Disputats om myten om goternes historie, der i Jordanes' skrift Getica fra 551 hævdes at begynde med deres udvandring fra Scandza (Sverige) i 1490 f.Kr. Han har fundet denne beretning i Cassiodors nu tabte Goterhistorie. Søby Christensen viser, at Cassiodor og Jordanes ikke bygger deres fremstillinger på en levende gotisk tradition, som det påstås i Getica. De hentede derimod deres informationer fra den græsk-romerske litteratur, der vel at mærke ikke kendte til goterne før midten af det 3. årh. e.Kr. De skabte således en gotisk historie ved lærde konstruktioner ud fra et navnemateriale og beretningerne om andre folks historie, som de fandt i deres forlæg. Vores forståelse af folkevandringernes historie må derfor revideres.
Arne Søby Christensen er lektor i Historie på Københavns Universitet.
Indhold
1 The Problem
2 The Goths in Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian
Literature before Cassiodorus
Greek and Roman Accounts of Gothic History until around AD
150
(Pytheas of Massalia) / Pliny the Elder Nat. Hist. XXXVII. xi.
35, 25 – Strabo Geogr. VII. i. 3, 32 – Pliny the Elder Nat. Hist.
IV. xiii. 99-100, 34 – Tacitus Germania xliii. 6, 35 – Tacitus
Annales II. 62-63, 36 – Ptolemy Geogr. III. v. 8
The Goths during the third century
The Goths in the fourth century
Ammianus Marcellinus
The Judaeo-Christian tradition concerning the Goths
Ambrose, – The Book of Ezekiel: Gog and Magog. The
Book of Revelation: Gog and Magog. The Book of
Genesis: Magog – the genealogy of peoples. Josephus:
Antiquitates: the genealogy of peoples (Magog)
The discussion of the biblical origins of the Goths
Orosius – Jerome – Augustine – Isidore of Seville
The Goth/Getae identification
Conclusion
3 Cassiodorus
Cassiodorus’ Chronica from 519
The Goths in the Chronica
Cassiodorus’s Information abouth his History of the Goths
Ordo generis Cassiodororum (Anecdoton Holderi)– Variae
– Athalaric’s letter to Cassiodorus (Var. IX. xxiv.) –
Athalaric’s speech to the Senate in Rome (Var. IX. xxv.) –
Cassiodorus’ speech to the Senate in Rome (Var. XI. i.) –
Cassiodorus on the conquest of Rome in 410 (Var. XII. xx. 4.)
– The preface to the Variae
The Chronological Scope of the History of the Goths
Conclusion
4 Jordanes
The Life and Works of Jordanes - The Problems
Jordanes - Iornandes: the name of the author – Jordanes’
father and paternal grandfather - his lineage – Agramatus -notarius,
93 – Conversio: bishop - monk - Christian? – The
life of Jordanes´– The works of Jordanes
Jordanes’ Romana
The Goths in the Romana
Jordanes’ Getica
Jordanes’ Getica – How is it related to Cassiodorus’s History of the
Goths?
5 The Amal Genealogy
Jordanes’ Ama
Pressen skrev
"Christensen's clear and systematic presentation makes the book a
significant contribution to the literature on the formation of the early
historical peoples of Europe."
- Peter S. Wells, University of Minnesota, The Historian
"In the present salutary work, Christensen grapples in passing with the
first and second problem and concentrates on examining the possibility that
Gothic tradition shaped the form of Jordanes' narrative and depiction of
events. The task is carried out systematically. It is hard to fault the
conclusion, namely that Jordanes’ ‘narrative is fictitious, a fabrication in
which the omnipotent author himself has created both the framework and the
content of the story’. This conclusion has been made before but never with
the meticulous thoroughness of Christensen’s examination of possible
contexts in which one might reasonably expect Gothic tradition to reveal
itself, if in fact it had been utilized by Jordanes.
The value of the book is not merely its negative conclusion about the use of
socalled Gothic tradition. In contextualizing the main problem, Christensen
helpfully lays out many of the contentious issues in the literary
representation of the Goths. Central motifs in the detection of Gothic
tradition are considered: the identity of Jordanes and the career of
Cassiodorus; the Amal genealogy of the Ostrogothic rulers of Italy (the
prime candidate for Cassiodorus’ input and. Gothic tradition); the fourth-
century realm of Ermanric; early divisions of the Goths; the Getica’s
Scandinavian ethnography; and, of course, the historical events themselves,
not only as recounted by Jordanes, but also by ancient historians and
Isidore of Seville. Other subjects, just as interesting but not as central
to the debate, receive detailed attention, such as the relation of the
third- and fourth-century Goths to the flawed and frustrating ethnographic
detritus of the early Empire and the relation of the Goths in late antique
thought to Judaeo-Christian biblical history (the enigmatic Gog and Magog
were occasionally identified with them). Thus, there is much to be learned
here even by those only peripherally interested in the issue of Gothic
tradition. An interesting aspect of Christensen’s historiography are
references to Scandinavian scholarship that, for language reasons, is
frequently overlooked in reporting modern controversies."
- Alexander Callander Murray, University of Toronto, The International
History Review
"Christensen är skarpsinnig och mestadels övertygande i sin källkritiska
djupdykning i Geticas grumliga vatten."
- Dick Harrison, Historisk Tidskrift, Sverige
"Christensen weist in seinem von Museum Tusculanum Press gediegen
gestalteten Buch gelehrt und detailliert nach, aus welchen Quellen Jordanes
geschöpft hat und wie er mit diesem umgegangen ist."
- Beat Näf,
Gnomon, bd. 78, 2006
"Das vorliegende Werk stellt einen wesentlichen Fortschritt der
Frühmittelalter- und der Germanenforschung dar. Man muss den Verfasser zu
seiner Leistung beglückwünschen und darf hoffen, dass seinem Buch die
gebührende Aufmerksamkeit zuteil wird. Es zeugt von gründlichster Behandlung
des Gegenstands, selbständigen Gedanken und dem Mut, die herrschende Meinung
in die Schranken zu fordern."
- Dr. Matthias Springer, Namenkundliche Informationen 89/90,
Leipziger Universitätsverlag 2006
Samtlige udgivelser på forlaget med -
Arne Søby Christensen som forfatter
Lactantius the Historian
1980, ISBN 978-87-7289-188-0, hft
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