[gothic-l] Amali insignia

[Beril Haggman]

Albareiks,

One could speculate in the Gothic insignia (you seem
to have documented their mentioning well) not being of Germanic
origin, maybe Sassinid origin, as you point out.

In the Swedish translation of _Getica_ two different
translations in 246 and 278 are used. Once "mark of
distinction" (utmaerkelsetecken) and once insignia
(insignier). But that don't carry much siginificance
compared to the latin original.  Insignia are of course mainly today
preserved within the church (for bishops and archbishops)
but crown, spire, and apple are also still royal insignia.
There are a number of Visigothic crowns, but they
are used for church decoration.

Few Ostrogothic graves preserved have as far as I know
not yielded much and to my knowledge there are no
identified Gothic royal graves. Remains descriptions
in sources like _Getica_. But with no descriptions there
it seems unlikely that something could be found elswhere
with Cassiodorus and Ablabius unavailable.

Good luck, though, in your search. Please keep the list
informed if you find anything.

Gothically



> I am familiar with Childeric's seal, but there seems to have been a Gothic
> insignia as well.  In _History of the Goths_ Wolfram mentions such an
> insignia several times: "The origin of the Ostrogoths had left traces not
> only in the tribal memoria but also in their insignia" (337); "only part of
> the royal treasure, such as the Codex Argenteus and the royal insgnia- must
> have reached Pavia and Verona, in time, where it formed the core of a new
> treasure" (351); Totila is described as "Clad in magnificent armor bearing
> the royal insignia and seated on his splendid charger, he performed the
> 'djerid,' the artistic lance ride of the steppe nomads" (360); "Aligern
> surrendered the city of Cumae to the imperial forces and relinquished the
> royal insignia he had continued to guard even after the death of his
> brother," (362).
>
> I don't have _the Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples_ with me, but there,
> I believe that Wolfram indicates that the Amali used the Sassinid royal
> insignia, which is supposedly a "crescent moon enclosed in a circle with
> ribbons streaming on both sides."  It seems to reflect earlier the
> Faravahar: a Zoroastrian symbol, which is a winged circle that reminds me of
> the Gothic eagle fibulae, which is also a winged circle.  The main
> difference is that the Faravahar has a man's upper body instead of an eagles
> head on the top part of the central circle.
>
> In Jordanes, the royal insgnia is mentioned at least twice:
>
> "It appears that at the death of their king, Hermanaric, they [Ostrogoths]
> were made a separate people by the departure of the Visigoths, and remained
> in their country subject to the sway of the Huns; yet Vinitharius of the
> Amali retained the insignia of his rule" (XLVIII-246) .
>
> "Now when Valamir was dead, the Goths fled to Thiudimer, his brother.
> Although he had long ruled along with his brothers, yet he took the insignia
> of his increased authority and summoned his younger brother Vidimer and
> shared with him the cares of war, resorting to arms under compulsion"
> (LIV-278).
>
> Stanko Guldescu writes about such an insignia in the History of Medieval
> Croatia, the Hague, 1964.  I found this on the internet but I can't find the
> link right now:
>
> "On many shields found in Bosnia, and which antedate the Moslem conquest,
> the typical device represented is that of the moon and star, the design
> which appears on the shield of Theodoric and other Ostrogothic kings, as
> well as on the mosaics that date from the period of Ostrogothic rule at
> Ravenna. Also there is to be found on many of the oldest Bosnian gravestones
> shields with this same device which was so popular among the Ostrogoths. The
> German consul at Sarajevo in the last century was inspired by the noted
> historian, Theodor Mommsen, to undertake a study of Bosnian antiquities. He
> deduced a definite connection between the strange appearing Bosnian
> tombstones and the Ostrogoths who ruled Bosnia and worked its mines from the
> latter part of the fifth to at least the middle of the sixth century."
>
> It seems safe to say that there was an Amali royal insignia.  There must
> somewhere be either a primary source which descibes the composition of the
> insignia in direct relation to the Goths, or a surviving artifact(s)
> attributed to the Goths which bear a depiction of the insignia.  If anyone
> knows of any such sources or artifacts, I would be most grateful.



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