Herwig Wolfram History Of The Goths Pdf 14 Bervan Repack ✰ [ Recent ]

Wolfram begins by critiquing the Origo Gothica of Jordanes. He notes that Jordanes (c. 551 CE) claimed the Goths descended from the biblical Magog and migrated from Scandinavia under King Berig. Wolfram rejects this as legendary, not historical. However, he does not dismiss Jordanes entirely; instead, Wolfram reads him as evidence of 6th-century Gothic elite self-perception. The name “Berig” (Gothic Bairika ?) Wolfram treats as a possible eponymous ancestor of a ruling clan. The “three ships” of Goths in Jordanes’ story symbolize an army’s warband — not an entire people. This is Wolfram’s key move: mythological origins are themselves historical sources for group identity formation.