AFPENDIX TO BOOK IV. ESSAY I. ON THE CIMMERIANS OF HERODOTUS AND THE MIGRATIONS OF THE CYMRIC RACE. 1. Early importance of the Cimmerians their geographical extent. 2. Identity of the Cimmeri with the Cyry-close resemblance of the two names. 3. Historical onfirmation of the identity-ocnnecting link in the Cini. 4. Comparative philology sikat but not adverse. 5. Migrations of the C ́wmerians-westward, and then eastward. Existing Cimbric and Celtic races. 1. THAT & people known to their neighbours as Cimmerii, Gimiri,' or (probably) Gomerim, attained to considerable power in Western Asia and Eastern Europe, within the period indicated by the date B.C. 800-600, or even earlier, is a fact which can scarcely be said to admit of a doubt. If the information gained by Herodotus in Scythia were considered as not sufficiently trustworthy for the establishment of such a conclusion, yet the confirmation which his statements derive from Homer, from Eschylus, from Callinus, from Aristotle, and from geographical nomenclature, must be held to remove all uncertainty on the point. The Cimmerians of Homer have not indeed a very definite locality: they dwell "“at the furthest limit of the ocean stream, immersed in darkness, and beyond the 1 The ethnic name of Gimiri first occurs in the Cuneiform records of the time of Darius Hystaspes, as the Semitic equivalent of the Arian name Saka (Zákai). The nation spoken of contained at this time two divisions, the Eastern branch, named Humurja (Auúpyio of Herodotus and Hellanicus), and the Tigrakhuda or "archers," who were conterminous with the Assyrians. Whether at the same time these Gimiri or Saka are really Cymric Celts we cannot positively say. Josephus identified the of Genesis with the Galati of Asia Minor (Ant. Jud. i. 6), in evident allusion to the ethnic title of Cymry, which they, as so many other Celtic races, gave themselves. But it must be observed that the Babylonian title of Gimiri, as applied to the Sacæ, is not a vernacular but a foreign title, and that it may simply mean "the tribes" generally, corresponding thus to the Hebrew, and the Greek Пáμḍvào. In this case it would prove nothing concerning the ethnic character of the race designated by it.-[H. C. R.] ESSAY I. ANCIENT SEATS OF THE CIMMERIANS. 179 ken of the light-giving sun," 2-words which might perhaps be understood of a region outside the Pillars of Hercules; but considering the condition of Greek geographical knowledge and Greek navigation in Homer's day, it is far more likely that he intended by them some part of the northern coast of the Black Sea. Here Eschylus places Cimmeria 4 in close proximity to the Palus Maotis and the Bosphorus; and here in the time of Herodotus were still existing a number of names, recalling the fact of the former settlement in these regions of the Cimmerian nation.5 The Greek colonists of the various towns planted upon the northern coast of the Black Sea, in the seventh and eighth centuries before our era, could not fail to form an acquaintance with the inhabitants of those parts, and would spread the knowledge of them among their countrymen. Further, there are grounds for believing that during the period of which we are speaking, frequent invasions of the countries towards the south were made by this same people, who, crossing the Danube and the Thracian Bosphorus, sometimes alone, sometimes in combination with plundering Thracian tribes, carried their arms far and wide over Asia Minor, and spread the terror of their name throughout the whole of that fertile region. Of one at least of these incursions the poet Callinus appears to have been a witness. It w universally recognized by the Greeks that these incursions proceeded from a people dwelling north of the Danube, in the tract between that river and the Tanais, and there seems no reason to doubt this location. was From the Cimmerians of this region it appears to have been that certain permanent settlements of the same race in Asia Minor were derived. Sinôpé, on occasion of one of their raids, was seized and occupied, while probably on another the town of Antandros feli Odyss. xi. 13-22. Ἡ δ ̓ ἐς πείραθ ̓ ἔκανε βαθυῤῥόου Ωκεανοῖο 3 Comp. Eustath. ad Hom. Od. loc. cit. and Riccii Dissert. Homeric. p. 432. See also Mr. Gladstone's 'Homer and the Homeric age,' vol. iii. p. 294. 