Ostrogoths

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Ostrogoth
)
Ostrogoths
People
The Mausoleum of Theodoric in Ravenna, Italy
EthnicityGermanic
LocationBalkans
LanguageGermanic

The Ostrogoths (

Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populations who had settled in the Balkans in the 4th century. While the Visigoths had formed under the leadership of Alaric I, the new Ostrogothic political entity which came to rule Italy was formed in the Balkans under Theodoric the Great
.

Theoderic's family, the

Theoderic Strabo and his son Recitach. Zeno then backed Theodoric to invade Italy and replace Odoacer there, whom he had previously supported as its king. In 493, Theodoric established the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy
, when he defeated Odoacer's forces and killed his rival at a banquet.

Following the death of Theodoric, there was a period of instability, eventually tempting the

a kingdom in Italy
in 568.

As with other Gothic groups, the history of the peoples who made them up before they reached the Roman Balkans is difficult to reconstruct in detail. However, the Ostrogoths are associated with the earlier Greuthungi. The Ostrogoths themselves were commonly referred to simply as Goths even in the 5th century. However, before then they were referred to once, in a poem by Claudian which associates them with a group of Greuthungi, settled as a military unit in Phrygia. The 6th century historian of the Goths Jordanes also equated the Ostrogoths of his time to the Goths ruled by King Ermanaric in the 4th century, who the Roman writer Ammianus Marcellinus had called Greuthungi, and described as living between the Dniester and Don rivers. These Greuthungi Goths were attacked by Huns and Alans from the east, and it was reportedly for this reason that large groups of Goths moved into the Roman Empire, while others became subservient to the Huns.

Goths

Main articles: Goths, Chernyakhov culture, Oium, and Gothic runic inscriptions
Wielbark Culture, early 3rd century
  Chernyakhov culture, early 4th century
  Roman Empire

The Ostrogoths were one of several peoples referred to more generally as Goths. The Goths appear in Roman records starting in the third century, in the regions north of the

Carpathian mountains, were mentioned separately on at least one occasion.[4]

The Ostrogoths, not mentioned until later, are associated with the Greuthungi who lived further east. The dividing line between the Tervingi and the Greuthungi, was reported by Ammianus to be the

Dniester River, and to the east of the Greuthungi were Alans living near the River Don.[5]

Gothic language

Main article: Gothic language

The Ostrogoths in Italy used a Gothic language which had both spoken and written forms, and which is best attested today in the surviving translation of the Bible by

Germanic language.[a]

Etymology

Further information: Name of the Goths and Greuthungi § Etymology
Ostrogothic bow-fibulae (c. 500) from Emilia-Romagna, Italy

The first part of the word "Ostrogoth" comes from a Germanic root *auster- meaning 'eastern'. According to the proposal of Wolfram, this was originally a boastful tribal name meaning "Goths of the rising sun", or "Goths glorified by the rising sun".[8][b] By the 6th century, however, Jordanes, for example, believed that the Visigoths and Ostrogoths were two contrasting names simply meaning western and eastern Goths.[4][9]

History

The Greuthungi and Ostrogothi before the Huns

Further information: Greuthungi

The nature of the divisions of the Goths before the arrival of the Huns is uncertain, but throughout all their history the Ostrogoths are only mentioned by that name very rarely, and normally in very uncertain contexts. Among other Gothic group names, however, they are associated with the Greuthungi. Scholarly opinions are divided about this connection. Historian Herwig Wolfram sees these as two names for one people as will be discussed below. Peter Heather, in contrast, has written that:

Ostrogoths in the sense of the group led by Theodoric to Italy stand at the end of complex processes of fragmentation and unification involving a variety of groups—mostly but not solely Gothic it seems—and the better, more contemporary, evidence argues against the implication derived from Jordanes that Ostrogoths are Greuthungi by another name.[10]

Some historians go much further than Heather, questioning whether we can assume any single ethnicity, even Gothic, which united the Ostrogoths before they were politically united by the Amal clan.[c]

Map of the Gothic migrations and kingdoms
Europe in 230 AD

One dubious early mention of the Ostrogoths is found in the much later-written Historia Augusta, but it distinguishes the Ostrogoths and Greuthungi. In the article for Emperor

Peuci, Grutungi, Austrogoti, Tervingi, Visi, Gipedes, Celtae etiam et Eruli" (emphasis added). However, this work is not considered reliable, especially for contemporary terminology.[11]

