THE ORIGIN AND DEEDS OF THE GOTHS

by

JORDANES

in English Version

Part of a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of Princeton University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

by CHARLES C. MIEROW

Princeton

1908


From the introduction by Dean Andrew F. West of the Princeton Graduate School:

"For the first time the story of the Goths recorded in the _Getica_ of Jordanes, a Christian Goth who wrote his account in the year 551, probably in Constantinople, is now put in English form, as part of an edition of the _Getica_ prepared by Mr. Mierow. Those who care for the romance of history will be charmed by this great tale of a lost cause and will not find the simple-hearted exaggerations of the eulogist of the Gothic race misleading. He pictured what he believed or wanted to believe, and his employment of fable and legend, as well as the naïve exhibition of his loyal prejudices, merely heightens the interest of his story. Those who want coldly scientific narrative should avoid reading Jordanes, but should likewise remember the truthful, words of Delbrück: "Legende und Poesie malen darum noch nicht falsch, weil sie mit anderen Farben malen als die Historie. Sie reden nur eine andere Sprache, und es handelt sich darum, aus dieser richtig ins Historische zu übersetzen." "



And indeed this is very interesting stuff, reaching back into Ages way before Alexander the Great, and chronicling the Goths trip from the Baltic Sea/Scandinavia region down the Danube, to Asia Minor (Turkey), across Italy, Gaul (France) and Spain, across the Strait of Gibraltar to Africa...

From dark and prehistoric heathen times to a Christian age, from mystic leaders and races (e.g. the Amazons) to very real personages (Theoderic the Great aka Diedrich von Bern, Attila the Hun, plenty Roman emperors -- Constantinus, Justitian, etc.), from the rise of tribes to nations to the doom of empires - it's all here!

Jordanes' history contains the historic backdrop for e.g. the Niebelungen Sage (the German medieval treatment of the Norse Volsung Saga which calls king Attila "König Etzel"), as well as the sagas concerning Theoderic and the great Gothic warrior-kings before the rise of the Franks.


DJ Vollkasko, 2005