4 Prom. Vinct. 748-750. 5 Herodotus mentions, besides the Cimmerian Bosphorus and a Cimmerian Ferry, some Cimmerian forts or castles and a tract called Cimmeria mer piss' disementioned of these two places shær i vile siperseded by Greek colonists; VO I § MO@Tased via some reason that they still, under the hame if ChayneS IZLiers”, remained the principal race In Aramins they resized their position for a When the likes to reped in from them. s erönce so show that more to the east, in Smena me Cami Forsk & race known nearly by the same LADE LINGAI 10. To this site me ne whom we may probably Padma vili zhe Unmetics if par author. The Prophet Ezekiel, VIL VILKS KÕLA 11 50, seks of Gomer as a nation, and couples ava Kemal vich he places in the north quarter," ie. ATTERIL, 204 smidig the Amman historians speak of Gamir as The konsole if their Ewkan noe of kings It is also very marine disa de Athentic inscriptions the Sacan or Sale pigiama vilih was widdy spread over the Persian IDA, TUNATESs in the Babylona transcripts the name of Gimiri,5 via ina s as were the Semitic equivalent for the Arian mame of Suba cr Spits Perhaps both names originally meant "mals" a "modies" and only came in course of time to be used as ethnic appeadires its clear, however, that by Herodotus the term “Cimmerian "is used distinctly in an ethnic sense; and the prims to be now considered is who these Cimmerians were, to what ethnic family they belonged and whether they can be identified with say sill exsting no When these questions have been sented in will be interesting to trace the history and migrations of a people which has an antiquity of above twenty-five hundred years, and has spread from the steppes of the Ukraine to the mountains of Wales. 2. Tɔ build an ethnographical theory upon a mere identity of Society, vol. xiv. part i. p. xxi., and compare above, ncte on § 1. According to Festus and Plutarch the name "Cimbri," which we shall find reason to identify with Cimmerii, in the old Celtic and German tongues meant "robbers" (Fest. de Verb. Signif. iii. p. 77, "Cimbri lingua Gallicâ latrones dicuntur." Plut. vit. Mar. c. 11, “ Κίμβρους επονομάζουσι Γερμανοὶ τοὺς λῃστάς "). But this meaning may have grown out of the other, just as "robber" is connected with "rover." ESSAY I. IDENTITY OF CIMMERIANS AND CYMRY. 181 name is at all times, it must be allowed, a dangerous proceeding. The Jazyges of modern Hungary are a completely different race from the Jazyges Metanasta who in ancient times occupied the very same country; the Wends are distinct from the Veneti, the Persian Germanii from the Germans, the Iberi of Spain from those of Georgia-yet still identity of name, even alone, is an argument which requires to be met, and which, unless met by positive objections, establishes a presumption in favour of connection of race. Now certainly there is the very closest possible resemblance between the Greek name Kuépio and the Celtic Cymry; and the presumption thus raised, instead of having objections to combat, is in perfect harmony with all that enlightened research teaches of the movements of the races which gradually peopled Europe. 8 3. The Cimmerians, when the Scythians crossed the Tanais, and fell upon them from the east, must have gradually retreated westward. The hordes which from time to time have issued from Asia, and exerted a pressure upon the population of Europe, have uniformly driven the previous inhabitants before them in that direction.7 Wave has followed wave; and the current, with the exception of an occasional eddy, has set constantly from east to west. If the Cimmerians therefore fled westward about B.C. 650-600, where did they settle, and under what name are they next met with in history? Herodotus knows but of three nations inhabiting central and western Europe the Sigynnes, the Cynetians,' and the Celts. Of these the Sigynnes and Cynetians, weak tribes who so soon disappear altogether from history, can scarcely be the great nation of the Cimmerii, which, until