The first record of a Gothic sub-group acting in its own name, specifically the

Vesi, and Ostrogothi are all attested no earlier than 388.[4]

The Ostrogoths were first definitely mentioned more than one hundred years later than the Tervingi in 399, and this is the only certain mention of this name at all before the Amals created their kingdom of Italy. A poem by Claudian describes Ostrogoths who are mixed with Greuthungi and settled in Phrygia together as a disgruntled barbarian military force, who had once fought against Rome, but were now supposed to fight for it. Claudian only uses the term Ostrogoth once in the long poem, but in other references to this same group he more often calls them Greuthungi or "Getic" (an older word used poetically for Goths in this period). These Goths came to be led into rebellion by Tribigild, a Roman general of Gothic background. Much later Zosimus also described Tribigild and his rebellion against the eunuch consul Eutropius. Gainas, the aggrieved Gothic general sent to fight Tribigild, openly joined forces with him after the death of Eutropius. Zosimus believed that was conspiracy between the two Goths from the beginning.[d] It is generally believed by historians that this Phrygian settlement of Greuthingi, referred to as including Ostrogoths, were part of the Greuthungi-led force led by Odotheus in 386, and not the Greuthungi who had entered the empire earlier, in 376 under Alatheus and Saphrax.[14][15]

Starting with the 6th century writer Jordanes, whose Getica is a history of the Ostrogothic Amal dynasty, there is a tradition of simply equating the Greuthungi with the Ostrogothi.[16] Jordanes does not mention the Greuthungi at all by that name, but he identified the Ostrogothic kings of Italy, the Amal dynasty, as the heirs and descendants of king Ermanaric. Ermanaric was described by Roman soldier and historian Ammianus Marcellinus as a king of the Greuthungi, however, the family succession described by the two classical authors is completely different, and Ammianus is considered to be the more reliable source.[e] Jordanes also specified that around 250 (the time of Emperor Philip the Arab who reigned 244–249) the Ostrogoths were ruled by a king called Ostrogotha and they either derived their name from this "father of the Ostrogoths", or else the Ostrogoths and Visigoths got these names because they meant eastern and western Goths.[19]

Gothic raids in the 3rd century
Europe in 305 AD

Modern historians agree that Jordanes is unreliable, especially for events long before his time, but some historians such as Herwig Wolfram defend the equation of the Greuthungi and Ostrogoths. Wolfram follows the position of

Augustan History for the Emperor Claudius Gothicus, which contains the terms "Gruthungi, Ostrogothi, Tervingi, Vesi".[21][22] As a second argument for this geographical versus boastful contrast, Wolfram cites Zosimus as referring to the group of "Scythians" north of the Danube after 376, who were called "Greuthungi" by the barbarians, arguing that these "can only" be Thervingi, and that this shows how the name "Greuthungi" was only used by outsiders.[23] Nonetheless, the Greuthungi alluded to by Zosimus could be those Heather and other historians equate with the rebellious Greuthungi—mentioned later by Claudian in Phrygia in 399–400—who were, according to Claudian, mixed with Ostrogoths.[14][15]

In any case, the older terminology of a divided Gothic people disappeared gradually after they entered the Roman Empire. The term "Visigoth" was an invention of the sixth century. Cassiodorus, a Roman in the service of Theodoric the Great, invented the term Visigothi to match Ostrogothi, differentiating between "western Goths" and "eastern Goths" respectively.[24] The western-eastern division was a simplification and a literary device of sixth-century historians, where political realities were more complex.[25] Furthermore, Cassiodorus used the term "Goths" to refer only to the Ostrogoths, whom he served, and reserved the geographical term "Visigoths" for the Gallo-Hispanic Goths. This usage, however, was adopted by the Visigoths themselves in their communications with the Byzantine Empire and was in use in the seventh century.[25]

Other names for the Goths abounded. A "Germanic" Byzantine or Italian author referred to one of the two peoples as the Valagothi, meaning "Roman [

walha] Goths".[25] In 484 the Ostrogoths had been called the Valameriaci (men of Valamir) because they followed Theodoric, a descendant of Valamir.[25] This terminology survived in the Byzantine East as late as the reign of Athalaric, who was called του Ουαλεμεριακου (tou Oualemeriakou) by John Malalas.[26]

Hunnic invasions and the Amals

Main article: History of the Huns
Routes taken by Germanic invaders during the Migration Period

In the late 4th century, the rise of the

Visigothic kingdom.[28]
As discussed above a group of Ostrogoths and Greuthungi were apparently also settled in Phrygia in the 380s by the Romans. Otherwise, historical records only begin to mention the name of the Ostrogoths as the Gothic political entity that formed in the Balkans during the 5th century.

