Jordanes' GETICA: Groundwork for a New Translation

Danielle Reid

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Rohrbacher, David

Keywords

Goths, Jordanes, Latin, Translation

Area of Concentration

Classics

Abstract

This thesis examines a problematic text from sixth-century Constantinople officially called De Origine Actibusque Getarum but known less formally as the Getica. Almost everything about the text and its author is in question, but it has been used for scholarship on late antique barbarians, specifically the Goths. The previous English translation has imposed paradigms and connotations onto the text that do not reflect what we can reconstruct of the author's intentions. This project looks at the way the Getica has been translated and interpreted in the past, specifically examining the work of three prominent scholars, Herwig Wolfram, Walter Goffart, and Peter Heather. It also provides an analysis of twelve specific Latin words used by Jordanes in order to determine the significance of the author's word choice. Last, this project proposes strategies for a new translation that will provide a basis from which to begin a new phase of scholarship on Jordanes' Getica specifically, and late antique texts on barbarians more generally. These perspectives and strategies include, but are not limited to, an acknowledgement of Jordanes' agency and primacy as an author and a greater emphasis on consistency in translation.

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