Mannus, according to the Roman writer Tacitus, was a figure in the creation myths of the Germanic tribes. Tacitus is the only source of these myths. This is a university textbook and exists in several variants printed for different major institutions. Reprinted 2007, . Tacitus wrote that Mannus was the son of

Tuisto According to Tacitus's ''Germania'' (AD 98), Tuisto (or Tuisco) is the legendary divine ancestor of the Germanic peoples. The figure remains the subject of some scholarly discussion, largely focused upon etymological connections and comparisons t ...

and the progenitor of the three Germanic tribes Ingaevones,

Herminones The Irminones, also referred to as Herminones or Hermiones ( grc, Ἑρμίονες), were a large group of early Germanic tribes settling in the Elbe watershed and by the first century AD expanding into Bavaria, Swabia and Bohemia. Notably this ...

and Istvaeones. In discussing the German tribes, Tacitus wrote: Several authors consider the name ''Mannus'' in Tacitus's work to stem from an

Indo-European root The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) are basic parts of words that carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots usually have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run". Roots never occurred alone in the lang ...

. The Latinized name is evidently of some relation to Proto-Germanic , 'man'. Mannus again became popular in literature in the 16th century, after works published by

Annius de Viterbo Annius of Viterbo ( la, Joannes Annius Viterb(i)ensis; 5 January 143713 November 1502) was an Italian Dominican friar, scholar, and historian, born Giovanni Nanni in Viterbo. He is now remembered for his fabrications. He entered the Dominican ...

and Johannes Aventinus purported to list him as a primeval king over Germany and Sarmatia. In the 19th century, F. Nork wrote that the names of the three sons of Mannus can be extrapolated as Ingui, Irmin, and Istaev or Iscio. A few scholars like

Ralph T. H. Griffith Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith (1826–1906) was an English Indologist, a member of the Indian education service and among the first Europeans to translate the Vedas into English. He lived in the UK (Oxford) and in India (Benares and Nilgiris). ...

have expressed a connection between Mannus and the names of other ancient founder-kings, such as

Minos In Greek mythology, Minos (; grc-gre, Μίνως, ) was a King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every nine years, he made King Aegeus pick seven young boys and seven young girls to be sent to Daedalus's creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten ...

of Greek mythology, and

Manu Manu may refer to: Geography *Manú Province, a province of Peru, in the Madre de Dios Region ** Manú National Park, Peru **Manú River, in southeastern Peru * Manu River (Tripura), which originates in India and flows into Bangladesh *Manu Temp ...

of Hindu tradition. Guido von List incorporated the myth of Mannus and his sons into his

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

practice, which were later adopted into Nazi occult beliefs.

References

* * Tacitus. ''

Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north- ...

'' (1st century AD; in Latin). {{Legendary progenitors Germanic mythology Legendary progenitors

See also

References