PART
5 –
Ch.XXXIII.4
The
Pelasgians or proto – Latins (Arimii)
(The Pelasgians
from the northern parts of the
XXXIII.
4. Arimii (Arimani, Rami, Arimaspi, Arimphaei) in Dacia.
The most extensive,
most civilized and most warlike Pelasgian population in the northern parts of
the Danube and of the Black Sea in the primitive times of history had been the
so-called Arimi.
Arimii had raised
the military and political power of the Pelasgians to its highest glory.
The territory once
occupied by this nation in Europe, Asia and Africa, had been vast, and the name
of the Arimi, Arimani, Rami or Ramni, as they were also called, has remained
through traditions, legends and names of localities, in the memory of the
various populations from these three continents.
We find the oldest
mention of the Arimii from the Carpathians and Istru with Homer (II. v. 783), who tells us that the terrible giant Typhon - who reached with one hand to
the east, and with the other to the west (Apollodorus, Bibl. lib. I. 6. 3) –
who had fought with the Titans and the Giants against the coalition of the
gods, had been from the country of the
Arimi.
This Typhon, a
violent and continuous enemy of the populations of other races, had filled with
terror all the regions of Asia Minor and Egypt, through his incursions and
wars.
In the national
traditions of the Greeks, he is shown as a fearful monster, who, after
conquering the world from east to west, wanted to also reign over the heavens (Hesiodus, Theog. v. 836 seqq; Apollodorus, Bibl. lib. I. 6. 3). In
Osyric religion he is the representation of the evil spirit (Lepsius, Uber den ersten agypt.
Gotterkreis, p. 48; Plutarc, De
Isid. C. 41); and for the peoples between the Euphrates and Indus, or in the
religion of Zoroaster, Typhon is the demon inimical to the human genus, the
principle of evil and darkness, the antichrist of the pagan world, and in this
latter religion he is addressed under his national name of Ariman, ‘Areimanios, ‘Areimanes (Plutarc, De Isid. c. 46).
Another hero of the
Pelasgian antiquity was venerated on the territory of Panonnia and in the
suburbs of Rome under the name of Arimanius
(C. I. L. vol. III. nr. 4314, 3415; Ibid. vol. VI. nr. 47; see Ch. XIV.12).
This was Prometheus, the martyr king
of Scythia from the Carpathians, the representative of Pelasgian civilization
in the Stone Age, called Mithras in
the religious language.
The Umbrii, on
whose territory we find an ancient city called Ariminum, also gave Jove, the father of gods and men, the epithet Armunus (Huschke, Die Iguvischen Tafeln,II-a.7.p. 20, 322), meaning Jove of
the Arimii, exactly like the ancient Romans also called the supreme divinity of
the sky Jupiter Ruminus, and the
Capadoccians called him Zeus Dachie (Strabo, lib.XII.c.2. 5).
Finally, Mars too,
the powerful god of war, whose residence was on the territory of the Getae (Val. Flaccus, Argon. VI. v. 619), had
the epithet Arimanios (Plutarc, Themist. c. 26 fine; the god
Mars under the name of Hirmin is
also mentioned in the medieval chronicle of Witechind (Grimm, D. Myth. 1854, p. 327), while a daughter of his was called ‘Armonia.
The population rich
in gold from the central regions of the Carpathians also belonged to the ethnic
family of the Arimii from the Danube.
According to the
traditions gathered by Herodotus
from the Greeks from near the Black Sea, Agathyrsus,
the proto-parent of the Agathyrses from near the river Maris (today Mures), had
been a son of Echidna (lib. IV. 9; Echidna also appears as the daughter of
Agathyrsos I and mother of Agathyrsos II – Roscher,
Lex. d. gr. u. rom. Myth. I. 1214); and according to Hesiodus, Echidna was from the country of the Arimii (Theog. v. 304).
In Homer’s Odyssey (IV. 84), the Arimii from
the Danube are mentioned under the name Erembi,
or Arambi, as Posidonius, the stoic
philosopher from the 2nd century bc corrects this name (Strabo, lib. XVI. 4. 27; according to Aviennus – Descr. Orb. v. 271 – nigri Erembi dwelt close to Gades, see
Ch.XVI.6). Here the letter b
represents the nasal sound n, so
Arambi = Aramni (Schuchardt, Vokal. d. Vulgarlat. III.
93).
The same Erembi appear with Dionysius Periegetus with the epithet of “munteni” (TN – from the mountain). At the same time Dionysius
alludes quite clearly in his geographical poem that Erembii dwelt near the Rhipaei mountains (v. 962-963), and
that they were from the genus of the Titans
(v. 180).
In the epic traditions of antiquity we find other
important mention about the country of the Arimi, from the north of
Hesiodus calls the region from near the Atlas mountain, or the
country of the Hyperboreans, where the dragon guarded the gold apples, eremna
gaia (Theog. v. 334).
In Homer’s
Odyssey (XXIV. v. 106), the legendary territory of the Hyperboreans also
appears under the name eremna gaia, where the souls of the
deceased heroes withdrew, in order to enjoy a happy and eternal life (Plato, Axiochus, at fine).
