“The Goths are gloomy and depressing, they go to cemeteries and drink absinthe and beer there.” About six months ago, with the light hand of a young person who was trying to prove her belonging to the Goths, this thesis went around the entire Runet, but clarified little on this issue. So who are the Goths anyway? In order to learn more about these peculiar personalities who love to sleep in coffins, we delved into their inner world- and here's what we found out.
Direction history
The first sprouts of the gothic subculture in Russia appeared in the mid-1990s. Of course, Gothic came to us from the West, where it has many followers and trends. In the late 70s, as the punk wave began to take on new forms in England, post-punk emerged. Groups whose work fit into this concept differed from their fellow punk artists with a more depressing sound and a pronounced decadent image. These forerunners of the modern Goths became known as "dark punks", and the new dark aesthetic became widespread among the masses.
Since the mid-80s, the second wave of gothic bands has risen - The Shroud, Rosetta Stone, London After Midnight, Mephisto Walz, Corpus Delicti. The resulting community is ready to begin to show interest in the world's "Gothic" heritage - artistic Gothic literature, "gloomy" art in the widest range. It is believed that the impetus for the development gothic culture served as a film about two modern vampires - The Hunger ("Hunger") and in particular one musical composition included in his audio track. We are talking about a song by the Bauhaus group called Bela Lugosi "s Dead ("Bela Lagosi is dead"), dedicated to the cult Hungarian actor, who plays the role of Count Dracula. In the future, the Gothic image and aesthetics were also formed under the strong influence of the vampire image. Among the Goths, many gained popularity vampire films - Nadja ("Nadia"), The Addiction ("Addition"), Interview with a Vampire ("Interview with a vampire"), as well as vampire novels - Bram Stoker, Anna Rice and others. Regardless of whether there are vampires or not, there are people who call and consider themselves vampires.“Vampires” have their own clubs, websites and conferences.
The most active Gothic style is developing in Germany, America and England. There are new gothic trends in music - darkwave ("dark wave"), ethereal ("incorporeal"), dark folk ("dark folk"). Depending on musical preferences, there is a division of the audience, various types of goths appear. By the mid-1990s, the world gothic subculture was a developed isolated infrastructure - with the same attributes: gothic magazines, radio, symbols, clubs, shops, etc.
In the second half of the 90s, a dark culture (“dark culture”) was formed. This is the general name for the entire subculture, which includes goths, vampires, and other gloomy characters. In addition, the Goth subculture was enriched by the influx of immigrants from the "metal" environment. This is how gothic metal was born - a new style of metal music, close to gothic aesthetics.
outlook
Looking at a Goth, one does not need to be very smart to understand how gloomy he perceives the world around him. Romantic-depressive outlook on life - that's it gothic outlook.
It is typical for a real Goth to be closed, to experience frequent depression, melancholy, misanthropy. At the same time, he is an aesthete, a mystic who avoids stereotypes in behavior and appearance, striving for artistry and creative self-expression. Most Goths perceive death as a fetish.
Aesthetics of death
Gothic aesthetics is directly related to the image of death, and even the look of Goths with pale faces and dark circles under the eyes is very indicative in this regard. "Thanatophilia" is one of key concepts in the goth subculture. The Goths themselves believe that this is the desire of the individual to use the practices and plots associated with death.
Such a worldview is expressed in walks in cemeteries, addiction to works that describe death and some sexual deviations. Necrophilia, or pure sexual desire for corpses, is extremely rare among Goths. If there are real necrophiles among the ready, then they carefully hide their addictions. Although the option of sexual intercourse is not ruled out, when one of the partners “pretends” to be a corpse and does not respond to the partner’s actions. This also includes getting sexual pleasure from strangling a partner (or strangulation itself) - asphyxophilia (otherwise - scarfing), love for having sex in cemeteries, or surrounded by symbols of death, such as sex in a coffin.
Religion
The Gothic worldview is not tied to a specific religious doctrine, here the Goths are no different from ordinary people. Among them there are many who do not believe in anything or even radical atheists. But at the same time, there are quite a few very religious ones - adherents of both traditional confessions and newfangled or, conversely, ancient teachings.
There are also Christian Goths, although they are in the Gothic subculture and are represented in a minority. By the way, the Goths borrowed some elements of Christian symbols. These mysterious personalities have an increased interest in the supernatural, that is, in magic and the occult. Therefore, among the Goths, most of all are pagans and Satanists.
The craving for the mysterious has different manifestations: from the primitive use of magical symbols as an element of jewelry, to the serious study of magical mysteries. The occult traditions of various pagan schools are very popular among the Goths. For example, Wicca is a modern witch tradition based on pan-European shamanism; Druids - Druids trying to revive Celtic magical rituals; Asatru is a tradition based on Scandinavian paganism.
There are Goths who study other occult traditions - from Egyptian and Iranian to Voodoo and Kabbalah. Pagans include followers of the ancient occult or antiquity traditions of Wicca, Druids, Odinists, as well as followers of more modern and less common teachings - Thelemites, Theosophists, Ariosophists. Stathanist Goths are for the most part people drawn to a dark religious aesthetic and its outward appearance. Seriously, they can not be called Satanists.
Symbols
The Goths use a variety of Egyptian, Christian and Celtic symbolism. The main Gothic symbol is the Egyptian ankh - a symbol of eternal life. There is an obvious connection here with the goth subculture, which, as we remember, arose thanks to the vampire aesthetic. And there are vampires the walking Dead living forever. You can often see other Egyptian symbols on the Goths, such as the "Eye of Ra".
Christian symbolism is not so common, usually in the form of crucifixes, only with a more stylish design than is customary for tradition. Celtic symbols are represented by Celtic crosses and various ornaments. Pentagrams (regular and inverted), inverted crosses, eight-pointed stars and other occult symbols are often used. popular various symbols death - decorations with coffins and skulls. Bats can also be attributed to Gothic symbols.
Hangout places and types of buzz
It is difficult to imagine the Gothic subculture without a "stage" or gathering place, a hangout with all the attributes of a movement. In cities with a developed goth scene, these are clubs, pubs, regular concerts of goth bands, goth shops, designated gathering places in abandoned buildings, in cemeteries. Accordingly, if a person starts attending these events and somehow becomes known in the goth "scene", they begin to be considered part of the goth crowd.
Like all ordinary people Goths quench their thirst with beer, vodka and fortified wines. Absinthe, Absenter and red wine are especially popular. All "parties" and home parties are accompanied by active libations. Rumor has it that the Goths do not disdain weed.
Division into types
Among the wide variety of ready, the most common:
Satano-goths appeared from among the fans of "symphonic black metal", related to the gothic direction. Specific attributes: similar to black metal. Appearance - long, black-dyed hair and nails, plentiful eyeliner with a black pencil. Clothing - leather jackets, black jeans, military boots. Jewelry: many chains, "satanic" symbols - pentagrams, inverted crosses, three sixes (the so-called "number of the beast") and so on.
