[gothic-l] Re: Cagots (how pure were the Goths?)

[Francisc Czobor]

Dirk is definitely right on this point.
Let's not forget that Bishop Wulfila himself, despite his pure Gothic
name, was in fact not at all a Goth by his origin. Both his parents
were Greeks from Capadocia (Asia Minor), who were taken prisoners by
a former Gothic raid in that region. But Wulfila was born in "Gothia"
(i.e., Dacia) and has been risen as a Goth. And I'm sure that this is
not a singular case; probably many of the Goths (both Ostro and Visi)
were in fact such acculturated/assimilated ones already before moving
on Roman territory . And afterwards this process continued, of course.

Francisc

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "faltin2001" <dirk at s...> wrote:
> ...
> The major problem with that is that there is no Gothic gene. Names
> like Goths, Visigoths etc. were ethnic-political terms not
> biologicial/genetic terms. Hence, somebody could likely become a
> Visigoths through acculturation and assimilation and infact, the
> evidence suggests that ever since their frist appearance as
refugees
> on Roman territory this was an important process by which their
ranks
> swelled. In Visigothic Spain, we even hear of Thuringians, and
> Warnians from middle Germany, one of whome even became governor of
> Galicia.
>
> The region where the later Tervingi/Vesi formed in the 3rd century
> was populated previously by various peoples like the Carpi for
> example, who were last mentioned in about 238AD together with
Goths,
> but than disappear from history. Did they become physically
extinct,
> or did they join the Goths? Istvan Bona has in his book on the East
> Germanic Gepids included a studys on skeletal characteristics and
> distinguished an Elbe Germanic group (Langobards) and an East
> Germanic (Gepids/Goths) group. The former were found to be of the
so
> called Reihengraeber-typus, i.e. tall bodies, elongated skulls,
while
> those skeletons found in an East Germanic context were shorter,
> stockier and with round skulls.  I cannot say how accurate or valid
> those studies were, but it highlights the danger of applying our
> image of Germanic physical characteristics as yard-stick in
> scientific studies.
>
> Cheers
> Dirk



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