Impero romano sotto Ottaviano Augusto 30aC - 6dC

According to

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

's ''

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

'' (

AD 98 AD 98 (Roman numerals, XCVIII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Roman consul, Consulship of Nerva, Augustus and Traianus (or, less frequently, year 851 ''Ab urbe condita'') ...

), Tuisto (or Tuisco) is the legendary divine ancestor of the

Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...

. The figure remains the subject of some scholarly discussion, largely focused upon etymological connections and comparisons to figures in later (particularly Norse)

Germanic mythology Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon paganism#Mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism. O ...

Etymology

The ''Germania'' manuscript corpus contains two primary variant readings of the name. The most frequently occurring, Tuisto, is commonly connected to the

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

root ''*twai'' – "two" and its derivative ''*twis'' – "twice" or "doubled", thus giving Tuisto the core meaning "double". Any assumption of a gender inference is entirely conjectural, as the tvia / tvis roots are also the roots of any number of other concepts / words in the Germanic languages. Take for instance the Germanic "twist", which, in all but the English has the primary meaning of "dispute / conflict". The second variant of the name, occurring originally in manuscript ''E'', reads Tuisco. One proposed etymology for this variant reconstructs a Proto-Germanic ''*tiwisko'' and connects this with Proto-Germanic ''* Tiwaz'', giving the meaning "son of Tiu". This interpretation would thus make Tuisco the son of the sky-god (

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

*'' Dyeus'') and the earth-goddess.

Tuisto, Tvastar, and Ymir

Connections have been proposed between the 1st-century figure of Tuisto and the primeval being Ymir in later

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, attested in 13th-century sources, based upon etymological and functional similarity. Meyer (1907) sees the connection as so strong, that he considers the two to be identical. Lindow (2001), while mindful of the possible semantic connection between Tuisto and Ymir, notes an essential functional difference: while Ymir is portrayed as an "essentially ... negative figure" – Tuisto is described as being "celebrated" (''celebrant'') by the early Germanic peoples in song, with Tacitus reporting nothing negative about Tuisto. Jacob (2005) attempts to establish a genealogical relationship between Tuisto and Ymir based on etymology and a comparison with Vedic Indian mythology: as Tvastr, through his daughter Saranyū and her husband Vivaswān, is said to have been the grandfather of the twins Yama and Yami, so Jacob argues that the Germanic Tuisto (assuming a connection with Tvastr) must originally have been the grandfather of Ymir (cognate to Yama). Incidentally, Indian mythology also places Manu (cognate to Germanic Mannus), the Vedic progenitor of mankind, as a son of Vivaswān, thus making him the brother of Yama/Ymir.

Attestation

Tacitus relates that "ancient songs" (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''carminibus antiquis'') of the Germanic peoples celebrated Tuisto as "a god, born of the earth" (''deum terra editum''). These songs further attributed to him a son, Mannus, who in turn had three sons, the offspring of whom were referred to as Ingaevones, Herminones and Istaevones, living near the Ocean (''proximi Oceano''), in the interior (''medii''), and the remaining parts (''ceteri'') of the geographical region of

, respectively.

Theories and interpretations

Tacitus's report falls squarely within the ethnographic tradition of the classical world, which often fused anthropogony, ethnogony, and

theogony The ''Theogony'' () is a poem by Hesiod (8th–7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogy, genealogies of the Greek gods, composed . It is written in the Homeric Greek, epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1,022 lines. It is one ...

together into a synthetic whole. The succession of father-son-three sons parallels occurs in both Germanic and non-Germanic

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

areas.Simek (2007), p. 336. The essential characteristics of the myth have been theorized as ultimately originating in

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

around 2,000 BCE.Simek (2007), pp. 224–225. According to Rives (1999), the fact that the ancient Germanic peoples claimed descent from an earth-born god was used by Tacitus to support his contention that they were an indigenous population: the Latin word was often used in the same sense as the Greek , meaning literally ' orn fromthe land itself'. Lindauer (1975) notes that although this claim is to be judged as one made out of simple ignorance of the facts on the part of Tacitus, he was not entirely wrong, as he made the judgement based on a comparison with the relatively turbulent Mediterranean region of his day. The name ''Tuisto'' is also given as ''Tuitsch'' or ''Teutsch'' in its alternative versions and made to derive from the same founding figure called ''Tuisco'' (merely as alternate spellings of the same name) who was claimed to have led the Germans from the incident of the Tower of Babel into Europe and from whom the Germans themselves derived their name: and as a consequence that of their land.

Later influence

In 1498, a monk named Annio da Viterbo published fragments known as "Pseudo-Berossus", now considered a forgery, claiming that Babylonian records had shown that Tuiscon or Tuisto, the fourth son of Noah, had been the first ruler of

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

and Germany following the dispersion of peoples, with him being succeeded by his son Mannus as the second king. Later historians (e.g. Johannes Aventinus) managed to furnish numerous further details, including the assertion by James Anderson that this Tuiscon was in fact none other than the biblical Ashkenaz, son of Gomer.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * Grimm, J.; trans. Stallybrass, James Steven. (2004a). '' Teutonic Mythology'', Vol. I.

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, book ...

. . * Grimm, J.; trans. Stallybrass, James Steven. (2004b). '' Teutonic Mythology'', Vol. IV.

. . * Jacob, Alexander (2005). ''Ātman: A Reconstruction of the Solar Cosmology of the Indo-Europeans.'' Georg Olms. . * Lindauer, Josef (1975). ''Germania: Bericht über Germanien.'' Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch. . * Lindow, John. (2001)
Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs
'.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. * North, Richard (1997).
Heathen Gods in Old English Literature
'.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. . * * Rawlinson, George (2000).
The History of Herodotus
'. * Simek, Rudolf (1995). . Stuttgart: Kröner . * Simek, Rudolf (2007), trans. Hall, Angela ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D. S. Brewer. . * Stuart, Duane R. (1916). ''Germania''. New York: MacMillan Co. 1916. *

; trans. Rives, J. B. (1999) .

. . * Tacitus; trans. Fuhrmann, Manfred (2000). . Stuttgart: Reclam. . * Valpy, A. J. (March–June 1812)
''The Classical Journal'', Vol. V
London: A. J. Valpy. * * . {{Good article Germanic mythology Germanic paganism Legendary progenitors Ymir