[gothic-l] Re: Amali royal insignia

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., "sunburst" <sunburst at j...> wrote:
> Greetings everyone!
>
> In _The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples_ Wolfram mentions that
the
> Amali borrowed the Sassinid royal insignia, but he says nothing more
about
> it.  Elsewhere, I found that the Sassinid royal insignia was a
crescent moon
> and star enclosed in a circle.  Jordanes mentions a Gothic royal
insignia
> being being passed down from king to king, and elsewhere I read that
this
> symbol appears on Ostrogothic shields, including that of Theodoric
the
> Great.  Does anyone know if this is true or not?  It seems hard to
believe
> there could be a surviving shield of Theodoric; it seems more likely
this
> would be based on a literary description of Theodoric's shield.
>
>  Also, does anyone know where an illustration or picture of this
symbol can
> be found, as portrayed and configured by the Goths, or any pictures
of
> surviving artifacts which might bear this symbol?
>
> Albareiks


Hi Albareiks,


that is interesting. If the Amals did have a royal insigna, they
certainly did not use it on coins and medallions. In fact, Theoderic
only used his monogram on silver coins and on a few rare gold solidi.
Minting gold was the prerogative of the emperor which non of the
Ostrogothic kings ever infringed upon. That is, they minted gold, but
always in the name of the Emperor (exception is the Theoderic
medallion). From Athalarich, Ostrogothic kings also used their full
name. However, the monogram of Theoderic was used  even after his
death. Thus, Vitigis restored it in order to demonstrate his
relationship to the Amals, thus using it if you like as an Amal royal
insignum. Interestingly, the Theoderic monogram continued to appear
for several decades after Theoderics death on coins that are
attributed to the Gepids (quarter siliquae of Sirmium and the Sirmium
area, minted from 530s to the 560s).

cheers,

Dirk






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