What is goth. What are they, the ancient Goths

Goths. Early history (before 376)

Since the East Germanic tribes, to which the Goths belong, came into contact with the Romans quite late, their early history is known to us only from information derived from their own tradition, sometimes indistinguishable from Germanic heroic tales and sagas. The Ostrogothic historian Jordanes, whose works are based on the lost history of the Goths of Cassiodorus, calls the ancestral home of the Goths "the island of Skandza" (Jordan, On the origin and deeds of the Getae, translated by E. Ch. Skrzhinskaya, St. Petersburg 1997, 25. Further - Jordan)). At the same time, disputes still continue whether this island should be identified with the island of Gotland or Jester and Westergotland (Jordan, 9. Cf. also Wenskus, S. 442ff. Cf. Wagner, Getica, S. 214). From this country in the pre-Christian era, a significant part of the Goths moved across the Baltic Sea to the Vistula region, although some of them remained in Scandinavia: (Wenskus, S. 434). as early as the beginning of the 6th century, there was a constant communication between the Ostrogoths in Italy and the Scandinavian Goths (Jordan, 24). Similar events - the resettlement of a part of the Goths and the settling of another part in the former area of ​​​​settlements - will be repeated more than once in the future. According to the burials, the arrival of the Goths in the Vistula region should be attributed to the 1st century BC. e. The former population was subjugated or expelled from their lands. Around the middle of the 2nd century AD. e. the Goths turned their eyes to the south. Jordan considers overpopulation to be the main reason. And this time, a certain number of Goths remained in place: from them, apparently, a tribe of Gepids was formed (Wenskus, S. 469). The new migration, probably stretching for long years, led the Goths to South Russia, where they entrenched themselves in the area between the Dnieper and the Don, (Jordan, 30 et seq.). although the archaeological data relating to this period are difficult to unambiguously interpret (Thompson, S. 2).

Apparently, during migrations and settlement over a vast territory, ties between parts of the once united Gothic tribe weakened (Schmidt, S. 197). By the time of Emperor Claudius II (268-270), mentions of the Ostrogoths and Visigoths as separate tribes first appear (Wenskus, S. 472). Jordan believes that they got their names on a geographical basis. However, most likely the first component of the word "Ostrogoths" comes from *austra (shining), and in the name "Visigoths" the Indo-European *uesu (good) should be distinguished, so that in the end we can talk about laudatory self-names. Therefore, it would be more correct to speak of Ostrogoths and Visigoths (Schmidt, S. 203). However, we will follow the generally accepted word usage. Close relations remained between the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths for many centuries. Transitions from one tribe to another, as well as marriages between representatives of these two tribes, are repeatedly attested. Therefore, we have every right to speak of two different nationalities of one Gothic tribe (Wenskus, S. 475).

When in the Roman Empire in the 30s of the III century. n. e. a severe crisis broke out, the Goths crossed the lower Danube and devastated neighboring lands (Schmidt, S. 203). The raids stopped only when the Romans agreed to pay an annual tribute to the Goths. After the cessation of payments, the Goths - this time together with other East Germanic tribes - again attacked the empire (Jordan, 90 et seq.). For several decades, the lands along the lower Danube, as well as the entire Balkan Peninsula, remained the scene of fierce struggle. A particularly great threat to the empire was the Gothic attacks on Asia Minor, as well as the pirate campaigns that the Pontic tribe of Borani led with significant Gothic support and which caused significant damage to almost the entire eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The position of the empire improved only after the emperor Claudius II in 269 inflicted a heavy defeat on the Goths at Nis. Under the emperor Aurelian, who defeated the Visigoths in 271 in Thrace and Illyria, peace returned to the Danubian lands; however, not least this was facilitated by the departure of the Romans from the province of Dacia. After the garrisons, imperial employees, the aristocracy and, probably, a significant part of the former population were withdrawn to the southern bank of the Danube, the Goths occupied the abandoned lands without a fight (C. Daicoviciu, La Transsylvanie dans l "antiquit, Bukarest 1945). At the turn of III and In the 4th century AD, the Goths inhabited an area bordered by the Danube in the south, the Olt (left tributary of the Danube) in the west, and most likely the Dniester in the north (Thompson, S. 4). In 322, a treaty was concluded giving the Visigoths the status of federates, according to which they undertook, for annual payments, to defend the frontiers of the empire and supply military units for service in the imperial troops (Stein, S. 198). Germans, since the Gothic auxiliaries during their service had to become more familiar with the Roman way of life.

The fact that after the conclusion of the treaty in 322, not a single mention of the Visigoths appears in the sources for three and a half decades, speaks of rather friendly relations; however, judging by various indirect evidence, Roman power in the border lands noticeably weakened (Thompson, S. 13).

The exodus of the Goths from Scandinavia seems to have been accompanied by significant changes in the organization of society (Wenskus, S. 467). So, it should be assumed that already at that time there was a certain social ruling class. Jordan reports that the migration took place under King Berig; thus, the existence of an institution of royal power, sacred in its origin, seems undeniable. Since Tacitus also speaks of the power and authority of the Gothic king, the crossing of the Baltic Sea must have contributed to the further rise of the kings among the Goths (Tacitus, Germany, 42).

In South Russia, the Goths fell under the influence of the Sarmatian nomadic tribes and became so similar to them in their way of life that Roman sources do not always distinguish between the Germanic and Sarmatian tribes of South Russia (Wenskus, S. 469). The characteristic landscape, the wide southern Russian plains, probably also contributed to the "nomadic" Goths. Sarmatian influence may also be attributed to the introduction of the decimal system into military organization. The evolution of royal power during the South Russian period is unclear. Jordanes gives the names of several kings who were not included in the family tree of the Amals, the late Ostrogothic royal dynasty (Jordan, 26). The king of Ostrogoths (possibly legendary), according to Jordanes, who ruled the Ostrogoths, nevertheless appears in the Amal genealogy (Jordan, 82; cf. however 98). Perhaps there was a change of dynasties, accompanied by a political break between the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths, since Ostrogoth failed to achieve recognition from all the Gothic peoples (Wenskus, S. 472).

We are somewhat better informed about the situation after the capture of Dacia. If until then the tribe had entered into only fleeting and always hostile contacts with the Roman world, now it settled on land that had belonged to the empire for a century and a half. Although it would be wrong to say that already at that time borrowings from Roman culture, which was at a higher stage of development, began, nevertheless, it was then that the first peaceful contact between the Visigoths and the provincial Romans took place. Thus, the process of Romanization began, which ended only in the 7th century. It is not known how the relationship between the newcomers-Goths and the Romans who remained on their lands developed. Apparently, the Visigoths avoided settling in Roman cities. At the cemetery of Satana de Mures, ceramics were found, the ornament of which is a mixture of Germanic and Roman motifs. Other finds from the same site speak of the cultural influence of the Romans on the Visigoths (Thompson, S. 34). This process was noticeably intensified due to the intensive trade of the Visigoths with the border provinces of the empire.

During this period, it is no longer possible to speak of a single royal authority, to which all groups of the Visigoths were subject. The political leaders are the kings, who received the names reguli and basiliskoi in Roman and Greek sources (Schmidt, S. 243). and, apparently, transferring their power by inheritance (This is evidenced by the fact that Ataris was the son of the king Rotestey (Thompson, S. 54). Queen Gaata transferred power to her son Arimer (Thompson, S. 158) They ruled over small clans , and their power for the most part was based on the retinue (Thompson, S. 43, 52).

