The Origin and Deeds of the Goths

Here is the only substantial account we have of the Gothic people written in antiquity, composed by a 6th-century Roman bureaucrat of Gothic descent. Jordanes, working in Constantinople around 551 CE, distilled a lost multi-volume history by the statesman Cassiodorus into this single text, giving us the earliest surviving narrative of a Germanic people's rise from their legendary origins on the island of Scandza to their devastating sack of Rome in 410. The narrative traces the Gothic journey from their legendary king Berig through centuries of migration, war, and empire-building, chronicling their complex interactions with Rome, the Hunnic invasions, and the eventual fall of their own kingdoms. Jordanes weaves together historical events with mythological elements, offering our most detailed window into Gothic society, warfare, and identity before they vanished from history. His work stands as an essential, irreplaceable document for understanding the migration period and the collapse of the ancient world.