The Goths (The Peoples of Europe) [Paperback]

Peter Heather (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0631209328 | ISBN-13: 978-0631209324 | Publication Date: June 16, 1998

The volume is divided into three parts, corresponding to the three main phases in Gothic history: their early history down to the fourth century, the revolution in Gothic society set in motion by the arrival of the Huns, and the history of the Gothic successor states to the western Roman Empire. At its heart lies a new vision of Gothic identity, and of the social caste by whom it was defined and transmitted.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Although they exerted a profound, far-reaching influence on Continental geopolitics, the historical Goths (as opposed to contemporary fans of the Cure and Bauhaus) are little known. Peter Heather provides a readable precis of the Goths' role in ancient and medieval European history, examining the murky origins of various Gothic-speaking groups in the Vistula River region of northern Poland, from which they spread out eastward and southward. Pressured by the expanding Roman empire on one side and migrating Hunnish peoples from Central Asia on the other, the Goths aggressively defended their territory and eventually attacked westward, contributing to the collapse of Rome and establishing Gothic empires in Italy, Spain, and North Africa. Heather's useful book ends with the fall of these governments in the 7th century. --Gregory McNamee

Review

"...a volume of central importance on the place of the Goths in early European history and a fine contribution to the study of the transformation of Europe after Rome." Times Literary Supplement, January 1998.

"... an excellent introduction to the student" Archaeological Review from Cambridge

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Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (June 16, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631209328
• ISBN-13: 978-0631209324
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Where did They Come From?, May 20, 2001

By 

Curt Emanuel (Frankfort, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Goths (The Peoples of Europe) (Paperback)

I find this book difficult to categorize. I recognize a fine work, but one which didn't fit what I was looking for.

By and large, what this volume does is trace the development of the Goths as an ethnic group - after the 4th century as two separate groups, the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. Regarding the early cultures, the Wielbark, Cernjachov and Przeworsk, he relies heavily on archeological finds, supplemented with the writings of Tacitus, Pliny, and others.

Later, as the Goths became more heavily involved with Rome, he relies more heavily on written accounts, though archaeological remains are still mentioned.

This work is divided into three parts. Part one relates the origin of the Goths, their migration patterns, and how by the Fourth Century they had evolved into several distinct, yet related groups, that were in a position to have a significant impact on the Roman Empire.

Part Two discusses those interactions, how the Huns pushed the Goths toward the Empire and how this impetus made itself known through events such as Hadrianople. It discusses the final division (according to Heather) of the Goths into Visigothic and Ostrogothic Kingdoms and how these two groups came to power in Spain and Italy, respectively.

Part Three discusses the Goths after 476. For the most part, it concentrates on the Ostrogoths with little mention of the Visgothic Kingdom in Spain. This section is largely narrative, with quite a bit oftime spent on how Theoderic built his kingdom, how it suffered in his later years and following his death and, finally, how it was destroyed during Justinian's reconquest.

I have been deliberately vague with this account. I have little knowledge of the ethnic development and acculturation of the Goths and am unable to comment on the accuracy of Heather's account. The two areas I would have been interested in; how the Goths lived, and their administrative systems, received little mention.

I was also disappointed at the relative lack of attention paid to the Visigoths. While he goes into considerable detail regarding the end of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, there is virtually no mention of how and why the Visigoths were overcome by Islam in Spain.

If you are interested in the ethnic development of late ancient/early medieval cultures, then this book would be excellent. Heather goes into great detail to support his arguments and, from that standpoint, it is rather easy to see why, for example, he does not believe that the Visigoths actually formed until 418, rather than earlier as Jordanes relates.

However, he ignores the Goths insofar as how they lived. How were they organized - did they live in villages, cities; were they agrarian or nomadic; how large were their family units, etc. These questions are largely unanswered. What were the primary offices of their government and how did they operate? These are issues which interest me more than an in-depth discussion of the demographics of migration patterns.

To each his own however. There is a great deal of information contained here and the individual interested in the ethnic development of the Goths should certainly read this book.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ian Myles Slater on: A Modern Look at "The Barbarians", October 10, 2003

By 

Ian M. Slater "aylchanan" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Goths (The Peoples of Europe) (Paperback)

This entire book is not all that much longer than the notes, bibliography, and index of the roughly contemporary translation of Herwig Wolfram's "History of the Goths," which should tell you immediately that the approach is rather different. Both are worth the serious student's time, but as part of the Peoples of Europe series "The Goths" is clearly intended to serve as an introduction to the main events, persons, and problems.

Peter Heather's view of the emergence, actions, divisions, and fates of the people (or groups) identified in Greek and Latin texts as Goths, Ostrogoths, and Visigoths is modern and sophisticated, but a lot less ponderous and a lot more conclusive than Wolfram's sifting of the evidence. He frequently disagrees with Wolfram (for reasons which can sometimes be traced in Wolfram's extended discussions and notes), but Heather reaches reasonable conclusions at each stage. He proceeds to build on them, to a limited extent, while trying to keep speculation firmly under control.

This attempt to stay true to available data tends to limit what is covered. At the turn of the century, a limited amount of archeology and a lot of data gathered from later Germanic peoples were thrown together to produce detailed descriptions of the supposed daily lives and customs of the Goths. Instead of these interesting descriptions, we find only the most careful use of archeological and comparative data to flesh out the meager record. This is not as satisfying, but a lot more trustworthy.

What once were accepted conclusions about how the Goths behaved and governed in Gaul, Spain, and Italy also have been called into question. Instead, we are left with questions of how they exploited the territories they occupied, and who was doing the administering. Heather makes some reasonable suggestions, but avoids getting more specific than the evidence will warrant. The result is heavily weighted to military and political events, which were what contemporary reports mainly described.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good except for one omission, September 26, 2002

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Goths (The Peoples of Europe) (Paperback)

I just had a very brief comment to make.

Overall, I found this book contained a lot of good information about the Goths. I would have liked more information on the Visigoths, as he doesn't really discuss where they came from, how they were organized and so on, very much. Except for this one main omission, a good history, overall.

Aside from the history contained here, I found this book valuable for the brief discussion in the introduction about the practical and theoretical difficulties of connecting cultural traits with a people's identity, and vice-versa. I hadn't thought about this before, except in vague terms. Heather shows the problems with this approach to history and civilization.