HERMIONES
Eth.
HERMIONES one of the three great divisions into which, according to Tacitus (
Germ. 2), the German nation was divided.
These divisions were the
Ingaevones. inhabiting the country near the ocean; the
Hermzioes, occupying the central parts of Germany; and the rest: were called
Istaevones. All three were said to have received their names from the three sons of Mannus; and as the one after whom the Hermiones were called, bore the name of
Hermino, Irmino,, or
Irmin, Grimm (
Deutsche Mythol. i. p. 320, 2nd ed.) suggests that their name should be written
Herminones, which is actually the reading of one of the MSS. of Tacitus. Pliny (
4.28), instead of three, mentions five great divisions of the Germans, and makes the Hermiones the, fourth, adding that they included the Suevi, Hermunduri, Chatti, and Cherusci. Modern writers have hazarded numerous conjectures as to the different tribes contained in these three or five groups; but it will ever remain impossible to arrive at any satisfactory result. (See also Mela, 3.3; Orph.
Argon. 1134.)
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L.S]
