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The Aestii were a people on the south-eastern Baltic coast. Tacitus reckons their customs to the Suebi, but says their language rather resembles the British.
Alone, says Tacitus, the Aestii gather the amber (which they call glesum) from the sea and the shore. They themselves scarcely used it – only trade with Rome made it valuable. So the Aestii hung on the far end of the great amber road.
They worshipped the "mother of the gods" and wore boar images as protection. Their name lives on in Estonia – even if over the centuries the reference shifted to another people.
"They alone search the sea and gather the amber, which they call glesum."after Tacitus, Germania 45 (public domain, own translation)
The Aestii lead to the amber coast. Continue with the Suiones and Gutones.
The Suiones · The Sitones · The Gutones · The Bastarnae · The Goths.