The Amal-led Ostrogothic kingdom began to coalesce around the leadership of the Amal dynasty who had fought under Attila, and later settled in Pannonia. The second major component of the Amal kingdom's population were the Thracian Goths. This occurred around 483/484.[29][30]

5th-century Pannonian Ostrogoths

Barbarian kingdoms and tribes after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476

The Pannonian Ostrogoths had fought alongside both Alans and Huns.

Battle of Chalons in 451, where the Huns were defeated by the Roman general Aetius, accompanied by a contingent of Alans, and Visigoths.[32] Jordanes' account of this battle certainly cannot be trusted as he wrongly attributes a good portion of the victory to the Goths, when it was the Alans who formed the "backbone of Roman defences."[33] More generally, Jordanes, depicts the Amals as an ancient royal family in his Getica, making them traditionally preeminent among the Goths in Ukraine, both before and during the empire of Attila. Valamir, the uncle of Theodoric the Great, is even depicted as Attila's most highly valued leader along with Ardaric of the Gepids.[34] Modern historians such as Peter Heather believe this is an exaggeration, and point out that there were at least three factions of Goths in Attila's forces.[35][36]

The recorded history of the Ostrogoths as a political entity thus begins with their independence from the remains of the Hunnic Empire following the death of

Middle Danube region by this time, and whose freedom from domination by Attila's sons was confirmed by the Battle of Nedao in 454, which was led by the Gepids. It is unclear what role the Goths played in this battle, if any, and after the battle many Goths entered Roman military service, while only some began to coalesce under the leadership of Valamir and his two brothers, Vidimir and Theodemir, the father of Theodoric the Great.[37]

These Amal-led Goths apparently first settled in the Pannonian area of

Suebian kingdom of Hunimund, and the Sciri, who had arrived as part of the Hunnic empire, and this led to the death of Valimir, and eventual Gothic victory at the Battle of Bolia in 469, now under Theodemir. Theodemir, father of Theoderic, brought these Goths into East Roman territory in 473/474.[40] The younger uncle of Theoderic, Vidimir, with his like-named son and some of the Pannonian Goths, headed to Italy and his son was eventually settled in Gaul.[41]

The Concesti helmet was found among the burial goods of a probable Ostrogothic Prince. Hermitage Museum.[42]

Theodemir and Theoderic moved their Goths around the Balkans, while in the meantime, the Thracian Goths were the main focus of Gothic power. For some time they held a part of Macedonia, controlling part of the

Thessalonika. Theodemir died in Cyrrhus in 474, having made sure that Theoderic (the future "Great") was designated as successor. In the same year, the other Theoderic ("Strabo"), fell out of favour with the new emperor Zeno.[43]

5th-century Thracian Goths

The 5th century Thracian Goths, according to Peter Heather, had probably become unified only in about the 460s, although they probably lived in the area since the 420s when a group of Goths under Hunnic influence already in Pannonia were detached and settled there.[44] Wolfram has proposed that Theoderic Strabo was an Amal, whose father had split with Theoderic's branch only as recently as the time of the Battle of Nadao.[45]

They formed a military force which was loyal to

Vandal kingdom in North Africa.[47]

With the death of

Emperor Zeno in 474, the situation for the old Gothic party became increasingly difficult in the eastern empire, and Theoderic Strabo lost the support of the emperor. The younger Theoderic, son of Theodemir, was able to benefit from this.[48]

Theodoric the Great and the Thracians

About 476, Zeno, having removed support from Theoderic Strabo, started to give important honours to Theoderic, the son of Theodemir. He was adopted as a "son in arms", named as a friend of the emperor, and given the status of patricius and commander-in-chief. His kingdom, now based on the

