Editing Getica

{{Short description|Literary work by Jordanes on the origin and history of the Gothic people}}
{{other uses}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Incipit de origine actibusque getarum.PNG|thumb|upright=2|The title of the ''Getica'' as it appears in a 9th-century manuscript of [[Lorsch Abbey]] now in the [[Vatican Library]]]]
'''''De origine actibusque Getarum''''' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''{{refn|Late antique writers commonly used [[Getae]] for [[Goths]] mixing the peoples in the process.|group="n"}}),{{sfn|Costa|1977|p=32}}<ref>''De Rebus Geticis'': O. Seyffert, 329; ''De Getarum (Gothorum) Origine et Rebus Gestis''</ref>{{sfn|Smith|1870|loc=vol. 2, p.607}} commonly abbreviated '''''Getica'''''<ref name="name1">{{harv|Mierow|1908}}</ref> ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|ɛ|t|ɪ|k|ə}}), written in [[Late Latin]] by [[Jordanes]] in or shortly after 551 AD,<ref>{{citation| first =Peter|last =  Heather | title = Goths and Romans 332-489| publisher = Oxford|year = 1991 | pages = 47–49 (year 552)}}</ref><ref>{{citation| first = Walter |last = Goffart | title = The Narrators of Barbarian History|publisher =  Princeton |year = 1988 |page = 98 (year 554)}}</ref> claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by [[Cassiodorus]] of the origin and history of the [[Goths|Gothic people]], which is now lost.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|loc = Or in the original ''Die Goten'' (München 2001), consistently uses ''Origo Gothica'' as a name not only for the work of Cassiodorus, but also, very confusingly, for the ''Getica''. The source is Cassiodorus, ''Variae'' 9.25.5: "Originem Gothicam fecit esse historiam Romanam", which can be interpreted in different ways (see {{harvnb|Goffart|2006|pp=57–59}}). Cassiodorus' lost work is more commonly referred to as ''Historia Gothorum'' or ''History of the Goths'' by modern scholarship ({{harvnb|Merrills|2005|pp= 102, 9}}).}} However, the extent to which Jordanes actually used the work of Cassiodorus is unknown. It is significant as the only remaining contemporaneous resource that gives an extended account of the [[Origin stories of the Goths|origin and history of the Goths]], although to what extent it should be considered history or origin mythology is a matter of dispute.

==Synopsis of the work==
The ''Getica'' begins with a discussion of a large island named [[Scandza]], which faces the mouth of the [[Vistula]] river and had been described by the writers [[Claudius Ptolemy]] and [[Pomponius Mela]]. Jordanes reports this island to be the original home of many different peoples including the Goths, who have swarmed like bees from there (16-25). Jordanes commences the history of the Goths with the emigration of a Gothic king named [[Berig]] with three ships from Scandza to [[Gothiscandza]] (25, 94), in the distant past. In the account of Jordanes (or Cassiodorus), Herodotus' [[Getae|Getian]] demi-god [[Zalmoxis]] becomes a king of the Goths (39). Jordanes tells how the Goths sacked "[[Troy]] and Ilium" just after they had recovered somewhat from the war with [[Agamemnon]] (108). They are also said to have encountered the Egyptian [[pharaoh]] [[Vesosis]] (47). The less-fictional part of Jordanes' work begins when the Goths encounter Roman military forces in the 3rd century AD. The work concludes with the defeat of the Goths by the Byzantine general [[Belisarius]], which was recent in the time of Jordanes. Jordanes states that he writes to honour those who were victorious over the Goths after a history of 2030 years.

==Importance and credibility==
Because the original work of Cassiodorus has not survived, the work of Jordanes is one of the most important sources for the period of the migration of the European tribes, and the [[Ostrogoths]] and [[Visigoths]] in particular, from the 3rd century AD. Jordanes mentioned that his work, perhaps via Cassiodorus, also drew upon Gothic "folk songs" (''carmina prisca'') as an important source, and a Gothic chronicler . Modern scholars have struggled to find any confirming evidence that his claims about such sources can give credibility to the more doubtful parts of the work.{{sfn|Christensen|2002}}

