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It recounts the origin and the history of the Gothic People as collected mainly from Cassiodorus , who had written a much more extensive work on the Gothic people and their history (the now lost ''Gothic History''). That Jordanes owed almost everything in his recension to the original work of Cassiodorus is scarcely disputed, for in his Preface Jordanes presents his simple plan "to condense in my own style in this small book the twelve volumes of the Senator on the origin and deeds of the ''Getae'' from olden times to the present day." Merger with Dacian history The first parts of the books actually retells the history of the Getae . The original title in latin ''De origine actibusque Getarum'', translates as ''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae''. The Getae (singular Geton) were the name ancient historians gaved to the Dacian s living to the east of the land of the Dacia , in what are today south-eastern Romania, Republic of Moldova, southern Ukraine and northern Bulgaria. His account is interesting from the point of view of the history of the Dacians, because he uses data from works which were later lost during the Middle Ages. Perhaps in order to make up for their not very prestigious origins in the distant and barbaric Scandza , Jordanes (or probably Cassiodorus , on which Jordanes based his book) made use of classic sources putting the Goths in the place Dacians . Probably, the main reason for the confusion was the similarity of the names of Getae and Goths, and the fact that the first place where the Goths settled after their departure from Northern Europe ( Oium ) was the same were many of the Getae had retreated following the Dacian Wars (101-102 and 105-106 A.D.), that is modern southern Ukraine. After their seconds migration, the Goths would settle Dacian inhabited lands (Dacia, Moesia , Scythia Minor ), hence a continuation of the missinterpretation. Another possible reason is the time that ''Getica'' written, sometimes in the 6th century, very late compared to the subject it reffers. By that time the Goths had been influenced by the Dacians with whome they had contact with. The Goths first contact with Christianity is from the native Dacian (partially) christianised population. Sava The Romanian , apparantelly a Goth, was accompanied by Dacian priests. Ulfilas , the "apostle to the Goths", had his biography written by the Dacian Auxentius Durostorensis . Even Cassiodorus, on whose writings the ''Getica'' is based, was a close friend of the Dacian Dionysius Exiguus . The sources on which the ''Getica'' was based appear to contain very ancient histories, which didn`t reach us today (e.g.: the twelve volumes of Cassiodorus ). It appears that they even preserved records of the time of the last separation of the numerous indo-european tribes from north of the Black Sea . This is suggested by the fact that Jordanes records speak about the history of the people who would later be known as Getae, Massagetae ("the big Getae), Scythians , Parthians , etc. Jordanes wrote that the Goths fought Sesostris , the king of Egypt (1291 BC-1212 BC) under their king Tanausis . After a battle at the river of Phasis , in Georgia , they pursued the Egyptians all the way back to Egypt. After Tanausis death, the Goths were once away pillaging, and a neighbouring tribe tried to kidnap the Goth women. However, the women defended themselves and defeated the attackers under the leaders Lampeto and Lampesia . The two leaders cast lots, and Lampesia pursued the enemy into Asia where she conquered many tribes and apparently formed the Amazons . The Goth king Antyrus was approached by Darius , the king of Persia ( 521 to 485 BC ), who wanted to marry his daughter. Antyrus refused the marriage and was attacked by Darius, and after Darius by his son Xerxes . None of the attacks was successful. Philip II allied with the Goths by marrying Medopa who was the daughter of king Gudila (a Getae/Thracian king). However, Philip needed gold and wanted to pillage the town of Odessos , a town belonging to the Goths. The Goths sent out their Godi s who were dressed in white and played harps, chanting to their gods to help them. This stunned the Macedonian s so much that they returned. Much later, a king named Sitalces (also a Getae/Thracian king 431 - 424 BC ) wanted revenge, gathered 150 000 men and attacked the Athenians . He fought Perdiccas II , whom Alexander I had left as a ruler, and the Goths laid Greece waste. When Burebista was king (a Dacian/Getae king 70 BC - 44 BC ), he received a priestly reformer named Decaeneus , and this Decaeuneus advised the Goths to pillage Germania . He also gave the Goths laws, named ''bi-lageineis'' (''lag'' = ''law''), taught them logic, philosophy and astrology. Then he selected a priestly elite who was taught theology and named them the ''Pilleati'' (those who wore felt hats). The remainder of the Goths were called the ''Capillati'' (bare-headed). Julius Caesar tried to subdue the Goths without success, and the Goths also remained free during the reign of Tiberius . When Decaeneus was dead, Comosicus took his place, and after Comosicus, Scoryllus ruled the Goths in Dacia . A long time passed and the Romans were ruled by Emperor Domitian (A.D. 81 - 96 ). As the Goths (historically, the Dacians) feared his avarice, they broke the truce with the Romans and pillaged the banks of the Danube and killed the soldiers and the generals. At this time Diurpaneus (king Duras-Diurpaneus of Dacia 69 – 86 or Decebalus who ruled 87 - 106 ) was king of the Goths and Oppius Sabinus was the governor of Moesia (having succeeded Fontejus Agrippa ( 69 – 70 ). In 85 , the Goths (Dacians) beheaded Oppius Sabinus and plundered many Roman cities and fortifications. Domitian arrived with the legions to Illyria and sent Fuscus with a selected force. Fuscus used boats to build a Pontoon Bridge and crossed the Danube upstreams from the Goths. The Gothic army defeated the Romans, killed Fuscus and pillaged the Roman camp ( 86 AD). The Goths' proper history After this use of Dacian, Thracian and Scythian history, Jordanes returns to Gothic tradition by reciting the line of descent of the Gothic royal family from Gapt (Gaut or Odin ). This digression is followed by a statement that the Goths entered Moesia and Thrace in the late 2nd Century where they stayed for some time. Based on Quintus Aurelius Symmachus , he writes that Emperor Maximinus Thrax ( 235 AD - 238 AD) was the son of a Goth who arrived at this time and an Alan woman. IMPORTANCE Because Cassiodorus' original version has not survived, Jordanes' work is one of the most important sources for the period of the migration of the European tribes, and the Ostrogoths and Visigoths in particular, from the 3rd century CE. Cassiodorus' work claims to have the Gothic "Folk songs" -- the ''Carmina Prisca'' (Latin) -- as a prime source. Recent scholarship regards this as highly questionable. The main purpose of the original work (Cassiodorus's) was to give the Gothic ruling class a glorious past - to match the past of the senatorial families of Roman Italy. The book is important to some medieval historians because it mentions the campaign in Gaul of one Riothamus , "King of the Brettones," who was possibly a Source Of Inspiration For The Early Stories Of King Arthur . The classic edition is that of 19th-century German Classical Scholar Theodor Mommsen (in ''Monumenta Germ. hist. auct. antiq.,'' v. ii.). The best surviving manuscript was the ''Heidelberg manuscript'', written in Heidelberg , Germany , probably in the 8th century, but this was destroyed in a fire at Mommsen's house. The next of the manuscripts in historical value are the ''Vaticanus Palatinus'' of the 10th century, and the ''Valenciennes manuscript'' of the 9th century. EXTERNAL LINKS
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