Herodotus' Sigynnai (5.

9) and Gipsies
Author(s): D. S. Barrett
Source: Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Apr., 1979), pp. 58-60
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/642498 .
Accessed: 04/02/2011 02:40

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. .

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Cambridge University Press and The Classical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve
and extend access to Greece & Rome.

http://www.jstor.org
 HERODOTUS' SIGYNNAI (5.9) AND GIPSIES

By D. S. BARRETT

For well over 150 years commentators on Herodotus have raised

the possibility of a connection between the Sigynnai and gipsies,
sometimes on their own account, sometimes by reference to others.
The latest is B. Virgilio,1 who cites Ph.-E. Legrand, who argues that
the Sigynnai lived in what is now Hungary, and that their name is
therefore linked with cigany, the Hungarianword for 'gipsy' (in
German, Zigeuner).2 H. Verdin states that they are 'sometimes'
identified with gipsies,3 but warns that K. von Fritz regardsthe
matter as very uncertain.4 F. H. Weissbachrefers almost wearily
to the prevalence of the theory;5 R. W. Macan6 ascribes it to
J. W. Blakesley;7 E. Abbot refers to it fleetingly;8 P. Bataillard
propounded it in a series of studies between 1844 and 1885.
From all this one can only marvel at the ease with which
scholars can generate and perpetuate their own brand of folklore.
The possibility that the Sigynnai were the forebears of gipsies was
carefully examined and convincingly discounted, primarily on
philological grounds, by M. Gaster almost seventy years ago.9
Gaster accepts the view of F. von Miklosich, who plausibly links
the generic term atzigan (or atsigan) with the Athinganoi (lit.
'Touch-me-nots'), a religious sect of Asia Minor, whom Byzantine
historians of the ninth century describe as soothsayers, magicians,
and snake-charmers.In any case, to link the Sigynnai with gipsies
is to be led astray merely by similar sounding words.
On the other hand, J. L. Myres's detailed discussion of the
probable identity of the Sigynnai, which slightly predates the
work of Gaster, has yet to be surpassed.'0 After ruling out the
possibility of a Median origin on chronological grounds, Myres
concludes that the Sigynnai were most likely the Sequani, traders
in iron, and especially in iron spears of the gaesum type.
Granted the work of Myres and Gaster leaves little more to be
said on the Sigynnai, it is perhaps interesting and useful to see
whether the environment and culture of the ancient tribe can be
paralleled in Europe today, and particularly in Hungary and
Austria." Probably the most striking similarities are to be found
in the Hortobagy in Hungary. This district, a grassy steppe of some
280,000 acres, stretching between the city of Debrecen and the
River Tisza, has for generations been regarded as one of the more
'exotic' sights for the tourist in Europe. It is a part of the genuine
 HERODOTUS' SIGYNNAI (5.9) AND GIPSIES 59

puszta, or open prairie land, where original breeds of Hungarian

cattle, sheep and, above all, horses have been preserved. Traditional
occupations of the inhabitants are exhibited in festivals marked by
equestrian displays, coach parades, and the driving of herds of
horses.
Like the Sigynnai, the horsemen of the Hortobigy also dress in
Median fashion, wearing knee-high boots, loose-fitting trousers,
jacket, and, in winter, a beautifully embroidered woollen cloak.'2
While such clothing is certainly dictated by occupation and climate,
tradition is clearly another influence.
The horses of the Hortobigy may well be the linear descendants
of the Shetland-style horses used by the Sigynnai and those Hun-
garian horses of low stature, abundant mane and tail, and great
speed described by Vegetius (Ars Vet. 4.6.5) in the fourth century
A.D., allowing only for some improvement in height and beauty
over the centuries through crossing with the Arab horses introduced
by the Turks.13 Certainly, the solitary life of the horseherds and
shepherds of the Hortobagy has often found expression in melan-
choly Hungarian 'gipsy' songs, but, so far as the writer can discover,
these have been composed mainly in Budapest by men with little
or no firsthand knowledge of the puszta and its inhabitants.
This note breaks little new ground. Its main aim is to call atten-
tion to the excellent work on the Sigynnai which, though long
since completed, seems to be consistently neglected. Perhaps schol-
ars may draw a lesson from the practice of Herodotus himself as
outlined in the words of T. R. Glover: 'Without spinning theories
as to origins, Herodotus goes to the actual and records the ways
and customs of living men over a very wide area,-at least as far as
he can ascertain them. Once more, as in other fields, we may note
his caution, the shrewdness of his judgement, his wide range of
inquiry, and above all his instinct for the sort of thing that matters
most."14

NOTES
1. Ad loc., 1975.
2. Ad loc., 1946.
3. De historisch-kritische methode van Herodotus (Brussels, 1971), p. 146 n. 3.
4. Die griechische Geschichtsschreibung, i, Von den bis Thukydides
Anfa•ngen
Anmerkungen (Berlin, 1967), 163 n. 235.
5. PW IIA. 2 (1923), 2458, citing Hasse, Die Zigeuner im Herodot (K6nigsburg,
1803), which I have not been able to sight.
6. Ad loc., 1895.
7. Ad loc., 1854.
8. Ad loc., 1893.
9. EB " (London, 1910-11), vol. 12, pp. 37-43, s.v. 'Gipsies'-a masterly study
with extensive bibliography, in an edition which is still a byword among reference
librarians.
60 HERODOTUS' SIGYNNAI (5.9) AND GIPSIES

10. Anthropological Essays Presented to Edward Burnett Tylor in Honour of his 75th
Birthday (Oxford, 1907), pp. 255-76.
11. G. Rawlinson's explanation of gprnpooC Xw'pr is undoubtedly correct: 'Hungary
and Austria seem to be the countries intended in this description. Dense forests and vast
morasses would in the early times have rendered them scarcely habitable.'
12. See photograph in F. Erdei (ed.), Information Hungary (Oxford, 1968), p. 128.
13. E. Reich in EB" (op. cit.), vol. 13, p. 898, s.v. 'Hungary'.
14. Herodotus (Berkeley, 1924), p. 180.