Here the term eremna applied to gaia
is – in regard to its origin and meaning – only a simple geographical epithet, formed
from the ethnic name of the Arimi, Arimani or Aramnilor.
The Greek authors have tried at all times to
reproduce in their writings the ethnic and geographical names of the Barbarians
in a form which had two meanings, one Greek and the other barbarian (Micali, L’Italia avanti il dominio dei
Romani, Ed. 1826, I. 40; Plato,
Critias, Ed. Didot, Vol. II. 254). ‘Eremna gaia with its geographical
meaning is the country (tera) of Eremni
or Aramni; and with the meaning of
Greek etymology, eremna gaia is the misty,
black and terrible country.
The same geographical epithet, but under the form of erimnos
appears also in the Argonautics of Orpheus. Here the strong citadel of Aietes,
who ruled also over the region of the Colchi, is called teichos erimnon (v. 764).
In the same poem, the river Phasis, or today Buzeu, is called Phasis
erimnos and Phasis eyrimenas (v. 85, 1052). The geographical character of
this epithet is even better emphasized by Dionysius
Periegetus (v. 694), who tells us, on the basis of some ancient sources
today vanished, that the river Phasis springs from the mountain Armenios, ap’ oureos ‘Armenioio.
Arimii, under the form of Armeni, appear also at Pliny.
In a geographical note, extracted from we don’t know what ancient author, he
mentions close to the Ceraunic mountains, or the mountains of Cerna, the Armenochalybes (lib. VI. 11.1), meaning
the iron smiths from the country of the Arimi. These are the same famous metal
working masters, whom Eschyl calls
in an altered form Chalibes anameroi (Prom. vinct. v. 715-716), giving thus to the
word Armeni or Arimeni the Greek meaning of anameroi, meaning
barbarian, inhuman.
The Arimii from the
Another group of Rami
had its dwellings close to the Caucas (Pliny,
lib. VI. 7. 2), but we cannot know if the Greek geographical sources used by
the Roman author had not meant in this case the Caucas of Dacia.
A population with the name Ryndaci, to be understood as Rym
– Daci (the changing of m into n before a d happens often in the Latin language), was settled near the Colchi, close to the river Phasis (Riese, Geogr. Lat. min. p. 45), or in
other words, in the same geographical region where lived the ancient Arimi.
We find in the Argonautics of Orpheus a city called ‘Ermionia, situated close to the
straits of the Rhipaei mountain, where dwelt the most just of men, historical
epithet attributed to the Getae and the Hyperboreans. ‘Ermionia from Orpheus’
Argonautics seems to have been the same locality as the city mentioned by Ovid under the name Romechium (Met. Lib. XV. v. 705), whose
geographical position is also near the straits of the Ceraunic mountains, or of
Cerna.
Finally, a city from the southern parts of
The ancient Arimi from the north of Thrace, who were
contemporary with the great gods of the Pelasgian people, Uranos, Ianus,
Saturn, Mars and Apollo, still figure in later Greek sources under the name Arimaspi, meaning Arimasci, a simple dialectal form of the name Arimi [1].
[1. The antique Pelasgian suffix ascus, asca, has been preserved to this day in the Liguric regions of
According to Stephanos Byzanthinos, the Arimaspii
belonged to the people of the Hyperboreans, ‘Arimaspoi, ethnos ‘Yperboreon
(see ‘Arimaspoi).
Aristeas of Proconnes, the famous
poet and prophet of Apollo, who had lived according to some, in the times of
Homer, characterizes like this the Arimaspi: “Many and very strong at war, rich
in herds of cattle and horses, in sheep flocks; men with thick manes, which
flutter in the wind; the most robust of all the people, having each an eye in
his fine forehead” (Sitzungsb. d. k.
Akad. d. Wiss. Phil-Hist. CI., CXVI, p. 758).
The Arimaspi dwelt
in the southern regions of the Rhipaei mountains, or Carpathians, as the
historian Damastis Sigensis, who had
lived in the times of Herodotus, tells us (frag. 1, in Fragm. Hist. gr. II. 65;
Eustathius, Comm, in Dionys. v. 32).
An Arimasp fighting with a griffon,
guardian of gold. The artist presents the type of the Arimasp
as a tall figure, svelte and
titanic, serious and full of energy, with his long hair falling on to his
shoulders,
a sheepskin cap with its peak bent
forward on his head, dressed in a knee long shirt,
girdled around his waist, and
holding a round shield in his left hand [2].
(Drawing from a terracotta piece from Louvre Museum. Daremberg et Saglio, Dict. d. antiq. Tome I, 424)
[2. With Orpheus (Arg. v. 1063), the Arimaspii are neighbors of the
Sauromatii and the Getae. According
to the poet Lucan (Phars. III. v.
295), the Arimaspii dwelt between the Euxine Pontos and the Columns of Hercules
(Cf. Strabo, XI. 6. 2).
According to Pliny, the Arimaspii had
been formerly called Cacidari (IV.