The whole tribe could, in special situations, unite under the leadership of one leader. Such a leader after 364 was Athanaric, whom our sources call "judge" (iudex, dikastes) (Thompson, S. 44). By the time of the missionary activity of Wulfila. we find an unnamed "judge" who may well be considered the leader of the whole tribe (Thompson, S. XVIII). Probably, some unknown to us Gothic term lies at the basis of the word usage of the sources. Atanaric himself demanded that the Romans call him not a king, but a judge, since the first implies authority, and the second wisdom. Apparently, the Visigoths believed that the king had not only power, which Athanaric undoubtedly possessed, but also a certain sacredness (Wenskus, S. 322). Athanaric's functions were for the most part military leadership, so that he could be called a duke, if this word is understood in its original meaning, that is, a commander (W. Schlesinger, uber germanisches Heerkoenigtum, in: Beitrage zur deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte des Mittelalters, Bd I, Gottingen, 1963, S. 57f. See also H.-D. Kahl, Europaeische Wortschatzbewegungen im Bereich der Verfassungsgeschichte, ZRG germ. 77, 1960, S. 198). Atanaric commanded a squad that remained with him even after the Visigoths left him as a result of the defeat from the Huns (Schmidt, S. 418). If Atanaric was the sole military leader of the Visigoths, then more ancient sources allow us to conclude that the Visigoths initially chose two dukes. At the time of Constantine the Great, two leaders are mentioned, Ariarich and Aorich, whose successor, however, was Geberic alone (Jordan, 112). "Judges" were appointed to their office by the assembly of the tribe. The Passion of St. Saba mentions an assembly of "megistans" (nobility) that decided on the persecution of Christians (Passio S. Sabae, ed. H. Delehaye, Analecta Bollandiana 31, 1912, S. 216-221). This assembly consisted of people who enjoyed the greatest respect among their fellows or distinguished themselves by nobility of origin (Thompson, S. 49). We can say with confidence that the kings participated in the meetings. The question of the participation of broad popular circles is not clear. E. A. Thompson denies the existence of a national assembly and is of the opinion that the central body of all the Visigothic clans was only the assembly of megistans; (Thompson, S. 49). L. Schmidt, on the contrary, equates the assembly of megistans with the people's assembly (Schmidt, S. 244). When in 376 the Goths decided to ask the Roman Empire to accept them on Roman soil, this decision was preceded by long discussions (Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History, trans. Yu. A. Kulikovsky, A. I. Sonni, St. Petersburg 1994, 31, 3, 8. Further - Ammian Marcellin). Jordanes speaks of a "common decision" (communi consilio) of the Visigoths to enter into negotiations with Emperor Valens (Jordan, 131). It remains unclear whether these messages point to a popular assembly. The Passion of St. Saba further mentions the village council, which, however, had very limited powers (Thompson, S. 66). The Visigoths became acquainted with Christianity in the 3rd century. In the course of their predatory raids on the Roman Empire, they captured many prisoners, among whom were Christians. The conversion of the Goths was carried out primarily by Christians from Cappadocia. What role, along with this, the Dakoroman population played in the spread of Christianity is unknown (Schmidt, S. 235). Most likely, Christianity for a long time remained the religion of the lower strata of the Visigothic society, which consisted of foreigners.

The existence of Christian communities is confirmed by the request of the Christians of the Gothic lands for the appointment of a bishop. In response to this request, the Patriarch of Constantinople sent Wulfila, whose parents, who came from Cappadocia, were captured by the Visigoths and who himself was born in the Visigothic state. He spent some years in Constantinople, where he was ordained a priest (Thompson, S. XIV). Wulfila was not destined to prove himself among the Visigoths: approximately 7 years after his appointment, around 348, he was forced to leave the country along with his community. He and his followers took refuge in the Roman Empire, where, at the behest of Emperor Constantius, they settled in the region of Nikopol on Istra (now Tarnovo, Bulgaria). The descendants of settlers lived there as early as the middle of the 6th century. They were called small Goths (Gothi minores), they led a very poor life in this meager area and were considered incapable of war (Jordan, 267). Since the descendants of the Wulfila community were called Goths, it should be assumed that a significant part of the Christians expelled around 348 were Goths. Wulfila, even after settling within the Roman Empire, continued to zealously strive to spread the true faith among the Visigoths. He developed the Gothic alphabet, which enabled him to translate books into Gothic. Until this time, only the runic alphabet was known to the Goths, used more for religious and magical practice than for literary purposes (Thompson, S. 31). Writing activity Wulfila assumed considerable size (Thompson, S. 115). His main work was the translation of the Bible into the Gothic language, from which only fragments have come down to us in the so-called Silver Codex. The rest of Wulfila's works have not come down to us: since their author was a heretic, they were destroyed. Wulfila lived during the Christological controversy, when the Church was concerned about the relationship between the divine and human nature in Christ (M. Werner, Die Entstehung des christlichen Dogmas, 1959). Although the Gothic bishop took a middle position in this discussion, he was later condemned as an Arian (Thompson, S. XXI). Perhaps it was his activity that led to the fact that after a while the Visigoths converted to Arianism.

With the expulsion of the Wulfila community, however, Christianity was not completely eradicated. Along with the Arians, there were also Orthodox and Audians among the Goths. The sect of the Audians, whose founder Audiius especially emphasized the anthropomorphic appearance of God, even achieved great success and founded many monasteries (Schmidt, S. 236).

In the period from 369 to 372 years. By decision of the council of megistans, a general persecution of Christians took place, based on anti-Roman sentiments, which were extremely strong among the Visigoths. Apparently, all Christians, no matter what sect in the church they belonged to, were considered enemy minions (Thompson, S. 99). In one church, 26 Christians were martyred. The Goths of Saba, Inna, Pina and Rima also became victims of persecution, so it can be assumed that the Christian doctrine was not unsuccessfully spread among the Goths.

Gothic paganism left behind only meager traces. The cult of the gods was organized by separate families, which had their own idols and their own priests (Schmidt, S. 248; Thompson, S. 60). Apparently, there never existed a cult common to all the Visigoths. God, whom Jordanes calls by the Roman name Mars, human sacrifices were offered (Jordan, 41). During the persecution of Christians 369-372. Athanaric carried a wooden idol around the country, which he forced Christians to worship. The Passion of St. Saba records cult meals (Thompson, S. 99). Apart from this, we hardly know anything else about the rites and content of Gothic beliefs.

Goths are a subculture shrouded in secrets, rumors and rhinestones. Who are these mysterious "men in black" who love the night, vampires and charming romantic-tragic stories? How do they live, what do they preach and how do they seek the meaning of life? We will introduce the reader to this unusual and rather bold youth movement, tell us about who these people are and what they bring to the world. True, the Goths are a subculture that cannot be briefly described. It is too complex and multifaceted, and therefore even more interesting.

Gothic origins

Youth subculture"Goths" is a relatively new movement, which is not yet 40 years old. The first representatives of the "men in black" appeared in the UK in 1979-1980. Interestingly, the "ancestors" of the Goths were none other than the punks. A new genre of music called "gothic rock" also contributed to the development of this "dark" subculture. This music was based on intellectual and philosophical conclusions about the meaning of life, as well as on dark romance and nihilism, which denies any meaning of human existence. Most prominent representatives this musical genre- groups The Cure, Christian Dead, Bauhaus. At the same time, in the wake of the development of the Gothic subculture in London, the world-famous Batcave club opened, which contributed to the expansion of this movement among young people.

Dark romantics

Goths are a subculture associated with gloominess. A typical goth is easy to recognize: black clothes and hair, thickly summed up, as if drawn in charcoal eyes, the same lips and, of course, nails. In addition, on every decent goth you can see an abundance of all kinds of metal chains, vintage silver jewelry, including piercings. In addition, Goths often decorate themselves with themed tattoos.

Beautiful representatives of this subculture - the Goths - dress in clothes decorated with lace, puffs, frills and flounces. Also, goth ladies adore corsets with and without lacing, long dresses and skirts. When choosing a fabric, preference is given to velvet, velor, suede, latex, vinyl and satin. Color can be red, burgundy, purple. However, black dominates. Goths are a subculture that does not recognize light shades.

Looking inside

In order to be a goth, it is not enough to wear black clothes, draw dark eyes and apply black lipstick on your lips. It's not about the color of the clothes and not about the appearance - it's about the state of mind, without which a goth is not a goth, but a cheap caricature.

Goths are a subculture whose name in English sounds like "goths" and literally means "barbaric, rude." These informals are walking negativity, despondency and depression in one bottle. They do not believe in God and goodness, and their love is always dark, tragic and meaningless. It is interesting that in death the Goths find their own special romanticism, their own philosophy.

However, "the devil is not so terrible ...". Goths live by the principle of "die with a smile", express themselves through clothing, appearance, special music, paintings. They spend their whole lives in search of beauty, finding it even where, it would seem, it cannot be.

The fact is that it is vital for the Goths to constantly experience sad emotions, thanks to which they are in a detached state of hopelessness, mental pain and incessant despair. These "black angels" perceive every day of their lives as the last and try to live it as emotionally as possible, believing only in themselves.

Light "dark"

Goths are not born - they are made. There are different reasons for this, and for each it is different.

Psychologists agree that shy, timid, vulnerable and defenseless people are hiding behind a frightening mask and black clothes. Dressing their bodies in gothic robes, painting their faces, and wearing ornaments, they try to protect themselves from the harsh realities of the world around them. You can be sure that before becoming a Goth, a young man or girl experienced a severe mental trauma. They close in on themselves, fixate on their resentment and do not let anyone inside. It is easier for them to live without hoping for a miracle - so at least no one will hurt them. Melt frozen heart only patience, infinite kindness, understanding and sincere love can gotha.

Dancing in the graveyard

Goths are mostly loners. They do not have the usual hierarchy, no one dominates anyone, everyone is equal. However, like any living being, they periodically need to communicate with their own kind.

Favorite place ready - resting places and abandoned buildings. The cemetery for the Goths is a kind of temple, a place saturated with tragedy, sadness and death.

