[gothic-l] Visigothic King Fridigern

[andreas.schwarcz at UNIVIE.AC.AT]

Dear Bertil,
you mix again fact and misinterpretation. Athanaric is only called 
rex by Jordanes, not by contemporary sources like Ammianus 
Marcellinus, where he is called "gentisque iudicem", "judge of the 
people". His father was Aoric according to Wolfram, not Rotesteus.
The first king of the former Tervingi settled south of the Danube we 
know for sure is Alaric, but Fritigern may have assumed that title 
after Adrianople. At least the Consularia Constantinopolitana tell us 
of an unnamed "rex" who offered deditio with the "universa gens 
Gothorum" in 382 at Constantinople.
Ammius and Sarus were not Goths, but Rosomoni (probably 
Alans) and they were not defeated by Balamber, but by Ermanaric, 
king of the Greuthungi. Jordanes is here not very trustworthy, 
because he writes these parts from oral tradition twohundred years 
after the events and he mixes things up, f.i. naming Atnanaric as 
successor to Fritigern.
The Ostrogoths were formed under Hunnic domination and emerge 
after its end under the leadership of the Amal brothers Valamir, 
Thiudimir and Vidimir, the Visigoths emerge under the rule of Alaric 
out of the Goths settled in the empire, in Thrace, Moesia and 
Pannonia.
Kind regards
                     Andreas 
Ao.Univ.Prof.Dr.Andreas Schwarcz
Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung
Universität Wien
Dr.Karl Lueger-Ring 1
A-1010 Wien
Österreich
Tel.0043/1/42-77/272-16
Fax 0043/142-77/92-72


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