Romowe
Romowe , Romehnen or Romayn was a cult center of the Baltic Prussians .
location
It was in the area of the Nadrauer , probably near Lutschage , German Schlossberg near Ossokino ( Russian Осокино ), German Groß Waldeck , in the Bagrationovsk district of Kaliningradskaja oblast .
Written mentions
A place Romehnen or Romayn is only mentioned by Peter von Dusburg in 1326 in his Chronica Terrae Prussiae . It is the seat of the supreme religious leader of the Prussians, Crywo Cyrwaito , who is venerated like the Pope , because not only the Prussians obeyed him, but also the Lithuanians and the peoples of Livonia .
At the end of the 15th century, Jan Długosz mentions a central Prussian sanctuary.
Around 1530 Simon Grunau describes a place called Rickoyot , a sacred ever green oak, where the three gods Patollo , Patrimpo and Perkuno were worshiped. This was donated in the year 523 by Bruteno , supposedly the first priest of the Prussians.
The texts do not reveal whether the locations were identical.
Source criticism
All authors write many decades after the alleged extinction of a central Prussian cult.
While Peter von Dusburg is considered a serious source, the explanations from Grunau are heavily criticized. Reference is made to the similarity of the description of the sanctuary with that in Uppsala , as described by Adam von Bremen in the Hamburg church history, and it is shown that he was guided by it.
The saga of the brothers Bruteno and Widowuto in this form is probably a creation of the 16th century for which there is no historical evidence and which no local saga is passed on. During this time, founders were often constructed for important places in the fabulous prehistoric times to underline the age and importance of the place.
Surname
Romehnen or Romayn perhaps one of the Baltic place names with ramp or Rome- to altprußisch Rams "modestly"; Lithuanian ramus »quiet, calm«.
The linguistic proximity to the name of Rome is also striking .
Other places with similar names are known:
- Romehnen , Fischhausen district , Samland
- Romene , villa sacra , ( holy village ) in Lithuania
- Romeinei , city
- Rominte , river in eastern East Prussia
- Romove in Vilnius , Lithuania, cult place of Perkunas
- Romuva , forest
- holy mountain Rambynas on the Memel , opposite Ragnit , on which a large sacrificial stone was found.
This does not mean that all places with this word must have been ancient sanctuaries.
Rickoyot may belong to Old Prussian rikis "Herr" or -ot as an ending suffix.
Others
After the name of the place of worship, a neo-pagan, state-recognized religious community in Lithuania that is on an equal footing with other religions calls itself Romuva .
See also
literature
- Hans Bertuleit: The religious system of the old Prussians with Lithuanian-Latvian parallels . In: Meeting reports of the ancient society Prussia . Issue 25, Königsberg 1924, pp. 9-113.
- Michael Brauer: The discovery of 'paganism' in Prussia . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-05-005078-2 .
- Erich von Lojewski : Romowe, the divine kingdom in the east. Home stories from the old Prussian area of Nadrauen . Bell, Gumbinnen 1932. GND
- Wilhelm Mannhardt : Letto-Prussian doctrine of gods . Latvian Literary Society, Riga 1936.
Web links
- International Congress on Ethnic Religions, etc. a. also about Romuva (English)
- Romuva in Lithuania (English / Lithuanian)
Remarks
- ↑ Kulakow, Istoria Prussii. Moscow 2005