Jordanes (6th-century historian and author of the Getica)

Major works

• Getica (De origine actibusque Getarum): a summary account of Gothic origins, migrations and deeds, composed around the mid-6th century and relying heavily on earlier material, especially a lost history by Cassiodorus.
• Romana: a shorter summary of Roman history from the foundation of the city to Jordanes' present, intended as a compact chronicle.

For further context on his life and writings see a general biographical account and editions or discussions of his texts at textual resources.

Content, sources and reliability

Jordanes himself states that the Getica abridges a more extensive Gothic history produced by Cassiodorus, who served prominent Gothic kings. Because Cassiodorus' ten-book history is lost, Jordanes' digest preserves material otherwise unavailable. The Getica mixes ethnographic tradition, origin myths (including an account locating Gothic ancestors in northern lands often identified with Scandinavia), legendary episodes and historical narrative. Historians treat Jordanes as valuable but problematic: informative about migrations and late antique politics, yet containing conflated chronologies and legendary elements that require careful cross-checking with archaeological and other textual evidence.

Legacy and importance

Jordanes remains one of the principal literary sources for the early history of the Goths and for aspects of the transitional period between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. His concise style made his works durable reference points in medieval and modern scholarship. Modern historians use Jordanes critically, extracting plausible historical cores while noting rhetorical, theological and political influences in his presentation.

Notable facts include his role as a transmitter of Cassiodorus' lost material, his use of Latin for ethnographic narrative, and the enduring influence of the Getica on later understandings of Gothic identity and migration.