the tribes north of the Alps has been adopted from him. It is believed that the early Celts called themselves that and that the name probably means "the bold".

Importance of the localization of Pyrene

The localization of Pyrene is of particular importance because - of course always assuming that Herodotus' information is correct - the place in question would have the rank of the oldest place in Germany mentioned in writing .

Recently, under the influence of archaeological excavation results, Pyrene has been identified with the early Celtic prince's seat of Heuneburg (near Hundersingen ) together with the old castle located in the district of Langenenslingen . Others locate Pyrene in the immediate vicinity of the Danube confluence in what is now the Donaueschingen suburb of Pfohren .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herodotus, Histories. Second book. Greek / German , transl. u. ed. v. Kai Brodersen . (= Reclams Universal Library, No. 18222). Stuttgart 2005 ( ISBN 3-15-018222-0 ), p. 47
  2. ↑ www.heuneburg.de ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2013 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. Heuneburg open-air museum of the Herbertingen-Hundersingen community @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.heuneburg.de
  3. ↑ M. Fernandez, D. Krausse: Heuneburg. First city north of the Alps , in: Current World Archeology, Vol. 55 (2012), pp. 28-34
  4. ↑ Friedrich Creuzer (Ed.): Herodoti Musae , Vol. 4, Leipzig 1835, p. 556
  5. ↑ Thomas HT Wieners: Pfohren - the oldest place in Germany mentioned in writing? To localize the mysterious Celtic settlement Pyrene in Herodotus Historien , in: Almanach 2011. Yearbook of the Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis, Bd. 35, pp. 184-188.
  6. ↑ Joachim Sturm on the homepage of the Landratsamt Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2013 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 / www.lrasbk.de
  7. ↑ Thomas Wieners HT: Cheneinga marca & capella sancti Martini. The Urmark Klengen and the early church Kirchdorf in the mirror of the early medieval document tradition of the St. Gallen monastery , in: State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Regional Council (ed.): The Brigachtal in the early Middle Ages (= archaeological information from Baden-Württemberg, vol. 67), Weinstadt 2013 ( ISBN 978-3-942227-14-8 ), pp. 95-131, here p. 96.

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