Like many other classical writers, Jordanes equated the earlier Getae to the later Goths. He specified that he did this on the testimony of [[Orosius Paulus]].<ref name="name1"/> In a passage that has become controversial, he identifies the [[Vistula Veneti|Venedi]], a people mentioned by [[Tacitus]], [[Pliny the Elder]] and [[Ptolemy]], with the [[Slavs]] of the 6th century. Since as early as 1844,<ref>{{citation| author-link = Pavel Josef Schafarik|first = Pavel Josef| last = Schafarik | title = Slawiche Alterthümmer|publisher = Leipzig| year = 1844| volume= 1|page= 40}}</ref> this passage has been used by some scholars in eastern Europe to support the idea that there was a distinct Slavic ethnicity long before the last phase of the Late Roman period. Others have rejected this view because of the absence of concrete archaeological and historiographical data.{{sfn|Curta|2001|p= 7; also pp.11-13 for an analysis of Schafarik's ideas in the context of his age as well as their revival by later Soviet historiography}}

The book is important to some medieval historians because it mentions the campaign in [[Gaul]] of one [[Riothamus]], "King of the Brettones", a possible [[Historical basis for King Arthur|source of inspiration for the early stories of King Arthur]].

One of the major questions concerning the historicity of the work is concerning the periods before the Goths enter the written record in the third century. Although there is a range of views, the earliest parts of the narratives are considered mainly mythological, and the account becomes more reliable as it approaches the 6th century. Whether or not [[Cassiodorus]] was the main collator of the information about the earliest Goths, not only contains chronologically untenable parts, but also shows evidence of being at least partly derived by culling ancient Greek and Latin authors for descriptions of peoples who ''might'' have been Goths.{{sfn|Geary|2002|pp=60-61}} Furthermore, it seems that Jordanes distorted Cassiodorus's narrative by presenting a cursory abridgement of it mixed with 6th-century ethnic names.{{sfn|Curta|2001|p=40}}{{sfn|Goffart|2006|pp=59-61}}

Some scholars claim that, while acceptance of Jordanes' text at face value may be too naïve, a totally skeptical view is not warranted. For example, Jordanes writes that the Goths originated in Scandinavia in 1490 BC. Although the chronology is untenable, one [[Austria]]n historian, [[Herwig Wolfram]], believes that there might be a kernel of truth in the claim, proposing that a clan of the [[Geats|Gutae]] may have left Scandinavia and contributed to the ethnogenesis of the [[Gutones]] in eastern [[Pomerania]] (see [[Wielbark culture]]).<ref>{{harv|Wolfram|1988|p=40}}. {{harv|Goffart|2006|pp=59–61}} harshly criticized this view</ref> An example of more believable material concerning the more recent centuries is the name of King [[Cniva]], which David S. Potter thinks is genuine because, since it doesn't appear in the fictionalized genealogy of Gothic kings given by Jordanes, he must have found it in a genuine 3rd-century source.{{sfn|Potter|2004|p=245}}

On the other hand, a Danish scholar, [[Arne Søby Christensen]], claims that the ''Getica'' is an entirely fabricated account, and that the origin of the Goths that Jordanes outlines is a construction based on popular Greek and Roman myths, as well as misinterpretation of recorded names from Northern Europe. The purpose of this fabrication, according to Christensen, may have simply been to preserve a memory of a people who, at the time, looked liked they were about to cease to exist.{{sfn|Christensen|2002|p=348}} Canadian scholar [[Walter Goffart]] suggests another incentive, arguing that the ''Getica'' was part of a conscious plan by [[Justinian I]] and the propaganda machine at his court to affirm that the Goths and their barbarian cousins did not belong to the Roman world, thus justifying the claims of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] to hegemony over the [[Western Roman Empire| western part]].{{sfn|Goffart|2006|p= 70}}

==Editions==

A manuscript of the text was rediscovered in [[Vienna]] in 1442 by the Italian humanist [[Enea Silvio Piccolomini (humanist)|Enea Silvio Piccolomini]].{{sfn|Thomas|Gamble|1927|loc= Pp vi, 202, 59}} Its ''[[editio princeps]]'' was issued in 1515 by [[Konrad Peutinger]], followed by many other editions.{{sfn|Smith|1870|loc= "Jornandes"}}<!-- should be very easy to point to subsequent editions, please contribute to find biblographical records and earlier online versions-->

The classic edition is that of 19th-century [[Germany|German]] [[classical scholar]] [[Theodor Mommsen]] (in ''[[Monumenta Germaniae Historica]]'', ''auctores antiqui'', v. i.). The best surviving manuscript was the ''Heidelberg manuscript'', written in [[Heidelberg]], [[Germany]], probably in the 8th century, but this was destroyed in a fire at Mommsen's house on July 7, 1880.  Subsequently, another 8th-century manuscript was discovered, containing chapters I to XLV, and is now the 'Codice Basile' at the Archivio di Stato in Palermo.<ref>Lowe, C.L.A. XII.1741: 'saec. VIII, 2nd half'</ref>  The next of the manuscripts in historical value are the ''Vaticanus Palatinus'' of the 10th century, and the ''Valenciennes manuscript'' of the 9th century.