Panko-goths. Appearance - shaved temples (like a Mohawk, which is not set, but combed to the side), black dyed hair, makeup - a whitened face, black eyeliner, mouth, "bruises on the eyes", black-painted nails. Clothing - mesh sweaters, leather jackets, black jeans (stylishly cut), sometimes torn tights, military boots.
Old Goths of the first wave. There is a small group consisting of adults (Oldows) ready from the very first wave. By the nature of the subculture, they are closest to the Western ones. Norms of behavior correspond to satanic ethics: cynicism, arrogance and contempt for the Goths of the next wave, but without the occult component
Vampire Goths. In the west, it is one of the oldest and most numerous branches of the gothic subculture. Bisexualism is one of the declared behavior styles of the goth vampire. Characteristic- demonstrative biting on the neck: this is a kind of business card. Specific attributes: colors in clothes are dominated by black and red.
Appearance - long hair, painted in dark natural colors. Make-up - a whitened face, "bruises" under the eyes, a highlighted mouth.
Our people
In Russia, vampire goths have great difficulty in acquiring clothes characteristic of this style. In the west, there are special gothic boutiques, and in our country such an extraordinary outfit is sewn to order in an atelier or altered from other clothes.
This article will talk about the Goths, but not about the representatives of the common in our time youth subculture, respectable citizens shocking with their appearance, but about those barbarians of antiquity, whose tribes, passing from north to south through all of Europe, founded one of the most powerful states of the Middle Ages - the Kingdom of Toledo. The Goths (tribe) disappeared into the darkness of centuries as completely and mysteriously as they appeared, leaving historians with a wide scope for research and discussion.
Europe in the first centuries of our era
On the historical stage, this people appeared at a time when Europe was going through a kind of transitional period. The former ancient civilization was a thing of the past, and new states and nations were only in the process of formation. Huge masses of peoples constantly roamed across its vast expanses, set in motion by constantly changing living conditions.
What was the main reason for such active migration. According to scientists, two factors contributed to this. The first of them is the periodically occurring overpopulation in previously inhabited and developed areas. And besides, stronger and more aggressive neighbors, who appeared from time to time, forced them to leave their homes, from which they had to hastily move away, attacking those who met on the way, and could not give a proper rebuff.
Warlike Scandinavians in Europe
So, according to him, the Goths are tribes of Scandinavian origin, moving south across Europe. In 258 they reach the Crimea, and some of them settle in it, changing to a settled one. According to some data, about fifty thousand families then settled in the eastern part of the peninsula. A number of researchers note that until the end of the 18th century, the Gothic language continued to sound in those areas, which had completely disappeared by that time in other parts of the world.
However, this was only a single case, and among other European nomads, the Goths (tribe) still occupied one of the leading places. The history of the people of that period is filled with incessant clashes with the inhabitants of the territories along which their path lay. The chronicler Jordan, mentioned above, assures that as a result of this they literally did not have to spend the night twice in one place. From generation to generation they were born, grew up and died on the road.
Barbarians on the borders of the Roman Empire
Traveling in this way, at the beginning of the 4th century they approached the borders of the Great Roman Empire. Oddly enough, but the best army of the world at that time was sometimes powerless against the unexpected attacks of these savages wrapped in skins, crushing the legions, fighting against all existing rules, and then disappearing without a trace in the depths of the forest thickets.
Instilled fear and their large number. On the border of the state, not scattered detachments appeared, but many thousands of people with carts, women, children and cattle. If in the summer their advance was hindered by two natural barriers - the Danube and Rhine rivers, then in winter, when they were covered with ice, the way was open to the barbarians.
By this time, the empire, torn apart by the most severe crisis, the cause of which was the corruption and decay of its ruling elite, still resists the Goths, but in general it is no longer able to restrain their advance. In 268, having crossed the ice of the Danube, the Goths were Germanic tribes, replenished by some others who joined them. small peoples, rob the border province of Pannonia. This territory, which includes part of modern Hungary and Serbia, became the first combat trophy of the Goths in the Roman Empire.
At the same time, a second separation of families took place, breaking with eternal wandering and giving preference to settled life. They settled in the provinces of Moesia and Dacia, which are now part of the borders of Bulgaria and Romania. In general, the Goths, a tribe whose history had by that time totaled more than two centuries, became so strong that soon the Roman emperor Valens considered it good to conclude a diplomatic non-aggression agreement with him.
Huns - the scourge of God
In the second half of the 4th century, a terrible misfortune befell Europe - countless hordes of Huns invaded from the east, led by the famous Attila. Even by the standards of that cruel and far from humanistic time, they amazed everyone with their unbridled ferocity and cruelty. The threat posed by their invasion affected both the Romans and the Goths in equal measure. No wonder they were called nothing more than "the scourge of God."
Simultaneously with the invasion of the Huns, the Goths are ancient tribes that previously constituted united people, divided into two independent branches, which went down in history as the Visigoths (Western) and the Ostrogoths (Eastern). The latter were utterly defeated by the Huns in 375, and their king Ermanaric committed suicide out of grief and shame. Those who happened to stay alive were forced to fight on the side of their former enemies. On this, the history of the East German tribe of the Goths was almost completed.
Alliance with the Romans
Having witnessed the death of their fellow tribesmen, and fearing to share their fate, the Visigoths turned to the Romans for help, which made them pretty happy. They were given the opportunity to freely settle in the border regions of the empire, provided that they would defend its borders. For this, under the terms of the agreement, the authorities promised to supply them with food and everything necessary.
In reality, however, things were quite different. Extremely corrupt Latin bureaucracy seized the opportunity to commit large-scale and brazen theft. By appropriating the money allocated for the maintenance of the Gothic outposts, they kept their defenders and their families starving, depriving them of the most necessary. The Goths are a tribe accustomed to all sorts of hardships during their wanderings, but, in this case, there was a humiliation of their dignity, and they could not come to terms with this.
Revolt and capture of Rome
Officials did not take into account that by this time yesterday's barbarians, closely communicating with the Latins, had managed to assimilate many concepts of high civilization. Therefore, treating oneself as savages, who can be fused with impunity under the guise of pork, was considered an insult. In addition, the Goths are ancient tribes, from time immemorial accustomed to solving all disputes with a sword. The result was a riot. The government sent regular troops to suppress it, which in August 378 were utterly defeated in the battle of Adrianople.
In general, the history of this people, the very name of which is fraught with something epic and heroic, remains largely mysterious and not fully explored. From the pages of ancient chronicles, the names - Tulga, Wamba, Atanagild - sound like a spell. But in this understatement lies that attractive force that beckons us again and again to peer into the mysterious depths of centuries.
Instruction
Goths are not some external stylization of death and everything connected with it. Goths are adherents of the subculture in its original sense. Theirs is individual. Their attitude to certain phenomena of objective reality is a purely personal opinion and is not clear to an ordinary person. Goths even have their own romance. However, do not confuse the true Goths with the so-called pseudo-Goths! Pseudo-goths - those who simply wear black, play death, but at the same time have nothing to do with the real goth movement. These people only repeat the main features gothic image. By the way, those who believe that the Goths are completely and completely connected with gloomy and afterlife music are also wrong. This is wrong! Ordinary people can also gothic: it is music according to the mood.