19), a name which is neither Greek, nor Latinized, and which belongs to the
idiom spoken in the regions inhabited by the Arimaspi.
According to Dio Cassius (LXVIII. 8) and Jornandes
(Get. 10), the Dacians (Dacii) were
divided in two social classes. The more noble and rich were pilophori or pileati, meaning those who wore caps, as we see them represented on
the art monuments of the Romans; and the second class was formed by the lower
people, Capillati or Comati, Chomatai. The Arimaspii,
who wore caps on their heads and tied their long hair with gold threads,
belonged mostly to the noble class of the pilophorii.
The term Cacidari,
as found in Pliny’s editions, had not been transmitted correctly. The ancient
copyists of manuscripts had considered ol
= d, reading Cacidari instead of Caciolari.
The Greek word pilophoroi is only a simple translation of the ancient
indigenous name Caciolari. Even today the Romaian people calls Caciulari those who wear high sheepskin
caps (TN – cap = caciula)].
Pliny also writes: The Arimaspii, as some tell
us, are neighbors with the peoples from the northern parts; they dwell close to
the cave from which Boreas (or the northern wind) blows, and which place is
called Gesclitos (probably a corrupt word instead of Desclitos, “deschis” (TN –
open). These Arimaspi are in a continuous war around the mines, with the
griffons, a sort of flying animals who, according to what the legends tell us,
extract the gold from underground and guard it with incredible tenacity against
the Arimaspii who try to steal it (lib. VII. 2. 2).
The cave of Boreas
near which the Arimaspii dwelt was, according to Homer’s Illiad (XV. 171; XIX. 356), in the Rhipaei mountains, and according to Silius Italicus, on the territory of the Getae (Pun. Lib. VIII. 500-501).
Dionysius Periegetus (Orb. Descr. v. 31) also gives the
Arimaspi the characteristic epithet of arimani
and arimanii (areimaneis s. areimanioi),
a word which, by its termination and its radical form, does not belong to the
Greek language. With the term arimani
or arimanii, Dionysius brings to light
the ancient national name of the Arimaspi; but on another hand, he wants this
name to also have a Greek etymological meaning: that the Arimaspi were arimani, meaning warlike people, or
inspired by the god Mars (Eustathius,
Comm. in Dionys. v. 31).
The same epithet arimani is also applied by Appianus to the Colchi (Mithr. c. 15),
the people famous for their golden fleece, whose dwellings were, as we know, in
the geographical region of the Carpathians, or of the ancient Arimi.
The Jewish
historian Flavius Josephus, who had
lived in the 1st century ad, calls arimani the Lusitanii
and the Cantabrii (Bell. Jud. II. c.
16. 4). He tells us in another place (c. Apionem, lib. II. 4) that the ancient Iberians, ‘Iberes oi palai, meaning
the barbarian populations of Hispania, were called ‘Romaioi, meaning Romans,
although Hispania, as we know, had been completely conquered only at the time
of Augustus. So we have here the same ethnic name of arimani, but under a later form.
The name Arimani, generally attributed to the
Pelasgian populations from the
The Arimii from the
In this
ethnographic note, the term Arimpaei is only a simple phonetic transformation
of Arimnaei. A Romanian village from
Finally, the Arimii, the ancient inhabitants of
This results from
the name of the Dacian prince Rumon
(Ammianus, lib. XVII. c. 12), and
also from the name of the locality Sclavinum
Rumunnense (Jornandis, De Get.
Orig. c. 5), today Slaveni in Romanati district. The origin of these
forms definitely predates the Roman occupation (see following chapters).
We arrive now at the traditions of the Romanian people
regarding the famous Arimi, who had once dwelt on the territory of ancient
Some of these
traditions show the Romanians of today as autochthonous at the Carpathians and
at the
“Romanians”, these traditions tell us,
“had not come here from anywhere, they have just been here” (Densusianu, Chest. Ist.- Michaesci
village, Muscel); “Romanians have lived on these same places since they exist”
(Ibid, Joresci village, Covurlui); “they have been here since the beginning of
the world” (Ibid, Cosmesci village, Tecuciu); “our seed is from the giants”
(Ibid, Bordeiul verde, Braila and Podeni, Prahova); and finally, “the Romanians
of today were called in times past Ramni
and Ramleni” (Ibid, Drajna village,
Prahova).
The Romanians from
the Carpathians also appear under the name Ramleni
in the fragments of our still preserved heroic ancient poetry. In the orations
hold during the folk weddings – after an ancient rite called “Romanian law” – the messengers of the
groom tell us in rhymed dialogues that they are strong riders, that they come
on horses faster than dragons, with lion heads (griffons), and that they are
soldiers who are called Ramleni (Marianu, Nunta la Romani, p. 476, 480; Teodorescu, Poesii pop. 177).
Iovan Iorgovan,
Hercules of Pelasgian times, is called in the old songs “son of Ramlean” (Teodorescu, Poesii pop. P. 419) and “Ramlean captain” (Alecsandri,
Poesii pop, p. 14).