Lower Danube in Moesia, was recognized as a federate kingdom and granted (at least in theory) an annual subsidy.[48] However, when Zeno forced the two Gothic groups into a confrontation in 478, Theoderic Strabo petitioned the Amal-led Goths, making a case for Gothic unity.[49] Strabo also appealed to Zeno, but Zeno made new offers to Theoderic the Amal instead, but these were rejected. Warfare between the Goths and imperial forces ensued, and the Amal-led Goths once again became mobile, leaving Moesia. Zeno proposed a new federate kingdom for them in Dacia, north of the Danube, but instead the Goths attempted to take Durrës; however, Roman forces quickly repulsed them.[50]

Between 479 and 481, it was the Thracian Goths under Theoderic Strabo who kept the Romans occupied, but in 481 Strabo died, when he fell from his horse and was impaled on a lance. His son Recitac was unable to retain Gothic support and was killed in 484 under orders from Theoderic the Amal, who united the two Gothic groups. Zeno was forced to conclude a treaty and Theoderic the Amal was named consul in 484. Hostilities between Theoderic the Amal's Goths and the Eastern Roman Empire began again by 487.[51]

Kingdom in Italy

Part of a series on the
History of Italy
Old map of Italian peninsula
Early
Ancient Rome
Romano-Barbarian Kingdoms
Odoacer's 476–493
Ostrogothic 493–553
Vandal 435–534
Lombard (independence) 565–774
Lombard (under the Frankish rule) 774–885
Frankish (as part of the Carolingian Empire) 885–961
Germanic (as part of the Holy Roman Empire) 961–1801
Medieval
Early modern
Modern
By topic

Timeline

flag Italy portal
Main article: Ostrogothic Kingdom
Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy

The greatest of all Ostrogothic rulers, the future

Byzantine empire, in which he had as his rival Theodoric Strabo of the Thracian Goths, a distant relative of Theodoric the Great and son of Triarius. This older but lesser Theodoric seems to have been the chief, not the king, of that branch of the Ostrogoths that had settled within the Empire earlier. Theodoric the Great, as he is sometimes distinguished, was sometimes the friend, sometimes the enemy, of the Empire.[53] In the former case he was clothed with various Roman titles and offices, as patrician and consul; but in all cases alike he remained the national Ostrogothic king.[54] Theodoric is also known for his attainment of support from the Catholic Church and on one occasion, he even helped resolve a disputed papal election.[55] During his reign, Theodoric, who was an Arian, allowed freedom of religion, which had not been done before. However, he did try to appease the Pope and tried to keep his alliance with the church strong. He saw the Pope as an authority not only in the church but also over Rome itself. His ability to work well with Italy's nobles, members of the Roman Senate, and the Catholic Church all helped facilitate his acceptance as the ruler of Italy.[56]

Theodoric sought to revive Roman culture and government and in doing so, profited the Italian people.

Iberian peninsula. Theodoric forged alliances with the Visigoths, Alamanni, Franks and Burgundians, some of which were accomplished through diplomatic marriages.[61]

The Ostrogothic dominion was once again as far-reaching and splendid as it was in the time of Hermanaric; however, it was now of a wholly different character. The dominion of Theodoric was not a barbarian but a civilized power. His twofold position ran through everything. He was at once king of the Goths and successor, though without any imperial titles, of the Western Roman emperors. The two nations, differing in manners, language and religion, lived side by side on the soil of Italy; each was ruled according to its own law, by the prince who was, in his two separate characters, the common sovereign of both.[54] Due to his ability to foster and leverage relations among the various Germanic kingdoms, the Byzantines began to fear Theodoric's power, which led to an alliance between the Byzantine emperor and the Frankish king, Clovis I, a pact designed to counteract and ultimately overthrow the Ostrogoths. In some ways Theodoric may have been overly accommodating to both the Romans and other Gothic people as he placated Catholics and Arian Christians alike. Historian Herwig Wolfram suggests that Theodoric's efforts in trying to appease Latin and barbarian cultures in kind brought about the collapse of Ostrogothic predominance and also resulted in the "end of Italy as the heartland of late antiquity."[62] All the years of creating a protective perimeter around Italy were broken down by the Franco-Byzantine coalition. Theodoric was able to temporarily salvage some of his realm with the assistance of the Thuringians.[63] Realizing that the Franks were the most significant threat to the Visigothic empire as well, Alaric II, (who was the son-in-law of Theodoric) enlisted the aid of the Burgundians and fought against the Franks at the urging of the magnates of his tribe, but this choice proved an error and he allegedly met his end at the hand of the Frankish king, Clovis.[64]