Gothic began to spread and develop widely at the end of the last century, and the Goths were people for whom both the world itself and its values \u200b\u200bare alien. However, one should not equate all the Goths under the mere concept of their subculture. It should be understood that behind each of the adherents of this movement (mainly youth), wearing dark robes and other specific paraphernalia, is separate person with certain problems. To understand who the Goths are, it is necessary to learn to see in these people not their image, but the images that dominate the Gothic environment. However, you need to look not at the images of demons, monsters and death, but at the loneliness that runs like an invisible thread through the whole life of a Goth.
Psychologists and sociologists believe that teenage Goths are maximalists and romantics. In such people, these feelings are manifested to a much greater extent than in their peers who are not representatives of this subculture. Psychologists say that many young Goths have a fairly high intellect, allowing them to think about the meaning of life and about those things that their peers still do not care about.
Modern Goths have mixed elements of several styles. For example, piercings and metal chains were taken from punk. From there, the Goths adopted the predominance of black fabric in the form of velvet, suede, satin or leather. Gothic pendants and pendants look like skulls, the bats, coffins, etc. Modern Goths prefer silver as a metal for their paraphernalia. The beautiful half is ready to acquire lacing, corsets, lace, flounces, etc. Unfortunately, many modern goths are not adherents of the gothic subculture, but of some kind of informal lifestyle, however, the goths also have a special view of the world and current events, though different from the general gothic orientation.
After the broadcast on ARI-TV on the topic “The Political Myth of Normanism” with my participation, questions were received from the audience, and the first of them was about the Goths: who are goths and where did they come from? But I will start my answer with an explanation - where they could not come from, and they could not "take" just from the south of Sweden. This is how the Swedish medievalists think now. And they have very serious reasons for this, since this myth was for a long time part of their history, it brought up the national identity of the Swedes for several centuries, when they lived with an ardent faith in what a great Gothic past they had.
The Swedish historian Nordström conveyed the euphoric feeling evoked in Swedish society by the history-making of Gothicism: “None of the peoples of Europe, apart from the classical peoples, could present a past full of such marvelous tests of courage as we, the descendants of the Goths. This gave our patriotism a new element of courage, just on the eve of the sovereign period of the 17th century, when, so it seemed to his contemporaries, the heroic forces of the Goths were revived anew. But before that only historical memory scooped Swedish national feeling and historical fantasy authentic food. Thanks to the work of historians, thanks to popular stories about the historical fate of the fatherland, thanks to short essays for the common people, thanks to the eloquence of politicians and scientists, thanks to poetry, theater - a great variety of forms were used to capture in the Swedish popular consciousness an idea of the history of the fatherland with a brilliant heroic saga about the "ancient Goths", which reflected the perfect manifestation of the strength and ability of our people ... With such a history, we felt like the aristocracy of Europe, which is predestined to rule over the world "( highlighted by me - L.G.).
Here it must be emphasized that all this was said about the history of the mirage, about the history or the great past, which never happened in reality. Rather, the historical events associated with the Goths themselves took place, of course, but they had nothing to do with the Swedes, since they took place in the history of other peoples.
Modern Swedish medieval studies no longer consider the south of Sweden as the ancestral home of the ancient Goths, from where they allegedly moved to the European continent. The revision of Gothic concepts began, in fact, a long time ago. The result of the first stage was summed up in the late 1980s. Swedish historian Lars Garn: “Since we do not have clear data on the existence of the Gothic kingdom (götarike), we had to turn to geographical names and draw conclusions based on them ... Since there are few sources and they are scarce, the research work was small in number and modest according to the results ... The only generally accepted and widespread assumption was that Västergötland was an ancient area of the settlement of the Goths, and that the Goths from ancient times lived both in Västergötland and Ostergötland. However, there was no confirmation of this in the sources. 1
And here we are talking only about the picture of the settlement of the Getae in the south of Scandinavia in the first millennium AD, that is, in a historically foreseeable time, and even then it cannot be defined more or less clearly. As for ancient times, modern Swedish scientists gradually came to the conclusion that it was not the south of Scandinavia that was the ancestral home of the Goths, from where they settled around the world.
Swedish historians Thomas Lindqvist and Maria Sjöberg write that even the name of the Swedish Goths is difficult to analyze: “The resemblance to the name of the Goths gave rise to it in the 15th century. the belief that the Goths were from Götaland. This idea played an important role in the formation of national identity. However, the very question of the origin of the Goths from Scandinavia has always remained debatable and caused strong doubts among scientists. 2
Lindqvist and Sjöberg are one of the leading Swedish medievalists, employees of the University of Gothenburg. The book from which I quoted is a textbook for Swedish students - future historians. And the above thoughts are not new - they were also taught to me when, having moved to Sweden more than twenty years ago, I decided to take a Swedish history course in the Swedish program. Even then, at lectures on Swedish history, they said: the former identification of the Goths and the Swedish Goths is now rejected by science. Those. more than twenty years ago, the idea that the Goths did not leave the south of Sweden, has become a textbook in Swedish history programs.
Now where did they come from? Let us return with this question to the Swedish medievalists. Here is a very definite statement on this issue by another leading Swedish medievalist, the famous historian Dick Harrison, one of the editors and authors of the latest edition of the History of Sweden: “Both written sources and archaeological material give reason to believe that the ancient ancestors are ready - or rather , those who earlier than others began to call themselves Goths - in the period before the birth of Christ lived on the territory of modern Poland. Of course, they had contacts with other peoples in the Baltic Sea area, but it is absolutely impossible to determine which ethnic groups inhabited Scandinavia at that time(highlighted by me - L.G.)”. 3 On the same occasion, the Austrian medievalist, a well-known researcher in the field of Gothic themes, H. Wolfram noted: “... And Austria, as they believed in the late Middle Ages, was once called Gothia (Gothia).” He also recalled that the idea of the northern ancestral home of the Goths, specifically identified with Sweden, entrenched under the influence of Gothicism in Western European science, was contrary to the data of ancient sources. According to ancient authors, "the first Gutthia-Goτθια of ancient ethnography, in any case, is located on the Black Sea, whether in the Crimea, on the Kerch Peninsula or, most likely, in today's Romania." 4
On my own behalf, I want to add that since toponymy keeps traces of the presence of one or another ethnic group, then, apparently, the Swedish Getae were either the northern periphery of the continental Goths, or one of the groups of continental Goths who settled in Scandinavia from the European continent at some period . It should also be taken into account that the physical geography of the Baltic region had a different appearance in the first centuries of the era in comparison with the end of the first millennium.
And the consolidation of such names as Scandinavia, the Scandinavian Peninsula behind the peninsula, where modern Norway and Sweden are located, is not so long ago past days, and the political myths of Gothicism played a role here.
