Olimar

In the story of Saxon, Frodo III divorced Hanunda, daughter of the king of the Huns , because of which the insulted Gong (king of the Huns) went to war against the Danes and attracted the King of the Eastern Slavs as an ally (hereinafter Saxon calls them both “Eastern” and “ Ruthenians ” ) Olimara with whom he was preparing for war for two years. In response, Frodo gathered an army of Danes, Norwegians, and probably the Baltic Slavs ( Sclavos ). ^[3] In total, Gong gathered under his banner from 60 to 170 princes (including Yang, Rao, Deiamir and Doko) and 900 thousand warriors. The struggle unfolded not only on land, but also on the sea, where Prince Olimar commanded the fleet.

Forces from Frodo III are not indicated; only the chief governor is called - Eric Noritsky (the latter is not a surname, but an indication that he, like the new Queen Alvilda, is from Norway). First, Frodo sent Eric to scout, who, finding himself in the place where Saxon was represented by Russia ( Ruscia ), found out that Olimar had taken over command of the fleet, and the Hun commanded the ground forces. Frodo moved his army (on ships) against the Huns, along the way captured all the islands located between Denmark and the East, and then defeated the fleet under the command of Olimar himself. According to Saxon, the Danes were defeated by a large fleet due to the slowness and poor maneuverability of most ships with high oars. The bay in which the battle took place was littered with the corpses of dead soldiers and the wreckage of ships, so the Frodo fleet with great difficulty climbed into the open sea and returned home ^[4] . Of all the Russians, according to Saxon, only Olimar and Dago survived after this battle.

Then Frodo, calling the vanquished, decided to bury the dead either in the mounds with his horse, or burn them on ships. Also mentioned are some marriage, military, and tax laws allegedly introduced by Frodo III in conquered countries.

From the further narrative (part of Saxon’s text in this place has been lost) it follows that perhaps Olimar went over to the Danes side: Frodo sent Olimar (as his commander) to fight against Sweden , who defeated Thor Long, the king of the Yamtors and Helsingors, as well as over two other leaders, and conquered the Estonians , Curonian and Finland with the islands opposite Sweden .

This was followed by a series of wars and battles against the Huns. In the decisive battle, which lasted 7 days, according to Saxon, all three great rivers ( tres Rusciae fluvii ^{[5] were} so full of corpses that it was possible to cross them on foot, and the whole district was littered with corpses for three days of horseback riding. On the seventh day King Gong fell, and his brother (also Gong) surrendered. 170 kings who served the Huns also surrendered. After this, Frodo distributed the lands among the kings, obliging them to pay tribute and comply with general laws. Olimar began to rule in Holmgard , and Onev in Canughard ( Praefecit autem Olimarum Holmgardiae, Ønevum Cønogardiae ) ^[6] .

The results of the battle Saxon Grammar sets out contradictory. On the one hand, he claims that with the help of Eric Noritsky, Frodo III utterly defeated the enemy. On the other hand, the winner for some reason “graciously granted” to all the participants in the coalition gathered against him, the land. The naval commander Olimir took possession of Kholmograd (Holmgardia), Ian - Konogardia ( Conogard ; Veltman believes that this is “Kiev City”), Rao - Revillum ( Revillum , according to Veltman Revel ) and the Orkadian Islands ; Deiamiru - Helsingia, Yarobor, Yamtor and Lappia; Dago - Estia. The brother of the king of the Huns (who lost the battle!), Also named Jan, inherits Saxony. In other words, all the "losers" remain on their thrones, recognizing themselves only as the Lena Frodo III ^[3] . However, it is said that Frodo’s possessions are now limited to Russia (or Rus, Russia ) in the east and the Rhine in the west. ^[7]

For all the fantastic scale of the events described by Saxon Grammatik and doubts about the correct identification of names, this episode of the biography of the Skjöldung dynasty by Saxon Grammar is not completely divorced from historical material. The distribution by the author on behalf of Frodo III of the Baltic and Scandinavian lands between the "Slavic" rulers correlates with the indications of later studies that figures identified with ancient Russia actively showed themselves on the Baltic coast in the early Middle Ages , and were known in this capacity to the compilers of the Scandinavian legends ^[8] .

The historian A. G. Kuzmin noted that the names of the “Ruthenian” leaders Olimer and Onev mentioned by Saxon find an analogy in the genealogy of the Heruls, Vandals and Wends ^[9] , where Anavas and then Alimer follow the first king of the “Vandals and Heruls ” Antyria ^{[2] [10]} . The name of the legendary king probably corresponds to the Slavic onomasticon in which variants of the name Velimir are known: Valemarus ( puddles. 1219, Polish. 1261) ^[1] .

Olimar's Nationality and Origin

H. Stang in his book “The Naming of Russia” (Oslo, 1996) examines in detail the national affiliation of the “root” of Olimar. He points out that the basis of the historical canvas of the work of Saxon really was reminiscences from the history of the time of the Great Migration . And, as stated by Saxon himself, he really used the Scandinavian sagas as material, the sagas of the Vikings and Varangians. However, numerous details and plot moves reveal the Byzantine origin of the material - thus, it is in fact the sagas of the Varangians who served and lived in Byzantium, and, accordingly, carrying a very vague idea of ​​the realities of early medieval Denmark. On the other hand, the ancient and Mediterranean plots (for example, the Amazons ) are represented by Saxon with great erudition. Therefore, according to Stang, the ruthenes could fall into the composition of Saxon from Roman descriptions of Germanic tribes. The corresponding fragment was preserved by Lucan in the poem "Farsalia, or On the Civil War", which describes Caesar's campaign in Gaul (" solvuntur flavi longa statione Ruteni "). By assumption, Stang Olimar was, in fact, a merul .

• Veltman A.F. The war between the Baltic and trans-Baltic Slavs with those who had settled in the end of the 1st century according to R.Kh .; on the island of Zealand, by the Goths-Dacians // Attila and Russia of the fourth and fifth centuries: a set of historical and folk traditions. - SPb. : In the university printing house, 1858. - S. 65-66.
• Elton, Oliver (tr.) (1905). The Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus . New York: Norroena Society. 9 Saxon Grammar Books on the History of Danes
• Motornyĭ, VA; Scholze, Dietrich; Trofimovich, KK (Konstantin Konstantinovich). Prašenja sorabistiki / Instytut slavistyky, Sorbisches Institut. - Bautzen, Germany, 2003 .-- S. 66.
• Saxon Grammar. Acts of the Danes. Book V, 7
• Where did the Russian land go from? Century VI — X. Prince 1. M., 1986, S. 633-636. (Translation by E. B. Kudryakova).
• Håkon Stang The Naming of Russia , University of Oslo, Slavic-Baltic Branch, Oslo, 1996, ISSN 0803-2505, ISBN 82-90250-73-8

• Frodo I
• Legendary Danish Kings