Getae and Dacians? Are they the same? Or is this unknowable?

[Alanus]

I hope I'm not showing my ignorance with this ( and about half way through this thread my head was spinning) but I would like to add that since several times Geats were mentioned (not to be confused with the Dacian issue) as being from Scandanavia, right? I recall that reading Beowulf
the Danes referred to themselves as Geats. Maybe I digress..............
Very interesting thread, though. I learned alot already.

Good point, Gaivus

Chances are-- quite good actually-- that the Goths and Geats of Beowulf had common ancestors. The connection between the Goths and these "northmen" hasn't been figured out yet. But there is a connection. It shows up in the very late Icelandic songs-sagas in the mythical legends of Hervor and King Hedrick. The Hervor saga gives us the sword Tyrfing-- exactly the name that the Western Goths called themselves, the Tyrfingi. Hervor retrieves the sword from the grave of her father Arjantar or Argantor. The sword rises from the ground to her hand. And two generations later, a second Hervor commands a Gothic fort and is killed by the Huns. The symbolism and close Gothic connections in these verses allude to some ancient connection between the two tribes.

(Not to mention other strange allusions: The sword Tryfing and Excalibur are almost identical. And Argantar is incredibly close to Argante/Aryante the Lady of the Lake. This is either coincidence or a possible Gothic connection to the old British tales of a hero who must remain nameless in these RAT threads.) :wink:

This does show, once again, that the use of the term Getae/Geat/Gaet has a very old origin and is not exclusive to any one tribe, including Dacians.