In other versions
his epithet of Ramlean is replaced with the words easier to understand “Roman(ian)” (Gazeta Trans. Nr. 140,
1894) and “mocan” (TN – peasant).
These Ramleni of
Romanian folk traditions have nothing to do with the ancient inhabitants of
From the point of
view of its etymology, the word Ramlean is only a phonetic transformation of
the ancient term Ramnean. The
changing of n into l and of l into n is one of the
old phenomena of Romanic languages (Schuchardt,
Vokal. d. Vulgarlat.,
The term Ramlean
was known in the Roman empire even before the Slav invasion.
On an ancient
inscription from the Capitolin Museum appears a Hercoles Romanillianus (Guasco,
Mus. Capit. I. 60. nr. 30, 1607; Fabretti,
Corp. inscr. Ital. p. 584). It is the same epithet Ramlean, given to Iovan
Iorgovan, or Hercules, in the heroic songs of the Romanian people.
A locality called Romulianum (Aur. Victor. Epit. 40) had existed in Dacia Ripenses and another
with the name Ramlum in Thrace.
As we saw, the
Arimii from the Danube had also been called Armeni in Greek antiquity.
The form of this name
has been preserved to this day. Especially in Moldova, the name Armani and Armeni is applied to the inhabitants from “between marshes” or from
the Danube delta (Tocilescu,
Materialuri folkl. I. 1319). A similar tradition is communicated from Constanta
district, Daieni village: “It is said by the old ones that some people called Armeni lived here before” (Chest.
Ist.). We also find the name Arman
synonymous with Roman in an epic
song from Moldova (Sevastos, Cantece
mold. 1888, p. 385).
In some traditions
and legends the famous Arimi from the Lower Danube also appear under the names Rohmani, Rocmani, Rogmani and Rachmani.
These Rohmani, as
the traditions of the peasants from Bucovina and Moldova tell us, had been Romani(ans), like us. They once had
their country called Tera Rohmanilor
(TN – the country of the Rohmans), which was situated towards south of Moldova
(Densusianu, Cest. Ist. Bogdanesci
village, Tutova), but not very far. They
had been the men from ancient times, replaced by the Romanians of today
(Ibid. Golaesci village, Iasi).
A certain tribe of
these Rohmani formed a particular social class. Leading an ascetic life, they
believed that they will reach an eternal life. These Rohmani appear as a sort
of hermits, men of a particular piety and goodness, venerable and saintly, who
still live today. The Romanian peasants of Moldova, Basarabia and Bucovina
celebrate their memory in the seventh day after Easter, which they call Pascile Rohmanilor (TN – Easter of the
Rohmans) (Marianu, Serb. La Rom.
Vol. III. p. 171 seqq; Miklosich, Wand. D. Rum. 18). They dwell near the mouths
of rivers which flow from Moldova; near the great waters in which flow all the
rivers; in the isles of the seas; or in a wilderness on the shores of the sea;
they have no houses, but live under the shade of the trees, eat wild fruits,
meet their women only once a year, when they have a good time together for nine
days, after which they again separate and live apart, the men from the women.
These hermit Rohmani spend their lives mostly in religious devotions; they are
very good men, with gentle behavior, because of which they are called “Buni” (TN – good ones) and “Blajini” (TN – gentle ones); they do
not sin, do not harm anybody, but also nobody harms them; and because they are saints,
they go after death straight to heaven, and are called “Fericitii Blajini” (TN – the Blessed Gentle ones). The Rohmani
sensed the time of their death; they prepared alone for the last moment of
their life; they donned death vestments, then the priests, relatives and
friends came and the ceremony of farewell took place; then he for whom the hour
had struck went alone behind a hill and disappeared, while the others returned
home (Cest. Ist. Bolesci village, Roman).
As we see, this
legend contains important historical elements. The good, pious and saintly
Rohmans, for whom the Romanian peasants from Moldova, Basarabia and Bucovina
have a religious respect even today, seem to have been the same people as
Pliny’s (lib. VI. 14. 2) and Mela’s Arimphaei (Orb. Descr. lib. I. 2. 19),
who dwelt in the woods, ate the fruit of the trees, spent their life only in
prayers and worship of the gods and were considered as saints even by the
barbarian tribes of the neighboring peoples; they are also the same as the religious
Hyperboreans from near the Rhipaei mountains, who lived for long years, and
when life became too heavy to bear,
they made the last feast, donned old style rich clothes and threw themselves
from the rocks into the sea (Pliny,
lib. XXVI,11,12; Mela, lib. III. 5).
According to other
legends, the dwellings of the Rohmani were at Macarele (Densusianu,
Cest. Ist. Dolhescii mari village, Suceava), by which must be understood Macharon
nasoi, the islands of the Blessed.
Among all the
“blessed” islands of antiquity, the holiest and most famous has been, as we
know, Leuce island, from near the
mouths of the Danube, today the Serpents’ island (Pliny, lib IV.27.1).
Leuce had been the
island consecrated to the Pelasgian heroes (Dionysius, Orb. Descr. v. 543; Diod.
Sic. Lib. II. 47; Priscianus,
Periegesis, v. 557-561). Here lived the happy spirits of Achilles, Patroclus,
Ajax, etc.