A time of confusion followed the death of Alaric II who was slain during the Battle of Vouillé. The Ostrogothic king Theodoric stepped in as the guardian of his grandson Amalaric,[65] and preserved for him all his Iberian and a fragment of his Gallic dominion. Toulouse passed to the Franks but the Goths kept Narbonne and its district and Septimania, which was the last part of Gaul held by the Goths, keeping the name of Gothia for many years.[66] Theodoric claimed a kind of protectorate over a large part of Italy and his Goths were embraced by the Roman population as Rome's defenders and part of its victorious army, while Theodoric much fanfare was made of his alleged "royal ancestry" which favorably cast his clan "on par with an imperial dynasty."[67] Romans were in some ways "reinvogorated" by these new Gothic warriors as "guardians of Romanitas" who, along with their Italo-Roman neighbors created a new "Gothic aegis" for the western empire, while those outside of Theodoric's order were made into veritable "barbarians".[68]

Ostrogothic belt buckle, Pavia Civic Museums

From 508 to 511 under Theodoric's command, the Ostrogoths marched on Gaul as the Vandal king of Carthage and Clovis made concerted efforts to weaken his hold on the Visigoths.[69] On the death of Theodoric in 526, the eastern and western Goths were once again divided.[54][70] By the late 6th century, the Ostrogoths lost their political identity and assimilated into other Germanic tribes.[61]

San Apollinare Nuovo

The picture of Theodoric's rule is drawn for us in the state papers drawn up, in his name and in the names of his successors, by his Roman minister Cassiodorus. The Goths seem to have been thick on the ground in northern Italy; in the south they formed little more than garrisons.[71] Meanwhile, the Frankish king Clovis fought protracted wars against various enemies while consolidating his rule, forming the embryonic stages of what would eventually become Medieval Europe.[72]

War with Byzantium (535–554)

Main article: Gothic War (535–554)
Coin of Theodahad (534-536), minted in Rome – he wears the barbaric moustache.

Absent the unifying presence of Theodoric, the Ostrogoths and Visigoths were unable to consolidate their realms despite their common Germanic kinship. The few instances where they acted together after this time are as scattered and incidental as they were before. Amalaric succeeded to the Visigothic kingdom in Iberia and Septimania. Theodoric's grandson

Amalasuntha who was named regent.[61] Both were unable to settle disputes among Gothic elites. Theodahad, cousin of Amalasuntha and nephew of Theodoric through his sister, took over and slew them;[74] however, the usurping ushered in more bloodshed. Atop this infighting, the Ostrogoths faced the doctrinal challenges incurred from their Arian Christianity, which both the aristocracy of Byzantium and the papacy strongly opposed—so much that it brought them together.[75]

The weakness of the Ostrogothic position in Italy now showed itself, particularly when Eastern Roman Emperor

Witiges and laid siege to the city, albeit unsuccessfully. Despite outnumbering the Romans by a five-to-one margin, the Goths could not loose Belisarius from the former western capital of the Empire.[79] After recuperating from siege warfare, Belisarius marched north, taking Mediolanum (Milan) and the Ostrogoth capital of Ravenna in 540.[80]

With the attack on Ravenna, Witiges and his men were trapped in the Ostrogothic capital. Belisarius proved more capable at

Witiges, who had just lost, was something of a weakling and they would need a new one. Eraric, the leader of the group, endorsed Belisarius and the rest of the kingdom agreed, so they offered him their crown.[82] Belisarius was a soldier, not a statesman, and still loyal to Justinian. He made as if to accept the offer, rode to Ravenna to be crowned, and promptly arrested the leaders of the Goths and reclaimed their entire kingdom—no halfway settlements—for the Empire. Fearful that Belisarius might set himself up a permanent kingship should he consolidate his conquests, Justinian recalled him to Constantinople with Witiges in tow.[83] With the fall of Ravenna, the capital of the kingdom was brought to Pavia, which became the last center of Ostrogothic resistance against Eastern Roman rule.[84]

Totila razes the walls of Florence: illumination from the Chigi manuscript of Villani's Cronica

As soon as Belisarius was gone, the remaining Ostrogoths elected a new king named Totila. Under the brilliant command of Totila, the Goths were able to reassert themselves to a degree. For a period of nearly ten years, control for Italy became a seesaw battle between Byzantine and Ostrogothic forces.[85] Totila eventually recaptured all of northern Italy and even drove the Byzantines out of Rome, thereby affording him the opportunity to take political control of the city, partly by executing the Roman senatorial order. Many of them fled eastwards for Constantinople.[86]

