THE JOURNEY OF PALEMONAS

One of the best-known and most beloved legends about Lithuania’s origins is the story of Palemonas, an aristocrat of Ancient Rome.  This story should be taken with several grains of salt.

Translated from Lithuanian by Gloria O’Brien

Tai buvo tais laikais, kai žiaurus hunų valdovas Atila puolė Romos imperiją. Jo kariuomenė tarsi širšių debesys apgulė šiaurines Romos imperijos sienas .......

This happened during the dark time when Attila, the ruler of the Huns, attacked the Roman empire.  His army, like a cloud of hornets, had besieged  the northern limits of the empire and was marching toward the eternal city – Rome.  Attila had occupied the lands of the French, Italians and Croats, then built a mighty fort, Buda, on the Hungarian plain, declaring himself their King. 

Foreseeing the fast-approaching fall of Rome, the noted patrician, Palemonas, assembled a group of his kindred and friends, numbering five hundred, and, taking sail in several ships, they left their homeland.  They had heard of a beautiful land somewhere in the north, with abundant game, fertile soil, and
valuable amber.  Tacitus himself had written about this land.  In one ship sailed an astronomer, who knew the stars and thus was able to determine the location of lands and that of the ships in the sea.  And a large number of men-at-arms, noble knights and their mounts, and various servants traveled with the group.

Their journey was very long, indeed.  First crossing the Mediterranean Sea,  they entered the Atlantic Ocean and turned toward the north.  They passed France and England without stopping, and continued northward towards Denmark.  There they turned eastward and sailed along the coast, until they reached the mouth of the beautiful Nemunas River.  The waters of the Nemunas, split into several branches, seemed as clear as sparkling crystal, as if flowing from a magical source hidden in the midst of the impenetrable surrounding forests.  There at  the end of their long journey, the eyes of the Roman travelers brightened, and they understood that they had finally found the place they had sought.  Palemonas ordered the ships to turn into the Nemunas, and as they sailed along the river, they passed dark, dense forests and steep hills covered with many-hued wildflowers.

“This soil must be especially fertile, suitable for the growing of wheat”, said Palemonas.  “This land is not less beautiful than Italy, and its resources even surpass those of our homeland.  Just look at the trees in the forest, the wild game, the fish in this river!”   “That is true”, answered his nobles.  “We will not be able to find a more beautiful land in all the world”.

Sailing up the Nemunas, they reached the Dubysa River,  where some of the ships turned in, and some nobles got out and decided to settle.  They named the area Žemaitija.  Their leader was the noble Julijonas, whose coat-of-arms bore the image of the Bear.  From that time on, the coat-of-arms of Žemaitija displays the Bear, carried here by Roman patricians and left to all the nobles of Žemaitija.

The Grand Prince Palemonas had three sons and he decided to name them the leaders of the new land.  The eldest, Barkas, build his fort near the river, calling it Jurbarkas.  The middle son, Kunas, settled near the Nemunas, where it is joined by the Nevėžis, building a strong fort which he named after himself – Kaunas.  The youngest son, Spera, continued to travel further eastward, until he reached the Širvinta River, with a beautiful lake nearby.  The lake pleased him greatly, and he gave it his own name – Spera.  He settled here and built a powerful principality, absorbing much of the surrounding land.

And Kunas had two sons: Gimbutas and Kernius.  The younger, Kernius, led his group, including family, servants and men-at-arms, across the River Neris, and traveled eastward.  Soon they found a beautiful place near the Šventosios River, and he named it after himself – Kernavė.  Later, after the death of their elders, Gimbutas ruled Žemaitija, and Kernius, the land called Aukštaitija, up to the River Dauguva.

In those days, when Kernius ruled in Kernavė, his vassals who had settled beyond the Neris, liked to play a pipe called “tūba”.  Since field-workers are called “litai” in Latin, Kernius referred to the tūba-playing field-workers as “litubanai”, and their land – “Litubanija”.  Later, people began to call it Lituanija, and later still, “Lietuva”.

And that is how the land composed of Žemaitija and Aukštaitija came to be called Lietuva, and Roman nobles laid the foundation of a powerful country, which, for hundreds of years, ruled the fate of several neighboring lands.

Source:
From “Lietuvių Padavimai”,
A collection of Lithuanian legends edited by Pranas Sasnauskas
© English Translation - Gloria O’Brien  -2006

This article was printed in Bridges, Oct 2006

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