Sitones

Sitones were a Germanic people living somewhere in Northern Europe in the 1st century CE. They are only mentioned by Cornelius Tacitus in 97 CE in Germania. Tacitus considered them a Germanic people similar to Suiones (ancestors of modern Swedes):

"Upon the Suiones, border the people Sitones; and, agreeing with them in all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is exercised by a woman. So notoriously do they degenerate not only from a state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage."[1]

Speculations on Sitones' background are numerous. According to one theory, the name is a partial misunderstanding of Sigtuna, one of the central locations in the Swedish kingdom, that is known to have had a Latin spelling "Situne" much later.[2] Related to this may be a memory of a period in which the Swedes were ruled by a certain queen as described in the Disas saga.

Some historians see the Sitones to have been early inhabitants of the ancient Kvenland, locating north and northeast from the Norse and Svea (Swede) populations.[3]

See also

Languages
Prehistory
Roman Iron Age
Migration Period
Society and culture
Religion
Dress
Warfare
Burial practices
List of Germanic peoples · Portal:Ancient Germanic culture

References

  1. ^ Tacitus, Germania, Germania.XLV
  2. ^ Svenskt Diplomatorium I nr 852. Originalbrev. Pope Alexander III's address to king Knut Eriksson and Jarl Birger Brosa in 1170s.
  3. ^ Kyösti Julku has stated in his publication Kvenland - Kainuunmaa (1986) that "there is no indistinctness whatsoever about the geographical location of Sitones" (page 51) and places them to Kvenland - areas north and norhteast from the Suiones (later Sveas, Swedes) - as Kven ancestors.