Jordanes
Jordanes was a bishop and historian who lived during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, likely in the capital city of Constantinople. He authored two significant historical works dedicated to Pope Vigilius. The first, titled "Romana," was published around 550 CE and provided a Christian summary of Roman history, compiled from various earlier chronicles. His second work, "Getica," published around 551 CE, focuses on the Gothic tribes that played a crucial role in the downfall of the Western Roman Empire and their conflicts with Justinian's forces in Spain and Italy.
"Getica" is particularly noteworthy as it draws extensively from the lost "Historia Gothica" by Cassiodorus, a Roman statesman with deep knowledge of the Ostrogoths. Jordanes also supplemented Cassiodorus's work with additional material from other Greek and Latin writers. Despite some critiques regarding the quality of his Latin and the perceived dullness of "Romana," "Getica" is invaluable for understanding the legends, myths, and early history of the Goths, making it one of the few surviving sources from that period.
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Subject Terms
Jordanes
- Born: fl. sixth century
- Died: 600
Related civilizations: Goths, Byzantine Empire, Imperial Rome
Major role/position: Bishop, writer
Life
Jordanes (johr-DAY-neez) was a bishop and writer during the reign of the emperor Justinian I and probably lived in the capital, Constantinople. He published two books of history dedicated to Pope Vigilius. The first, the Romana (c. 550 c.e.), was a summary of Roman history from a Christian perspective and was cribbed together from various other chronicles. The second book, the Getica (c. 551 c.e.; The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, 1908), was a history of the Gothic tribes who had overthrown the Roman Empire in the West and who were fighting the emperor in both Spain and Italy. The material in the Getica was, as Jordanes tells us, largely taken from the lost Historia Gothica of Roman statesman Cassiodorus, who was intimately familiar with the Ostrogoths of Italy. Jordanes did, however, add certain material from various Greek and Latin writers absent from the Historia Gothica.
Influence
Although Jordanes’ Latin grammar was rather poor and the Romana is quite uninteresting, the Getica is of tremendous importance because it is one of the very few sources for the legends, myths, and early history of the Gothic tribes. Outside it, only a few notices in Roman histories describe what the Goths did, and no trace remains of what the Goths themselves had to say.
Bibliography
Goffart, Walter. Narrators of Barbarian History. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1988.
Wolfram, Herwig. History of the Goths. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.