VE´NEDAE
VE´NEDAE (
Οὐενέδαι,
Ptol. 3.5.19), or VENEDI (Tac.
Genrm. 46;
Plin. Nat. 4.13. s. 27), a considerable people of European Sarmatia, situated on the N. declivity of the mountains named after them, and along the Sinus Venedicus about the river Chronos, and as far as the E. bank of the Vistula. They were the northern neighbours of the Galindae and Gythones; but Tacitus was doubtful whether he should call them Germans or Sarmatians, though they more resembled the former than the latter in some of their customs, as the building of houses, the carrying of shields, and the habit of going on foot, whilst the Sarmatians travelled on horseback or in waggons. They sought a precarious livelihood by scouring the woods and mountains which lay between the Peucini and the Fenni. Whether they were the forefathers of the Wends is very problematical. (Cf. Schaffarik,
Slav. Altherth. i, p. 75, seq., p. 151, seq. &c.,
Ueber die Abkunft der Slaven, p. 24.)
[
T.H.D]