Jordanes' work had been well known prior to Mommsen's 1882 edition. It was cited in [[Edward Gibbon]]'s classic 6 volumes of ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'' (1776), and had been earlier mentioned by [[Degoreus Whear]] (1623) who refers to both Jordanes' ''[[Romana (Jordanes)|De regnorum ac temporum successione]]'' and to ''De rebus Geticis''.<ref>{{citation |title=De Ratione Et Methodo Legendi Historias |author=Degoreus Whear |author-link=Degoreus Whear |year=1623 |url=http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/whear/text.html}}</ref>

==Sources==

In his Preface, Jordanes presents his plan
:"...to condense in my own style in this small book the twelve volumes of [Cassiodorus] Senator on the origin and deeds of the Getae [i.e., Goths] from olden times to the present day."
Jordanes admits that he did not then have direct access to Cassiodorus's book, and could not remember the exact words, but that he felt confident that he had retained the substance in its entirety.{{sfn|Mierow|1915|loc = Preface [quote]: Jordanes writes: "But above every burden is the fact that I have no access to his books that I may follow his thought. Still - and let me lie not - I have in times past read the books a second time by his steward's loan for a three days' reading. The words I recall not, but the sense and the deeds related I think I retain entire."}} He goes on to say that he added relevant passages from Latin and Greek sources, composed the Introduction and Conclusion, and inserted various things of his own authorship. Due to this mixed origin, the text has been examined in an attempt to sort out the sources for the information it presents.

===Jordanes himself===
{{main|Jordanes}}
Former notarius to a Gothic [[magister militum]] Gunthigis, Jordanes would have been in a position to know traditions concerning the Gothic peoples without necessarily relying on anyone else. However, there is no evidence for this in the text, and some of the instances where the work refers to ''carmina prisca'' can be shown to depend on classical authors.{{sfn|Christensen|2002}}

===Cassiodorus===
{{main|Cassiodorus}}
Cassiodorus was a native Italian ([[Squillace]], [[Bruttium]]), who rose to become advisor and secretary to the Gothic kings in various high offices. His and the Goths' most successful years were perhaps the reign of [[Theodoric the Great|Theodoric]]. The policy of Theodoric's government at that time was reconciliation and in that spirit he incorporated Italians into the government whenever he could. He asked Cassiodorus to write a work on the Goths that would, in essence, demonstrate their antiquity, nobility, experience and fitness to rule.

Theodoric died in 526 and Cassiodorus went on to serve his successors in the same capacity. He had not by any means forgotten the task assigned to him by his former king. In 533 a letter ostensibly written by King [[Athalaric]] to the senate in Rome, but ignored by Cassiodorus, mentions the great work on the Goths, now complete, in which Cassiodorus "''restored the Amali with the illustriousness of their race''."
The work must have been written at [[Ravenna]], seat of the Gothic kings, between 526 at latest and 533.

What Cassiodorus did with the manuscripts after that remains unknown. The fact that Jordanes once obtained them from a steward indicates that the wealthy Cassiodorus was able to hire at least one full-time custodian of them and other manuscripts of his, i.e., a private librarian (a custom not unknown even today).

Jordanes says in the preface to ''Getica'' that he obtained them from the librarian for three days in order to read them again (relegi). The times and places of these readings have been the concern of many scholars, as this information possibly bears on how much of ''Getica'' is based on [[Cassiodorus]].

There are two main theories, one expressed by the Mierow source below, and one by the O'Donnell source below. Mierow's is earlier and does not include a letter cited by O'Donnell.{{sfn|O'Donnell|1982|pp=223-240}}

Gothic sovereignty came to an end with the reconquest of Italy by [[Belisarius]], military chief of staff for [[Justinian]], ending in 539. Cassiodorus' last ghost writing for the Gothic kings was done for [[Witiges]], who was removed to Constantinople in 540. A number of token kings ruled from there while Belisarius established that the Goths were not going to reinvade and retake Italy (which was however taken again by the [[Lombards]] after Justinian's death).

Cassiodorus retired in 540 to his home town of Squillace, where he used his wealth to build a monastery with school and library, ''Vivarium''.

===Authors cited by ''Getica''===
The events, persons and peoples of ''Getica'' are put forward as being up to many centuries prior to the time of Jordanes. Taken at face value, they precede any other history of Scandinavia.

