PART
6 –
Ch.XXXIX.6.V
The
great Pelasgian empire
(Decline
of the Pelasgian empire)
Other
kings of the divine dynasty
XXXIX.
6. V. Danaus (Armais).
In the history of
Pelasgian times there is often mention of an ancient king from the family of
the Arimii, called Danaus, whose
true name, according to the Hebrew historian Flavius Josephus, had been Armais
(c. Ap. I. 15).
Danaus was a son of
Belus, who in Romanian epic songs is called Balaban.
It was said about
this Danaus that he had reigned in Libya, and that he had
50 daughters with several wives. One of his wives was called Atlantia (Apollod. Bibl. lib. II. 1. 5), meaning from the kingdom of Atlas. Persecuted by his
brother Aegyptus for the misunderstandings which they had regarding their
rights to rule, Danaus fled together with his daughters towards the northern
parts of the empire. He arrived to the country called Argos, over which ruled Pelasgos, and asked him for protection and
for a place to settle, telling him that by origin he also was from the family
of the inhabitants of Argos (Eschyl,
Suppl. v. 12 seqq). Finally, Danaus became king over that country.
Under the name Argos, the Greek authors
usually understood the province Argolis from the Peloponnesus. But an Argos also existed in Scythia, and another Argos on the territory
of the Pheacii, who dwelt near the Cyclopes, or in other words at the north of Thrace.
“Argos” in the Greek
language means “plain”, “arable land” and “territory inhabited by an
agricultural population”. From the historical point of view, Argos of the traditions
about Danaus is the same as the territory called “Gaea” and “Terra”, from the
north of Thrace, near Oceanos
potamos. So for example, according to Stephanos Byzanthinos, the horses of
Neptune grazed in Argos, and according to
Homeric and Hesiodic traditions, near Oceanos potamos, at the north of Thrace. The country
called “Argos”, in which settled
Danaus, had with Eschyl the name Apia; with Herodotus though, Apia has the same
meaning as Ga or Terra, the
worshiped territory from Oceanos potamos.
The epic history of
Danaus takes place in the land of Hellada, and in the
regions from the lower Danube. Homer often calls the Greeks Danai, after the name of Danaus, who
had reigned over Hellada.
In Bulgarian epic
songs, this Danaus appears under the name Dan
ban, Dan voivodul, Dan voivodul roman, and Dan voivodul Valachiei (TN – Dan, the
Romanian prince, the prince of Valachia).
He is almost always presented as mounting a horse and making ready to
depart (Sezatoarea, Falticeni, An.
IV. p. 11. 15; Hasdeu, Etym. magn.
Tom. IV, p. CLVI). He has several possessions, on the shore of the sea, on the
bank of the Danube, and in the mountains. The Bulgarian poems
also talk about his daughters, and about his fleeing to Tera Romanesca. So, in
a carol from Bulgaria it is said: “Is
voivode Dan thinking to flee to Tera Romanesca, or to plunder? His wife is
brought from a foreign country, from near the Black Sea”. This is an
allusion, as we see, to his wife called by the Greek authors Atlantia.
This Dan figures in
Bulgarian songs more than all the other Romanian voivodes taken together. His
epic mentions are connected more with the territory from beyond the Danube, with ancient
Mesia, where it seems that he had reigned in the beginning. All the elements
presented in these Bulgarian poems are archaic, so that the historical
personality of this “Dan ban” belongs to some very remote times.
In the history of
the Romanian country, the family of Dan is ancient.
One Dan-voda had once reigned in Oltenia
even before the founding of the Romanian state by Negru-Voda.
The Archbishop of
Strigon, Nicolae Olahus, writes the
following about this family: “Even from the times of our forefathers to our
present days, there have been two families in this country (Great Valachia), formed in the
beginning from the same house, one of the Danii,
from Dan Voivode, and the other of the Dragulescii,
from Dragul Voivode (or the Basarabii), and the legitimate voivodes of this
country are chosen from these two families” (Hungaria et Atila, Vindob. 1763,
p. 55).
“Our ancient chronicle”, writes Olahus in
another place, “tells us that the territory of Hungarian Dacia had once been inhabited by Dani, but these, frightened by the arrival of the Huns, had
migrated with their families and their men to the maritime lands of the north,
which today are called Dania and Norvegia” (Ibid, p. 12).
All we can gather
from this historical tradition is that Dan family might have reigned also at
the time of the Huns.