Fenni was the name of an Iron Age tribe somewhere in Northern Europe. Tacitus is in doubt weather to count them as Germanic tribesmen or Sarmatians (Germania 46). Iron Age Axe found on Gotland This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age, for the mythological Iron Age see Iron Age (mythology). ... Sarmatia Europea in Scythia map 1697 AD Sarmatia Europæa separated from Sarmatia Asiatica by the Tanais (the River Don), based on Greek literary sources, in a map printed in London, ca 1770 Great steppe in early spring. ...

Ptolemy twice refers to a tribe called the 'Phinnoi', presumably the same name as 'Fenni': once as inhabiting the northern part of the island "Skandia" (Geog. 2. 11. 16) and once as living below the Venedae just east of the Vistula (Geog. 3. 5. 8). Many commentators identify these Fenni as the ancient Sami. As with the Venedae, this identification seems secure enough for post-classical texts. In the sixth century AD, Procopius (Goth. 2. 15. 16-22) described a tribe of Thule (by which he seems to have meant Scandinavia) called the 'Skrithiphinoi' (interpreted as 'skiing Finns') who do not till the land but hunt, women and men together, eating the flesh and wearing the skins of the animals they kill; Jordanes ( Get.21) makes a similar report about the 'Screrefennae' on 'Scandza', and some two centuries later Paul the Deacon (Hist. Lang. 1. 5) provides a similar but more detailed report on the 'Scritofini' that makes their identification with the Sami reasonably certain (Adam of Bremen 4. 24 and 31 = MGH SS vii378 and 382; cf. Whitaker 1983). A medieval artists rendition of Claudius Ptolemaeus Claudius Ptolemaeus (Greek: ; ca. ... Vistula river basin Vistula (Polish Wisła), is the longest river in Poland. ... Look up Sami, sami in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Procopius of Caesarea (in Greek Προκόπιος, c. ... Thule as Tile on the Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus. ... Paul the Deacon (c. ...

Whether we should also identify Tacitus' Fenni with the Sami, however, is very uncertain. We must first take into account the extent to which his description is informed by rhetorical commonplaces. Unlike the Germani, who are merely barbaric, the Fenni represent the absolute antithesis of civilization. Like nomads, they lack settled homes; but unlike nomads, they lack even horses and wagons: they are ignorant not only of agriculture, but even of pastoralism. From the Roman perspective they are virtually the same as animals. Ovid describes primitive humanity in very similar terms: 'for houses they knew boughs, for food they knew herbs' (Fast. 2. 293; cf. Ars 2. 475). Tacitus carefully develops this image of the Fenni as people living almost totally in a state of nature, and caps it with a philosophical reflection: since possessions bring concerns, the complete lack of possessions leads to a life free from all concerns. In the same way, Seneca had earlier argued that nature provides for all human needs: 'are not the skins of beasts and other animals a sufficient, even abundant, defence against cold? . . . Those whom some dense grove shielded from the sun, who against the severity of winter and rain lived safely under a bough as a cheap retreat, would pass peaceful nights without sighs' (Ep. 90. 16 and 41). It is with this philosophical commonplace that Tacitus is here most concerned. Even the striking sententia with which he concludes is not entirely original: Seneca again provides a precedent in his assertion that philosophy brings 'perpetual freedom, fear of neither man nor god' (Ep. 17. 6). Gaius Cornelius Tacitus Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (c. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC – Tomis, now Constanţa AD 17), a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... Seneca may refer to: Roman figures (any links to Seneca in Roman pages should be relinked to one of these two) Marcus (or Lucius) Annaeus Seneca also called rhetor, Roman orator and father of Seneca the philosopher and dramatist. ...

Bibliography

• Tacitus, Germania. Loeb Classic Library.

See also

• Finnic
• Sitones