He wrote two works, one on Roman history (Romana) and the other on the Goths (Getica). The latter, along withIsidore of Seville'sHistoria Gothorum, is one of only two extant ancient works dealing with theearly history of the Goths. Other writers, such asProcopius, wrote works on the later history of the Goths.Getica has been the object of much critical review. Jordanes wrote inLate Latin rather than the classicalCiceronian Latin. According to his own introduction, he had only three days to review whatCassiodorus had written and so he must also have relied on his own knowledge.
TheSciri, moreover, and the Sadagarii and certain of theAlani with their leader, Candac by name, receivedScythia Minor andLower Moesia. Paria, the father of my father Alanoviiamuth (that is to say, my grandfather), was secretary to this Candac as long as he lived. To his sister's son Gunthigis, also called Baza, the Master of the Soldiery, who was the son of Andag the son of Andela, who was descended from the stock of theAmali, I also, Jordanes, although an unlearned man before my conversion, was secretary.[1][2]
Paria was Jordanes's paternal grandfather. Jordanes writes that he was secretary to Candac,dux Alanorum, an otherwise unknown leader of the Alans.
Jordanes was asked by a friend to writeGetica as a summary of a multi-volume history of the Goths by the statesmanCassiodorus that existed then but has since been lost. Jordanes was selected for his known interest in history and because of his own Gothic background. He had been a high-levelnotarius, or secretary, of a small client state on the Roman frontier inScythia Minor, modern southeasternRomania and northeasternBulgaria.[3]
Jordanes wasnotarius, or secretary to Gunthigis Baza, a nephew of Candac and amagister militum of the leadingOstrogoth clan of theAmali.
That wasante conversionem meam ("before my conversion"). The nature and the details of the conversion remain obscure. The Goths had been converted with the assistance ofUlfilas (a Goth), made bishop on that account. However, the Goths had adoptedArianism. Jordanes's conversion may have been a conversion to thetrinitarianNicene Creed, which may be expressed in anti-Arianism in certain passages inGetica.[4] In the letter to Vigilius he mentions that he was awakenedvestris interrogationibus – "by your questioning".
Alternatively, Jordanes'sconversio may mean that he had become amonk, areligiosus or a member of the clergy. Some manuscripts say that he was a bishop, and some even saybishop of Ravenna, but the name Jordanes is not known in the lists of bishops of Ravenna.
The deeds of Dacians and Getae (here fromTrajan's Column) were wrongly attributed to Goths by Jordanes
Jordanes wroteRomana, about the history ofRome, but his best-known work is hisGetica, which was written inConstantinople[c] about 551 AD.[d]Jordanes wrote hisRomana at the behest of a certain Vigilius. Although some scholars have identified this person withPope Vigilius, there is nothing else to support the identification besides the name. The form of address that Jordanes uses and his admonition that Vigilius "turn toGod" would seem to rule out this identification.[5][6]
In the preface to hisGetica, Jordanes writes that he is interrupting his work on theRomana at the behest of a brother Castalius, who apparently knew that Jordanes possessed the twelve volumes of the History of the Goths byCassiodorus. Castalius wanted a short book about the subject, and Jordanes obliged with an excerpt based on memory, possibly supplemented with other material to which he had access. TheGetica sets off with a geography/ethnography of the North, especially ofScandza (16–24).[7]
He lets the history of the Goths commence with the emigration ofBerig with three ships from Scandza toGothiscandza (25, 94), in a distant past. In the pen of Jordanes, Herodotus's Getian demigodZalmoxis becomes a king of the Goths (39). Jordanes tells how the Goths sacked "Troy and Ilium" just after they had recovered somewhat from the war withAgamemnon (108). They are also said to have encountered the EgyptianpharaohVesosis (47). The less fictional part of Jordanes's work begins when the Goths encounter Roman military forces in the third century AD. The work concludes with the defeat of the Goths by the Byzantine generalBelisarius. Jordanes concludes the work by stating that he writes to honour those who were victorious over the Goths after a history spanning 2,030 years.
Jordanes wrongly equated theGetae with the Goths. Many historical records which originally related toDacians and Getae were thus wrongly attributed to Goths.[8][9][10][11]
^According to Schanz-Hosius (Geschichte der Römischen Literatur, 4, vol. 2 (1920), pp. 115, 118) the best MSS of his work present his name asJordanes, as does the'Geographus Ravennas'.Jordanis is a 'vulgar' form that is also used, whileJornandes appears only in lesser MSS. The formJornandes, however, was often used in older publications.
^"If Jordanes was a bishop (as is frequently assumed) and if he lived in Italy (also frequently assumed), those elements of his background have left no trace in his two histories." (Croke 1987, p. 119)[editorializing]
^He mentions the greatplague of 542 as having occurred "nine years ago" (Getica 104). Still, there are some modern scholars who opt for a later date, see Peter Heather, Goths and Romans 332-489, Oxford 1991, pp. 47-49 (year 552), Walter Goffart, The Narrators of Barbarian History, Princeton 1988, p. 98 (year 554).
^Walter Goffart, The Narrators of Barbarian History, Princeton 1988, p. 70.
^Pârvan, Vasile (1928). Dacia: An Outline of the Early Civilization of the Carpatho-Danubian Countries. The University Press
^Oțetea, Andrei (1970). The History of the Romanian people. Scientific Pub. Hoose.
^Ioan Bolovan, Florin Constantiniu, Paul E. Michelson, Ioan Aurel Pop, Christian Popa, Marcel Popa, Kurt Treptow, A History of Romania, Intl Specialized Book Service Inc. 1997
Bradley, Dennis R. (1993). ""In Altum Laxare Vela Compulsus": The 'Getica' of Jordanes".Hermes.121 (2):211–236.JSTOR4476955.
Brodersen, Kai (2013). "Könige im Karpatenbogen" [Kings in the Carpathian Mountains].Zeitschrift für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde (in German) (36). Heidelberg:129–146.ISSN0344-3418.
Grillone, Antonino (December 2004). "Altri apporti della terza famiglia ai "Getica" di Giordanes".Museum Helveticum [de] (in Italian).61 (4):208–221.JSTOR24825243.
Kulikowski, Michael (2007).Rome's Gothic Wars: From the Third Century to Alaric. Key Conflicts of Classical Antiquity (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 130.ISBN978-052184633-2.