Jordanes does cite some writers well before his time, to whose works he had access but we do not, and other writers whose works are still extant. Mierow gives a summary of these, which is reviewed below, and also states other authors he believed were used by Jordanes but were not cited in ''Getica'' (refer to the Mierow source cited below). Mierow's list of cited authors is summarized as follows:

*Ablabius. Otherwise unknown historian, author of the work ''Gothorum gentis'' ("of the Gothic people"), now lost.
*[[Dexippus]] on the [[Vandals]] and the [[Heruli]].
*Dio, either [[Dio Cassius]] or [[Dio Chrysostom]], author of [[Getica (Dio)|another ''Getica'']]. Description of Britain in Jordanes.
*Fabius. Otherwise unknown, author of a work including the siege of [[Ravenna]], now missing.
*[[Josephus]] in IV.29, brief mention of the Goths as [[Scythians|Scyths]].
*[[Livy]], brief mention in II.10.
*[[Marcus Annaeus Lucanus|Lucan]] on the [[Amali]], V.43.
*[[Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus|Pompeius Trogus]], now known only in [[Justin (historian)|Justinus]]' epitome of ''Historiae Philippicae''.
*[[Pomponius Mela]].
*[[Priscus]]. Events concerning [[Attila]].
*[[Ptolemy]] on [[Scandinavia]] in ''Getica'' Part III.
*[[Strabo]]. Authority on Britain.
*[[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|Symmachus]]. Copies of his copies from [[Julius Capitolinus]] on [[Maximinus I|Maximinus]].
*[[Tacitus]]. Authority on [[Roman Britain|Britain]].
*[[Virgil]].

==The Late Latin of Jordanes==
The early [[Late Latin]] of Jordanes evidences a certain variability in the structure of the language which has been taken as an indication that the author no longer had a clear standard of correctness.<ref>{{citation| first = Brian |last = Croke | title = Cassiodorus and the Getica of Jordanes | journal = Classical Philology | volume= 82 | number = 2 |date = Apr 1987|pages= 117–134|doi = 10.1086/367034 |s2cid = 162232630 }}</ref> Jordanes tells us in ''Getica'' that he interrupted work on the ''[[Romana (Jordanes)|Romana]]'' to write ''Getica'', and then finished ''Romana''. Jordanes states in ''Romana'' that he wrote it in the 24th year of the emperor [[Justinian I|Justinian]], which began April 1, 551. In ''Getica'' he mentions a plague of nine years previous. This is probably the [[Plague of Justinian]], which began in Egypt in 541, reached Constantinople in 542 and Italy in 543. The time is too early to identify a direction of change toward any specific Romance language, as none had appeared yet. This variability, however, preceded the appearance of the first French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, etc. After those languages developed, the scholastics gradually restored classical Latin as a means of scholarly communication.

Jordanes refers to himself as ''agrammaticus'' before his conversion. This obscure statement is sometimes taken to refer to his Latin. Variability, however, characterizes all Late Latin, and besides, the author was not writing just after his conversion (for the meaning of the latter, see under [[Jordanes]]), but a whole career later, after associating with many Latin speakers and having read many Latin books. According to him, he should have been grammaticus by that time. More likely, his style reflects the way Latin was under the Goths.

Some of the variabilities are as follows (Mierow):

'''[[Orthography]]'''. The spelling of many words differs from the classical standard, which Jordanes would certainly have known. For example, ''Grecia'' replaces ''Graecia''; ''Eoropam'' replaces ''Europam''; ''Atriatici'' replaces ''Adriatici''.

'''[[Inflection]]'''. [[Substantive]]s migrate between [[declension]]s, [[verb]]s between [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugations]]. Some common changes are fourth to second (''lacu'' to ''laco''), second declension adjective to third (''magnanimus'' to ''magnanimis''), ''i''-stems to non-''i''-stems (''mari'' to ''mare'' in the ablative). [[Gender]] may change. Verbs may change [[voice]].

One obvious change in a modern direction is the indeclinability of many formerly declined nouns, such as ''corpus''. Also, the ''-m'' accusative ending disappears, leaving the preceding vowel or replacing it with ''-o'' (Italian, Romanian), as in ''Danubio'' for ''Danubium''.

'''[[Syntax]]'''. Case variability and loss of agreement in prepositional phrases (''inter Danubium Margumque fluminibus''), change of participial tense (''egressi [...] et transeuntes''), loss of [[subjunctive]] in favor of [[indicative]], loss of distinction between principal and subordinate clauses, confusion of subordinating conjunctions.

