Scandinavian predecessors have a unique history. Scholars agree that Scandinavians came from early Germanic people groups, including the Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Teutons and Burgundians (descendants of Gomer). Ashkenaz, son of Gomer, is ancestor of those Germanic peoples. The descendants of Ashkenaz have many historical references. Known as the Askaeni, they were some of the first peoples to migrate to northern Europe, naming the land Ascania. Latin writers and Greeks called the land Scandza or Scandia (now Scandinavia). Roman records describe a large city on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea (about 350 A.D.) where a chain of mountains begins, and runs eastward along the shore and beyond it, forming a natural boundary. Those mountains were called the Ascanimians, the region was called Sakasene (a form of Ashkenaz), and the dwellers of the city were the Saki. The Saki tribes had been migrating north to Europe for some time. The Saki called themselves the Sakasenoi, which we know as the Sachsens or Saxons. Around 280 A.D. the Romans tell of the employment of Saxons to guard the eastern British coasts against barbarians. About 565 A.D., the Saxons battled over territory in the Baltic region with another powerful people, the Svear. Historical records indicate that descendants of Tiras also settled in Scandinavia, a people called the Svear. The Svear are descendants of the first inhabitants of the ancient city of Troy, a people then known as the Tiracians (also Thracians, Trajans or Trojans). They were described as a "ruddy and blue-eyed people". The city of Troy was destroyed around 1260 B.C. after a succession of wars with the Greeks. Thousands of Trojans resettled abroad. That included Trojan warriors who sailed across the Black Sea to the Caucasus region in Southern Russia, probably the most documented of Trojan settlements are along the mouth of the River Don on the Black Sea. The locals named those Trojan settlers the "Aes", meaning "Iron" for their superior weaponry. Later, the inner part of the Black Sea was named after them, called the "Iron Sea" or "Sea of Aesov" in the local tongue. Today, the name continues as the "Sea of Azov".
The Aes or Aesir, travelled from the Caucasus region to the Baltic Sea in Scandinavia around 90 B.C., which is supported by several scholars and modern archaeological evidence. The Aesir clans traded with local Germanic tribes, including the Gutar. Romans called the Gutar "Goths", and the Aesir "Svear". The Svear population flourished, and with the Goths they formed a powerful military alliance of well-known seafarers. The Romans noted that Svear people together with the Goths were, from the 3rd century A.D., ravaging the Black Sea, Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, using the same type of weapons as their Trojan ancestors. The Svear and Goths dominated the Russian waterways, and by 739 A.D. together they were called Varyagans or Varangians (from the Swedish Vaeringar), according to written records of the Slavs near the Sea of Azov. Like their ancestors, Scandinavians lived in large communities where their chieftains would send out maritime warriors to trade and plunder. Those fierce warriors were called the Vaeringar, which literally meant "men who offer their service to another master". We later know them by their popularized name, the Vikings. Further evidence of Aesir (Asir) settlements in the Baltic region came from their Thracian language, which not only influenced, but is very close to the Baltic and Slavic (Balto-Slavic) languages of today. By the 9th century A.D., the Svear state had emerged as the major power in Scandinavia. The Svear are know today as the Sverige or Swedes. The Svear and Goths, along with other Germanic tribes, settled in what is now present-day Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and other parts of the Baltic region. They were forefathers of the Scandinavians—the descendants of both Gomer and Tiras.
Posted on Mar 1, 2005, 11:28 AM from IP address 203.206.53.20