Getica 183 on the Sacred Sword of the Scythian Kings
This Good Works Translation gathers Jordanes' account, attributed to Priscus, of the discovery of the Sword of Mars and its delivery to Attila.
The passage is a later continuity witness rather than a direct classical Scythian ritual text. Its value for the Scythian shelf is the explicit claim that the sword of Mars had always been held sacred among the kings of the Scythians.
The English below is a Good Works Translation from the Latin text in The Latin Library.
Translation
Though Attila was of such a nature that he always trusted in great things, his confidence was increased by the discovery of the sword of Mars, which had always been held sacred among the kings of the Scythians.
Priscus the historian says that it was uncovered on this occasion. A certain shepherd, he says, saw one heifer of his herd limping, and could find no cause for so great a wound. Anxiously he followed the traces of blood, and at last came to a sword which the animal had stepped on unwittingly while grazing. He dug it up and immediately brought it to Attila.
Attila rejoiced in this gift. Being great-souled, he judged that he had been appointed ruler of the whole world, and that through the sword of Mars power in wars had been granted to him.
Translation Notes
Jordanes says that the sword was sacer apud Scytharum reges semper habitus, “always held sacred among the kings of the Scythians.” That phrase is the reason this small passage belongs on the Scythian workbench.
This should not be flattened into a direct survival of Herodotus' Scythian Ares rite. It is a sixth-century Latin report, using Priscus, about Attila and Hunnic kingship in a Scythianizing register.
Colophon
This Good Works Translation was made from the Latin text of Jordanes, Getica 183, as presented by The Latin Library from the Mommsen 1882 text.
The English translation is independently derived from the Latin. No modern English translation was used as the base text.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: gladius Martis
Latin source text from Jordanes, Getica 183, The Latin Library text after Mommsen's 1882 edition. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
Qui quamvis huius esset naturae, ut semper magna confideret, addebat ei tamen confidentia gladius Martis inventus, sacer apud Scytharum reges semper habitus, quem Priscus istoricus tali refert occasione detectum.
Cum pastor, inquiens, quidam gregis unam boculam conspiceret claudicantem nec causam tanti vulneris inveniret, sollicitus vestigia cruoris insequitur tandemque venit ad gladium, quem depascens herbas incauta calcaverat, effossumque protinus ad Attilam defert.
Quo ille munere gratulatus, ut erat magnanimis, arbitratur se mundi totius principem constitutum et per Martis gladium potestatem sibi concessam esse bellorum.
Source Colophon
The Latin source was checked in The Latin Library: https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/iordanes1.html. The page claims only an independent source-language rendering from the named witness.
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