By 550 Justinian was able to put together an enormous force, an assembly designed to recover his losses and subdue any Gothic resistance. In 551, the Roman navy destroyed Totila's fleet and in 552 an overwhelming Byzantine force under

early medieval Europe, for Theodoric had made it "his intention to restore the vigor of Roman government and Roman culture".[88] The chance of forming a national state in Italy by the union of Roman and Germanic elements, such as those that arose in Gaul, in Iberia, and in parts of Italy under Lombard rule, was thus lost. The failures of the barbarian kingdoms to maintain control of the regions they conquered were partly the result of leadership vacuums like those which resulted from the death of Theodoric (also the lack of male succession) and Totila but additionally as a consequence of political fragmentation amid the Germanic tribes as their loyalties wavered between their kin and their erstwhile enemies. Frankish entry onto the geopolitical map of Europe also bears into play: had the Ostrogoths attained more military success against the Byzantines on the battlefield by combining the strength of other Germanic tribes, this could have changed the direction of Frankish loyalty.[89] Military success or defeat and political legitimacy were interrelated in barbarian society.[90]

Nevertheless, according to Roman historian

Procopius of Caesarea, the Ostrogothic population was allowed to live peacefully in Italy with their Rugian allies under Roman sovereignty. They later joined the Lombards during their conquest of Italy.[g]

Culture

Ostrogoth ear jewels, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Surviving Gothic writings in the

Reccaswinth about 654. This code gave occasion to some well-known comments by Montesquieu and Gibbon, and has been discussed by Savigny (Geschichte des römischen Rechts, ii. 65) and various other writers. They are printed in the Monumenta Germaniae, leges, tome i. (1902).[91]

Amid Gothic histories that remain, besides that of the frequently quoted Jordanes, there is the Gothic history of

heresy. This image must have had some basis in truth, but it is not very surprising that the later Visigoths of Iberia had fallen away from Salvian's somewhat idealistic picture.[91]

6th-century Scandinavian Ostrogoths (Jordanes)

Possible map of Scandza based on Jordanes' work

Jordanes named a people called the Ostrogoths (Ostrogothae) in a list of many peoples living on the large island of "Scandza", north of the mouth of the

Ranii who lived in Scandza near the Dani (Danes). It says he had despised his own kingdom and came to Italy and then received the embrace of Theoderic the Great there.[92] This Roduulf has thus been proposed as a possible source of information about Scandinavian peoples, because Cassiodorus was an important statesman at Theoderic's court.[93][94][h]

On the other hand, scholars have come to no consensus about when the list was made, and by whom, nor how to interpret most of the names in the list. Arne Søby Christensen, in his detailed analysis lists three possibilities:[95]

  • that Jordanes believed some Ostrogoths had emigrated north, or...
  • that a similar name "Eastern Goths" had been coined in Scandinavia, where there were a people with the related name, the
    Gauts
    , or...
  • that a source of Jordanes, for example Cassiodorus, had created this form of the name, perhaps having heard of the Gauts.

It has been pointed out by Walter Goffart that Jordanes (V.38) also digresses specially to criticize stories going around Constantinople, that the Goths had once been slaves in Britain or another northern island, and had been freed for the price of a nag. Goffart argues that Jordanes likely rejected the idea that the Goths should be simply sent north to their alleged land of origin. Goffart points out that Procopius—a contemporary of Jordanes—reports that Belisarius offered Britain to the Ostrogoths (Gothic Wars, VI, 6); Goffart also suggests this may be connected to the stories mentioned by Jordanes.[96][97]

Fundamental to the question of the Scandza list, which mentions the Ostrogothae, there has been much scholarly discussion about why Jordanes claimed that Scandinavia was a "womb of the nations",[98] and the point of origin to not only the Goths but also many other northern barbarian peoples. Before Jordanes, there was already a Judaeo-Christian tradition equating the Goths and other "Scythian" peoples with the descendants of Gog and Magog, who readers of the Book of Ezekiel and the Book of Revelation might otherwise associate with distant islands.[99]

Ostrogothic rulers

Amal dynasty

  • Valamir r. 447 – c. 465 succeeded by his brother...
  • Theodemir r. c. 465 – 475 succeeded by his son...
  • Theodoric the Great r. 475–526 succeeded by his grandson...
  • Athalaric r. 526–534 succeeded by his mother...
  • Queen
    Amalasuntha
    , r. 534–535 the daughter of Theodoric, succeeded by her first cousin...
  • Theodahad r. 535–536 the son of Theodoric's sister.