It is there that they find a kind of solace, draw inspiration and hide from overly prying eyes. Goths are a subculture that is not associated with aggression. Unlike Satanists, they are not prone to vandalism, sacrifices and other terrible acts.

Their main activities are writing poems and songs in the style of "horror", writing original paintings with a Gothic meaning, discussing the frailty of life.

Evolution ready

In addition to the "classic" representatives of the gothic movement, cyber-goths are increasingly common - a subculture that has evolved towards technogenic development.

Representatives of this movement look a little different than the "standard" Goths. For example, their clothes are usually made of high-tech materials - no velvet and velor! Only vinyl, mesh, phosphorescent plastic. Of the jewelry, instead of the usual chains, wires are put on, pendants and earrings are various gears, molecular compounds.

From the "classic fashion" ready cyber-goths left eyeliner, painted lips and nails. True, representatives of this movement gravitate not to black, but to acidic, bright colors.

Their worldview is very different from the classic Gothic: the essence of this subculture is based on literature in the style of "cyberpunk", "sci-fi" and "post-apocalyptic". Cyber-Goths are confident in the inevitability of a man-made or any other catastrophe that will entail the death of all life, and it is technology that will save humanity.

Hence the attraction to the "unearthly", "cosmic" appearance, shiny elements in clothes, colored high boots and fancy glasses. Cyber ​​Goths love electronic music.

The Goths are tribes that emerged from Scandinavia in the 1st century AD. In the 2nd-3rd centuries they actively advanced across Europe and conquered its eastern part. In the middle of the 3rd century, the Gothic tribes reached the Northern Black Sea region. Presumably, it was there that mixing of the Goths with other tribes that had a more developed culture took place, as a result of which the cultivation of the Gothic tribes accelerated. Around the same time, the adoption of the Christian faith by the Goths took place. Interestingly, before the adoption of Christianity, the religious Gothic world was quite extensive, it included wolves, nature spirits, and totemism.

By the beginning of the 4th century, the Gothic tribes had already attacked Asia Minor, the Balkans and conquered Dacia. The ancient Goths made their invasions and continued to develop successfully until the middle of the 4th century. The tribe of the Huns, forced to defend their lands from attacks, dealt a significant blow to the Goths, as a result of which the number of the Gothic tribe was significantly reduced, and the rest was divided into two tribes. Each tribe had its own king, chose its own path and acquired a new name. These tribes became known as Ostrogoths and Visigoths.

Ostrogoths and Visigoths

The formation of these two communities occurred as a result of the collapse of a single community ready. The Visigoths, or as they were also called by the Tervings, occupied vast areas from the Danube to the Dnieper. So it was until in 376 AD, they were attacked by the Huns and fleeing, they moved to the Roman Empire, where they settled. Then in 507, under the onslaught of Clovis I, the king of the Franks, the Goths fled to Spain, and in the 8th century they were completely exterminated by the Arabs.

The Ostrogoths, or Greutungs, settled in the lands between the Black and Baltic Seas. After a clash with the Huns, the partially defeated Ostrogoths were forced to flee and settle in the vicinity of the Danube. Having got used to it a little and having gained strength, they conquered Italy and created a kingdom in it. In the 6th century, the Ostrogoths were nevertheless defeated by Justinian I, the Byzantine emperor.

Robes of the Ancient Goths

It is very difficult to judge the clothes of the Goths today, since the last tribes of the Goths were exterminated in the 15th century. But referring to the writings of ancient historians and excavations of the remains of the graves of the Goths, one can form a generalized idea. So, Goth men dressed in pants that fit the body and raincoats with one or two fasteners. Often a spike was used as a fastener.
The robes of women were similar to those of men, but at the same time they wore cloaks more often sleeveless. There were cases when, during excavations, a bone comb was found on the heads of women. Also in the writings of historians there are moments describing women's jewelry, or rather, beads made of carnelian and amber. Almost all Goths wore belts, while men hung a knife on it, and some women - bags and jewelry.

The culture of the ancient Goths

The ancient Goths among the most developed were such handicraft areas as glass, leather and metallurgical. In view of the militancy of the Goths, the processing of metals and the manufacture of weapons was especially important to them.
Also, the need to conquer new lands for the possibility of existence determined their spiritual culture. War games and competitions were widespread among the Goths. According to the writings of ancient authors, the most common competition among the Goths was a game reminiscent of modern horse riding. The Goth mounted a horse and rode it in a circle while gaining speed, in parallel he threw a spear and caught it himself.

In the culture of the ancient Goths, jewelry craft was of great importance. It was it that was the most developed, along with glass and metallurgical. By processing metal, stones and glass, they made jewelry for the body and clothing. In addition, an image of the king of the Goths Theodoric, made of multi-colored pebbles, was found in Naples Square.

In the 1st-3rd centuries AD, only intra-tribal marriages were acceptable among the Goths. Excavations show that during this period, the Goths mastered weaving, leather, glass, blacksmithing and carpentry crafts to varying degrees. At the end of the 3rd century, there was a mixture of Gothic tribes with other, more developed ones. The result of mixing was accelerated cultural development and the development of new crafts. So there was a change in the customs and mentality of the Gothic tribe.

The Gothic worldview is a complex concept that is quite difficult to describe. In general, it can be characterized as a tendency to a “dark” perception of the world, a certain romantic-depressive outlook on life, reflected in behavior (isolation, frequent depression, melancholy, increased vulnerability), perception of reality (misanthropy, a refined sense of beauty, addiction to supernatural), relations with society (not accepting stereotypes, standards of behavior and appearance, antagonism with society, isolation from it).

Also a characteristic feature of most Goths is a special, semi-romantic perception of death. Also characteristic features of the ready are "artistic" and the desire for self-expression (manifested in the work on their own appearance, the creation of poetry, painting, and other types of creativity).

It is important, however, to keep in mind that all of the above does not apply to all Goths. Moreover, one can even say that such manifestations of the Gothic worldview as a state of constant depression and total isolation, which are quite rare. This state of affairs gave rise to a conditional division of the Goths into two types. A subset of the Goths (usually smaller ones), often referred to in the West as "Mopey Goths", are characterized by an emphatically serious attitude towards the "Gothic worldview", however, a large part (the so-called "Perky Goths") take the subculture less "seriously". They are attracted by the aesthetic side of the subculture, the possibilities of self-expression, certain aspects of the Gothic worldview, but they do not put it "at the forefront". There is a certain confrontation between these views on the Gothic subculture, which, however, does not lead to any significant changes in the structure of the Gothic subculture.

Among this subculture, one can often find something in common with the culture of BDSM, although participation in one does not at all mean any participation in the other.

The image is ready

Cyber ​​goth in monastic-inspired clothing

The Goths have their own recognizable image, which has recently undergone significant changes. No matter how Gothic develops, two main elements remain unchanged: the predominant black color of clothing (sometimes with elements of other colors), as well as exclusively silver jewelry - gold is not used in principle, since it is regarded as a symbol of ordinary, hackneyed values, as well as the color of the sun ( silver is the color of the moon).

In terms of image, the early Goths differed from the punks only in the dominant black color of clothing and hair (with white, red, blue or purple accents) and silver jewelry. They wore torn clothes and even mohawks, although the Mohawk of the Goths was usually black and much wider than that of the punks (shaved only on the sides, at the temples). Many called them Dark Punks (Dark Punks) for their external similarity and at the same time a gloomy difference. Also, Goths often used mesh in their clothes (usually sleeves for men) and had an original make-up style: a very white face with a lot of black eyeliner (both men and women).

Initially, men had short and combed hair, but towards the end of the 80s, long black hair became preferable, and now shaved on the sides and sticking up the hair of the Goths can be found much less often than long flowing. Make-up has remained part of the image, and clothing has become more diverse: now some wear clothes with the influence of the XVIII - early XIX century, others prefer vinyl, leather and mesh. Some wear both, although rarely at the same time. Black and white remain the dominant colors, although sometimes red, blue, purple, or, occasionally, green (more common in Cyber ​​Goths) also appear. The most used materials remain silk, wrinkled velvet, leather, vinyl and mesh.

Although all Gothic clothing is characterized by the predominance of gloomy colors, it is very diverse in its manifestations: from an ordinary leather skirt for a girl to a jester's harlequin outfit for a young man. The general context brings together many styles and styles of clothing, although leather remains the most common and versatile material. The general style of clothing, as a rule, is catchy, but at the same time strict, often with a certain eroticism (elements of fetish clothing may also appear in the image of the Goths). Often, certain romantic elements of past centuries appear in the Gothic image - such as lace, jabot, velvet, corsets, etc. For example, Goth girls often wear corsets and long dresses. The work of photographer Viona Yelegems clearly shows the various trends in this style.