Without going into all the details of the history of the appearance of the name Scandinavia, it is worth recalling that the names Scandia, Scandinavia, now used as synonyms, albeit in different contexts, initially each had its own motley history dating back to ancient authors. The name Scandia was coined by the Greeks, and in the Iliad referred to the ancient city on the island of Cythera (one of the candidates for the birthplace of Aphrodite), as well as to a number of islands in the Mediterranean.
It was first used as a name for islands in northern Europe by Pliny the Elder (23-79), who named an island/group north of Roman Britain as Scandia. The same author speaks of Scandinavia (Scatinavia) as an island next to the Cimbri, and clearly he is talking about some other island / islands. Ptolemy, under the name Scandia, described an island in the group of islands (Scandiae islands) to the east of the Cimbri peninsula, i.e. approximately in the same place where Pliny placed the island of Scatinavia. Somewhat later, in post-Ptolemaic times, Scandia became synonymous with Terra Scania, i.e. for the current Skåne peninsula, which was fixed in the Middle Ages.
This story could be saturated with a lot of details, but all this, in principle, is well-known material. However, I would like to note that the discrepancy in information and the confusion of names can be explained not only by the lack of information about Northern Europe. There is a lot of data from ancient authors, from which it is clear that the north of Europe was mastered by the ancient world through Eastern Europe, waterways have long been studied, hydrographic changes were known, associated, as is now clear, with transgressions and regressions of the level of water bodies that occurred in different periods.
For example, Diodorus Siculus (second half of the 1st century BC) in the stories about Scythia and the Caucasus brought the following news, dating back to the myths about the Argonauts: “Not a small number of both ancient and later writers (between them and Timaeus) tell that when the Argonauts, after the abduction of the rune, found out that Eit had occupied the mouth of Pontus with their ships, they performed an amazing and memorable feat: having sailed up the Tanaida River to its sources and dragging the ship overland in one place, they were already along another river flowing into the Ocean , went down to the sea and sailed from north to west, having land on their left hand; finding themselves not far from Gadir, they entered our sea ... ". 5
This news is repeated in the story of Antony Diogenes (probably, the 1st century AD): “Someone named Dinius is introduced into the story, out of curiosity, he set off to travel from his fatherland with his son Dimochar. Through Pontus and then from the Caspian and Irkan Seas they arrived at the so-called Ripean Mountains and the mouth of the Tanaida River, then, due to a strong cold, they turned towards the Scythian Ocean, even reached the Eastern Ocean and found themselves at sunrise, and from there they circled the outer sea for a long time. and among various adventures ... They also arrived on the island of Fulu and here they stopped for a while in their wanderings. 6
Travel from south to north through Eastern Europe has been carried out since antiquity, but geophysics has changed, so those groups of islands that ancient and ancient authors described could either disappear, sinking to the bottom of the Arctic shelf, or their reliefs have changed dramatically. And the names were stored in the "database", and in other times they had a different use.
The names of Scandia and Scandinavia experienced a "third youth" thanks to the work of Jordanes, in the VI century. who wrote his famous work on the island of Scandza, which he, with a reference to Ptolemy, placed on the "open spaces of the Northern Ocean" and glorified as the island from which the Goths came. Jordan's work reached the peak of its popularity during the spread of Gothicism, i.e. in the XV-XVI centuries, and became especially famous after the publication of the work of the Swedish writer John Magnus "The History of All the Kings of the Svei and Goths." This work was published by the writer's brother Olaus Magnus, the author of a well-known book on the geography and ethnography of the peoples of Northern Europe. Olaus Magnus added to this work the equally famous map Carta Marina (1539), where he first placed the name Scandia on the site of modern Sweden, which his brother glorified as the ancestral home of the Goths. At least, on the map of the German cartographer Nikolaus Germanus (1420-1490), which he attached to Ptolemy's Cosmography, published in 1467, this name is not found in relation to the territory where the current Scandinavian peninsula can be assumed. The consolidation of the name Skandza, Scandinavia, so familiar to us today, took place, apparently, just in the decades when Swedish and German Gothicism began to gain strength.
I quote in support of an excerpt from the work of the German cartographer of the 16th century. Jacob Ziegler's "Skondia" (Schondia), published in 1532, with a description of the north of Europe: "Regarding Götaland, Svejaland and Finland, and also Lapland, which extends to North Pole in addition to Greenland, Chersonesus and the island of Thule, I received clarifications from the most worthy Gothic bishops John Magnus of Uppsala and Peter of Västeros, with whom I became friends during my stay in Rome and spent a lot of time with them. The Bishop of Uppsala, even before my arrival, began to write his comments on Scandinavia and gave them to me to read.
But from the time of the creation of the Olaus Magnus map to the final fixing of the name Scandinavia for the current peninsula, some more time passed. At least in the 17th century in place of the name Scandia on Swedish home-made sketches for maps, one could also see the name Hyperborea. Consequently, we do not have clear geographical data about which island Jordan meant, and also which islands were meant by ancient authors under the names Scandia or Scatinavia. As for Terra Scania or Skane, it definitely does not fit as a place of exodus for the Goths, since in the early Middle Ages it was inhabited by the Danes, and not the Swedish Getae.
Thus, the answer to the question of where the Goths came from, in accordance with the conclusions of Western European medieval studies, including Scandinavian, is as follows: those who earlier than others began to be called Goths lived on the territory of modern Poland or somewhat to the south. What the landscape of Central Europe looked like in the early Middle Ages should be studied separately.
Now consider the question of who the Goths are. And to begin with, let's get acquainted with the reaction that the myth of the Swede-Goths evoked among contemporaries, i.e. from Western European historians of the XV-XVI centuries. In my publications (for example, and), I talked about the fact that the image of Sweden, as the ancestral home is ready, was developed by a number of representatives of Swedish Gothicism, the largest figure among whom was the aforementioned John Magnus. I. Magnus spent most of his life outside Sweden, in the European centers of humanism, where he zealously sought to defend the idea of Sweden's antiquity and its special mission. From his youth, Magnus devoted himself to a spiritual career and in 1517, as a plenipotentiary Swedish legate, he was sent to Rome, where he immediately became involved in the maelstrom of ideological confrontation that reigned in Italy and was colored by the “anti-Gothic” propaganda of the Italian humanists. 7
I. Magnus never returned to his homeland, because he reacted negatively to the reformist policy of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa and did not want to abandon Catholicism and recognize Lutheranism, which put him in opposition to the king. Here in Rome, he took up his pen and began to write his historical extravaganza about the Goths - the ancient ancestors of the Swedish kings. I. Magnus worked on this work until his death in 1544, although the first version was completed already in 1540. It was published by the brother of I. Magnus, Olaf Magnus under the title "Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sveonumque regibus" in 1554 in Rome. This work brought I. Magnus posthumous fame among the Western European educated public, and in the future it played an unfortunate role for Russian history, becoming one of the molds of Normanism.
