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SIGYNNAE (EcyGvvat, Eiyevvoc)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 84 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIGYNNAE (EcyGvvat, Eiyevvoc) , an obscure See also:people of antiquity. They are variously located by See also:ancient authors. According to See also:Herodotus (v. 9), they dwelt beyond the See also:Danube, and their frontiers extended almost as far as the Eneti on the Adriatic. Their horses (or rather, ponies) were small, with shaggy See also:long See also:hair, not strong enough to carry men, but very speedy when driven in See also:harness. The people themselves wore a Medic See also:costume, and, according to their own See also:account, were a See also:colony of the Medes. See also:Strabo (xi. p. 520), who places them near the See also:Caspian, also speaks of their ponies, and attributes to them See also:Persian customs. In See also:Apollonius Rhodius (iv. 320) they inhabit the shores of the Euxine, not far from the mouth of the Danube. The statement as to their Medic origin, regarded as incomprehensible by Herodotus, is doubtfully explained by See also:Rawlinson as indicating that " the Sigynnae retained a better recollection than other See also:European tribes of their migrations westward and See also:Aryan origin "; R. W.

Macan (on See also:

Herod. v. 9) suggests that it may be due to a confusion with the Thracian Maedi (MatSot). If the last See also:paragraph in Herodotus be genuine, the Ligyes who lived above Massilia called traders Sigynnae, while among the Cyprians the word meant " spears." The similarity between Sigynnae and Zigeuner is obvious, and it has been supposed that they were the forefathers of the See also:modern See also:gipsies. According to J. L. Myres, the Sigynnae of Herodotus were " a people widely spread in the Danubic See also:basin in the 5th See also:century B.C.," probably identical with the See also:Sequani, and connected with the See also:iron-working culture of See also:Hallstatt, which produced a narrow-bladed throwing See also:spear, the sigynna spear (see See also:notice of " Anthropological Essays " in Classical See also:Review, See also:November 1908).

End of Article: SIGYNNAE (EcyGvvat, Eiyevvoc)

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