The Quadi in the earliest history of Bohemia and Central Europe

Abstract

The article looks into the possibility that the first wave of Germanic migration into Bohemia was conducted by the Quadi. This is based on Strabo’s mention that Maroboduus brought his Marcomanni (and other tribes) to the Suebian Coldoui, where they settled. The text provides an overview of the development of opinions on Strabo’s text, especially in view of the possibility that the Coldoui are actually Quadi, whose name was distorted by a medieval copyist. The author tends towards the opinion that this involves the original Strabo communication, which thus presents the earliest mention of the Quadi ever. This mention best corresponds to modern archaeological knowledge, which demonstrates that during the time of Maroboduus’arrival in the Bohemian basin, it had already been settled for several decades before by the Germanic peoples. Another part of the article looks into resolving the issue of the origin of the Quadi and Marcomanni. Based on an evaluation of ancient written sources and archaeological sources, a hypothesis is put forward that both tribes were settled in territories north of the Thuringian Forest prior to their migration to the Bohemian area.