Other traces about
the dwellings of the Arimii at the Carpathians and the Lower Danube are
presented by the topographical terminology. From this we note here only the
following:
Rama (Rima), village (Valcea); Rama, stream (Gorj); Ramna, two villages (Ramnicul-Sarat); Ramna, y.1475, two villages (Banat); Ramesci, two villages (Valcea); Rama, hamlet (Braila); Rymna, locality, 1274 (Gomor, Ung.); Rima-Szombat, or Rimanska Sobota, town near the river Rima (Gomor, Ungaria); Rigmani,
s. (Transilvania); Roma, hamlet
(Buzeu); Romlia, etim. Romnia, s.
(Transilv.); Romos, in medieval
documents Rams, s. (ibid) [3];
[3. The names ending with s or s(h) like Romos, Armenis(h), Ormenis(h), Petris
(Dacia), Remis (Gallia), etc, are
forms retained from antique times when they were usually pronounced with a
preposition, like ad Romos, in Armenis, etc].
Romosz and Wolezek,
two hamlets (Sokal, Galitia); Rum,
town (Vasvar, Ung.); Ruma, little
town (Sirmiu, Ung.); Rumno, s.
(Rudki, Galitia); Rumno, estate
(ibid); Aramesci, three villages in
Moldova; Oromesci, hamlet (Arges); Haram (Arami), the principal town in
the 14th century of a districtus valachicalis in Banat. Close to
Serbia also exist the ruins of a castle called Ram [4];
[4. In vulgar idioms of the Latin
language we find the aspiration of
vowels at the beginning of words, and especially under the influence of r, for example: harena, harida,
harundo, haruspex, hircus, honerare, etc.
Aram and Arim are the names of a national hero
in Romanian folk poetry (Teodorescu,
P. p. 627); Hasdeu, Dict. II. 1660).
In these old songs, the strongmen who fought under the command of the hero are
called Haramini (Alecsandri, Poesii pop. 64-69). This
term designated in the beginning the nationality
of the men, who had become renowned for their fighting prowess. But from the
end of the Middle Ages onwards, under the name of haramini (Serb. Haramija) were understood the groups of outlaws (TN
- haiduci) from the Balkan peninsula, who made incursions and fought for
themselves].
Arimanesa, place (Braila); Armenis / Armenys, s. (Banat); Ormenis,
s. (Transilvania); Rasca, etim.
Ramsca, several villages in Transilvania and Romania. Near the village Rasca from Romanati district are the
ruins of the ancient Dacian city called Romula
in Roman official geography; Rascani,
four villages in Moldova.
All of these
differences of forms are just plain dialectal.
The legends and
traditions of the Germans also tell us that the dwellings of the ancient giants
were in the lands called Runtalo, Rimlo (Rim-land) and Rimis (Mitth. d. C.–Commission, z. Erforsch.
D. Baudenkm. XV, Wien, 1870, 143); and Hrimnir,
Hrimgrimr, Hrimgerdr, are personal names of Giants (Grimm, D. Myth. I. 1854, 493).
The archaic coins of Dacia, the Armis Series.
- The coins with the legend ARMIS and SARMIS
BASIL (eus)
The existence of
some ancient coins with the legends ARMIS and SARMIS has been known to the
archaeologists and historians of Transilvania even around the end of the 16th
century.
The specimens
mentioned by the authors from across the Carpathians are the following:
1.
A silver coin, about which the Transilvanian archaeologist Steph. Zamosius (16th
century) reports that because of its age it was so faded that only a few
letters could me made out, and even those barely (Benko, Transsilvania, Ed. 1778, p. 10: “numisma argenteum, annis ab
hinc plus quam 160 Zamosio in Dacia visum, ita tamen vetustate detritum, ut
paucas leteras graecas, easque abrasas haberet: ARMIS SILE”). It seems
that Troester writes about the same
coin (Dacia, Nuernberg, 1666, 129:
“Da auch dieses Koniges Sarmitz
Muntz noch gefunden wird, mit der Uberschrift SARMIS BASILEYS…”). Soterius (18th century) also
mentions that the coin of Sarmis had as emblem a boar with an arrow in its
mouth (Schmidt, Die Geten und Daken,
p. 60).
2.
A gold coin discovered in 1826 on the ploughed fields at
Turda.
Obverse: a man’s
head with a beard; the legend ARMIS BASIL(eus). Reverse: The perspective of a vast citadel with walls built
of fashioned stone; before the gate is the sign of the swastika, as is often
seen on the ceramic from Troy; on right is seen the half figure of an ox with
its head lifted upwards.
2.
A gold coin discovered in 1826 at Turda.
Obverse:
A man’s head with two faces, without epigraphy. Reverse: a tortoise, whose fore
legs are partly confounded with two letters from the legend SARIMS
BASIL (eus).
3.
A coin of gold (Transilvanian quality), which around 1848
was in the collection of Count Eszterhazy from Vienna, discovered, as the
archaeologist Neigebaur says, at Gradisce (Sarmizegetusa) in Transilvania.
