Map of the Roman empire and contemporary indigenous Europe in AD 125, showing the location of the Rugii, who lived in the proximity of the Lemovii.

The Lemovii were a Germanic tribe, only once named by Tacitus in the late 1st century.[1][2] He noted that they lived near the Rugii and Goths and that they had short swords and round shields.[1][2]

The Oksywie culture is associated with parts of the Rugii and Lemovii.[2] Also, the Plöwen group (German: Plöwener Gruppe) of the Uecker-Randow region is associated with the Lemovii.[3]

The archaeological Dębczyn group might comprise the remnants of the Lemovii, probably identical with Widsith's Glommas, who are believed to have been the neighbors of the Rugii, a tribe dwelling at the Baltic Sea coast in today's Pomerania region before the migration period.[4][5] Both "Lemovii" and "Glommas" translate to "the barking".[5] Germanic sagas report a battle on the isle of Hiddensee between king Hetel (Hethin, Heodin of the Glommas) and Rugian king Hagen, following the abduction of Hagen's daughter Hilde by Hetel.[4] Yet, there are also other hypotheses about the location of the Lemovii, and that their identification as Glommas, though probable, is not certain.[4]

The Lemovii have also been equated with Jordanes' Turcilingi, together with the Rugii with Ptolemy's Rhoutikleioi, also with Ptolemy's Leuonoi and with the Leonas of the Widsith.[5]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b The Works of Tacitus: The Oxford Translation, Revised, With Notes, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, p.836, ISBN 0-559-47335-4
  2. ^ a b c J. B. Rives on Tacitus, Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.311, ISBN 0-19-815050-4
  3. ^ Horst Keiling, Archäologische Funde von der frührömischen Kaiserzeit bis zum Mittelalter aus den mecklenburgischen Bezirken, Museum für Ur- und Frühgeschichte Schwerin, 1984, p.8
  4. ^ a b c Johannes Hoops, Herbert Jankuhn, Heinrich Beck, Rosemarie Muller, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer, Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, 2nd edition, Walter de Gruyter, 2001, pp.158,159, ISBN 3-11-016950-9 [1]
  5. ^ a b c Johannes Hoops et al., Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, Walter de Gruyter, pp.258-259, ISBN 3-11-016950-9
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