People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554 PDF
Preview People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554
Did the cultural transformation of the later Roman Empire really involve migrating barbarian tribes bearing a distinguishable Germanic culture? Previous studies of this question have begun from the assump- tion that barbarian groups were ethnic groups or the seeds of ethnic groups. In contrast, this case-study of the Goths of Italy in the late fifth and early sixth century begins from the assumption that the ethno- graphic language used to describe the barbarians makes them look like ethnic groups to twentieth-century observers. Since this ethnography was classicizing, biblical and, above all, ideo- logical, the ancient texts that use it must be constantly questioned and compared with other evidence for ancient communal behavior. Ostro- gothic Italy provides a large and comparatively neglected body of data on individual behavior and group allegiances. The prosopographical appendix to this book groups together evidence for 379 individuals who could be considered "Goths" under various institutional ideologies at play in sixth-century Italy. The chapters successively examine these ideologies and their impact upon "Goths" and "Romans," that is, the Italians who inhabited the regions of Italy in a time of political, social and religious upheaval. The inquiry suggests new ways of understanding the appearance of barbarian groups and the end of the Western Roman Empire, as well as proposing new models of regional and professional loyalty and group cohesion in the period. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought PEOPLE AND IDENTITY IN OSTROGOTHIC ITALY, 489-554 Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought Fourth Series General Editor: D. E. LUSCOMBE Leverhulme Personal Research Professor of Medieval History, University of Sheffield Advisory Editors: R. B. DOBSON Professor of Medieval History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Christ's College ROSAMOND McKITTERICK Reader in Early Medieval European History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Newnham College The series Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought was inaugurated by G. C. Coulton in 1921; Professor D. E. Luscombe now acts as General Editor of the Fourth Series, with Professor R. B. Dobson and Dr Rosamond McKitterick as Advisory Editors. The series brings together outstanding work by medieval scholars over a wide range of human endeavour extending from political economy to the history of ideas. For a list of titles in the series, see end of book. PEOPLE AND IDENTITY IN OSTROGOTHIC ITALY, 489-554 PATRICK AMORY II CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, United Kingdom 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1997 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1997 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeset in Monotype Bembo 11/12 pt A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data Amory, Patrick, 1965- People and identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489—554 Patrick Amory. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN o 521 57151-0 (he) 1. Goths-Italy-History. 2. Italy-History-476-774. I. Title. DG504.A56 1997 945'.oi-dc2O 96-2952 CIP ISBN o 521 57151 0 hardback For my parents What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today. Why isn't anything going on in the senate? Why are the senators sitting there without legislating? Because the barbarians are coming today. What's the point of senators making laws now? Once the barbarians are here, they'll do the legislating. Why did our emperor get up early, and why is he sitting enthroned at the city's main gate, in state, wearing the crown? Because the barbarians are coming today and the emperor's waiting to receive their leader. He's even got a scroll to give him, loaded with titles, with imposing names. Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas? Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts, rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds? Why are they carrying elegant canes beautifully worked in silver and gold? Because the barbarians are coming today and things like that dazzle the barbarians. Why don't our distinguished orators turn up as usual to make their speeches, say what they have to say? Because the barbarians are coming today and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking. Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion? (How serious people's faces have become.) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, everyone going home lost in thought? Because night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come. And some of our men just in from the border say there are no barbarians any longer. Now what's going to happen to us without barbarians? Those people were a kind of solution. C. P. Cavafy, "Waiting For The Barbarians" (trans. Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard) CONTENTS page Preface xi List of rulers xiii Terminology and vocabulary xiv List of abbreviations xviii Map of Ostrogothic Italy xxii Introduction: Studying the barbarians in late antiquity i 1 Ethnicity, ethnography and community in the fifth and sixth centuries 13 2 The Ravenna government and ethnographic ideology: from civilitas to bellicositas 43 3 Individual reactions to ideology I: names, language and profession 86 4 Complementary and competing ideals of community: Italy and the Roman Empire 109 5 Individual reactions to ideology II: soldiers, civilians and political allegiance 149 6 Catholic communities and Christian Empire 195 7 Individual reactions to ideology III: Catholics and Arians 236 8 The origin of the Goths and Balkan military culture 277 Conclusion 314 Appendix 1: The inquiry into Gundila's property: a translation and chronology 321 Appendix 2: The Germanic culture construct 326 Appendix 3: Archeological and toponymic research on Ostrogothic Italy 332 Appendix 4: Dress, hairstyle and military customs 338 Prosopographical Appendix: A prosopography of Goths in Italy, 489-554 348 Bibliography 487 Index 515 ix
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