Polybius locates Sarmafia in the Ponto-Caspian steppe(
Histona). Ptolemy's Sarmatia is animmensearea bounded by the
Vistula and Volga rivers and the Baltic and Black seas. Pomponius Mela gives S arm atia a European orientation, namely the lands east of the Elbeand northof the Danube( De S ituOrbis).
SARMATS
Similarly,Sarmat or Sarmatae (also Sarabatiae,
Sauromatae, Syrmatae, and
Sermende among others) succeeds Scythor Scythae more often than not as a learned
archaism for the Slavs (e.g.
Sarmatae Sclavi). Pliny, Tacitus and Ptolemy refer to the Slavs on the Vendic/Baltic Sea and the Vistula River as Sarmats. Ptolemy, for example, writes:H abi t an t Sarm at i am g en t es m ax i m ae Ven ed aepro pt ert o t um Ven ed i cum si n um ;
Minores autem gentes Sarmatiam incolunt iuxta Visutalam infra Venedas Gythanes.
Mela locatesS arm atia east of Germania:G erm an i ad Sarm at as po rri g un t ur. Precisely
whereGerm ania ends andS arm atia begins, however, was a matter of some confusion. In
De Origine et Situ Germanorum (A.D. 98), a somewhat garbled description of the vari-
ous tribes west of the Rhine and north of the Danube, believed to be based largely on
out-of-date material, Tacitus is not sure whether some nations wereGerm ans orS arm ats.
Here Suebia ends. I am not sure whether the tribes of the Peucini, Veneti should
be assigned to the Teutons or to the Sarmatians ... The Venedi have adopted many
Sarmatian habits; for their plundering takes them over all the wooded and moun-
tainous highlands that lie between the Peucini and the Fenni. Nevertheless, they
are one the whole to be classed as Germans; for they have settled homes, carry
shields, and are fond of traveling—and travelling as—on foot, differing in all
these respects from the Sarmatians.
VANDALS, VANDALIA
As the following series indicates, medieval sources sometimes refer to Germania's
Slavs and neigh boring Slavs as Vandals/Wandals, their lands,Vandali a Wan d ali a:
1)Ab Oriente Wandalorum gens ferocissima habitat;
2) Contra Wandelicos auxiliantibus;
3) De Sclavia. Sclavia estpars Mesia, multas continens regiones. Nam Sclavi sunt Bohemi, Poloni, Metani, Vandali, Rutheni;
4) In Wandalos;
5) In regionem Wandalorum;
6) Inter Saxoniam et Vandaliam est Albus. Estautem Vandalia terra, cujus gentes Slavi dicuntur;
7 ) L ingua Rutenorum et Polonorum et Boemorum et Sclavanorum eadem est cum lingua Wandalorum
Sclavorum in regionem Wandalorum;
9) Wandalos, quos nunc appellant Guenedos.
The notion that at one time Germania's Slavs or Wi n uli were called Van d al s has deep roots in early German sources. In the late 11th century Adam of Bremen writes: Sclavania igitur, amplissima
Germaniaeprovintia, a Winulis incolitur, qui olim diet sunt Wandali.One century
later, Adam's successor, Helmold, writes: Where Poland ends one comes into a most
extensive Slavic province, that of the people who of old were called Vandali, but
nowWinithi or Winuli. Regarding the identity and location of the Winuthior: Winuli,
Helmold writes: The other river, the Oder, tending toward the north, passes through
the territory of the Winuli peoples, dividing the Pomeranians from the Wilzi. At its mouth, where its watersswel l those of the Baltic Sea, there one stood Jumen[Wolin]... Then, beyond the sluggish current of the Oder and the territory peopled by several Pomeranian tribes, there lies toward the west the country of the Winuli, of those namely, who are called Tholenzi and Redarii.
WANDALO PATRE POLONORUM
In medieval Polish sources one finds the notion thatWan d al s take their name fromWan d al us, the father, progenitor of the Polish nation, of the Polish or Lechtic nation: Necno autem quatuor filios genuit, cuius primogenitus Wandalus, a quo Wandalitae, qui Poloni nunc dicuntur,orti sunt. Hie ex nomine suo fluvium, qui nunc Wysla vulgariter nuncupatur, Wandalum censuit appellari, nam et mons, de quo oritur dictusfluvius Wanda ab eiusdem nomine vocitatur; Ipsa denique Wanda a. Wandalo, Wandalorum idest Polonorum sive Lechitarum progenitoe, de quo supra diximus nomen accepit; velpotest did Wanda a Wandalo scilicetflumine Wisla eo, quodeius regni centrum extiterit. The same sources trace the origin of all Slavic nations to the sons ofWan d al us: H abui t [Wan d al us] quo que m ul t o sfi l i o s, qui g en erat i o n i bus suis ultra quartam partem Europae per regiones et regna semen suum multiplicando possederunt, videlicet: total Russiam adorientem, Poloniam maximam terrarum et matrem, Pomeraniam, Seleuciam, Cassubiam, Sarbiam quae nunc Saxonia dicitur, Bohemiam, Moraviam, Stiriam, Carinthiam et Sclavoniam: quae nunc Dalmacia dicitur; Chrowatiam, Pannoniam, quae nunc Ungaria dicitur, Bulgariam et alias quamplures, quarum multitude propter prolixitatem subticetur.
ALBERT KRANZ
An early authority on Saxony, A. Kranz (1450-1517), author of two important
historical treatises,V andalia (1519) and S ax onia (1520), is certain that Van d al sare Wen d s
areSlav s who are divided into many nations, Poles, Bohemians and many others. A
decade later one finds the same notion in D. Chytraei'sV andalia (1591). Kranz, Chytraei and other scholars know that the originalVan d al s were a Germanic nation, who first appear in 406 when they crossed the Rhine, invaded Gaul and Spain, established a kingom in North Africa, and sacked Rome in 455. They believe that at some early point in time Slavic peoples settled alongside the GermanicVan d al s, and that later, after the latter had departed, the Slavs occupied their lands and came to be known as Vandals.
GERMAN-SLAVVANDALS
Carrying thelongtim e G erm an- S lav neighb ors and f riends notion several steps for- ward, some German writers believe that the Slavic Vandals or: Wends represent the union of\f o n d a lo \d n m ers left behind and Slavic newcomers in former Vandal lands. On this point, M.B. Latimi writes: Als haben sich die Witzer Wuder and andere Slaven aus Sarmatien Wandalen so heuffig in diese Lender und Stette gemachlich eingedrungen, und mit dem Wandalen vereinbaret und befreudent, dass darüber
die alte Teutsche Sprache corrumpiret, und die Wendische Zunge mit eingwurzeit,
vermischetundgemein'worden i s( Wiasmariensis megapolitani genealochronicon,1610 ).