[gothic-l] Visigothic King Fridigern

[Bertil Haggman]

Andreas,

Well, I was just wondering what you
mean by "contemporary source".
Jordanes might well be closer to the
truth than A.M. in this case. Wolfram
is no god. I am putting a question
mark after Fritigern, but think it is
unlikely that the Visigoths went without
king for so long (although the Ostrogoths
did actually for a longer time).

The Scandinavian designation of Hammo and Sarv is Hamder and
Soerle. Sunhild(a) does not sound as if it was a Slavic name.
The Roxolans were in my opinion Slavs.

It seems not very likely that these two were attacked by
Ermanarich, but maybe you have a source for this too.
Jordanes only indicates "the treacherous people of the
Rosomoni (Roxolans), who at the time were among those who owned
him (Ermanarich) their homage".

Finally a question. Who would you say was the first Visgothic
king?

Gothically

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.



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