There is a general ingorance of Jordanes’ The History of the Goths in western education. Wouldn’t necessarily consider that a historical conspiracy theory though.
When the Western Roman Empire, Western Europe or by extension America are not the center of the world, western academia doesn’t hide such history–it’s more like they jump on a high speed turnpike after the fall of western Rome (476 AD), hit quick rest stops along the way at Charlemagne (800 AD) and the First Crusade (1095 AD) in order to hurriedly reach The Renaissance (14th Century AD).
Even their destinition of The Renaissance is often presented as if art renewed a society rather than great art as a byproduct of a society being renewed by the beginning of Christian reformation (the translation of the word of God and educational literature into their own languages verses Latin, the wide dissemnation of it via the printing press and thereby the growth of literacy).
But as western academia travels that high speed turnpike they might make short mention of the Byzantine Empire (still called themselves the Roman Empire long after 476 AD). Whether it was a continuation of the newer portion of the Empire after the western half fell or an entity all it’s own–it lasted 1000 years and had much to do with western history.
There the great historian Jordanes resided and wrote a Gothic history that spanned 2030 years and culminated with their yielding to Justinian, Emperor in Constantinople and his Patrician (General) Belasarius.
Jordanes very exciting history of the Goths includes things like the origin of the Amazons and some of their exploits, the origin of the Huns, and the work’s climax–the great battle between the Goths/Romans and Attila the Hun. Many western historians shun Jordanes’ accounts…but what did he say about that?
“Of course if anyone in our city says that the Goths had an origin different from that I have related, let him object. For myself, I prefer to believe what I have read, rather than put trust in old wives’ tales.”1
Jordanes (a notary of Gothic heritage himself) wrote the record in approximately 551 AD and begins by telling us that the Goths derived from an island north of Germany named Scandza–based off the name and location it’s a good bet he spoke of the Scandanavian Peninsula rather than a big island. They moved down down south, drove out the Vandals and settled a very large area named Scythia–beginning east of Germany, clear down to the Caucasus Mountains and maybe even over to the Urals.
The ancient Goths worshipped Mars and the extremely important sword of Mars eventually fell into the hands of Attila. Before then the Goths divided by families–the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths. The Visigoths are mostly portrayed as the eventual heroes in Jordanes record.
Now we can speak of those ancient, legendary warrior women known as the Amazons–they were originally the wives of the ancient Goths according to Jordanes. After the death of a Gothic King and while their army was on an expedition, a neighboring tribe attempted to carry off the homebound wives of the Goths and were humiliated in the resulting combat.
Many wives of the currently absent Gothic men were inspired by the victory and set off for conquests of their own. The Amazons subdued places like Armenia, Galatia, Syria and turned their attention to a historically important region–Ionia (the coast of modern Turkey). Jordanes relays:
“At Ephesus also they built a very costly and beautiful temple for Diana, because of her delight in archery and the chase–arts to which they were themselves devoted.”2
Important statement if one knows Acts 19 from the Holy Scriptures. The Amazons eventually settled in the Caucasus with their original brethren, but still despised the fact they needed men to reproduce.
As for the origin of the Huns, Jordanes states that the Goths had driven out certain witches from amongst them, they forced them east–into the wilderness. I’ll let Jordanes take it from here:
“There the unclean spirits, who beheld them [the exiled witches] as they wandered through the wilderness, bestowed their embraces upon them and begat this savage race [the Huns], which dwelt at first in the swamps, a stunted foul and puny tribe, scarcely human and having no language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech.”3
Historically, when a people encountered another group of people that are just as powerful or even more powerful than themselves, a common explanation for it was that this other people somehow came from their own bloodline (maybe it made them feel better about themselves?)–exiled Gothic witches & unclean spirits in this instance. Side example: the ancient Greeks claimed that their powerful enemy the Persians were the result of the Greek demi-god Perseus (the Persians namesake) and the Ethiopian princess Andromeda.