About this coin Neigebaur had made a communication at the meeting of the
Archaeological Institute of Rome at 4 Febr. 1848. This coin had the legend: SARMIS
BASIL and as symbol a tortoise. Its diameter was 1” and its thickness
1/4” (Neigebaur, Dacien, p. 39).
4.
A gold coin representing: Obverse: A head with the legend SARMIS
BASILEOS. Reverse: A temple having inside an altar, on which burns a
fire; on one side a human figure, on the other a donkey, and two knives on the
lower part (Arneth, Sitz.-Ber. Akad.
d. Wiss. Phil-hist. CI. VI.B. 307).
5.
A coin of silver. Obverse: A head with two faces, in about
the way in which is represented Ianus. Reverse: SARMIS BASIL. A tortoise
on which is seen a shield and on the shield a lance. On both sides there is the
letter S (Arneth,
Sitz.-Ber. Ibid.).
6.
Another coin which belongs to this group is today in the
collections of the museum of Gotha and represents a head with two faces, while
on the obverse it bears a monogram, which seems to be 
(Kenner,
Wien, Num. Zeitschr, XXVII B, 71). This monogram might contain the letters AP. AG. (‘Armas agator). The last
word, with the meaning of dux, is
the Homeric epithet of Hermes or Armes (Hymn. In Merc. V. 14, Cf. Pausanias, VIII. 31. 7).
As we see from this
data which we find with the authors from across the Carpathians, the coins with
the legend ARMIS BASIL differ in type, legends, the metal of which they
are made and their weight, from the coins with the inscription SARIMS,
or SARMIS
BASIL; so we have here two varieties of coins, with different types and
legends, which refer to the same king. From the point of view of the name,
Armis and Sarmis is the same name, S from the beginning being only a
simple dialectal aspiration.
The Transilvanian
archaeologists and historians, Zamosius, Soterius, Hene and Neigebaur, have
considered the specimens they had seen as authentic, attributing them to Sarmis, the supposed founder of
Sarmizegetusa, identical with Syrmus, the king of the Triballi and of the
Getae, who had fought a war with Alexander the Great near the Danube.
In 1851 the
counselor Arneth made a communication to the Academy of Sciences of Vienna
about the coins with the legend SARMIS, which he considered as
fakes, but without indicating his reasons for this belief, either in regard
with the technique, of the fabrication, the quality of the metals, or the form
of the types and the character of the letters. The only reason expressed by
Arneth, that we do not know so far any Dacian king with the name Sarmis, cannot
be considered as final. How many antique coins, with names of unknown kings and
princes, have been discovered to this day in various parts of the world,
without being possible to declare, from a historical point of view, that all
these specimens were real or fake.
In regard to the
matter of the authenticity of these coins, we must show here that in
Transilvania, at least until the middle of the past century, had not existed a
commerce with fake antique coins,
because, as Troester observes very rightly, in these regions are discovered all
the time so many antique coins, through the ruins of the citadels, on ploughed
fields and vineyards, that they are unearthed not only by the men with their
ploughs, but also by pigs.
Arneth doesn’t make
any mention about the coins with the name ARMIS, which began to be known even
from the end of the 16th century.
The coins with the
legends ARMIS and SARMIS BASIL(eus) do
not constitute an isolated group in the ancient numismatics of Dacia; on the
contrary, they form only an important link with a long series of ante-Roman
coins of this country, which show us under different forms the type and
attributes of the divinized king Armis.
We find that
especially the type with two faces was also reproduced on other old coins of
Dacia and Gallia; and the tortoise and the Erymanthian boar are simple
astronomical symbols, which also appear in the numismatics of other Pelasgian
tribes settle in Gallia, Italy and the Peloponnesus.
The name Armis
which we find on two exemplars of the above specified coins is even today used
by the Romanian peasants from the territory of ancient Sarmizegetusa, under the
form of Armie as personal name and Armioniu as family name (especially in
the villages Gradisce, Rea, Ostrov, Paucinesci, Ciula, Ciulisora).
From a historical
point of view, the existence of an ancient king of Dacia with the name Arimus, or Armes, is beyond any doubt. The logograph Xantos, who had lived around 500 bc tells us that over the regions
where Typhon had warred with the gods, had ruled a king with the name Arimus (Arimun) (Fragm. Hist. gr. I. 37. fr. 4). As we know, the serious
battles of the Titans and Giants with the new master of Olympus had taken place
on the territory from the north of Thrace, close to the Iron Gates (II. VIII.
15). Therefore the king Arimus had
ruled in this part of the ancient world. Valerius
Flaccus, one of the priests who had to guard the Sibylline books, also
speaks about the same king. In his Argonautics, Valerius Flaccus mentions an Armes of Scytia, venerated as god by the pastoral populations of
those lands, who had become famous for his acts of violence and for his
fraudulent customs of stealing the herds and sheep flocks of others (Arg. VI.
v. 520). We find this tradition more developed in the Greek epic literature
which refers to Hermes, the ancient
god of the Pelasgian shepherds, called in the Homeric poems also Hermias, Hermeas, and Hermaon by Hesiodus. The hymn of Homer in honor of
Hermes presents this legend under the following form: Hermes, the gods’ messenger and author of useful things, had been
the son of the nymph Maia, an astute
child, deceitful with sweet words, thief, stealing cattle, spying during night
and behind the gates. Hermes, born in the morning, rises the same night from
the cradle, goes in secret to the grazing grounds of Apollo and steals his fine
herds of oxen with high held heads.