The hairstyle also plays a very important role in the image of the Goths of both sexes. It can be just straight long hair, or it can be lifted with a gel or collected in big buns. Iroquois are rare. Often hair is dyed black, red, purple and white, it is also possible to dye with strands of one color against the background of another (for example, red strands against a background of black hair), but hair of natural colors is preferable. Make-up remains one of the main signs of belonging to the subculture: a dense layer of white powder on the face, black eyeliner and lips.

Among Goth girls, the bright and imposing Vamp style has become widespread - dense black cosmetics, eyeliners, a range of lipstick and nail colors - from bright red (bloody) to black. Goths, working in an environment where you can not afford an extreme or individual approach to the image, developed a style of "corporate goth" (Eng. Corporate Slave Goth): black business clothes, discreet jewelry, discreet make-up.

Attributes are ready

Gothic aesthetics is extremely eclectic in terms of the set of frequently used symbols, here you can find Egyptian, Christian, and Celtic symbols. The main symbol of the Gothic subculture is traditionally the ankh cross, the Egyptian symbol of eternal life. The Ankh entered the subculture after the release of The Hunger (with David Bowie). Other Egyptian symbols are also often used - such as "Eye of Ra". These elements are worn both as traditional jewelry and as patches on clothes or in make-up.

Christian symbolism is used less frequently, and for the most part - in the form of ordinary crucifixes, only in a more "stylish" design. In particular, the cross of St. Jacob (cross-knife). Celtic crosses and various Celtic ornaments (triquetra, etc.) are widely used. Occult symbolism is quite extensively represented - pentagrams (both ordinary and inverted), inverted crosses, eight-pointed stars (occult symbols of chaos) are used.

Many different symbols of death are also used - decorations with coffins, skulls, and the like. Bats can be attributed to purely Gothic symbols - many different images of them (the connection with vampires and Goths is obvious) are placed on hundreds of pages related to the Goths on the Internet or serve as decoration for the Goths themselves.

However, there are no universal signs or symbols used by all Goths - the aesthetic preferences of a particular Goth are decisive. The overwhelming majority of jewelry is silver, less often - from other white metals (cupronickel, zinc). The yellow metal is not traditionally used. The shape and type of jewelry is very diverse, the most common are pendants, brooches, rings and rings.

gothic music

The influence on the goth subculture began a long time ago, with the days of the Bowie, Doors and Velvet Underground, but the rise of punk in the mid/late 70s made an essential basis for the goths, both in music and in image.

Following punk in the late 70s and early 80s, a huge number of new and reimagined musical styles began to emerge, and around 1978/79 a style began to appear that the press at the end of 1979 began to call "gothic".

The creators of this musical style (who were inspired by such artists as the Velvet Underground and Bowie) were mainly Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, UK Decay.

The Banshees' first album ("The Scream", November 1978) and the first Joy Division album ("Unknown Pleasures", June 1979) were in many ways a gothic blueprint, with a notable lack of loud punk guitars and an emphasis on the rhythm section instead, along with a sharp empty sound.

However, the first band that could be called gothic was Bauhaus, who released their first single "Bela Lugosi's Dead" in September 1979. The Banshees might be considered punk, The Cure for New Wave, Joy Division for post-punk, but Bauhaus has been distinctly gothic in music, image, lyrics, art and style since their very first single. In many ways, they were the prototype of the gothic group. Around the same time that Bauhaus formed, UK Decay abandoned their punk roots and began to develop their own independent "goth" sound. Although they were not as popular as Bauhaus, Joy Division or The Banshees, UK Decay were much closer to the "second wave" of goth bands and had a noticeable influence on them.

In 1980/81 a new wave of gothic bands began to emerge - Danse Society, Play Dead, The Sisters of Mercy - and the Cure abandoned their New Wave sound and created their own unique "gothic" sound. In February 1981, Abbo of UK Decay labeled the new "gothic" musical movement, but it was another year or so before the movement really took off.

An important period in the development of the goth movement into a fully formed subculture was from mid-1982 to mid-1983, in which of particular note October 1982, when the new movement suddenly received a lot of attention from the media.

The further development of gothic music is the development of goth rock, since the same death rock remained more conservative. In the late 90s, at the peak of the popularity of goth, musical groups began to appear that tried to imitate goth music. Starting from the post-industrialists, who became more pop, melodic and romantic, and to the metalists, who also paid more attention to the melodic. This music became something new, which, naturally, attracted music lovers to it, but this no longer had anything to do with gothic music and subculture.

In the early 90s of the 20th century, Paradise Lost, with their album Gothic, set a new branch of gothic - gothic metal, which was immediately picked up by many other bands, such as Tiamat, Tristania, The Sins of Thy Beloved, Theater of Tragedy, etc.

Around 25,000 subculture investigators flock to Leipzig every year for the biggest goth festival, Wave Gotik Treffen - WGT. Another significant festival is M "era Luna. On the territory of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the largest gothic festival is Children of the Night.

Gothic Events

Gothic films

It should immediately be emphasized that there is no such thing as a "gothic film" in cinema officially. The films in the list below are mostly in the Horror genre.

• "Crow " ( The Crow)
• "Interview with a Vampire " ( Interview With The Vampire)
• "Queen of the Damned " ( Queen Of The Damned)
• "Rosemary's Baby" ( Rosemary's Baby, Roman Polanski)
• "The nightmare before christmas " ( The Nightmare Before Chrismas, Tim Burton)
• "Edward Scissorhands " ( Edward Scissors Hands, Tim Burton)
• "Corpse Bride" ( Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, Tim Burton)
• Dracula (1931 screen versions of Dracula from Bela Lugosi, 1958, 1992 Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, etc.)
• "Sweeney Todd, Demon Barber of Fleet Street" ( Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, dir. Tim Burton)

Gothic magazines

Exists whole line magazines about gothic music and subculture. Made specifically for ready and revealing all the diversity of this movement.

• "Orkus" (German gothic magazine. Mainly contains materials about music)
• Zillo (German dark music magazine)
• "Gothica" (Ukrainian Gothic magazine. Contains articles about music, cinema, literature, fashion and aesthetics)
• R.I.P. » (Russian Gothic magazine. Dark culture in all its manifestations)
• "Dark Wave" (Russian gothic and metal magazine)
• "Dark City" (Russian magazine)

Notes

Links

Articles

• History of the gothic subculture. Who was the first to use the term "gothic" in relation to music and subculture.
• Classical Gothic and Gothic Subculture: Trust in God and Escapism in Society. Cand. Philosophical Sciences V. T. Zhezherun, N. V. Zamyatina
• Gothic Studies: Youth subculture in particular and in general - a selection of articles about the subculture

After the broadcast on ARI-TV on the topic “The Political Myth of Normanism” with my participation, questions were received from the audience, and the first of them was about the Goths: who are goths and where did they come from? But I will start my answer with an explanation - where they could not come from, and they could not "take" just from the south of Sweden. This is how the Swedish medievalists think now. And they have very serious reasons for this, since this myth has been a part of their history for a long time, the national identity of the Swedes was brought up on it for several centuries, when they lived with an ardent faith in what a great Gothic past they had.

The Swedish historian Nordström conveyed the euphoric feeling evoked in Swedish society by the history-making of Gothicism: “None of the peoples of Europe, apart from the classical peoples, could present a past full of such marvelous tests of courage as we, the descendants of the Goths. This gave our patriotism a new element of courage, just on the eve of the sovereign period of the 17th century, when, so it seemed to his contemporaries, the heroic forces of the Goths were revived anew. But before that only historical memory scooped Swedish national feeling and historical fantasy authentic food. Thanks to the work of historians, thanks to popular stories about the historical fate of the fatherland, thanks to small writings for the common people, thanks to the eloquence of politicians and scientists, thanks to poetry, theater - a great variety of forms were used to imprint in the Swedish popular consciousness an idea of ​​​​the history of the fatherland with a brilliant heroic saga about the "ancient Goths", in which reflected the perfect manifestation of the strength and ability of our people ... With such a history, we felt like the aristocracy of Europe, which is predestined to rule over the world "( highlighted by me - L.G.).

Here it must be emphasized that all this was said about the history of the mirage, about the history or the great past, which never happened in reality. Rather, the historical events associated with the Goths themselves took place, of course, but they had nothing to do with the Swedes, since they took place in the history of other peoples.