Joradanes provided a description of the Huns:
“For by the terror of their features they inspired great fear in those whom perhaps they did not really surpass in war. They made their foes flee in horror because their swarthy aspect was fearful, and they had, if I may call it so, a sort of shapeless lump, not a head, if I may call it so, with pin-holes rather than eyes […] Though they live in the form of men, they have the cruelty of wild beasts.”4
Before the Hunic invasion of Scythia, the Visigoths had already separated from the Ostrogoths and moved west–the Ostrogoths stayed put. After an Ostrogothic king had been assassinated by a treacherous, subject tribe–the Hunic king Balamber took advantage of the chaos and moved the Huns into Scythia.
The Ostrogoths and other tribes were on the run. The Visigoths had settled in Gaul (France) per agreement with the Roman Empire, but both parties were threatened by the Huns continually expansion and their new king–Attila. Jordanes provided a message from the Roman Emperor Valentinian to the Visigoth king Theodorid for the sake of an alliance–he reminded the king that the Huns didn’t overthrow most peoples by the might of their army, but rather by subterfuge and treachery. Attila’s wiles often caused allied nations to fight amongst each other and a unified people to fight amongst themselves.
King Theodorid had been convinced to meet the westward expanding Huns with the Romans and their client peoples (which included the furture European superpower the Franks) lead by Patrician Aetius. They met the Huns in 451 AD for an epic battle at the Catalaunian Plains and Jordanes states total casualities for the battle were about 180,000. The Visigoths and Romans had taken the high ground, and the situation was grave enough for the Huns to circle their wagons around Attila–Attila built a huge pyre and was ready to cast himself into it rather than be taken.
But King Theodorid had been struck down in the night. Patrician Aetius considered the Visigoths a greater threat to Rome than the Huns. If the Romans and Goths moved in to destroy the Huns–Aetius feared the Goths wouldn’t stop there. Aetius was an older and wiser man than the Theodorid’s fresh successor Thorismud–and Aetius convinced Thorismud that he must immediately return to Gaul with his army to secure his throne.
After the battle, Attila still had an army and moved it south into the Roman Empire. The Roman Army slowed and finally withstood Attila at Rome. Attila’s army was exhausted and discontent–they reminded Attila that Alaric (a former king of the Visigoths) had died shortly after sacking Rome (in 410 AD). Pope Leo and Roman Emperor negotiated peace with Attila–one promise was that Attila could marry the Emperor’s sister Honoria and receive her share of royal wealth.
Attila continued to threaten nations this way and that, but he considered the Visigoth’s the chief reason for his defeat at the Catalaunian Plains. King Thorismund and Attila met in battle one more time, around the same area–Attila and the Huns were sent in full retreat. From there Attila’s own confederation of tribes and nations fractured–most of the problems came from the subjected Ostrogoths.
The death of Attila was not in glorious battle, but in inglorious drunkenness. After marrying yet another wife, Attila drank too much wine, fell asleep in an awkward position and blood from a bad nose bleed ran down his throat and choked him to death.
Just a couple decades later (476 AD), a confederation of formerly subject to the Huns tribes vanquished the last Western Roman royal court from Ravenna.
I consider the History of the Goths indispensible source material for history buffs, but will note that while we are often western-centric in our preferences that Jordanes was proud of his Gothic heritage and a proud Roman (Byzantine). Perhaps he had a goal of inspiring patriotism amongst the now Roman, Goths?
“And now we have recited the origin of the Goths […] This glorious race yielded to a more glorious prince and surrendered to a more valiant leader, whose fame shall be silenced by no ages or cycles of years; for the victorious and triumphant Emperor Justinian and his consul Belisarius shall be named and known as Vandalicus, Africanus and Geticus.”5
All referenced quotes from The Gothic History of Jordanes In English Version, Published by Forgotten Books.
THE EXILE OBSERVER 