Aesti
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The Aesti (or Aestii) were a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his book Germania (ca. 98 CE). According to his account, the Aesti spoke a language related to that spoken in Britain; they worshipped a deity known as the 'mother of the gods', as well as the wild boar commonly found in the region; for weapons they used wooden clubs and occasionally iron implements; they were also the only people to gather and trade amber.
Most scholars identify the Aesti as ancient inhabitants of Prussia, speakers of a Baltic language closely related to modern Latvian and Lithuanian also known as Old Prussians. If this is the case, the description of Tacitus is misleading, as the languages spoken in Britain were Celtic, not Baltic.
This identification is based primarily on their association with amber, a popular luxury item during the life of Tacitus, with known sources at the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Baltic amber trade, which appears to have extended to the Mediterranean Sea, has been traced by archaeologists back to the Nordic Bronze Age; its major center was located in the region of Sambia.
Some historians think that the term Aesti may refer to all of the peoples living by the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, including the Estonians, who speak a language of the Finnic group. Tacitus mentions another people known as the Fenni (probably Sami), living in proximity to the Aesti; this could be an indication that the Aesti were forerunners of the Estonians rather than a linguistically Baltic people.
Whatever the case, it seems that the word was eventually applied specifically to Estonians and is the origin of the modern national name of Estonia (Eesti in Estonian), called Eistland in ancient Scandinavian Sagas and Estia, Hestia and Estonia in early Latin sources.
[edit] References
- Deutschler, Yorck: "Die Aestii - Bezeichnung für die heutigen Esten Estlands oder die untergegangenen Pruzzen Ostpreußens" , in: Deutschler, Yorck, "Die Singende Revolution" - Chronik der Estnischen Freiheitsbewegung (1987-1991) , pp. 196-198. Ingelheim, March 1998/June 2000. ISBN 3-88758-077-X
