Amber

Amber has been a material of desire since antiquity. We know now that it is 40 million-year-old fossilized tree sap, but in ancient times there was no known origin.

It often was found washed up on the shore of the Baltic Sea and other bodies of water. This prompted Ovid in the 1st century CE to attribute it to the tears of a minor sea goddess, Clymene, the mother (by Helios, the sun god) of Phaethon, who begged Helios to let him drive the chariot of the sun, lost control, and was killed by a thunderbolt from Zeus to prevent disaster. Phaethon's mother and sisters were so devastated by their loss that they turned into poplar trees. Amber was the remains of their tears before they transformed. In fact, the Greek word for amber was electrum, derived from the Greek word for the sun.

Other myths to explain it were the death of Meleager, whose mother's tears turned to amber; solidified sunlight; material originating in a temple in Ethiopia; from a river in India; solidified urine of the male lynx (its dark color resembled amber). Aristotle called it "hardened resin," but others looked for more interesting origins.

The Roman writer Pliny the Elder, while including all materials and precious stones in his Natural History, noticed that burning amber produced a pine scent, and that it was observed to sometimes have insects trapped inside. Concluding that the insects got into it while amber was in a liquid state, he concluded that it was the sap of the pine tree. He also felt that the sap became amber because of the interaction of the sea, since it was found on shores.

After the 3rd century CE, Roman interest in amber seemed to wane, but in the Medieval Era its popularity was revived by the Armenians, who made it into jewelry and kept a healthy trade with other areas through the Amber Road.

Its popularity as jewelry or art came because it was relatively easy to carve and shape. Above you can see an Anglo-Saxon amber necklace from a female burial at Linton Heath in Cambridgeshire dated 450-550 CE. But its popularity went beyond merely being attractive. It was considered to have medicinal and even mystical properties. I'll tell you about them tomorrow.

The Amber Road

Yesterday mentioned Wulfstan of Hedeby stopping at a place along the Amber Road. The Amber Road was a trade route (part of it shown here) that connected Mediterranean countries with the Baltic Sea, where amber was relatively plentiful.

Sometimes called "gold of the north," amber was known to be used a millennium prior to the Common Era by the Etruscans. At the end of that time and the beginning of the Common Era the Celts built a large trade industry with amber and had routes to the Roman Empire. In the first few centuries CE it was considered a symbol of the Roman Empire's growing power.

Using the "path of least resistance," it usually went along river valleys. The main route went from (what is now) Vienna through, Wrocław, Kalis (Kalisia), Konin (Setidava), and eventually to Gdańsk. Kaliningrad, originally founded during a Crusade to convert the Prussians, has a massive amber mine you can visit today. When Rome conquered the areas of the central Danube, the speed of transport really took off as Roman merchants found it easier to travel northward to where they could purchase or barter for the material.

Like any important trade route (such as the Silk Road), the Amber Road led to the development of towns along its path, which meant more merchants of various goods, purveyors of food and drink, and owners/builders of inns that thrived along the route. Bags of amber, furs (mainly beaver), leather and wood went south, while metalwork such as belt buckles and clasps along with fabrics went north.

What was the allure of amber? It was made into jewelry, of course, but it had other uses according to friend-of-the-blog Pliny the Elder. I'll share his thoughts next time.

Wulfstan of Hedeby

Long before the Prussian Crusades of later centuries, Alfred the Great of England sent his emissary, Wulfstan of Hedeby, to Prussia in 890. Alfred was interested in opening up trade with other countries, and also wanted to spread Christianity. Wulfstan's trip is described in the Anglo-Saxon work "The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan." It contains the earliest English record of Old Prussian culture.

Wulfstan may have been Anglo-Saxon, or may have been from Hedeby originally, which was Danish at the time, although now in northern Germany. The account that he shared with Alfred tells of his travel from Hedeby to Truso, a Scandinavian trading port along the Amber Road. Alfred included Wulfstan's account when he translated Orosius' Histories. He names his itinerary:

Wulfstan said that he went from Haethum to Truso in seven days and nights, and that the ship was running under sail all the way. Weonodland was on his right, and Langland, Laeland, Falster, and Sconey, on his left, all which land is subject to Denmark. Then on our left we had the land of the Burgundians, who have a king to themselves. Then, after the land of the Burgundians, we had on our left the lands that have been called from the earliest times Blekingey, and Meore, and Eowland, and Gotland, all which territory is subject to the Sweons; and Weonodland (the land of the Wends) was all the way on our right, as far as the Vistula estuary.

Wulfstan was the first to use the word "Prussian" to describe the people he met, although they were also known as "Aesti." He describes their social structure as having rulers (cyning), nobles (ricostan), paupers (unspedigan), and slaves (þeowan).

Wulfstan also reported their funeral customs:

The Aesti have the following custom: when someone dies, their body lies unburnt in their house for a month or sometimes two; kings and nobles lie even longer, proportionally to their affluence […] While the deceased is lying in the house, the family and friends drink and celebrate until he or she is burnt.

The Aesti have the custom that every deceased person, irrespective of their social position, is burnt. If they do not burn a part of the body, they have to offer great propitiatory prayers and sacrifices.

But enough about Prussia for now. What about the reference above to the Amber Road? Was it something like the Silk Road? Let's find out tomorrow.