[gothic-l] The Ostrogoths

[Bertil Haggman]

Peter Arens, _Sturm ueber Europa - Die Voelkerwanderung_, Munich:
Ullstein Verlag, 2002
________________________________________________________

Returning to the attempts to create a vision of 'the barbaric other' this
is certainly not unusual in history. Titus Livius, the brilliant historian,
described it as follows:

"Mod barbarerna foerer alle graekere udstandslig krig, for de er
evige fiender fra naturens haand og ikke af grunde, der forandrer
sig fra den ene dag til den anden."

This was the case with the "barbarian" Ostrogoths although Theoderich the Great
no doubt was important to create peace on the unruly Italian peninsula.

Arens describes it as follows:

"Theoderich bewunderte die roemische Kultur und Zivilisation. Er liess
alte Bauwerke restaurieren und neue errichten, kurbelte die Wirtschaft und
Verkehrsplanung wieder an, sorgte fuer rauschende Feste, und tat sich zudem
mit einer internationalen Buendnis- und Friedenspolitik hervor, die vor allem dem
Schutz Italiens diente." (p. 221)

So here was the king of the Ostrogoths, who obviously did everything
right, or at least most things right, and the reward afterwards was
that his Ostrogoths were portrayed as the "barbaric other" and the memory
of himself was eradicated in Ravenna and Italy in general.

Gothically

Bertil




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