Jordanes was a Roman clerk living in the 6th
century, who in later life turned to writing historical accounts. One is the Romana, an excerpt of the highlights of Roman
history and the other is the Getica,
telling the history of the Goths. Unfortunately, Jordanes is mixing up Goths
and Getae, the latter being a Thracian or Dacian tribe. The reason for the
confusion is that both tribes lived in what is now Romania. As an overall work of history about the Goths
the Getica is pretty worthless, but
Jordanes uses sources now lost and only available through the Getica. The most important is Cassiodorus’ account of
the Goths.
The Goths were driven away by the Huns in the 370s –
though some Gothic tribes joined the Huns - and they wondered where the Huns so
suddenly came from. This question is still asked by modern historians, but few
would support the version below. Jordanes tells that some Gothic witches were driven
away by king Filimer and that in the desert they had intercourse with evil
spirits. The product of this union are the Huns, which according to all
classical accounts were very ugly and only had a vague resemblance with human
beings. No wonder: they lived in swamps as a dwarfish, repulsive and poor sort
of humans (minutum, tetrum atque exile
quasi hominum genus).
Jordanes refers to an ancient source (ut refert antiquitas), but fails to tell
which source. Whoever it wrote had certainly
some biblical connotations in mind. It could be that it comes from Jordanes
himself, but on the other hand the word Haliurunnas
is definitely Germanic (for details see my notes). So it could be that Jordanes
has used some obscure (Greek?) source going back to a Gothic original. We will
never know…
Jordanes, Getica
XXIV. 121 Post autem non longi temporis intervallo, ut
refert Orosius, Hunnorum gens omni ferocitate atrocior exarsit in Gothos. Nam
hos, ut refert antiquitas, ita extitisse conperimus. Filimer rex Gothorum et
Gadarici magni filius qui post egressu Scandzae insulae iam quinto loco tenens
principatum Getarum, qui et terras Scythicas cum sua gente introisse superius a
nobis dictum est, repperit in populo suo quasdam magas mulieres - quas patrio
sermone Haliurunnas is ipse cognominat - easque habens suspectas, de medio sui
proturbat longeque ab exercitu suo fugatas in solitudinem coegit errare. 122
Quas spiritus inmundi per herimum vagantes dum vidissent et eorum conplexibus
in coitu miscuissent, genus hoc ferocissimum ediderunt, quae fuit primum inter
paludes; minutum, tetrum atque exile
quasi hominum genus nec alia voce notum nisi quod humani sermonis imaginem
adsignabat. Tali igitur Hunni stirpe creati Gothorum finibus advenerunt.
post intervallo:
in Classical Latin post intervallum
ardeo arsi arsum:
to blaze, rage
extitisse; to
have come into existence (In Classical Latin only the present is found)
comperio: to
learn, understand
Filimer: the historicity of this king has been doubted.
Gardaricus:
this name is Gothic enough, but again, historians are not sure about the
historicity.
Scandza insula: Gotland
quinto loco = quintum locum
(what is meant is that Filimer was the fifth king after the Goths left Gotland
superius: i.e. in an earlier part of the Getica
reperio reperi
(repperi) repertum: to find, discover
magas mulieres:
witches (In Germanic tribes some women had the power of divination and this is
probably what is meant. Once in Dacia the Goths were Christianized and it is
likely that if indeed Jordanes uses an unknown Gothic source, these women were
now seen from a Christian perspective.)
Haliurunnas: cf. Old-English helruna `demon’, Old High-German helliruna `necromantia’, halja
is the Old –Norse name for the realm of the death (hence `hell’)
proturbo: to
drive away
inmundus:
unclean (for Immundus spiritus cf.
i.a.. Marc 1,26: Et discerpens eum
spiritus immundus. So the wording has a biblical connotation.)
herimum =
desert (also in the New Testament the place where immani spritus dwell.)
complexus, -us
(m.): embracing
et eorum
conplexibus in coitu miscuissent: cf.
Homeric φιλότητι μιγήμεναι `to mingle in love’, but in coitu is not exactly φιλότητι. As this narrative has a Christian
frame, this description is meant to be derogatory.
edo: to bring
forth
palus, paludis
(f.): swamp
imaginem adsignabat:
has been marked as an imitation of
stirps stirpis
(f.): race, stock
About Jordanes:
Translation by Charles C. Mierow (Princeton University
Press, 1915),
But after a short space of time, as Orosius relates, the
race of the Huns, fiercer than ferocity itself, flamed forth against the Goths.
We learn from old traditions that their origin was as follows: Filimer, king of
the Goths, son of Gadaric the Great, who was the fifth in succession to hold
the rule of the Getae after their departure from the island of Scandza,--and
who, as we have said, entered the land of Scythia with his tribe,--found among
his people certain witches, whom he called in his native tongue Haliurunnae.
Suspecting these women, he expelled them from the midst of his race and
compelled them to wander in solitary exile afar from his army. There the
unclean spirits, who beheld them as they wandered through the wilderness, bestowed
their embraces upon them and begat this savage race, which dwelt at first in
the swamps,--a stunted, foul and puny tribe, scarcely human, and having no
language save one which bore but slight resemblance to human speech. Such was
the descent of the Huns who came to the country of the Goths.
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