Curriculum (PDF)

History:
The participant has to know that:

Ostrogoths
- They developed an empire north of the black sea in 3CE
- In the 5th century under Theodoric the Great an empire was established in Italy.
- After the Hunnic empire collapsed in 455, they moved to Moesia, then they moved on and
invaded Italy in 488.
- They converted to Arian christianity shortly after this period.
- Theodoric was king in Italy from 493-526, he died in Ravenna, which was the capital city.
- Theodoric was the prototype of Dietriech von Bern in German and Icelandic legends.
- In the instability after Theodorics death, emperor Justinian declared war on the Ostrogoths in
535, it persisted for about 20 years after which they lost their national existence.
- The daughter of Theodoric the Great was Amalasuintha.
Amalasuintha:
- She had a son, Athalaric, and a daughter
- She had a pro-Byzantine policy
- She desired to educate her son in the Roman-style, this was opposed by a large segment of
Ostrogoth nobility.
- She arranged with Justinian that if she were removed from power, she would move herself
and the whole Ostrogothic treasure to Constantinople.
- She put to death three Ostrogothic nobles, suspected of a plot against her in 533.
- When Athalaric died in 534, Amalasuintha shared the throne with her cousin Theodahad.
- Theodahad banished her to an island in the Tuscan lake of Bolsena, there she was strangled in
bath by relatives of the nobles killed in 533.

- After her assassination Justinian dispatched Belisarius, who took Sicily and Naples and
marched on Rome in late 536.
Theodahad:
- Died in 536
- His assassination of Amalasuintha was a pretext for emperor Justinian to invade Italy.
- Theodahad was the son of Theodorics sister.
- Theodad fled to Ravenna when Belisarius invaded, but was captured and killed by a Goth on
the Via Flaminia.
- Theodahad was replaced by Witigis after his death.
Witigis:
- Ostrogothic Soldier who became king of Italy and led his people in a last struggle against the
Eastern Roman Empire.
- Witigis massed his forces in Ravenna against Belisarius and married Matasuntha,
granddaughter of Theodoric, to strengthen his legal position as king.
- In March 537 he returned to besiege Rome, but failed. In 538 the Ostrogoths abandoned the
siege of Rome and only kept Ravenna as a stronghold in 540.
- Witigis abdicated and the Gothic nobles offered the throne to Belisarius. He entered Ravenna
and seized Witigis and Matasuntha, the Ostrogothic nobles and Theodoric's treasure and bore
them off to Constantinople.
- The fate of Witigis is unknown.
Ermanaric:
- Ermanaric was king of the Ostrogoths
- Ermanarics kingdom stretched out between the Don and Dniepr in Ukraine.
- Ermanarics great deeds caused him to be feared by neighbouring peoples
- That According to historian Jordanes, Ermanaric put to death a woman named Sunilda by tying
her to two wild horses and driving them apart, because her husband had treacherously
deserted him. Thereupon her two brothers, Sarus and Ammius, severely wounded Ermanaric.
Variations of this legend had a profound effect on medieval Germanic literature.

- The kingdom of Ermanaric was destroyed in 370 by the Huns.
- Ermanaric died between 370 and 376
- Ermanaric commited suicide because he failed to resist the Huns
- Ermanarics name was written as Jörmunrekr by Norse writers and Eormenric by Anglo-Saxons.

Ulfilas/Wulfila and Arianism:
- Lived from 311 to 382 in Constantinople
- Evangelized the Goths
- Would have created the Gothic alphabet
- