| Keywords |
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| ID |
5042 |
| Text |
Historia (continuatio Agathiae) (557 - 582) Menander, the Guardsman |
| Quotation |
Ὅτι πολλῶν ἡμερῶν ὁδὸν διανύσαντες οἱ περὶ Ζήμαρχον ἐπειδὴ παρῆσαν ἐν τοῖς τῶν Σογδαϊτῶν τόποις, ὀπηνίκα τῶν ἵππων ἀπέβησαν, τῶν Τούρκων ἔνιοι ὡς ἔοικεν ἐς τοῦτο ἀνειμένοι, ὤνιον σφίσι προίσχοντο σίδηρον, οἶμαι τῷ ποιήσασθαι ἔνδειξίν τινα, ὡς μέταλλα αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχει σιδήρου· λέγεται γὰρ ὡς παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς οὐκ εὐπόριστόν τι χρῆμα ὁ σίδηρος. ταύτῃ ἔνεστι τεκμηριῶσαι ὡς ὑπαινιττόμενοι ἔχειν γῆν σιδηροφόρον τῷ τοιῷδε ἐχρήσαντο κόμπῳ. Ἕτεροι δέ τινες τοῦ φύλου τοῦ κατὰ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἀναφανέντες, οὓς εἶναι ἔλεγον τῶν ἀπαισίωυ ἐλατῆρας, ἀγχοῦ ἦλθον τῶν περὶ Ζήμαρχον· καὶ τοίνυν ἅπαντα ὅσα ἐ<πεφέροντο φορτία ἀράμενοι ἔθεσαν ἐν μέσῳ. εἶτα τοῖς τοῦ λιβάνου κλάδοις πῦρ ἀνάψαντες τῇ Σκυθικῇ φωνῇ βάρβαρα> ἄττα ῥήματα ὑπεψιθύριζον, ἐπιπαταγοῦντες δὲ κώδωνί τινι καὶ τυμπάνῳ ὕπερθεν τοῦ φόρτου περιέφερον τὸ φυλλῶδες τοῦ λιβάνου τῇ φλογὶ λακιζόμενον, καὶ ἅμα γινόμενοι μανιώδεις καὶ ἐμβριμούμενοι τὰ πονηρὰ ἀπελαύνειν ἐδόκουν· οὕτω γὰρ ἀποτρόπαιοί τινες εἶναι καὶ ἀλεξίκακοι ἐδόκουν. ἀποδιοπομπησάμενοι δὴ οὖν, ὡς ᾤοντο, τὰ δυσχερῆ Ζήμαρχόν τε αὐτὸν δι᾿ αὐτῆς παρήγαγον τῆς φλογός, ὧδέ τε ἔδοξαν καὶ σφᾶς ἀφαγνίζειν. |
| Translation |
When Zemarchus and his companions had completed a journey of many days, they entered the land of the Sogdians (Sogdaῗtai). At this point they dismounted from their horses, and certain Turks (Toȗrkoi), who had apparently been ordered to do this, offered them iron for sale, the purpose of which, I think, was to demonstrate that they had iron mines. For it is said that amongst them iron is not easily obtained. Thus one can assume that they made this demonstration to imply that they possessed land that contained iron. Certain others of their own tribe appeared, who, they said, were exorcisers of ill-omened things, and they came up to Zemarchus and his companions. They took all of the baggage that they were carrying and placed it on the ground. Then they set fire to branches of the frankincense tree, chanted some barbarous words in their Scythian tongue (Skuthikḗ phōnḗ), making noise with bells and drums, waved above the baggage the frankincense boughs as they were crackling with the flames, and, falling into a frenzy and acting like madmen, supposed that they were driving away evil spirits. For in this way some men were thought to be averters of and guardians against evil. When they had chased away the evil beings, as they supposed, and had led Zemarchus himself through the fire, they thought that by this means they had purified themselves also. |
| Summary |
Byzantine embassy under Zemarchus (magister militum of the east) travels to the Turk khagan Sizabulos/Istemi. He is welcomed by a shamanic ceremony. |
| Quotation source |
Fr. 10.3.1-20 (pp. 116-119) |
| Temporal Coverage |
569 - 571 |
| Associated use case(s) |
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| Comment |
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