ABSTRACT
Bear sympathy is found since the earliest times throughout the northern hemisphere: among North American Indians, ancient Chinese, and Ugro-Finnish Permians, who in the first century AD wore bear-hoods with dangling forepaws. Among Indo-Europeans, however, bear-warriors occur far less often than wolf-warriors. In Europe, bear-warriors seem to be mostly Germanic, for few or none are known among Celtic and Italic tribes. Scene 36 of Trajan’s Column is the only portrayal we have of ancient European bearwarriors, and as they march with Trajan’s Germanic troops, they are likely to be Germani too.1
