Neuri


According to Herodotus the Neuri sometimes also Navari were a tribe living beyond the Scythian, one of the nations along the course of the river Ὕπανις Hypanis, West of the Βορυσθένης Borysthenes, roughly the area of modern northern Ukraine and southern Belarus.

Herodotus's account

According to Herodotus the Neuri were the furthest tribe beyond the Scythian farmers along the course of the river Hypanis. The river Tyres was the boundary between the Scythian and the Neuri, who followed Scythian customs. One generation before Darius I's campaign to Scythia, the Neuri were driven from their land by an invasion of snakes, which forced them to live among the Budini.
Herodotus also recounts the tale that, once a year, each of the Neuri became a wolf for a few days before returning to their previous form. Herodotus "himself does not believe the tale, but he says that those who tell the tale swears that it is true". This tale was later also mentioned by Pomponius Mela

Modern interpretations

Olof von Dalin

The 18th century Swedish historian Olof von Dalin wrote that the Neuri were a mixture of races: Scythians, Greeks and Hebrews who accompanied the Budiner or "Shepherd Scythians", to the Swedish islands around 400 BC. This exodus was the result of pressure from the Macedonians.
Dalin's theory is regarded as quaint by modern scholars of linguistics, who can find no connections between the Semitic languages and the Neuri.

Neuri as Eastern Balts

More and more scholars come to the conclusion that Neuri were a branch of Eastern Baltic people and best coincides with the spread of Jukhnovo culture or Plain Pottery group.
Latvian linguist Pēteris Šmits, also associates Neuri with Balts.