driven from the Ukraine by the force of the Scythian torrent, was wont to extend its ravages over large tracts of Asia Minor. If then we are to find the Cimmerii, driven westward B.C. 650-600, among the known nations of central or western Europe in B.C. 450-430, we must look for them among the Celts. Now the Celts had an unvarying tradition that they came from the east; and it is a fact, concerning which there can be no question, that one of the main divisions of the Celtic people has always borne 7 See Niebuhr's Researches, &c., p. 52. Such as the Cimmerian inroad into Asia by the Caucasus, and the after wanderings of the Gauls. 9 Herod. v. 9. 1 Ibid. iv. 49. 2 Ibid. ii. 33, and iv. 49. 3 See Appendix to Book i. Essay i. 'On the Chronology and Early History of Lydia,' pp. 354 et seqq. 4 Prichard's Physical History of Mankind, vol. iii. ch. 3; Amm. Mar. cell. xv. 9. 132 IDENTITY OF CIMMERIANS AND CYMRY. APP. BOOK IV. the name of Cymry as its special national designation. Celts were undoubtedly the primitive inhabitants of Gaul, Belgium, and the British Islands-possibly also of Spain and Portugal. In all these countries Cymry are found either as the general Celtic population, or as a leading section of it. These Cymry, or Cimbri (as the Romans called them), play on several occasions an important part in history: notices of them meet us constantly as we trace the progress of the European perples; and in more than one place they have left their name to the country of their occupation as an enduring mark of their presence in it." Though the march of events, and especially the pressure upon them of the great Gothic or Teutonic race, has for the most part wiped out at once their nationality, their language, and their name, yet they continue to form the substratum of the population in several large European countries; while in certain favoured situations they remain to the present day unmixed with any other people, retaining their ancient tongue unchanged, and, at least in one instance, their ancient appellation. The identity of the Cymry of Wales with the Cimbri 5 Niebuhr's conclusion, from an elaborate analysis of all the materials which can be brought to bear on the early history of the Celtic people (Hist. of Rome, vol. ii. p. 520, E. T.), is, that “the two natione, the Cymry and the | Gael, may appropriately be comprised under the common name of Celts." • The Celts of the Spanish peninsula seem to have been Cimbri, for as Niebuhr shows (1. s. c.), they formed the bulk of the Gauls who invaded Italy, and these are expressly said to have been of the Cimbric branch (Diodor. Sic. v. 32). The Belge were exclusively Cimbrians, as also were the inhabitants of northern Gaul, who were supposed to have been British immigrants. In the British islands, Cimbric Celts (Belgæ), at the time of Cæsar's landing, occupied the south coast (Bell. Gall. v. 12). 7 Strabo (vii. p. 426) and Tacitus (German. 37) speak of the Cimbri as Germans; but this is probably a mis. take, consequent upon their holding large tracts east of the Rhine, which was considered to separate Gaul from Germany. Diodorus, who declares them to have been Gauls or Celts, probably follows the excellent authority of Posidonius (see Niebuhr's Rom. Hist. vol. ii. p. 520, note 1157, E. T). Appian also identifies the Cimbri with the Celts (De Bell. Illyr. p. 758. KAτοῖς τοῖς Κίμβροις λεγομένοις). The whole subject is well discussed by Dr. Prichard (Physical Hist. of Mankind, vol. iii. ch. 3, § 8). 8 Wales still continues to be known as Cambria, and one of our northern counties as Cumber-land. In France Cambrai and (possibly) Quimper are a legacy of the Cymry. Spain has a small town, Cambrilla, and Portugal a city, Coimbra, relics, probably, of the same people. In like manner the Cimmerii left their name to the Tauric peninsula, which has continued to be known as the Crimea and Crim-Tartary to the present day. As (Michelet, Hist. de France, vol. i. ch. iii.) France, Belgium, and Lombardy. The Cymric language is still spoken by the Bretons and by the Welsh. The latter call themselves "Cymry." I am not aware if the name is in use among the former. |