Later kings

  • Witiges
    r. 536–540
  • Ildibad r. 540–541
  • Eraric r. 541
  • Totila (also Baduila) r. 541–552
  • Theia (also Teia(s), Teja) r. 552–553

See also

References

Notes

  1. Crimean Gothic language).[6] Much of the disappearance of the Gothic language is attributable to the Goths' cultural and linguistic absorption by other European peoples during the Middle Ages.[7]
  2. ^ Wolfram cites Moritz Schönfeld's (1911) work, Wörterbuch der altgermanischen personen- und Völkernamen as his principal naming source. See: p. 39. According to linguist Václav Blažek, this ethnonym shows several written forms in mediaeval records: Austrogoti; Austorgoti; Obstrogoti; Ostrogothi; Ostrogotus; Histrogotus; (H)ostrogothae (or Hostrogothae, Hostrogothi, Hostrogothae, Hostrogothae, Hostrogothi, Ostrogothi, Hostrogothae, Ostrogothi and Ostrogothi - these from the same record, Jordanes's Getica), and Ostrogotthi. See: Blažek, Václav. "Visigothae versus Ostrogothae". In: Graeco-Latina Brunensia vol. 17, iss. 2. 2012. pp. 17–18.
  3. ^ Heather (2007) explains Heather's position in contrast to those of Amory (1997). Also see Kulikowski (2002).
  4. ^ Claudian, Against Eutropius, 2.141; Zosimus, New History, Book 5. For commentary see Wolfram (1988, pp. 24, 387fn52), Christensen (2002, pp. 216–217) and Cameron (1993). Note Wolfram describes this as a poem to 392, though as Christensen and Cameron et al. note, it was written after the death of Eutropius the consul (died 399). On the dating of Claudian's poem see Long (1996, ch.5).
  5. ^ Christensen summarizes the field's position: "There has never been any doubt that of these two conflicting accounts, the one by Ammianus Marcellinus was to be preferred". Christensen especially cites Peter Heather.[17][18]
  6. ^ See: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cassiodorus/varia2.shtml Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator, Variae, Lib. II., XLI. Luduin regi Francorum Theodericus rex
  7. ^ De Bello Gothico IV 32, pp. 241–245; this reference stems from the pen of the Byzantine historian, Procopius, who accompanied Justinian's leading general, Belisarius, on his exploits between 527 and 540. This included the campaigns against the Ostrogoths, which is the subject of De Bello Gothico.
  8. ^ It has even been suggested that Roduulf is the same king of that name who is known from other sources to have been king of the Danube Heruli until he was defeated by the Lombards some time between 494 and 508. Procopius and Paul the Deacon mention him, and Jordanes mentions a king of the Heruli in this period who was adopted as a son in arms by Theoderic, without naming him. Strikingly, Procopius mentions that some of the Heruli nobility migrated to Scandinavia after the defeat of Roduulf, and some of these later returned to the Balkan area (Gothic Wars, VI, 14–15), while in his Scandza list, Jordanes mentions that Heruli had lived near the Dani, like the Ostrogothae he mentions, but had been forced to leave.