Returning afterwards to his mother, Hermes finds in front of the cave in which
he had been born a mountain tortoise.
The young god considers this to be of good omen, lifts up the tortoise and
makes from its carapace a fine sounding lyre.
It results
therefore from the legend which we find with Homer, that the god Hermes, who
had played such an important role in the cult of the Pelasgians from the
eastern parts of Europe, is the same as Armes,
the god of the pastoral populations of Scythia, mentioned by Valerius Flaccus;
that he is the same as Armis, or Sarmis, figured on the coins about
which we spoke above, and which present the characteristic attributes of the
god Hermes, an ox with its head hold high, a tortoise and a boar.
The country of the
god Hermes, venerated by the southern Pelasgians, had been, according to the
most ancient legends, at the north of Thrace, near Oceanos potamos, where all
the gods had been born (Homer,
Iliad, XIV. 201). His mother was the nymph Maia,
the daughter of the titan Atlas, the powerful Hyperborean king; and his father
had been Zeus aigiochos, the great god of Dacia, about whom we have
talked in an earlier chapter. Homer also tells us about Hermes that he sang
with a pleasant voice, and glorified gaia eremna, where the gods had been
born; and that after making peace with Apollo for the oxen which he had stolen,
this had given him a gold rod with three
leaves, symbol of prosperity and all success. Because of this, Homer also attributes to Hermes the
epithet of chrysorrapis (from chrysos, gold, and rabdos,
rod), a term which by its form and by the way in which the ancients constructed
the epithets seems to hide the name of the Dacian dynasty, Zarabi (Jornandes, Get.
c. 5). In the ancient epic literature, Hermes also has the characteristic
epithets eriounios, bringing of good things; dichaios, imparting
justice; ormainon dolon, who thinks how to cheat; agator oneiron, leader of
dreams, in fact agator ‘Oneiron, the Dux of the Oniri (understand Arimi). According to Orpheu’s Argonautics, the people of the Oniri had its dwellings close to the city fortified with walls ‘Ermionia
(Hermionia), situated near the Riphei mountains (Arg. v. 1142; Odyss. XXIV. v.
12; Dionys. Per. v. 714).
Traces of a very
ancient cult in honor of the deity Armin
still exist today at the Carpathians. The first day of the month of May is one
of the most solemn folk feast days of the Romanian shepherds and peasants from
Transilvania and Banat. It is celebrated with traditional ante-Christian rites
and is called Arminden. The word
seems to be composed of Armin and den, very probably with the meaning of
anniversary of the death of Armin (Cf.
Lat. feriae denicales; Greek thana,
death). The fathers of the Christian church have consecrated this day to the
prophet Jeremiah. On the territory of Sarmizegetusa, the great feast of
Arminden is celebrated at Densus,
where still exists today the oldest architectonic monument of Transilvania, a mausoleum of ante-Christian shape,
whose history we do not know, but which seems to have been restored during the
Middle Ages in the same antique style. On the eve of this feast day, near the
gate of each Romanian house is stuck into the ground a long staff of beech or
oak, with branches and leaves on top, also called arminden. It stays near the post of the gate until the wheat is
harvested, or until it is made the first new bread; then usually the Romanian
women, in token of gratitude to God, bake a damper in a clay pot, burnt with
wood of arminden.
In Attica and
Arcadia, where the Pelasgian element had remained preponderant for a long time,
the folk feast days in honor of Hermes were called ‘Ermaia; near the gates
of public edifices and of private houses were placed posts or armindens, called
‘Ermai.
We also note here that the name arminden
for the posts of Hermes was also known in antiquity. The Greek authors had
transformed though this word in ‘Ermathane, with the meaning of a
statue or pilaster, which showed the head of Hermes together with that of
Athena (Cf. Cic. Ad Att. I. 9).
As for the ancient
representations of Hermes, he is often figured with a beard, and sometimes with
two, three, and four heads. In the Roman cult the great feast day in honor of Hermes (Mercur) was on 15th
day of May; and for Maia, the mother
of Hermes, the sacrifices were made on the first day of May, meaning at
Arminden (Macrob. Sat. I. 12).
About Armes, or
Hermes, some historical traditions had been also preserved by the Arimic tribes
which had migrated from the Carpathians to Italy. Faunus, the ancient king of the Latins, whose residence had existed on the hill of Aventin in Rome,
also had, as Diodorus Siculus tells
us (VI. 5. 2), the name ‘Ermas (‘Erman), certainly the
form of Armes and Armen in Italic dialects. The wife of
Faunus had been a girl from the country
of the Hyperboreans (Dionys. I.
