Table of Contents

Preface; Map of Ostrogothic Italy; List of rulers; Introduction: studying the barbarians in late antiquity; 1. Ethnicity, ethnography and community in the fifth and sixth centuries; 2. The Ravenna government and ethnographic identity: from civitas to bellicositas; 3. Individual reactions to ideology. I: names, language and profession; 4. Complementary and competing ideals of community: Italy and the Roman empire; 5. Individual reactions to ideology. II: soldiers, civilians and political allegiance; 6. Catholic communities and Christian empire; 7. Individual reactions to ideology. III: Catholics and Arians; 8. The origin of the Goths and Balkan military culture; Conclusion; Appendix 1: the inquiry into Gundila's property; Appendix 2: the Germanic culture construct; Appendix 3: archaeological and toponymic research on Ostrogothic Italy; Appendix 4: dress, hairstyle and military customs; Prosopographical appendix: a prosopography of the Goths in Italy, 489–554.

Promotional Information

A new view of the Goths of Italy, challenging racist, nationalist assumptions about barbarian groups.

Reviews

'This is a marvellous book.' History