What prompted I. Magnus to become a chanter and herald of Swedish Gothicism? First of all, of course, the objective course of development of the Western European ideological and political life of the XV-XVI centuries, the tone of which was set by the Italian humanists and their information war against the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire, which was conducted in the form of the so-called anti-Gothic propaganda, i.e. in the form of a mockery of the history and culture of the Nordic countries. Why was this propaganda in the form of presenting absurd historical accounts of the German-speaking population as "Goths"?
So after all, in war as in war! Propaganda should be simple and intelligible. Moreover, among the population of German cities there was constantly an annoying Roman Catholic Church background of protest against "papal tyranny". And if we add to this the prosperity and vibrant culture of German cities, then everything had to match and formed a worthy target for propaganda shelling. The brand "Gotho-Germanic barbarians" began to be molded by Italian humanists from the names of the Goths (Gotons, Guts) and Germans known since ancient times as common name for northern European barbarians. This was all the more convenient since both names were of vague origin and tangled story, which will be discussed below.
He did a lot to introduce this brand in public consciousness such an Italian humanist as Flavio Biondo (1392-1463). He was the secretary of the papal office and, naturally, a man experienced in verbal casuistry. Like all Italian statesmen and church leaders of the Renaissance, he paid much attention to recreating the “bright past” of the Italians, wrote several works on Roman history, in which he steadily pursued the idea that the reason for the collapse of the Roman Empire was the Gothic conquest or the invasion of German barbarians. 8
In short, terms are negotiated, and Italian humanists began to use the term “Gotho-Germanic barbarians” in an effort to prove the historical “guilt” of the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire in the destruction of the great ancient culture. It was this information war that brought Jordan's Getica out of the circle of oblivion and put it on public display.
Discovered by E. Picollomini in 1450, the manuscript of Jordanes' work was first published in 1515 by the German humanist Konrad Pevtinger. But even in manuscript, it quickly began to be introduced into scientific circulation by German and Swedish historians. The German theologian and historian Krantz (d. 1517) created his "Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Chronicle", where a significant part was devoted to the history of the Goths, taken from the Jordanian manuscript. In 1470, the Swedish historian Eric Olai wrote a Latin-language history of the Gothic rulers who came from Scandinavia/Sweden. In 1455, a manuscript of Tacitus' Germania was discovered, and in 1519 Tacitus's work was published by the Alsatian historian Beatus Renanus. All this spun a flywheel of zealous study of sources that could weaken or completely refute the accusations of the Italian humanists. But this was a new trend brought to life by politics. However, at that time there was also a scientific tradition that met this "New Gothic" historiography with ridicule.
In 1517, the work of the Polish historian M. Mechovsky “A Treatise on the Two Sarmatians” was published, where the author, according to the ancient tradition, mentioned the Goths as a people living near the Black Sea and in Asia Minor, from where they began their conquests and migrations. I. Magnus immediately responded with a letter of protest to Mechovsky, because he saw in his work an encroachment on the idea of the origin of the Goths from Sweden. It is interesting to quote a few fragments from Magnus's letter:
There is no news more exciting and captivating for me, a Goth, or, if it suits your understanding, a Swede, than that which introduces a new study affecting the origin of the Goths, and from which we have the right to expect reliability and thoroughness in striving to achieve clarity in this issue. I have always had a deep interest in reading the works of historical writers and cosmographers... first of all, with particular zeal, I strove to obtain complete knowledge of where the so-called Goths burst into life - this barbaric, godless people, bringing death and decay.
O omniscient lord! We see that the most famous historians and geographers of antiquity, mentioning the Goths, said with all certainty that they came from the kingdom of Sweden - my homeland.
If anyone can refute the evidence that these Goths were Swedes, then I would like to see true or at least far-fetched grounds.
More than once I have had occasion to enter into discussions and disputes with strangers about what qualities different peoples have. But as soon as they found out that I was a Gothic person, they said that they were ready to be afraid that the barbarians should be silent, and the Slavs should disappear forever; with expressions of disgust and curses against the offspring of this godless people, they reported with all indisputability that its descendants should be avoided like snake seed ...
Obviously from these considerations, which should be understood as a virtue, my above-mentioned ancestors - the Goths, when they joined the holy customs of the Christian religion, then, leaving their pagan delusions and habits, wanted to change their pagan name - the Goths to the Swedes and decided that the areas that were known under the name of Gothia, from that time received the name of Sweden ... 9
As you can see, Magnus's thought process is simple: we always knew that we were Goths, but we began to hide the ancient name called Sweden, fearing people's curses. It is also worth paying attention to the fact that several decades of promoting the idea of Sweden as the ancestral home of the Goths led to the fact that I. Magnus believed in the existence of ancient sources confirming these ideas, while there were no such sources.
Mekhovsky pointed to this by publishing Magnus's letter, along with his caustic response to it, where he wrote that it was obvious to him that his young friend had read the tales of ancient writers about the vast densely populated island of Scandia, where many peoples lived. But what do his own impressions tell him? On the way to Rome, he could see with his own eyes how small and poor his Scandinavia was. Yes, knowledgeable historians reported the exodus of the Goths from Gothia, but no one wrote that it was Sweden or Finland! How can he or other representatives of Gothicism ever prove that the Visigoths and Ostrogoths came from those two areas of it that bear consonant names, although there is not a single Danish, Swedish or Gothic source of that period? You cannot present a Swedish source from those times, because they do not exist, and what was in the past of Sweden is consigned to oblivion. “Happiness to you! Find something worthwhile, then write. 10
Johannesson suggests that Mechovsky's pejorative answer may have served as the impetus under the influence of which I. Magnus turned to writing a Swedish history or a story about the kings of the Goths and Swedes in the spirit of Gothicism. The main "sources" for him were his Swedish predecessor Eric Olai, who identified Sweden with the island of Scandia or the ancestral home of the Goths who conquered Rome, and the German historian Krantz, who also popularized information from the work of Jordan, i.e. German and Swedish Gothic. That's all the "sources".
Thus, we see that the idea of Sweden as the ancestral home of the Goths was put into practice by the power of political interests, and historical science immediately began to laugh at the idea. M. Mechowski, in addition to a thorough knowledge of ancient and Western European authors of the Renaissance, also relied on strong Polish historiography. It should be recalled that one of the most authoritative Polish chroniclers who influenced subsequent generations of historians was Jan Długosz (1414-1480), the greatest expert on historical sources who knew the history of Eastern Europe very well.
Therefore, starting to clarify the question of who the Goths are, one must clearly understand the outlined disposition: the question of the Goths in the XV-XVI centuries. turned out to be divided between two spheres - the sphere of scientific research and the sphere of political interests, where scientific information did not meet political needs. Politics, of course, pulled over, and science was forgotten for a long time. How this happened is illustrated by the following story, which shows how important the Swedish crown attached to the successful development of the political myth of Sweden as the ancestral home of the Goths.
