A GERMAN, AN ENEMY, AND A HISTORY: IORDANES AND DE ORIGINE ACTIBUSQUE GETARUM
Project no. 209 · Status: Kapanmış · 2016
Summary
This project examines the De origine actibusque Getarum, or the Getica, written in Latin by Iordanes (Jordanes) in the middle of the 6th century. Although Getica is a historical work which was published in İstanbul, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, it narrated the history of the Goths not Romans. In Getica, however, Iordanes mentioned Romans and other peoples of the time in matters related to the history of the Goths and also gave paratext of them. These peoples also included Bulgarians, Sabirs, Ogurs and especially Huns. In the project, Getica is approached as a historical source for Turkic peoples and it is examined for understanding and historicizing the description of Iordanes about them. While doing so, the situation of this subject in the whole text and the relationship between Getica and other texts are emphasized. Moreover, to the extent permitted by the text, it is aimed to identify other sources of information, such as verbal, used by Iordanes. Thus, the quality of the historical data, presented in Getica, is tried to be crystallized. By this way, it is attempted to present the dilemmas and also possibilities and potential implications of the text. In this process, the textual and inter-textual context is formed the basic framework. Thus, it is tried to read this historical text which is a product of Roman literature in a different perspective for understanding of the early period of Turkic history of Western Eurasia. It is expected that this project will make contribution to the studies of Turkic as well as European and Roman history and their concurrent dimensions with this historical text. Key Words: Iordanes, Getica, Turkic People, ‘Northern’ People, Western Eurasia, Late Roman Historiography, Late Roman Empire.