Modern Swedish medieval studies no longer consider the south of Sweden as the ancestral home of the ancient Goths, from where they allegedly moved to the European continent. The revision of Gothic concepts began, in fact, a long time ago. The result of the first stage was summed up in the late 1980s. Swedish historian Lars Garn: “Since we do not have clear data on the existence of the Gothic kingdom (götarike), we had to turn to geographical names and draw conclusions based on them ... Since there are few sources and they are scarce, the research work was small in number and modest according to the results ... The only generally accepted and widespread assumption was that Västergötland was an ancient area of ​​​​the settlement of the Goths, and that the Goths from ancient times lived both in Västergötland and Ostergötland. However, there was no confirmation of this in the sources. 1

And here we are talking only about the picture of the settlement of the Getae in the south of Scandinavia in the first millennium AD, that is, in a historically foreseeable time, and even then it cannot be defined more or less clearly. As for ancient times, modern Swedish scientists gradually came to the conclusion that it was not the south of Scandinavia that was the ancestral home of the Goths, from where they settled around the world.

Swedish historians Thomas Lindqvist and Maria Sjöberg write that even the name of the Swedish Goths is difficult to analyze: “The similarity with the name of the Goths gave rise to in the 15th century. the belief that the Goths were from Götaland. This idea played an important role in the formation of national identity. However, the very question of the origin of the Goths from Scandinavia has always remained debatable and caused strong doubts among scientists. 2

Lindqvist and Sjöberg are one of the leading Swedish medievalists, employees of the University of Gothenburg. The book from which I quoted is a textbook for Swedish students - future historians. And the above thoughts are not new - they were also taught to me when, having moved to Sweden more than twenty years ago, I decided to take a Swedish history course in the Swedish program. Even then, at lectures on Swedish history, they said: the former identification of the Goths and the Swedish Goths is now rejected by science. Those. more than twenty years ago, the idea that the Goths did not leave the south of Sweden, has become a textbook in Swedish history programs.

Now where did they come from? Let us return with this question to the Swedish medievalists. Here is a very definite statement on this issue by another leading Swedish medievalist, the famous historian Dick Harrison, one of the editors and authors of the latest edition of the History of Sweden: “Both written sources and archaeological material give reason to believe that the ancient ancestors are ready - or rather , those who earlier than others began to call themselves Goths - in the period before the birth of Christ lived on the territory of modern Poland. Of course, they had contacts with other peoples in the Baltic Sea area, but it is absolutely impossible to determine which ethnic groups inhabited Scandinavia at that time(highlighted by me - L.G.)”. 3 On the same occasion, the Austrian medievalist, a well-known researcher in the field of Gothic themes, H. Wolfram noted: "... And Austria, as they believed in the late Middle Ages, was once called Gothia (Gothia)". He also recalled that the idea of ​​the northern ancestral home of the Goths, specifically identified with Sweden, entrenched under the influence of Gothicism in Western European science, was contrary to the data of ancient sources. According to ancient authors, "the first Gutthia-Goτθια of ancient ethnography, in any case, is located on the Black Sea, whether in the Crimea, on the Kerch Peninsula or, most likely, in today's Romania." 4

On my own behalf, I want to add that since toponymy keeps traces of the presence of one or another ethnic group, then, apparently, the Swedish Getae were either the northern periphery of the continental Goths, or one of the groups of continental Goths who settled in Scandinavia from the European continent at some period . It should also be taken into account that the physical geography of the Baltic region had a different appearance in the first centuries of the era in comparison with the end of the first millennium.

And the consolidation of such names as Scandinavia, the Scandinavian Peninsula behind the peninsula, where modern Norway and Sweden are located, are things of not so long ago, and the political myths of Gothicism played a role here.

Without going into all the details of the history of the appearance of the name Scandinavia, it is worth recalling that the names Scandia, Scandinavia, now used as synonyms, albeit in different contexts, initially each had its own motley history dating back to ancient authors. The name Scandia was coined by the Greeks, and in the Iliad referred to the ancient city on the island of Cythera (one of the candidates for the birthplace of Aphrodite), as well as to a number of islands in the Mediterranean.

It was first used as a name for islands in northern Europe by Pliny the Elder (23-79), who named an island/group north of Roman Britain as Scandia. The same author speaks of Scandinavia (Scatinavia) as an island next to the Cimbri, and clearly we are talking about some other island/islands. Ptolemy, under the name Scandia, described an island in the group of islands (Scandiae islands) to the east of the Cimbri peninsula, i.e. approximately in the same place where Pliny placed the island of Scatinavia. Somewhat later, in post-Ptolemaic times, Scandia became synonymous with Terra Scania, i.e. for the current Skåne peninsula, which was fixed in the Middle Ages.

This story could be saturated with a lot of details, but all this, in principle, is well-known material. However, I would like to note that the discrepancy in information and the confusion of names can be explained not only by the lack of information about Northern Europe. There is a lot of data from ancient authors, from which it is clear that the north of Europe was mastered by the ancient world through Eastern Europe, waterways have long been studied, hydrographic changes were known, associated, as is now clear, with transgressions and regressions of the level of water bodies that occurred in different periods.

For example, Diodorus Siculus (second half of the 1st century BC) in the stories about Scythia and the Caucasus brought the following news, dating back to the myths about the Argonauts: “Not a small number of both ancient and later writers (between them and Timaeus) tell that when the Argonauts, after the abduction of the rune, found out that Eit had occupied the mouth of Pontus with their ships, they performed an amazing and memorable feat: having sailed up the Tanaida River to its sources and dragging the ship overland in one place, they were already along another river flowing into the Ocean , went down to the sea and sailed from north to west, having land along left hand; finding themselves not far from Gadir, they entered our sea ... ". 5

This news is repeated in the story of Antony Diogenes (probably, the 1st century AD): “Someone named Dinius is introduced into the story, out of curiosity, he set off to travel from his fatherland with his son Dimochar. Through Pontus and then from the Caspian and Irkan Seas they arrived at the so-called Ripean Mountains and the mouth of the Tanaida River, then, due to a strong cold, they turned towards the Scythian Ocean, even reached the Eastern Ocean and found themselves at sunrise, and from there they circled the outer sea for a long time. and among various adventures ... They also arrived on the island of Fulu and here they stopped for a while in their wanderings. 6

Travel from south to north through Eastern Europe has been carried out since antiquity, but geophysics has changed, so those groups of islands that ancient and ancient authors described could either disappear, sinking to the bottom of the Arctic shelf, or their reliefs have changed dramatically. And the names were stored in the "database", and in other times they had a different use.

The names of Scandia and Scandinavia experienced a "third youth" thanks to the work of Jordanes, in the VI century. who wrote his famous work on the island of Scandza, which he, with a reference to Ptolemy, placed on the "open spaces of the Northern Ocean" and glorified as the island from which the Goths came. Jordan's work reached the peak of its popularity during the spread of Gothicism, i.e. in the XV-XVI centuries, and became especially famous after the publication of the work of the Swedish writer John Magnus "The History of All the Kings of the Svei and Goths." This work was published by the writer's brother Olaus Magnus, author famous book on geography and ethnography of the peoples of Northern Europe. Olaus Magnus created in the appendix to this work at least famous map Carta Marina (1539), where he first placed the name Scandia on the site of modern Sweden, which his brother glorified as the ancestral home of the Goths. At least, on the map of the German cartographer Nikolaus Germanus (1420-1490), which he attached to Ptolemy's Cosmography, published in 1467, this name is not found in relation to the territory where the current Scandinavian peninsula can be assumed. The consolidation of the name Skandza, Scandinavia, so familiar to us today, took place, apparently, just in the decades when Swedish and German Gothicism began to gain strength.

I quote in support of an excerpt from the work of the German cartographer of the 16th century. Jacob Ziegler's "Schondia" (Schondia), published in 1532, with a description of the north of Europe: "Regarding Götaland, Svejaland and Finland, as well as Lapland, which extends to the North Pole, in addition - Greenland, Chersonesus (Chersonesus) and the island of Thule I received clarifications from the most worthy Gothic bishops, John Magnus of Uppsala and Peter of Vasteros, with whom I became friends during my stay in Rome and spent a lot of time with them. The Bishop of Uppsala, even before my arrival, began to write his comments on Scandinavia and gave them to me to read.

But from the time of the creation of the Olaus Magnus map to the final fixing of the name Scandinavia for the current peninsula, some more time passed. At least in the 17th century in place of the name Scandia on Swedish home-made sketches for maps, one could also see the name Hyperborea. Consequently, we do not have clear geographical data about which island Jordan meant, and also which islands were meant by ancient authors under the names Scandia or Scatinavia. As for Terra Scania or Skane, it definitely does not fit as a place of exodus for the Goths, since in the early Middle Ages it was inhabited by the Danes, and not the Swedish Getae.

Thus, the answer to the question of where the Goths came from, in accordance with the conclusions of Western European medieval studies, including Scandinavian, is as follows: those who earlier than others began to be called Goths lived on the territory of modern Poland or somewhat to the south. What the landscape of Central Europe looked like in the early Middle Ages should be studied separately.