Among the learned people who mocked the version of the Swedish-Goths was Olaf Petri (1493-1552), a Swedish historian and illustrious reformer of the Swedish church. And for this criticism, he almost paid with his life. Petri was the right hand of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa in establishing Lutheranism in Sweden. But the king was vitally interested in the creation of a solid historical work that would show the genetic connection of Swedish history with the history of the ancient Goths. Attempts to attribute the history of the ancient people of the Goths as a prologue to Swedish history were made even under the predecessors of Gustav Vasa and were already used to justify the special political ambitions of the Swedish rulers, who, for their implementation, needed a historical doctrine that justified the superiority of Sweden among other Scandinavian countries. The heroic past of the Goths as the direct ancestors of the kings of Sweden, as a preamble to the panorama of Swedish history, was in tune with these goals.
When King Gustav Vasa realized the need to use the idea of a "bright past", even if it was fictional, to develop an ideology consolidating society, it is clear that Olaf Petri was seen as such a political strategist. It was he, and not the dissident and defector John Magnus, who was prepared by fate itself to become the first person in the field of cultivating official Swedish history, bearing in mind his position as one of the most authoritative Swedish preachers of Lutheranism and, thanks to this, his closeness to King Gustav Vasa. The king, of course, expected that “Master Oluf”, who had so faithfully served him in introducing Lutheranism in Sweden, would also act as the creator of a politically correct work that would secure Sweden the magnificent crown of the ancestral home of the Goths and give the young Vaza dynasty ancient roots. O. Petri set to work, and during the 1530s - 1540s he created the work "The Swedish Chronicle", which he presented to the king. eleven
But Petri's The Swedish Chronicle angered the king, because in this work, according to the Swedish researcher Göran Sahlgren, Petri showed a complete absence of national vanity, and in the 16th century, riddled with chauvinism, his search for truth could not be understood. What was meant here, what truth was O. Petri looking for? Everything is very simple: “master Oluf” wrote an essay on the real history of Sweden in antiquity, as he knew it (like Mechovsky). Here are some excerpts from it:
You should know that in our Swedish chronicles there is quite a bit of reliable information about what we really had in the times that preceded Christianity. In the life of our ancestors, there were few events worth writing about, and in some times there was nothing to write about at all. What little there was was written using the only letter that was available in our country in former times and which is now called runic letters.
Only a few records could be made in runic writing, for the Latin script that we use now came to us along with Christian missionaries. And when the Latin script was adopted, the former letter turned out to be forgotten, and with it almost everything that was written on it turned out to be forgotten ... We do not have reliable information about whether our ancestors wrote anything significant in runic writing or not, since very little reliable information from the pre-Christian period has come down to us. One Danish chronicle (most likely referring to Saxo Grammatik - L.G.) tells a lot about what happened in the past in our three kingdoms, and the story goes back to ancient times. But it is unlikely that its author has grounds for this, because in Denmark they make the same mistake as we do, trying in ancient history to find greatness as a reward for posterity. But it is terrible to think that in this case the truth eludes us, and this is what chroniclers should fear most of all ...
It is highly doubtful that we had any written sources in earlier times. However, it is well known that our ancestors, like the Greeks and Latins, used to have poetic verses and fairy tales that were composed in honor of outstanding men who distinguished themselves by feats and great deeds ... stories were colored with fantasies and words, honors and regalia were attributed to the heroes ... The first compilers Danish and Swedish chronicles based them on many of the old stories, songs and other fictional writings left over from former times and put it all in writing, although it is not known what really happened and what did not ... And since we, the Swedes, do not none of the old historical essay, like some other peoples, we do not have reliable information either about the origin of our Swedish people, or about what Sweden was like in antiquity.
In well-known historical writings tells about the Gothic kingdom and about the time of its occurrence. But can one seriously think that these stories concern the Goths who now live in Sweden? Those ancient Goths (although are they really as old as some believe?) or the people who first began to be called Goths, could in no way be the same people that lived with us in Sweden. This people lived in the place of present-day Hungary or somewhat to the south. The country of the Goths has been there since antiquity, since the time after the Flood, and there is a lot of written evidence about this. It is unlikely that they moved there from our country. It is more plausible that some of them once moved from there to us and stayed here. But all this is not known for sure, it is guessing, we cannot determine what was reliable in those days. distant times, therefore, it is better not to do this at all than to wander at random ...
Oh, and Gustav Vasa was furious when he read the ingenuous revelations of “Master Oluf”. After all, Petri's "Swedish Chronicle" did not even question the idea of identifying Sweden with the ancestral home of the Goths, fundamental for Gothicism, it simply destroyed it, leaving no stone unturned from the myth! And for what?! He needs the truth, you see? Truth seeker, intellectual! To jail, bastard, on the chopping block! And what is the king to do?
Indeed, quite recently - in 1523 - Gustav Vasa took over the country, devastated and drenched in blood in countless battles and battles between representatives of the Swedish nobility and the kings of the Kalmar Union - immigrants from Denmark, the Pomeranian-Mecklenburg house or Bavaria. The first period of his reign was marked by a series of major uprisings in different areas of Sweden, which was a reaction to a tightened tax policy, as well as religious reform and the introduction of Lutheranism instead of Catholicism. To unite a torn country into a functioning organism, Gustav Vasa needed an appropriate ideology like air, or, as they would say now, national idea. The idea that a unifying national idea is the brainchild of national history, represented by pictures of the glorious past of the people, has been mastered by Western European humanism for more than a hundred and fifty years. It was this kind of work - a brilliant heroic saga about the "ancient Goths" that was expected from Olaf Petri.
And Petri took the position of a blissful truth-seeker and launched into arguments about what, they say, who knows what happened in ancient times in Sweden: we didn’t have culture, there were no written sources, there was only rhyming and runic writing, so it didn’t you will run away very much to compose, and if anything happened, then all this came to us from the continent, and not vice versa, from us - there. The inability to understand the demands of the moment cost “Master Oluf” dearly: he was accused of trying to inspire the “poison of treason” (“förgiftigh otrooheet”) into the minds of the king’s subjects in his chronicle, and sentenced to death.
The sentence, however, was not carried out, the king pardoned Petri (after all, almost the "founder" of Lutheranism in Sweden), sentencing him to pay a large fine, and he even continued his career as a religious figure and writer. But “master Oluf” did not become the ruler of the historical thoughts of the Swedish society. Gustav Vasa forbade the publication of his Swedish Chronicle, regarding it as a harmful work. After Petri's death, the king seized his archive, suspecting that there might be other "secret" chronicles of unreliable content that should be brought under control so that "this M. Oluf (as if he were Sweden's greatest enemy) could not would more expose Sweden to ridicule, spitting and scolding, as he already did by writing this chronicle of his ( those. "Swedish Chronicle" - L.G.)". 12
Thus, the truthful, source-based conception of the history of Sweden, presented by Olaf Petri, was declared a reproach to the Swedish past, and the author himself was declared an enemy of the people. As official history In Sweden, the fictional story of I. Magnus about the Goths - the direct ancestors of the Swedish kings was approved, and generations of Swedes began to be brought up on it, causing the euphoric feeling that Nordström quotes at the beginning of the article.
