DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0566
494
Apollon and Artemis
branch of this great trade-route ran direct from the Baltic to the
Black Sea, traversing the valleys of the Vistula and the Dniester,
while a second branch, passing along the Elbe, the Moldau, the
Danube, came down to the Adriatic, the Balkans, and Greece1. In
the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age the Elbe-Danube-Adriatic
route was extensively used by the amber-trade2. It may therefore
be regarded as reasonable to place the Hyperboreans of the myth
pretty much where Pindar placed them, near ' the shady springs
of IstrosV
This location is to some extent confirmed by recent enquiries
into the etymology of the name Hyperbdreoi. In 1892 W. Prellwitz4
first propounded the view that Boreas means the wind ' from the
mountain' (Church Slavonic gora)—a view accepted in 1898 by
H. Pedersen8 and in 1901 by O. Schrader'5. Pedersen accordingly
takes the word hyperboreos to denote ' beyond the mountains.' In
] 905 O. Schroeder7 argued that the Hyperboreans were, not an
idealised earthly tribe, but a ' Himmelsvolk' of divinised heroes.
Belief in them arose in a land where and at a time when the word
for 'mountain' was *bdris—a form presumed for the pre-Greek
dialects of northern Greece. Now the highest mountain between
the rivers Haliakmon and Axios is the ancient Bora* or modern
Nidje, which attains an elevation of over 2000m9. We must conceive
of the Hyperbdreoi as dwelling, not on the earth 'beyond Bora10,'
but in the sky 'above Bora11.' Schroeder's conclusions were approved
in 1914 by R. Gunther and Daebritz12. In the same year Kiessling13
admitted that Hyperbdreoi really meant ' above Bora,' but insisted
that from the beginning of s. v B.C. it was interpreted ' beyond
und die Goldfunde' ib. 1891 xxiii Verhandlungen p. 286 ft"., H. Bliimner in Pauly—
Wissowa Real-Enc. iii. 298 f., Schrader Reallex? pp. 96—101.
1 J. Dechelette Manuel <Tarchiologie prehistorique Paris 1908 i. 626 f.
- Id. op. cit. Paris 1910 ii. 1. 19 ft., 1913 ii. 2. 872 ff., 1914 ii- 3- 1327 ff., 1573 ff. As
to roads down the eastern side of the Adriatic, A. J. B. Wace and M. S. Thompson
Prehistoric Thessaly Cambridge 1912 p. 3 observe: ' The main route from north to south
seems to have come down Central Epirus to Ambracia (Arta, "Apra), and thence to have
crept round the coast past Amphilochian Argos into the lower Achelous valley.'
3 Supra p. 465.
i Prellwitz Etyni. Worterb. d. Gr. Spr.1 p. 50, id. ib.2 p. 81.
5 H. Pedersen in the Zeitschriftfitr vergleichende Sprachforschung 1898 xxxvi. 319.
6 Schrader Reallex. p. 956.
7 O. Schroeder ' Hyperboreer' in the Archiv f. Rel. 1905 viii. 79 f., 82 f.
8 Liv. 45. 29 quarta regio "trans Boram montem, una parte confinis Illyrico, altera
Epiro.
9 H. Kiepert Formae orbis antiqui Berlin 1894 xvii J i gives the altitude as 2320"1.
10 Cp. inrepirovTios. 11 Cp. iiirepd.Kpi.os.
12 R. Giinther and Daebritz in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ix. 260.
13 Kiessling in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. i A. 8571".
Apollon and Artemis
branch of this great trade-route ran direct from the Baltic to the
Black Sea, traversing the valleys of the Vistula and the Dniester,
while a second branch, passing along the Elbe, the Moldau, the
Danube, came down to the Adriatic, the Balkans, and Greece1. In
the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age the Elbe-Danube-Adriatic
route was extensively used by the amber-trade2. It may therefore
be regarded as reasonable to place the Hyperboreans of the myth
pretty much where Pindar placed them, near ' the shady springs
of IstrosV
This location is to some extent confirmed by recent enquiries
into the etymology of the name Hyperbdreoi. In 1892 W. Prellwitz4
first propounded the view that Boreas means the wind ' from the
mountain' (Church Slavonic gora)—a view accepted in 1898 by
H. Pedersen8 and in 1901 by O. Schrader'5. Pedersen accordingly
takes the word hyperboreos to denote ' beyond the mountains.' In
] 905 O. Schroeder7 argued that the Hyperboreans were, not an
idealised earthly tribe, but a ' Himmelsvolk' of divinised heroes.
Belief in them arose in a land where and at a time when the word
for 'mountain' was *bdris—a form presumed for the pre-Greek
dialects of northern Greece. Now the highest mountain between
the rivers Haliakmon and Axios is the ancient Bora* or modern
Nidje, which attains an elevation of over 2000m9. We must conceive
of the Hyperbdreoi as dwelling, not on the earth 'beyond Bora10,'
but in the sky 'above Bora11.' Schroeder's conclusions were approved
in 1914 by R. Gunther and Daebritz12. In the same year Kiessling13
admitted that Hyperbdreoi really meant ' above Bora,' but insisted
that from the beginning of s. v B.C. it was interpreted ' beyond
und die Goldfunde' ib. 1891 xxiii Verhandlungen p. 286 ft"., H. Bliimner in Pauly—
Wissowa Real-Enc. iii. 298 f., Schrader Reallex? pp. 96—101.
1 J. Dechelette Manuel <Tarchiologie prehistorique Paris 1908 i. 626 f.
- Id. op. cit. Paris 1910 ii. 1. 19 ft., 1913 ii. 2. 872 ff., 1914 ii- 3- 1327 ff., 1573 ff. As
to roads down the eastern side of the Adriatic, A. J. B. Wace and M. S. Thompson
Prehistoric Thessaly Cambridge 1912 p. 3 observe: ' The main route from north to south
seems to have come down Central Epirus to Ambracia (Arta, "Apra), and thence to have
crept round the coast past Amphilochian Argos into the lower Achelous valley.'
3 Supra p. 465.
i Prellwitz Etyni. Worterb. d. Gr. Spr.1 p. 50, id. ib.2 p. 81.
5 H. Pedersen in the Zeitschriftfitr vergleichende Sprachforschung 1898 xxxvi. 319.
6 Schrader Reallex. p. 956.
7 O. Schroeder ' Hyperboreer' in the Archiv f. Rel. 1905 viii. 79 f., 82 f.
8 Liv. 45. 29 quarta regio "trans Boram montem, una parte confinis Illyrico, altera
Epiro.
9 H. Kiepert Formae orbis antiqui Berlin 1894 xvii J i gives the altitude as 2320"1.
10 Cp. inrepirovTios. 11 Cp. iiirepd.Kpi.os.
12 R. Giinther and Daebritz in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. ix. 260.
13 Kiessling in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. i A. 8571".