Now consider the question of who the Goths are. And to begin with, let's get acquainted with the reaction that the myth of the Swede-Goths evoked among contemporaries, i.e. from Western European historians of the XV-XVI centuries. In my publications (for example, and), I talked about the fact that the image of Sweden, as the ancestral home is ready, was developed by a number of representatives of Swedish Gothicism, the largest figure among whom was the aforementioned John Magnus. I. Magnus spent most of his life outside Sweden, in the European centers of humanism, where he zealously sought to defend the idea of ​​Sweden's antiquity and its special mission. From his youth, Magnus devoted himself to a spiritual career and in 1517, as a plenipotentiary Swedish legate, he was sent to Rome, where he immediately became involved in the maelstrom of ideological confrontation that reigned in Italy and was colored by the “anti-Gothic” propaganda of the Italian humanists. 7

I. Magnus never returned to his homeland, because he reacted negatively to the reformist policy of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa and did not want to abandon Catholicism and recognize Lutheranism, which put him in opposition to the king. Here in Rome, he took up his pen and began to write his historical extravaganza about the Goths - the ancient ancestors of the Swedish kings. I. Magnus worked on this work until his death in 1544, although the first version was completed already in 1540. It was published by the brother of I. Magnus, Olaf Magnus under the title "Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sveonumque regibus" in 1554 in Rome. This work brought I. Magnus posthumous fame among the Western European educated public, and in the future it played an unfortunate role for Russian history, becoming one of the molds of Normanism.

What prompted I. Magnus to become a chanter and herald of Swedish Gothicism? First of all, of course, the objective course of development of the Western European ideological and political life of the XV-XVI centuries, the tone of which was set by the Italian humanists and their information war against the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire, which was conducted in the form of the so-called anti-Gothic propaganda, i.e. in the form of a mockery of the history and culture of the Nordic countries. Why was this propaganda in the form of presenting absurd historical accounts of the German-speaking population as "Goths"?

So after all, in war as in war! Propaganda should be simple and intelligible. Moreover, among the population of German cities, there was constantly a background of protest against the "papal tyranny" that irritated the Roman Catholic Church. And if we add to this the prosperity and vibrant culture of German cities, then everything had to match and formed a worthy target for propaganda shelling. The brand "Gotho-Germanic barbarians" began to be molded by Italian humanists from the names of the Goths (Gothons, Guts) and Germans known since ancient times as a common name for the North European barbarians. This was all the more convenient in that both names had a vague origin and an intricate history, as will be discussed below.

He did a lot to introduce this brand in public consciousness such an Italian humanist as Flavio Biondo (1392-1463). He was the secretary of the papal office and, naturally, a man experienced in verbal casuistry. Like all Italian statesmen and church leaders of the Renaissance, he paid much attention to recreating the “bright past” of the Italians, wrote several works on Roman history, in which he steadily pursued the idea that the reason for the collapse of the Roman Empire was the Gothic conquest or the invasion of German barbarians. 8

In short, terms are negotiated, and Italian humanists began to use the term "Gotho-Germanic barbarians" in an effort to prove the historical "guilt" of the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire in the destruction of the great ancient culture. It was this information war that brought Jordan's work "Getica" out of the circle of oblivion and put it on public display.

Discovered by E. Picollomini in 1450, the manuscript of Jordanes' work was first published in 1515 by the German humanist Konrad Pevtinger. But even in manuscript, it quickly began to be introduced into scientific circulation by German and Swedish historians. The German theologian and historian Krantz (d. 1517) created his "Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Chronicle", where a significant part was devoted to the history of the Goths, taken from the Jordanian manuscript. In 1470, the Swedish historian Eric Olai wrote a Latin-language history of the Gothic rulers who came from Scandinavia/Sweden. In 1455, a manuscript of Tacitus' Germania was discovered, and in 1519 Tacitus's work was published by the Alsatian historian Beatus Renanus. All this spun a flywheel of zealous study of sources that could weaken or completely refute the accusations of the Italian humanists. But this was a new trend brought to life by politics. However, at that time there was also a scientific tradition that met this "New Gothic" historiography with ridicule.

In 1517, the work of the Polish historian M. Mechovsky “A Treatise on the Two Sarmatians” was published, where the author, according to the ancient tradition, mentioned the Goths as a people living near the Black Sea and in Asia Minor, from where they began their conquests and migrations. I. Magnus immediately responded with a letter of protest to Mechovsky, because he saw in his work an encroachment on the idea of ​​the origin of the Goths from Sweden. It is interesting to quote a few fragments from Magnus's letter:

There is no news more exciting and captivating for me, a Goth, or, if it suits your understanding, a Swede, than that which introduces a new study affecting the origin of the Goths, and from which we have the right to expect reliability and thoroughness in striving to achieve clarity in this issue. I have always had a deep interest in reading the works of historical writers and cosmographers... first of all, with particular zeal, I strove to obtain complete knowledge of where the so-called Goths burst into life - this barbaric, death-bearing and corruption, godless people.

O omniscient lord! We see that the most famous historians and geographers of antiquity, mentioning the Goths, said with all certainty that they came from the kingdom of Sweden - my homeland.

If anyone can refute the evidence that these Goths were Swedes, then I would like to see true or at least far-fetched grounds.

More than once I have had occasion to enter into discussions and disputes with strangers about what qualities different peoples have. But as soon as they found out that I was a Gothic person, they said that they were ready to be afraid that the barbarians should be silent, and the Slavs should disappear forever; with expressions of disgust and curses against the offspring of this godless people, they reported with all indisputability that its descendants should be avoided like snake seed ...

Obviously from these considerations, which should be understood as a virtue, my above-mentioned ancestors - the Goths, when they joined the holy customs of the Christian religion, then, leaving their pagan delusions and habits, wanted to change their pagan name - the Goths to the Swedes and decided that the areas that were known under the name of Gothia, from that time received the name of Sweden ... 9

As you can see, Magnus's thought process is simple: we always knew that we were Goths, but we began to hide the ancient name called Sweden, fearing people's curses. It is also worth paying attention to the fact that several decades of promoting the idea of ​​Sweden as the ancestral home of the Goths led to the fact that I. Magnus believed in the existence of ancient sources confirming these ideas, while there were no such sources.

This was pointed out by Mekhovsky, who published Magnus's letter along with his caustic response to it, where he wrote that it was obvious to him that his young friend had read the tales of ancient writers about the vast densely populated island of Scandia, where many peoples lived. But what do his own impressions tell him? On the way to Rome, he could see with his own eyes how small and poor his Scandinavia was. Yes, knowledgeable historians reported the exodus of the Goths from Gothia, but no one wrote that it was Sweden or Finland! How can he or other representatives of Gothicism ever prove that the Visigoths and Ostrogoths came from those two areas of it that bear consonant names, although there is not a single Danish, Swedish or Gothic source of that period? You cannot present a Swedish source from those times, because they do not exist, and what was in the past of Sweden is consigned to oblivion. “Happiness to you! Find something worthwhile, then write. 10

Johannesson suggests that Mechovsky's pejorative answer may have served as the impetus under the influence of which I. Magnus turned to writing a Swedish history or a story about the kings of the Goths and Swedes in the spirit of Gothicism. The main "sources" for him were his Swedish predecessor Eric Olai, who identified Sweden with the island of Scandia or the ancestral home of the Goths who conquered Rome, and the German historian Krantz, who also popularized information from the work of Jordan, i.e. German and Swedish Gothic. That's all the "sources".

Thus, we see that the idea of ​​Sweden as the ancestral home of the Goths was put into practice by the power of political interests, and historical science immediately began to laugh at this idea. M. Mechowski, in addition to a thorough knowledge of ancient and Western European authors of the Renaissance, also relied on strong Polish historiography. It should be recalled that one of the most authoritative Polish chroniclers who influenced subsequent generations of historians was Jan Dlugosz (1414-1480), the greatest connoisseur of historical sources, who also knew the history of Eastern Europe very well.

Therefore, starting to clarify the question of who the Goths are, one must clearly understand the outlined disposition: the question of the Goths in the XV-XVI centuries. was divided between two spheres - the sphere scientific research and the sphere of political interests, where scientific information did not meet political needs. Politics, of course, pulled over, and science was forgotten for a long time. How this happened is illustrated by the following story, which shows how important the Swedish crown attached successful development political myth about Sweden as the ancestral home of the Goths.

Among the learned people who mocked the version of the Swedish-Goths was Olaf Petri (1493-1552), a Swedish historian and illustrious reformer of the Swedish church. And for this criticism, he almost paid with his life. Petri was the right hand of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa in establishing Lutheranism in Sweden. But the king was vitally interested in the creation of a solid historical work that would show the genetic connection of Swedish history with the history of the ancient Goths. Attempts to attribute history ancient people Goths as a prologue to Swedish history were undertaken under the predecessors of Gustav Vasa and even then were used to justify the special political ambitions of the Swedish rulers, who, for their implementation, needed a historical doctrine that justified the superiority of Sweden among other Scandinavian countries. The heroic past of the Goths as the direct ancestors of the kings of Sweden, as a preamble to the panorama of Swedish history, was in tune with these goals.

