Daniel Juslenius

Daniel Juslenius (10 June 1676, Mynämäki – 17 July 1752, Skara) was a Finnish writer and bishop. He was a professor of Hebrew, Greek and theology at the Royal Academy of Turku.

Juslenius is considered Finland's first Fennoman and a firm advocate of Finnishness. In his works, he presented completely overblown images of the past of the Finnish people. He wrote, for example, Aboa vetus et Nova ("Vanha ja uusi Turku", 1700, "The Old and New Turku"), in which he claimed that the civilisations of Rome and Ancient Greece originated in Finland. He also wrote Vindiciae Fennorum ("Suomalaisten puolustus", 1703, "The Defence of the Finns"). Both works represent homeland images which were fashionable to write about in the late 17th century. The purpose of this depiction was to make an inventory of the possessions during Sweden's time as great power.

Juslenius derived the family roots of the Finns from the family of Magog in the Bible. According to him, the descendants of Magog migrated to Finland after the Deluge. This so-called tradition of Gothicismus aimed to provide a foundational myth for the people. It gave the people a feeling of genetic unity and right to possession while living in their own country.

Juslenius glorified Finland from all angles. He praised the excellent productivity of crops in the country and the civilised nature of the Finns. According to Juslenius, the Finns had invented their own writing system, even before the Romans. He utilised linguistics in his research, a typical method of his time. Among others, he explained the reputation of the Finns as being hakkapeliitta, brave soldiers, by deriving the term hakkaa päälle from a compound word:

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