Bastarnae

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For the Ancient Roman method of transportation, see basterna.

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The Bastarnae were an important ancient people of uncertain, but probably mixed Germanic-Celtic-Sarmatian, ethnic origin, who lived between the Danube and the Dnieper (Strabo, Geography, VII, 3,17) during the last centuries BC and early centuries AD. Recent research indicates they were far more important and powerful than is generally realized (1). They may have been of Celtic, Germanic, mixed Germanic-Celtic or even proto-Balt origin. The etymology of their name is uncertain, but may mean 'mixed-bloods' (compare 'bastard'), as opposed to the neighbouring East Germanic Scirii 'clean-' or 'pure-bloods'.

The ethnic origin of the Bastarnae remains mysterious. Polybius and the authors who copy him regard them as Galatae. Livy claims (Liv. XLIV, 26,2-3,14) they are Celts. Strabo (with reservations - Strabo, VII, 3,17), Pliny (H.N. IV, 81), and Tacitus (Germ. 46) regard them as Germans, but the Romans often used "German" as a geographical rather than ethnic classification. (See "Atlas of Ancient History", p.50 by Colin McEvedy for a discussion of this point.) Tacitus expressly declares their German origin but says that the race was degraded by intermarriage with Sarmatians. Strabo notes that they also "mingled with the Thracians" as well as some Celtic tribes. More recently it has been suggested that they had a semi-nomadic "Eastern" nature, which does not tie in well with either of the modern stereotypes of Celtic or Germanic ethnicity (1).

The theory that they were a Germanic tribe (see below) considers them to have been among the first East Germanic tribes to have emigrated from Scandinavia (possibly as early as the 8th century BC, and as such they were among the first Germanic tribes to come into contact with the ancient world. [1]).

When the Bastarnae first appear in the historical sources, they were settled in Galicia and Bukovina. In 230 BC, the Bastarnae, along with the Scirii besieged the Black Sea port of Olbia. They appeared on the lower Danube about 200 BC, and were used by Philip V of Macedon against his Thracian neighbours. Defeated by the Dacians, the Bastarnae returned north, leaving some of their number settled on Peuce an island on the Danube (hence an alternative tribal name, Peucini). Their main body occupied the country between the eastern Carpathians and the Danube.

The Bastarnae had a reputation as excellent warriors. Appian called them "the bravest nation of all". As allies of King Perseus of Macedonia, as subjects of the Sarmatians (who seem to have overcome them late in the 2nd century BC), and then as mercenaries under Mithridates the Great and lastly on their own account, they had hostile relations with the Romans. In the time of Augustus, the Romans defeated the Bastarnae and made a peace. This peace however was disturbed by a series of incursions by the Bastarnae against neighbouring Roman provinces.

Archaeologically, the Bastarnae seem to fit well with the Zarubintsy culture of the southern Ukraine, which exhibits strong Sarmatian influences. This identification is, however, not yet fully accepted.

In the second or third centuries AD, the Bastarnae gave way to the Goths, with whom they seem to have amalgamated, and we last hear of them as transferred by the emperor Probus to the right bank of the Danube. They probably disappeared into the melting pot of the Chernyakhov culture, a multi-ethnic culture dominated by the Goths which thrived in the 3rd-5th centuries AD. There can be little doubt that the Chernyakhov culture ultimately had a role in the emergence of the Slavs.

It should be noted that the connection between the name "Bastarnae" and the word "bastard" or similar words meaning of doubtful or mixed origins has NO linguistic basis. In both Old Persian and Germanic, "bast" is connected with binding or with the materials the binding is made from. In both Greek and Old Norse, forms of "bast-" are used to describe the binding of parcels or gathering of baggage. In Old French, "bast-" refers to a saddle bag or pack. Thus, the name may have been an identification of the Bastarnae as wagoneers -- which would match their description in Classical texts. The word "bastard" with its modern connotation is only attested in the Middle Ages. It should also be noted that Roman texts often use the spelling "Basternae" -- which would relate them in some way to the Romance word for a litter or wagon.