Is this a matter for the Gothic list?

[Wilhelm Otto]

Dear Gothic list,

Is this a chat list just for the language itself or for a wider approach to
the gothic culture, as history?

If it serves the later purpose as well I will raise a subject. I have just
read Peter Heather:

“The Goths” and this book gives me an entirely new view of the old gothic
world. He tells us about Jordanes’ Gethica and claims that it is among
contemporary historians Jordanes’ fault that people still believe the Goths
originated in Scandinavia before moving across the Baltic. Secondly, from at
least the the third century the Goths was divided into two groups: the
Visgoths and the Ostrogoths and thirdly that these groups were led by two
families with unique royal prestige, the Balthi and the Amals. 

These ideas, Peter Heather says, have set an agenda around which argument
has raged.

 

I have been trying to discuss the first of these topics, the exodus, on a
Swedish chat list and am very confused by the response. There are members
who claim there has been an exodus, although Peter Heather claims that the
dating of relevant objects from both sides of the Baltic shows that there
has been none. And Peter Heather seems to be a man who to day carries the
weight of argument. I have a general feeling that in Sweden the Gothic
exodus is a valueloaded topic, and that it is difficult to give it a fair
treatment.

 

For me this is a matter of preserving my bearings in a world I thought was
rational, at least in these circumstances.

 

Is this a topic for the Gothic list?

Wilhelm Otto

 


-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.22/238 - Release Date: 2006-01-23
 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]






You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>. 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gothic-l/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    gothic-l-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/