Doctoral dissertation.
In this thesis, I examine the tradition and relationships of references to the religiosity and morality of northern peoples in Greek and Latin literary sources, from the pre-Hellenistic period until the end of the fourth century CE. I will argue that in ancient literature, recurring stock motifs and topoi constitute the most prevalent manifestation of a culturally shared and stereotypical set of associations about the religious culture and the moral character of the 'northern barbarians', a rather hazily differentiated assemblage of variously named groups to the north of the Mediterranean basin. In short, when the ancient educated elite thought about the religiosity of the northerners, it was through a certain limited set of tropes that they related to the subject. As such, these motifs not only conditioned how the 'reality' of those groups was perceived and written about in antiquity, but as a whole, have formed a serious obstacle to all subsequent search for 'factual' information on northern barbarian religions.
Author(s): Antti Lampinen
Publisher: University of Turku
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: IV+420
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i
ABBREVIATIONS iv
INTRODUCTION 1
1. OUTLINE OF THE WORK 1
2. METHODS AND TERMINOLOGY 6
3. PROBLEMS 21
PART I — RELIGIOUS 'BOREALISM' FROM THE HYPERBOREANS TO THE CIMBRI 29
1. EUROPEAN BARBARIAN RELIGION IN THE GREEK MORAL AND MENTAL GEOGRAPHY 29
A. THE BEGINNINGS 29
B. (RE)INVENTING THE NORTHERN BARBARIAN 51
C. FIRST IMPRESSIONS, GREEK MYTHOPOEIA AND TRACES OF 'EMOTIONAL BARBAROGRAPHY' 62
2. FROM GREEK TO ROMAN LITERATURE 89
A. EARLIEST ROMAN CONTACTS WITH THE NORTHERN BARBARIANS 89
B. GREEK INFLUENCE ON REPUBLICAN ROMAN DEPICTIONS OF NORTHERNERS 99
3. THE CIMBRI AND THE TEUTONES 115
4. SCIONS OF HERACLES, ENEMIES OF THE GODS: EUROPEAN BARBARIAN RELIGIOSITY DOWN TO THE CIMBRIC WARS 128
A. EPISTEMIC FOUNDATION OF RELIGIOUS 'BOREALISM' 128
B. HERACLES-HERCULES AND THE EUROPEAN BARBARIANS 136
C. RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA AND GALATOMACHIC TRIUMPHALISM 146
D. THEANDRIC IMBALANCE, DIVINE EPIPHANY AND TALISMANIC SANCTUARIES 156
PART II — NEW FRONTIERS, THE SAME OLD BARBARIANS? RELIGIOUS 'BOREALISM' FROM THE LATE REPUBLIC TO THE HIGH EMPIRE 167
1. BEGINNINGS OF NORTHERN RELIGIOUS ETHNOGRAPHY 167
A. THE GREEK THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 167
B. WIDENING HORIZONS IN LATE REPUBLICAN ROME 172
C. 'HOME IS WHERE THE HEADS ARE'— POSIDONIUS AND HIS ETHNOGRAPHY 177
D. THE INFLUENCE OF THE GREEK PHILOSOPHICAL SCHOOLS 189
2. THE EXPANDING MIDDLE GROUND OF THE LATE REPUBLICAN WORLD 200
A. THE GAULS IN THE ERA OF CICERO, CAESAR, AND LIVY 200
B. GERMANS AND BRITONS IN CAESAR 222
3. TRANSFERRING BARBARISM: GAUL AND GERMANIA DURING THE HIGH EMPIRE 227
A. THE RHINE FRONTIER: GERMANIA AS ALTER ORBIS 227
B. DEPICTING THE GERMANS’ RELATIONSHIP TO RELIGION 232
C. FANATICA MULTITUDO: GALLIC DISTURBANCES OF THE FIRST CENTURY CE 243
4. BRITAIN AND OTHER ISLANDS 253
A. THE OCEAN AND THE STRANGENESS OF ITS ISLANDS 253
B. THE BRITISH IN THE IMPERIAL LITERATURE 261
C. ON STRANGER TIDES: IRELAND AND THE IRISH 267
5. HEGEMONY OF THE TOPOI: EUROPEAN BARBARIAN RELIGIOSITY FROM POSIDONIUS TO THE HIGH EMPIRE 271
A. THE SAMENESS OF THE NORTHERN DIFFERENCE 271
B. THE 'BARBARIZED RELIGION' OF THE NORTH 281
C. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING PIOUS 291
PART III – THE NORTHERNERS' RELIGIOSITY IN LATER IMPERIAL LITERATURE 297
1. CLASSICIZING IDEALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC CONSERVATISM 297
A. 'THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF NEW BARBARIANS' 297
B. EXEMPLA 302
C. INNOVATIONS AND IDEALIZATIONS 305
D. THE NACHLEBEN OF DRUIDS AND OTHER NORTHERN SAGES 310
2. GALLIC DISTURBANCES: LOSS OF TRUST, 'RE-BARBARIZATION' AND REHABILITATION 317
A. USURPERS AND OUTCASTS FROM THE GALLIC EMPERORS TO THE 'BACAUDIC' IMITATIO BARBARIAE 317
B. THE CASE OF AMMIANUS: GAULS AS 'ETERNAL ALLIES' 324
C. 'THE GREAT CONSPIRACY' AND OTHER DISTURBANCES IN BRITAIN 327
3. WHO ARE WE BEING ROMANS AGAINST? — BARBARIANS IN ROMANIA 331
A. COMPLICATIONS IN THE EXTERNAL-INTERNAL DICHOTOMY 331
B. ANTI-BARBARIAN SENTIMENTS AND ELITE WORLDVIEW 334
4. THE HIGH AND LATE IMPERIAL IMAGE OF EUROPEAN BARBARIAN RELIGIOSITY 346
A. IMPERATORES SEMPER HERCULII: THE BARBAROMACHIC EMPEROR 346
B. THE SANCTUARIES, CHRISTIAN AND PAGAN 352
C. CHRISTIAN BARBAROGRAPHY? TOPICAL ADAPTATIONS AND EPISTEMIC REDEFINITIONS 355
CONCLUSIONS 363
1. SUMMARY 363
A. FROM THE CLASSICAL ERA TO THE CIMBRIC WARS 363
B. FROM POSIDONIUS TO EARLY EMPIRE 366
C. HIGH AND LATE EMPIRE 368
2. CONCLUSIONS 371
BIBLIOGRAPHY 381