The work of Magnus received pan-European popularity. It was published in Basel in 1558, in Cologne in 1567 and gradually became one of the most popular works. A contemporary of Magnus, the Danish professor Hans Münster, wrote with displeasure in 1559 from London that the story of the kings of the Goths and the Swedes was sold like hot cakes in London, and at the same time, groundless fictions of the “great Goth” (i.e. I. Magnus), and that the Danish king should also find an author capable of producing a similar work on Denmark.
In these common European ways, as part of the Swedish political myth, Magnus's story about the Goths came from Sweden to Russia in the 18th century. But if in Sweden in recent decades, historical thought has abandoned the fantasies of I. Magnus and, in fact, recognized the correctness of O. Petri's view of ancient history Sweden, then in Russia they are held on with tenacity worthy of better use, and it is precisely Russian archaeologists- the last refuge of Magnus' fantasies.
Let me remind you the words of D. Harrison that both written sources and modern archaeological material refute the outcome of the Goths or those who first began to call themselves Goths (a very important caveat!) from Sweden. Let us also take a quick look at well-known sources in order to see in what context and in what society the name of the Goths is found there and thanks to this to determine who called themselves Goths - a necessary clarification of the question “who are the Goths?” And how did their name connect with the name of the Germans?
The Byzantine historian of the VI century. We meet Procopius of Caesarea, for example, the mention of the name of the Goths both as a separate ethnonym and as a collective name for many peoples: “In former times there were many Gothic tribes, and there are many of them now, but the largest and most significant of them were the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths and Gepids. 13
But the Germans in Procopius of Caesarea are not identified with the Goths: “The Vandals used to live near Meotida. Suffering from hunger, they went to the Germans, now called the Franks, and to the Rhine River, annexing the Gothic tribe of the Alans to themselves. 14
So, we see that in the V-VI centuries. many peoples could act under the common name of the Goths: Vandals, Alans, but not Germans. The Germans and the Goths in this period were spoken of as different peoples or different groups of peoples that made up different ethno-political communities. In addition, at that time the tradition was known to associate the origin of the Goths with Sauromates and Melanchlens: “In the old days, however, they (the Goths - L.G.) were called Sauromates and Melanchlens.” 15
M.Yu. reminded about the Eastern European origin of the Goths. Braichevsky, noting that the Black Sea Goths cannot be considered as “pure” Germans and that for Late Antique authors the Goths were natives of the Black Sea steppes, and their ethnonym in the sources was synonymous with the name “Scythians”. 16 According to the Gothic historian Jordanes (mid-VI century), the Goths are the successors of the Thracian Getae, while the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simokatta (early 7 century) identified the Getae with the Slavs.
Here is another example from Procopius of Caesarea: “Gizeric (the king of the Vandals in 428-477 - L.G.) divided the Vandals and Alans into groups ... They say, however, that the number of Vandals and Alans in former times did not exceed fifty thousand ... Then only thanks to the birth of their children and the addition of other barbarians to them, they reached such a crowd ... But the names of the Alans and other barbarians, except for the Maurusians, were absorbed by the name of the Vandals. 17
The well-known Austrian medievalist and researcher of the history of the barbarians H. Wolfram noted that from the first mention of the name "Goths" by ancient sources between 16 and 18 years. AD, for several centuries this name covered a variety of peoples. There were periods when the name of the Goths disappeared. For example, between the time of Ptolemy and the 60s. 3rd century it ceased to be found in the sources, and then appeared again as an ethnonym, which changed the name "Scythians". However, having existed for some more time, it again sunk into oblivion, so nowhere without forming a medieval nationality and quite early turning into a myth accessible to everyone.
The motley history of the name is ready (including numerous forms of its manifestation, in particular, as Gutones, Guten, Gothicus in the title of Emperor Claudius II, Gutans, Gauthigoth, a Dacian place-name gothia etc.) leads to the conclusion that the bearers of this name lived in symbiosis with many peoples, dissolving in other peoples, and, as Wolfram noted, they did not form their own people, but became a hotbed of historical myths. For the most part, the peoples who bore the name of the Goths could be localized in Eastern Europe or in Central and Southern Europe, i.e. repeating the words of Braichevsky, the Goths were never "pure" Germans, since the bearers of this last name were originally associated with the north of Europe. But the name "Germans" in the early Middle Ages also disappeared from time to time, dissolving in other names and peoples, only to reappear after some time, caused by political will.
In the above passage from Procopius of Caesarea, we see that the name of the Germans by the 6th century. dissolved in the name of the Franks. Half a thousand years before Procopius of Caesarea, we meet the description of the Germans by Tacitus in his famous work "Germany". 18
According to Tacitus, the name Germans was known in two ways. Firstly, it is mentioned by an ancient historian as an ancient tribal name for one of the ethnic groups that lived on the eastern bank of the Rhine and became famous for being the first to push the Gauls out, moving to the western bank of the Rhine. Secondly, it became known as the cumulative name of the entire population due to the military successes of the bearers of the name of the Germans (“the name of the tribe prevailed and spread to the whole people,” we read in Tacitus’ “Germany”). The history is common and easily projected on the history of many countries and times: several ethnic groups receive or take the name of one of the members of this community as a common collective name.
The German historian H. Schulze described the Germans at the turn of the era as “barbarians from the terrible foggy North, who fled from the disfavor of nature ... seeking to settle within the Roman Empire, and who participated in its defense. In Rome, these northern barbarians were called Germani, a name that Caesar adopted from the Gauls. They, in turn, called wild peoples, who tried to invade Gaul because of the Rhine, and Caesar, from their name, made the designation of the region on the other side of the Rhine and Danube, calling it Germany (Germania). The word "German" was no more than a reference to people from obscure places east of the Rhine. Scientists still argue about the ethnic and linguistic homogeneity of the Germans. 19
The idea of ethnic and linguistic homogeneity of Germany by Tacitus is a construction of representatives of German Gothicism of the 16th century. It was then, notes Wolfram, that the concept of "Germanus" was equated with the concept of "Deutsch". This “homogeneity” was constructed by representatives of German Gothicism - historians Irenik, Pirckheimer and others, using the brand of Italian humanists about the Goths-Germans, to whom the German Gothicists also connected the Swedes. It was an artificial structure, but thanks to it, Gothicism acquired its legend, its conceptual backbone.
This is about written sources. With regard to modern archaeological material, I would like to recall that such an invention as a sail appeared in the countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula only at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries, and this fact should be taken into account when reconstructing the events of the beginning of our era associated with people from the Scandinavian countries, coupled with sea expeditions. Regarding the history of the peoples who inhabited the territory of modern Sweden, it should be especially taken into account that, only ships suitable for coastal navigation. In addition, if shipping in one way or another is associated with the kings of the Swedes, then one of the largest Swedish historians Kurt Weibull spoke about the Getae, “sandwiched” between the Danes and the Swedes, as a land people: “Everything that is known about the Swedish Getae does not give reason to consider them sea people. 20
What does it say? This suggests that all previous statements about the sea expeditions of immigrants from the Scandinavian countries, dating back to ancient times, require additional and additional research.
