New and completely revised from the second German edition.
Translated by Thomas J. Dunlap.
Much studied and much misunderstood, the Goths represent all the barbarian peoples whose presence inside and outside the late Roman Empire accelerated its transformation into the eastern Byzantine world and the western Medieval kingdoms. Herwig Wolfram corrects erroneous perspectives of the past on Gothic history and places it within its proper context, that of late Roman society and institutions.
Rejecting the nationalistic view of the Goths as a "German people," he searches for ethnogenesis, or tribal formation, and finds a series of discontinuous and heterogeneous groups, indiscriminately called "Goths." They gathered around a small military elite which carried a tradition of Gothic origins. From the Oder-Vistula region to the Dnieper, the Black Sea, and then into Italy and Spain, a Goth was anyone who fought alongside this leadership. Through a careful examination of the Gothic traditions as they were set down in the sixth century, and through critical reevaluation of Roman and Greek authors and a judicious use of archaeological evidence, Wolfram offers a convincing new understanding of what it was to be a Goth.
Historians of late Antiquity and all those who have accepted the mythical connection between early barbarian society and the history of the German people will find this perspective enlightening. Wolfram demonstrates that the barbarian world of "the Goths" was both a creation and an essential element of the late Roman Empire.
Author(s): Herwig Wolfram
Edition: Revised
Publisher: University of California Press
Year: 1988
Language: English
Pages: 642
City: Berkeley
Preface ix
Introduction 1
Gothic History as Historical Ethnography
1. The Names 19
The Gothic Name 19
The Dual Names of the Two Gothic Peoples 24
Visigoths and Ostrogoths as Western Goths and Eastern Goths 25
The Epic and the Derisive Names of the Goths 26
Biblical and Classical Names for the Goths 28
Gothic Royal Houses and Their Names 29
2. The Formation of the Gothic Tribes before the Invasion of the Huns 36
Gutones and Guti 36
Politics and Institutions of the Gutones 40
The Trek to the Black Sea 42
The Goths at the Black Sea 43
The Gothic Invasions of the Third Century 43
The Gothic Advance into the Aegean 52
Aurelian and the Division of the Goths 56
The Tervingian-Vesian Confederation at the Danube 57
The Events of 291 to 364 57
The Era of Athanaric, 365-376/381 64
Ulfilas and the Beginning of the Conversion of the Goths 75
The Ostrogothic Greutungi until the Invasion of the Huns 85
Ermanaric’s Greutungian Kingdom and Its Dissolution 86
Political Organization and Culture of the Goths at the Danube and the Black Sea 89
The 'Gutthiuda': The Land of the Tervingi and Taifali 91
The 'Kuni': Community of Descent and Subdivision of the Gutthiuda
96 The 'Harjis', the Tribal Army 97
'Gards', 'Baurgs', 'Sibja': Lordship, Retainers, Community of Law 100
'Haims' (Village): The Social World of the Gothic Freeman 103
Cult and Religion among the Goths 106
Language and Daily Life 112
The Ostrogothic-Greutungian Kingship 114
3. The Forty-year Migration and the Formation of the Visigoths, 376/378 to 416/418 117
The Invasion and Settlement of the Goths in Thrace 117
From the Crossing of the Danube (376) to the Battle of Adrianople (378) 117
Theodosius and the Settlement of the Goths in Thrace 131
The Balkan Campaigns of 395-401 139
The 'Foedus' of 397 and the Settlement of the Goths in Macedonia 142
Alaric’s Elevation to the Kingship 143
Fravitta and Eriulf 146
Gainas and Tribigild 148
The Goths in the Western Empire, 401-418 150
Alaric’s Italian Wars 150
Athaulf and the Gothic Trek Westward 161
Athaulf’s Contribution to the Visigothic Ethnogenesis 164
The Visigoths Become Horsemen 167
Radagaisus and His Contribution to the Visigothic Ethnogenesis 168
Valia and the Goths 'in Roman Service' 170
4. The Kingdom of Toulouse, 418 to 507 172
The Aquitanian Federates, 418—466 173
The Visigothic 'Superpower', 466-507 181
Euric (466-484) and the Breach of the 'Foedus' of 416/418 181
The Conquest of the Auvergne and Tarraconensis 184
The Last Battles with the Empire 188
The Organization and Development of Dominion 189
Alaric II (484-507) 190
The Legal and Ecclesiastical Policies of Euric and Alaric II 193
The Legislation of Euric and Alaric II 194
The Ecclesiastical Policies of Euric and Alaric II 197
The King and the Royal Clan 202
The Royal Family 202
The King 204
Court Life: Religion, Language, and Culture 209
The Kingship: Its Functions and Functionaries 211
Military Organization 217
The Courtiers 219
Royal Estates and Finances 221
The Settlement of the Visigoths 222
The Peoples of the Kingdom of Toulouse: Ethnic and Social Composition 231
Goths and Romans in the Kingdom of Toulouse 231
Jews, Greeks, and Syrians 234
The Native Barbarians 234
The Immigrant Barbarians 235
Conditions of Dependency 239
The End That Was No End 243
5. The 'New' Ostrogoths 247
The Division and Reunification of the Amal Goths, 375—451 248
Pannonian Greutungi, Hunnic Goths, and Ostrogoths 248
The Ostrogothic Kingdom in Pannonia, 456/457—473 258
The Ostrogoths in the Balkans, 473—488 268
Theodoric’s Battle for Italy, 488-493 278
The Ostrogothic March to Italy 279
The Battles in Italy, 489—493 281
Flavius Theodericus Rex: King of the Goths and Italians, 493-526 284
Theodoric’s Efforts to Obtain Imperial Recognition, 490/493-497 284
Some Questions 285
Theodoric’s Kingdom: An Attempt at a Constitutional Analysis 286
Theodoric’s Rule in Theory and Practice 288
'Exercitus Gothorum' 290
'Comites Gothorum', 'Duces', 'Saiones', 'Millenarii', 'Mediocres', 'Capillati' 290
The Settlement of the Gothic Army 295
Polyethnicity, Social Status, and Compulsory Military Service 300
Ostrogothic Weapons and Fighting Techniques 302
Theodoric’s Barbarian Policy and the Securing of Italy 306
The Vandals 307
The Visigoths 309
The Burgundians 311
The Franks 313
Raetia and Western Illyricum under Ostrogothic Dominion 315
Barbarian Traditions and Ethnography 324
Theodoric’s Roman Policy and the End of His Kingship, 526 327
The Amal Successors of Theodoric, 526-536 332
Athalaric (526-534) 334
Theodahad (534-536) 337
The Non-Amal Kings and the Fall of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, 536-552 342
Vitigis (536-540) 342
Hildebad and Eraric (540/541) 349
Totila (541-552) 353
The Epilogue: Teja (552) 361
Appendixes 363
1. Roman Emperors
2. A Survey of Gothic History
3. Genealogical Charts of the Balthi and Amali
Notes 377
List of Abbreviations 535
Bibliography 537
Index 575
Maps 615