'''[[Semantics]]'''. Different vocabulary appears: ''germanus'' for ''frater'', ''proprius'' for ''suus'', ''civitas'' for ''urbs'', ''pelagus'' for ''mare'', etc.

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group="n"}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*{{citation| last  =Christensen| first =  Arne Søby |author-link=Arne Søby Christensen | title = Cassiodorus, Jordanes, and the History of the Goths. Studies in a Migration Myth | year = 2002 | publisher = Museum Tusculanum Press | isbn = 978-87-7289-710-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AcLDHOqOt4cC}}
*{{citation| last  = Costa| first =  Gustavo | title = Le antichità germaniche nella cultura italiana da Machiavelli a Vico | year = 1977 | publisher = Bibliopolis | isbn = 88-7088-001-X}}
*{{citation| last  = Cristini | first =  Marco | title = Vergil among the Goths: a Note on Iordanes, Getica 44|journal = Rheinisches Museum für Philologie | year = 2020| volume = 163|pages= 235–240}}
* {{Cite book|last=Curta|first=Florin|author-link=Florin Curta|title=The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, c. 500–700|year= 2001|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139428880|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rcFGhCVs0sYC}}
* {{citation | last = Geary | first = Patric | title = The Myth of Nations, the Medieval Origins of Europe'', Princeton University Press | year = 2002 | publisher = Princeton University Press | isbn = 0-691-11481-1 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/mythofnationsmed0000gear }}
* {{citation| author-link = Walter Goffart| last = Goffart | first =  Walter | title =  Barbarian Tides, The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire'', University of Pennsylvania Press | year = 2006 | publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press | isbn = 0-8122-39 39-3}}
* {{citation|editor-first = Charles C.|editor-last = Mierow | title = Jordanes. The Origin and Deeds of the Goths| publisher = Princeton University| year=  1908 | url =https://archive.org/details/origindeedsofgot00jorduoft }}, translation, [http://people.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html e-text]
*{{citation| url  =https://archive.org/details/gothichistoryofj00jorduoft| title = The Gothic History of Jordanes | editor-first = Charles Christopher|editor-last = Mierow | year = 1915 | publisher = Princeton, Univ. Press }} 
*{{citation| last  = O'Donnell|author-link = James J. O'Donnell| first =  James J | url =  https://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/texts/jordanes.html | title = The Aims of Jordanes|journal = Historia | year = 1982| volume = 31|pages= 223–240}}
* {{citation|last = Potter| first = David Stone | title = The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180–395'', Routledge | year = 2004 | publisher = Psychology Press | isbn = 0-415-10058-5}}
*{{citation| last  = Seyffert | author-link = Oskar Seyffert (classical scholar)| first = Oscar | title = Dictionary of Classical Antiquities|editor-first= Henry|editor-last= Nettleship |editor-first2= J. E.|editor-last2 =  Sandys | year = 1894}}
* {{citation| author-link = William Smith (lexicographer)| last = Smith | first =  William | title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology | url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1715.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070405141204/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1715.html| url-status = usurped| archive-date = 2007-04-05| year= 1870| volume=2}}
* {{citation| last1  =Thomas | first1 =  William |last2= Gamble | first2= Miller | title = The Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Its Inheritance in Source-valuation and Criticism| publisher = Washington: Catholic University of America | year = 1927 }}
*{{citation| last  = Wolfram| first =  Herwig | title = History of the Goths | translator-first = Thomas J. |translator-last = Dunlap | publisher =  University of California Press|  year = 1988 | isbn = 0-520-06 983-8}}
*{{citation|first = A.H. | last = Merrills | title = History and Geography in Late Antiquity |publisher =  Cambridge: CUP| year =  2005 }}
{{refend}}
* Jordanes: Romana and Getica - introduction, translation and notes by Peter Van Nuffelen, Lieve Van Hoof -Series: Translated texts for historians- Liverpool university press 2020

== External links ==
* {{wikisource-inline}}
* [https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/iordanes.html Iordanis de origine actibusque Getarum], Latin original

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:6th-century history books]]
[[Category:6th-century books in Latin]]
[[Category:Medieval historical texts in Latin]]
[[Category:Goths|Getica, The]]
[[Category:Sources on Germanic paganism]]
[[Category:Gothic writing]]
[[Category:Classical ethnography]]
[[Category:Books about Dacia]]
[[Category:Lost literature]]
[[Category:Early Germanic literature]]