Page:Bohemia An Historical Sketch.djvu/26

Rh in this country to a greater extent than would appear from the writings of the old historians, who treat the subject almost entirely from the point of view of religious controversy.

In consequence of the geographical position of Bohemia we find few references to that country in the old Greek and Latin writers, and its earliest history is therefore very obscure. According to a theory, whose origin can be traced back as far as Ænæas Sylvius, and which will be mentioned presently, Bohemia had first a Celtic and then a Teutonic population. Recent research, founded, in the absence of all historical evidence, on craniology and archaeological research, has rendered it probable that at least part of Bohemia had an autochthonous Slavic population. Of the two great recent authorities on this difficult subject Dr. Pič affirms that there were certainly Slavs in Bohemia before the beginning of the Christian era, and Dr. Niederle that Slavs can be traced as far back as the fifth century before Christ. According to the formerly generally accepted account, the earliest inhabitants of Bohemia were the Boji, a branch of the Celtic race. Livy tells us that in the time of the king Tarquinius Priscus, the Celtic king Ambigatus in Gaul, finding it difficult, in consequence of his age, to rule over the ever-increasing population, ordered his nephews Sigoves and Belloves to lead a large part of the people to other lands. The flight of birds was to decide the direction of their travels, and according to it Sigoves set out for the east and settled in the Hercynian forest, a district that may be roughly identified with the present Bohemia. This legend, though its historical truth has (at least, as far as the date is concerned) been disproved by Niebuhr, is evidently founded on old traditions of the Celtic druids.

We find few references to these earliest inhabitants of Bohemia in the classical authors, and the first positive fact concerning them that has come down to us dates from the year 115 In that year the Cimbri left their homes in the country that is now Southern Russia, and marched westward through the present Galicia and Moravia, where in a battle, the probable site of which was in North-eastern Moravia, they were entirely defeated by the Boji. The Cimbri, in consequence of this defeat, altered their line of march, and passing through the countries now known as Styria, Switzerland, and France, entered Italy. This victory