Jordanes: Romana and Getica

Of Gothic descent, Jordanes wrote a unique setof histories. The Getica narrates thehistory of the Goths from their earliest origins until the middle of the sixthcentury. Building on the lost history of Cassiodorus, it is the earliestexample of a history told from the perspective of one of the barbarian peoplesestablishing kingdoms in the fifth and sixth centuries. It had great influenceon later medieval historians, on national histories of the nineteenth centuryand on modern accounts of Gothic history. The Romana is a survey of world and Roman history. Whilst largelydependent on traditional Roman histories and chronicles for events up to thefourth century, it contains much unique information for the last two centuriesit narrates. This book offers the first translation into English of the Getica for a century and the firstmodern translation of the Romana. Theintroduction locates the Getica andthe Romana in the context of ancienthistoriography, building a new picture of Jordanes as a historian and of thetwo works themselves. It also offers a detailed discussion of the sources usedby Jordanes, suggesting possible ways to identify his debt to Cassiodorus.Extensive notes guide the reader through these fascinating but often complextexts.