What conclusion does the reviewed material lead to? It is quite obvious that the name of the Goths is associated with the history of the barbarians of the so-called era of the Great Migration of Nations, where the main scene is Central Europe and south of East and Western Europe rather than the Scandinavian Peninsula. The communities that arose and disappeared in that chaotic time were not based on a biological community, but on the authority of a successful military leader. The history of these communities, according to Wolfram, equalizes “the concepts of “people” and “army”, thereby remaining on the basis of historical reality ... sources confirm the fundamental multi-ethnicity of gentes. They are not "whole" peoples; they never cover all possible members of the same genus, but are always mixed; their emergence is not a matter of consanguinity, but of internal structure. At first, this means no more than uniting and maintaining the unity of the heterogeneous groups that make up the barbarian army. Leaders and representatives of the “famous”, that is, those families that traced their genealogy from the gods and can prove their charisma with appropriate success, form “traditional centers of gravity”, around which new tribes arise: thanks to them, ethnic communities are fragmented and change their composition. Whoever attributed himself to this tradition, by birth or as a result of trials, was part of the gens, that is, a member of a community that had a common origin not by blood, but by tradition. 21
Consequently, the history of the bearers of the name is ready - this is the history of those fragile multi-ethnic formations that lived as an "army", and not as a "people". In a turbulent whirlpool of events, the name passed from a tribal name to a group of peoples, and a people born in antiquity with one name could change it and continue to live under another. Only the most powerful ethno-political organizations survived this “time of troubles” and, having melted unstable communities in their furnaces, began to form peoples and states by the end of the named era. Ready among such strong ethnopolitical was not.
And if it were not for a special combination of political circumstances, perhaps the name of the Goths would also remain one of the many barbaric names, knowledge of which would not go beyond the orbit of academic education.
True, there is one circumstance over which it is worth reflecting. Gothic rulers gave great attention transcribing the events of his life and work into the form of historical writing. Perhaps other barbarian rulers were the same, perhaps we just know more about the Goths than about others. But nonetheless. There remains, for example, evidence that the Visigoth king Euryx expressed interest in writing the history of the Goths by Apollinaris Sidonius (430-486), a famous Gallo-Roman writer and poet, diplomat, bishop of Clermont. Sidonius turned down the offer. Wolfram deplored this, because, according to him, Sidonius had a serious and accurate knowledge of the history of the Visigoth kings, and we could get rid of many "perhaps" in the study of the history of the Goths. But it was precisely accurate knowledge that caused Sidonius to reject Eurychus' proposal, and also that Eurychus accepted this refusal. The history of the Visigoth kings was written more than a hundred years later by Archbishop Isidore of Seville.
But we use, as you know, the story of Jordanes, who retold the work of Cassiodorus, who served at the court of Theodoric the Great and wrote in 538-539. Not a single fragment of Cassiodorus's work has come down to us, and only his characterization of his work has come down, as an attempt to link the history of the Goths and the Romans, for which he used half-forgotten barbarian legends. These "legends" were retold by Jordan, mentioning on his own behalf about some "ancient songs" of the Goths, on which he relied. Such a description of the history of the emergence of the main work on the Goths is very reminiscent of the emergence of Magnus's work on the Goths, whom he, in turn, tries to "connect" with the Swedish kings.
Therefore, in modern medieval studies, there is not only a critical revision of the myth of the Goths as immigrants from Scandinavia, but also the quality of the source from which this myth grew, namely, Jordan's Getiki. You can read about this in the article by D.S. Konkova - Jordan's "Getika" - Gothic historical legend or conjuncture of the era: the current state of the study of the problem.
And finally: since the history of the Goths is tied to ancient Russian history with various threads, it is time for Russian medievalists to critically rethink what is now known about the Goths and clearly separate the historical substance from the ghost of history created by phrases.
Lydia Groth,
Candidate of Historical Sciences
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Appearance - clothes and shoes, paraphernalia, hairstyles and makeup - are one of the most important components of the subculture. As already mentioned, the legislators of gothic fashion were musicians, whose appearance their fans were guided by, and since the gothic subculture originated on the basis of the punk movement, at the initial stage of its existence, the characteristic importance was attached to individual elements of the punk image - piercings, mohawks and hairstyles in the form of spikes. Thus, the gothic fashion of the 80s was more outrageous than it is now. Representatives of the subculture sewed most of the things for themselves, or altered already purchased clothes (recut, torn, repainted, decorated with stripes, spikes, pins), jewelry was also made from improvised materials. The main elements and attributes of the Gothic image are: black is the predominant color in clothes , characteristic make-up, accessories: ankh - the ancient Egyptian symbol of immortality, crosses, magical or occult signs. Also, the appearance depends on the specific style direction, to which Goth belongs.
Goth clothing can be tight-fitting - tight, loose. Women often wear corsets (velvet, brocade, leather, latex). Men are mostly trousers and shirts. Shoes - often leather boots, on a high platform or on heels (for women - on a thin stiletto heel) with a high top, or army-type boots.
Makeup is used by both men and women, as a rule, it is applied before visiting concerts, clubs, theme parties. Basic makeup elements: white powder, dark eyeliner, black or red lipstick. Sometimes used contact lenses- red, bright green, yellow. The accessories also include piercings and false fangs, in rare cases, representatives of the subculture "decorate" themselves with tattoos. In modern Goths, hairstyles have not changed much, representatives of the subculture wear long hair or hair of medium length, dyed black or bright white, straight or sticking out in different directions, in the form of spikes or mohawks - when the hair on the sides is shaved or cut very short , and from above they are lifted and fixed in the form of spikes or tangled into a lump. Also, some representatives of the subculture prefer clothes stylized in the fashion of the 18th-19th centuries (“Victorian Goths” or “Romantic Goths”). Women wear long dresses, corsets, lace veils, gloves, decorative umbrellas. Men - tailcoats, top hats, blouses, sometimes canes. Sometimes you can see ready "vampire" appearance, in style of clothing they are similar to the Victorian. Among some Goths, Western style is popular - cowboy hats, leather vests, fringe pants, cowboy boots. This style came into fashion thanks to the bands Fields of the Nephilim and The Cult, who used this image to create an image of single romantics. TO this style also adjoin fans of the gotabilly, whose clothing style is retro. Gothic fashion is close in style to such trends as, for example, rivetheads or fans of metal music. This is expressed in the form of accessories that the Goths often wear - chains, collars, things of fetish cultures. In the 1990s, within the Goth subculture, such a direction as cyber-goths stood out, their fashion is a cross between gothic and industrial fashion. Representatives of this style wear clothes and accessories of bright - "acid" colors, made of non-natural fabrics. At present, the Goths cannot afford to maintain their chosen style in Everyday life, so they try to preserve in their appearance at least its individual elements. It is interesting to note that at the present stage, the gothic style is used in their projects by couturiers of various haute couture houses: John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Yoji Yamamoto.