When King Gustav Vasa realized the need to use the idea of ​​a "bright past", even if it was fictional, to develop an ideology consolidating society, it is clear that Olaf Petri was seen as such a political strategist. It was he, and not the dissident and defector John Magnus, who was prepared by fate itself to become the first person in the field of cultivating official Swedish history, bearing in mind his position as one of the most authoritative Swedish preachers of Lutheranism and, thanks to this, his closeness to King Gustav Vasa. The king, of course, expected that “Master Oluf”, who had so faithfully served him in introducing Lutheranism in Sweden, would also act as the creator of a politically correct work that would secure Sweden the magnificent crown of the ancestral home of the Goths and give the young Vaza dynasty ancient roots. O. Petri set to work, and during the 1530s - 1540s he created the work "The Swedish Chronicle", which he presented to the king. eleven

But Petri's The Swedish Chronicle angered the king, because in this work, according to the Swedish researcher Göran Sahlgren, Petri showed a complete absence of national vanity, and in the 16th century, riddled with chauvinism, his search for truth could not be understood. What was meant here, what truth was O. Petri looking for? Everything is very simple: “master Oluf” wrote an essay on the real history of Sweden in antiquity, as he knew it (like Mechovsky). Here are some excerpts from it:

You should know that in our Swedish chronicles there is quite a bit of reliable information about what we really had in the times that preceded Christianity. In the life of our ancestors, there were few events worth writing about, and in some times there was nothing to write about at all. What little there was was written using the only letter that was available in our country in former times and which is now called runic letters.

Only a few records could be made in runic writing, for the Latin script that we use now came to us along with Christian missionaries. And when was accepted latin script, then the former letter turned out to be forgotten, and with it almost everything that was written on it turned out to be forgotten ... We do not have reliable information about whether our ancestors wrote anything significant in runic writing or not, since very little reliable information has come down to us from the pre-Christian period. One Danish chronicle (probably referring to Saxo Grammatik - L.G.) tells a lot about what happened in the past in our three kingdoms, and the story goes back to ancient times. But it is unlikely that its author has grounds for this, because in Denmark they make the same mistake as we do, trying in ancient history to find greatness as a reward for posterity. But it is terrible to think that in this case the truth eludes us, and this is what chroniclers should fear most of all ...

It is highly doubtful that we had any written sources in earlier times. However, it is well known that our ancestors, like the Greeks and Latins, used to have poetic verses and fairy tales that were composed in honor of outstanding men who distinguished themselves by feats and great deeds ... stories were colored with fantasies and words, honors and regalia were attributed to the heroes ... The first compilers Danish and Swedish chronicles based them on many of the old stories, songs and other fictional writings left over from former times and put it all in writing, although it is not known what really happened and what did not ... And since we, the Swedes, do not not a single ancient historical work, like some other peoples, then we do not have reliable information either about the origin of our Swedish people, or about what Sweden was like in antiquity.

The well-known historical works tell about the Kingdom of Goth and the time of its emergence. But can one seriously think that these stories concern the Goths who now live in Sweden? Those ancient Goths (although are they really as old as some believe?) or the people who first began to be called Goths, could in no way be the same people that lived with us in Sweden. This people lived in the place of present-day Hungary or somewhat to the south. The country of the Goths has been there since antiquity, since the time after the Flood, and there is a lot of written evidence about this. It is unlikely that they moved there from our country. It is more plausible that some of them once moved from there to us and stayed here. But all this is not known for sure, it’s guessing, we can’t determine what was reliable in those distant times, so it’s better not to do this at all than to wander at random ...

Oh, and Gustav Vasa was furious when he read the ingenuous revelations of “Master Oluf”. After all, Petri's "Swedish Chronicle" did not even question the idea of ​​identifying Sweden with the ancestral home of the Goths, fundamental for Gothicism, it simply destroyed it, leaving no stone unturned from the myth! And for what?! He needs the truth, you see? Truth seeker, intellectual! To jail, bastard, on the chopping block! And what is the king to do?

Indeed, quite recently - in 1523 - Gustav Vasa took over the country, devastated and drenched in blood in countless battles and battles between representatives of the Swedish nobility and the kings of the Kalmar Union - immigrants from Denmark, the Pomeranian-Mecklenburg house or Bavaria. The first period of his reign was marked by a series of major uprisings in different areas of Sweden, which was a reaction to a tightened tax policy, as well as to religious reform and the introduction of Lutheranism instead of Catholicism. To unite a torn country into a functioning organism, Gustav Vasa needed an appropriate ideology like air, or, as they would say now, a national idea. The idea that a unifying national idea is the brainchild of national history, represented by pictures of the glorious past of the people, has been mastered by Western European humanism for more than a hundred and fifty years. It was this kind of work - a brilliant heroic saga about the "ancient Goths" that was expected from Olaf Petri.

And Petri took the position of a blissful truth-seeker and launched into arguments about what, they say, who knows what happened in ancient times in Sweden: we didn’t have culture, there were no written sources, there was only rhyming and runic writing, so it didn’t you will run away very much to compose, and if anything happened, then all this came to us from the continent, and not vice versa, from us - there. The inability to understand the demands of the moment cost “Master Oluf” dearly: he was accused of trying to inspire the “poison of treason” (“förgiftigh otrooheet”) into the minds of the king’s subjects in his chronicle, and sentenced to death.

The sentence, however, was not carried out, the king pardoned Petri (after all, almost the "founder" of Lutheranism in Sweden), sentencing him to pay a large fine, and he even continued his career as a religious figure and writer. But “master Oluf” did not become the ruler of the historical thoughts of the Swedish society. Gustav Vasa forbade the publication of his Swedish Chronicle, regarding it as a harmful work. After the death of Petri, the king seized his archive, suspecting that there might be other "secret" chronicles of unreliable content that should be brought under control so that "this M. Oluf (as if he were Sweden's greatest enemy) could not would more expose Sweden to ridicule, spitting and scolding, as he already did by writing this chronicle of his ( those. "Swedish Chronicle" - L.G.)". 12

Thus, the truthful, source-based conception of the history of Sweden, presented by Olaf Petri, was declared a reproach to the Swedish past, and the author himself was declared an enemy of the people. As official history In Sweden, the fictional story of I. Magnus about the Goths - the direct ancestors of the Swedish kings was approved, and generations of Swedes began to be brought up on it, causing the euphoric feeling that Nordström quotes at the beginning of the article.

The work of Magnus received pan-European popularity. It was published in Basel in 1558, in Cologne in 1567 and gradually became one of the most popular works. A contemporary of Magnus, the Danish professor Hans Münster, wrote with displeasure in 1559 from London that the story of the kings of the Goths and the Swedes was sold like hot cakes in London, and at the same time, groundless fictions of the “great Goth” (i.e. I. Magnus), and that the Danish king should also find an author capable of producing a similar work on Denmark.

In these common European ways, as part of the Swedish political myth, Magnus's story about the Goths came from Sweden to Russia in the 18th century. But if in Sweden in recent decades historical thought has abandoned the fantasies of I. Magnus and, in fact, recognized the correctness of O. Petri's view of the ancient history of Sweden, then in Russia they hold on to them with tenacity worthy of best use, and it is Russian archaeologists who are the last refuge of Magnus' fantasies.

Let me remind you the words of D. Harrison that both written sources and modern archaeological material refute the outcome of the Goths or those who first began to call themselves Goths (a very important caveat!) from Sweden. Let us also take a quick look at well-known sources in order to see in what context and in what society the name of the Goths is found there and thanks to this to determine who called themselves Goths - a necessary clarification of the question “who are the Goths?” And how did their name connect with the name of the Germans?

The Byzantine historian of the VI century. We meet Procopius of Caesarea, for example, the mention of the name of the Goths both as a separate ethnonym and as a collective name for many peoples: “In former times there were many Gothic tribes, and there are many of them now, but the largest and most significant of them were the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths and Gepids. 13

But the Germans in Procopius of Caesarea are not identified with the Goths: “The Vandals used to live near Meotida. Suffering from hunger, they went to the Germans, now called the Franks, and to the Rhine River, annexing the Gothic tribe of the Alans to themselves. 14

So, we see that in the V-VI centuries. many peoples could act under the common name of the Goths: Vandals, Alans, but not Germans. The Germans and Goths in this period were spoken of as different peoples or different groups peoples who made up different ethnopolitical communities. In addition, at that time the tradition was known to associate the origin of the Goths with Sauromates and Melanchlens: “In the old days, however, they (the Goths - L.G.) were called Sauromates and Melanchlens.” 15

M.Yu. reminded about the Eastern European origin of the Goths. Braichevsky, noting that the Black Sea Goths cannot be considered as “pure” Germans and that for late antique authors the Goths were natives the Black Sea steppes, and their ethnonym in the sources was a synonym for the name "Scythians". 16 According to the Gothic historian Jordanes (mid-VI century), the Goths are the successors of the Thracian Getae, while the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simokatta (early 7 century) identified the Getae with the Slavs.