Citations

  1. ^ Heather 2009, pp. 109–110.
  2. ^ Heather 2009, pp. 116, 127–128.
  3. ^ Heather 2009, pp. 115–117.
  4. ^ a b c Wolfram 1988, p. 24.
  5. ^ Heather 2009, pp. 151–153.
  6. ^ Dalby 1999, p. 229.
  7. ^ Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 572.
  8. ^ Wolfram 1988, pp. 25, 387 fn49, 388 fn58.
  9. ^ Christensen 2002, p. 206.
  10. ^ Heather 2007, p. 404.
  11. ^ Christensen 2002, pp. 201–205.
  12. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 24, fn52.
  13. ^ Panegyrici Latini XI 17.1 (dated 291)
  14. ^ a b Heather 1988, p. 156.
  15. ^ a b Christensen 2002, p. 214.
  16. ^ Heather 1996, pp. 52–57, 300–301.
  17. ^ Heather 1989.
  18. ^ Christensen 2002, pp. 141–157.
  19. ^ Jordanes 1915, pp. 87–88 [24.130–131].
  20. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 387, fn58.
  21. ^ a b Wolfram 1988, pp. 24–25.
  22. ^ Christensen 2002, pp. 202–203.
  23. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 387, fn57.
  24. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 25.
  25. ^ a b c d Wolfram 1988, p. 26.
  26. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 389, fn67.
  27. ^ Bury 2000, p. 55.
  28. ^ Heather 1999.
  29. ^ Heather 2007, p. 73.
  30. ^ Heather 2003, p. 90.
  31. ^ Todd 1999, p. 177.
  32. ^ Kim 2013, pp. 75, 77.
  33. ^ Kim 2013, p. 77.
  34. ^ Jordanes 1915, p. 107 [38.199–200].
  35. ^ Heather 2009, p. 222.
  36. ^ Heather 2007, pp. 46–47, 72–73.
  37. ^ Burns 1984, pp. 52–53.
  38. ^ Todd 1999, p. 178.
  39. ^ Wolfram 1988, pp. 260–261.
  40. ^ Heather 2003, p. 86.
  41. ^ Wolfram 1988, pp. 188, 268.
  42. ^ Nicholson 2018, p. 378.
  43. ^ Wolfram 1988, pp. 269–270.
  44. ^ Heather 2003, pp. 88, 91.
  45. ^ Wolfram 1988, pp. 32, 260.
  46. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 268.
  47. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 269.
  48. ^ a b Wolfram 1988, p. 270.
  49. ^ Wolfram 1988, pp. 271–272.
  50. ^ Wolfram 1988, pp. 271–274.
  51. ^ Wolfram 1988, pp. 276–278.
  52. ^ Backman 2008, p. 68.
  53. ^ Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 575.
  54. ^ a b c De Puy 1899, p. 2865.
  55. ^ Frassetto 2003, p. 338.
  56. ^ Frassetto 2003, pp. 338–339.
  57. ^ Cantor 1994, p. 109.
  58. ^ Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 665.
  59. ^ Waldman & Mason 2006, pp. 575–576.
  60. ^ Bury 2000, p. 178.
  61. ^ a b c d Waldman & Mason 2006, p. 576.
  62. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 332.
  63. ^ Wolfram 1997, pp. 218–221.
  64. ^ Wolfram 1997, p. 155.
  65. ^ Larned 1895, p. 134.
  66. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 230.
  67. ^ Arnold 2014, pp. 118–119.
  68. ^ Arnold 2014, p. 133.
  69. ^ Wolfram 1997, p. 220.
  70. ^ Wolfram 1997, p. 225.
  71. ^ De Puy 1899, p. 2,865.
  72. ^ Collins 1999, pp. 116–137.
  73. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 334.
  74. ^ Wolfram 1988, pp. 332–333, 337–340.
  75. ^ a b c Wallace-Hadrill 2004, p. 36.
  76. ^ Wolfram 1988, p. 339.
  77. ^ Halsall 2007, pp. 500–501.
  78. ^ Halsall 2007, p. 501.
  79. ^ Oman 1902, pp. 89–90.
  80. ^ Halsall 2007, pp. 502–503.
  81. ^ Oman 1902, p. 91.
  82. ^ Halsall 2007, p. 503.
  83. ^ Bauer 2010, p. 208.
  84. ^ Thompson 1982, pp. 95–96.
  85. ^ Bauer 2010, p. 210.
  86. ^ a b Halsall 2007, p. 504.
  87. ^ Oman 1902, pp. 95–96.
  88. ^ Cantor 1994, p. 105–107.
  89. ^ Halsall 2007, pp. 505–512.
  90. ^ Halsall 2007, p. 512.
  91. ^ a b Freeman 1911, p. 275.
  92. ^ Christensen 2002, pp. 267–268.
  93. ^ Christensen 2002, p. 270.
  94. ^ Ghosh 2015, p. 49.
  95. ^ Christensen 2002, pp. 250–299.
  96. ^ Ghosh 2015, pp. 52–53.
  97. ^ Christensen 2002, pp. 254, 270.
  98. ^ Jordanes 1915, p. 57 [4.25].
  99. ^ Christensen 2002, pp. 243–252.

Sources

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ostrogoths&oldid=1219548447"