43), and he has most of the traditional
aspects of Armes [5].
[5. Armes as god of the shepherds and protector of the herds had as
characteristic symbol two horns on
his head. Faunus was also represented like this (Val. Flaccus, Arg. VI. v. 530-533; Ovid, Fast. III. v. 312). One of the ancient coins of Dacia (next
figure, nr.11) also shows Armis with two little horns above his forehead].
Some of the ancient
coins of Rome have on one side the type of Ianus, and on the other the type of
Hermes. Probably Armes or Hermes is the occult god under whose special
protection was the city of Rome (Macrob.
Sat. III. 9). Numa appeals to Faunus, or Hermes, as Diodorus also calls him,
when he wants to placate Jove’s anger (Ovid,
Fast. III. 491).
After the conquest
of Dacia, Hermes, or Armes, continued to be a protective deity of Sarmizegetusa
and of the whole province. But in Latin inscriptions his ancient national name
is always replaced with the names of other similar Roman deities.
We find the first
allusion to the ancient founder and patron of Sarmizegetusa is the monumental
inscription of the imperial legate M.
Scaurianus, telling about the founding of the colony Sarmizegetusa. The
text of this memorable inscription, as it has been copied before 1464, when the
monument was almost whole, and as transcribed in the oldest epigraphic codices,
is the following:
I . O
. M
ROMVLO
. PARENTI
MARTI . AVXILIATORI
FELICIBVS.AVSPICIIS. CAE
SARIS . DIVI
. NERVAE
TRAIANI
. AVGVSTI
CONDITA
. COLONIA
DACICA
SARMIZ
PER
M . S C A V R I A N V M p. Chr. 110.
EIVS . PRO . PR
In this inscription, Romulus with the epithet “Parens” figures as a protective deity
of the colony Sarmizegetusa, immediately after Jupiter Optimus Maximus; and Mars,
a superior Olympian deity, one of the 12 Consentes, is mentioned only in the
third place, following a simple hero, or demigod, and only with the modest
epithet of “auxiliator”. It may seem
that the old dogmatic hierarchy was reversed in this inscription; and we ask,
is it possible for Roman theology, so severe and traditional in forms, to
retrograde an Olympian divinity?
Romulus, in quality
of conditor urbis (Romae), was, it
is true, venerated with the name “Quirinus”
on the seven hills near the Tiber. But there could be no religious reason for
Romulus to be decreed in the public cult of Dacia as ”Parens” of the colony Sarmizegetusa, which had not even received
the adoptive name of “Romula” or
“Romulea”. So it is beyond any doubt that the name “Romulus Parens” from this inscription refers to another divinity,
not to “Romulus Quirinus”.
The explanation of
this mysterious inscription can be found only with the religious and historical
traditions of Dacia. Sarmiz - egetusa
as a city bore in fact the name of Armis
or Sarmis, who had an ancient
religious cult not only in Dacia, but also in Scythia, in Thrace, etc. At
110ad, the new colony was founded. The Roman senate decided to keep the
historical name of this capital, so the new colony was consecrated under the
name of Sarmiz – egetusa. Once the
ancient name of the city was adopted, it was an indispensable condition of the
public sacral right that the rights of the ancient tutelary divinities should
be also respected, so much so that in the prayers of evocation, a solemn
promise was made to these divinities, that they shall remain protectors of the
people and of the Roman soldiers also in future times (Macrob. Sat. III. 9).
The imperial legate
Scaurianus makes in the inauguration inscription of the colony only a change of
form. The name of Armis or Sarmiz, of the ancient founder and
patron of Sarmizegetuza, has been substituted in this inscription with the
equivocal divinity of “Romulus Parens”,
a name which from a historical and dogmatic point of view was referring to Armis, and from a political point of
view honored Romulus, who was also
called in the legends of the Middle Ages Armelus
(Graf, Roma nella memoria del medio
evo, I. p. 107). The other protective deities of the Colony Sarmizegetusa also
had religious traditions at the Lower Danube. Jupiter Optimus Maximus represented in fact Zeus arisots megistos, euruopa,
the tutelary ancient divinity of Dacia (see Ch. XII.7). Proof in this regard is
the 24 inscriptions of Cohort I Aelia Dacorum from Britannia, out of which 21
are dedicated to I. O. M. (C. I. L.
vol. VII, nr. 806-826, 975). Finally, Mars was the protector god of the Getic
plains (Virgil, Aen. III. 35).
Hermes, whom the Romans have later assimilated
with Mercury, appears as a
protective divinity of the colony Sarmizegetusa also on a tetragonal post, or an
antique arminden (hermathene), which had existed in the 16th century
in the Romanian church from Hateg, with the inscription: Mercurio et Minervae dis tutelaribus (Neigebaur, Dacien, p. 88,1; 29, 48).
We have still
another inscription of a particular importance about Hermes, as father of the
Roman nation and about his filial relations with Dacia, inscription whose
meaning has remained though entirely obscure to this day (C. I. L. vol. III, nr. 1351, 7853). The text of the dedication is
the following:
I
. O . M