Here is another example from Procopius of Caesarea: “Gizeric (the king of the Vandals in 428-477 - L.G.) divided the Vandals and Alans into groups ... They say, however, that the number of Vandals and Alans in former times did not exceed fifty thousand ... Then only thanks to the birth of their children and the addition of other barbarians to them, they reached such a crowd ... But the names of the Alans and other barbarians, except for the Maurusians, were absorbed by the name of the Vandals. 17

The well-known Austrian medievalist and researcher of the history of the barbarians H. Wolfram noted that from the first mention of the name "Goths" by ancient sources between 16 and 18 years. AD, for several centuries this name covered a variety of peoples. There were periods when the name of the Goths disappeared. For example, between the time of Ptolemy and the 60s. 3rd century it ceased to be found in the sources, and then appeared again as an ethnonym, which changed the name "Scythians". However, having existed for some more time, it again sunk into oblivion, so nowhere without forming a medieval nationality and quite early turning into a myth accessible to everyone.

The motley history of the name is ready (including numerous forms of its manifestation, in particular, as Gutones, Guten, Gothicus in the title of Emperor Claudius II, Gutans, Gauthigoth, a Dacian place-name gothia etc.) leads to the conclusion that the bearers of this name lived in symbiosis with many peoples, dissolving in other peoples, and, as Wolfram noted, they did not form their own people, but became a hotbed of historical myths. For the most part, the peoples who bore the name of the Goths could be localized in Eastern Europe or in Central and Southern Europe, i.e. repeating the words of Braichevsky, the Goths were never "pure" Germans, since the bearers of this last name were originally associated with the north of Europe. But the name "Germans" in the early Middle Ages also disappeared from time to time, dissolving in other names and peoples, only to reappear after some time, caused by political will.

In the above passage from Procopius of Caesarea, we see that the name of the Germans by the 6th century. dissolved in the name of the Franks. Half a thousand years before Procopius of Caesarea, we meet the description of the Germans by Tacitus in his famous work "Germany". 18

According to Tacitus, the name Germans was known in two ways. Firstly, it is mentioned by an ancient historian as an ancient tribal name of one of ethnic groups, who lived on the east bank of the Rhine and became famous for the fact that its members were the first to oust the Gauls by crossing to the west bank of the Rhine. Secondly, it became known as the cumulative name of the entire population due to the military successes of the bearers of the name of the Germans ("the name of the tribe prevailed and spread to the whole people," we read in Tacitus' "Germany"). The history is common and easily projected on the history of many countries and times: several ethnic groups receive or take the name of one of the members of this community as a common collective name.

The German historian H. Schulze described the Germans at the turn of the era as “barbarians from the terrible foggy North, who fled from the disfavor of nature ... seeking to settle within the Roman Empire, and who participated in its defense. In Rome, these northern barbarians were called Germani, a name that Caesar adopted from the Gauls. Those, in turn, named the wild peoples that tried to invade Gaul from behind the Rhine, and Caesar from their name made the designation of the area on the other side of the Rhine and Danube, calling it Germany (Germania). The word "German" was no more than a reference to people from obscure places east of the Rhine. Scientists still argue about the ethnic and linguistic homogeneity of the Germans. 19

The idea of ​​ethnic and linguistic homogeneity of Germany by Tacitus is a construction of representatives of German Gothicism of the 16th century. It was then, notes Wolfram, that the concept of "Germanus" was equated with the concept of "Deutsch". This “homogeneity” was constructed by representatives of German Gothicism - historians Irenik, Pirckheimer and others, using the brand of Italian humanists about the Goths-Germans, to whom the German Gothicists also connected the Swedes. It was an artificial structure, but thanks to it, Gothicism acquired its legend, its conceptual backbone.

This is about written sources. With regard to modern archaeological material, I would like to recall that such an invention as a sail appeared in the countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula only at the turn of the 7th-8th centuries, and this fact should be taken into account when reconstructing the events of the beginning of our era associated with people from the Scandinavian countries, coupled with sea expeditions. Regarding the history of the peoples who inhabited the territory of modern Sweden, it should be especially taken into account that, only ships suitable for coastal navigation. In addition, if shipping in one way or another is associated with the kings of the Swedes, then one of the largest Swedish historians Kurt Weibull spoke about the Getae, “sandwiched” between the Danes and the Swedes, as a land people: “Everything that is known about the Swedish Getae does not give reason to consider them sea people. 20

What does it say? This suggests that all previous statements about the sea expeditions of immigrants from the Scandinavian countries, dating back to ancient times, require additional and additional research.

What conclusion does the reviewed material lead to? It is quite obvious that the name of the Goths is associated with the history of the barbarians of the so-called era of the Great Migration, where the main stage is Central Europe and the south of Eastern and Western Europe, and not the Scandinavian Peninsula. The communities that arose and disappeared in that chaotic time were not based on a biological community, but on the authority of a successful military leader. The history of these communities, according to Wolfram, equalizes “the concepts of “people” and “army”, thereby remaining on the basis of historical reality ... sources confirm the fundamental multi-ethnicity of gentes. They are not "whole" peoples; they never cover all possible members of the same genus, but are always mixed; their emergence is not a matter of consanguinity, but of internal structure. At first, this means no more than uniting and maintaining the unity of the heterogeneous groups that make up the barbarian army. Leaders and representatives of the “famous”, that is, those families that traced their genealogy from the gods and can prove their charisma with appropriate success, form “traditional centers of gravity”, around which new tribes arise: thanks to them, ethnic communities are fragmented and change their composition. Whoever attributed himself to this tradition, by birth or as a result of trials, he was part of the gens, that is, a member of a community that has a common origin not by blood, but by tradition. 21

Consequently, the history of the bearers of the name is ready - this is the history of those fragile multi-ethnic formations that lived as an "army", and not as a "people". In a turbulent whirlpool of events, the name passed from a tribal name to a group of peoples, and a people born in antiquity with one name could change it and continue to live under another. Only the most powerful ethno-political organizations survived this “time of troubles” and, having melted unstable communities in their furnaces, began to form peoples and states by the end of the named era. Ready among such strong ethnopolitical was not.

And if it were not for a special combination of political circumstances, perhaps the name of the Goths would also remain one of the many barbaric names, knowledge of which would not go beyond the orbit of academic education.

True, there is one circumstance over which it is worth reflecting. The Gothic rulers paid great attention to transcribing the events of their lives and activities into the form of historical writing. Perhaps other barbarian rulers were the same, perhaps we just know more about the Goths than about others. But nonetheless. There remains, for example, evidence that the Visigoth king Euryx expressed interest in writing the history of the Goths by Apollinaris Sidonius (430-486), a famous Gallo-Roman writer and poet, diplomat, and bishop of Clermont. Sidonius turned down the offer. Wolfram deplored this, because, according to him, Sidonius had a serious and accurate knowledge of the history of the Visigoth kings, and we could get rid of many "perhaps" in the study of the history of the Goths. But it was precisely accurate knowledge that caused Sidonius to reject Eurychus' proposal, and also that Eurychus accepted this refusal. The history of the Visigoth kings was written more than a hundred years later by Archbishop Isidore of Seville.

But we use, as you know, the story of Jordanes, who retold the work of Cassiodorus, who served at the court of Theodoric the Great and wrote in 538-539. Not a single fragment of Cassiodorus's work has come down to us, and only his characterization of his work has come down, as an attempt to link the history of the Goths and the Romans, for which he used half-forgotten barbarian legends. These "legends" were retold by Jordan, mentioning on his own behalf about some "ancient songs" of the Goths, on which he relied. Such a description of the history of the emergence of the main work on the Goths is very reminiscent of the emergence of Magnus's work on the Goths, whom he, in turn, tries to "connect" with the Swedish kings.

Therefore, in modern medieval studies, there is not only a critical revision of the myth of the Goths as immigrants from Scandinavia, but also the quality of the source from which this myth grew, namely, Jordan's Getiki. You can read about this in the article by D.S. Konkova - Jordan's "Getika" - Gothic historical legend or conjuncture of the era: the current state of the study of the problem.

And finally: since the history of the Goths is tied to ancient Russian history with various threads, it is time for Russian medievalists to critically rethink what is now known about the Goths and clearly separate the historical substance from the ghost of history created by phrases.

Lydia Groth,
Candidate of Historical Sciences

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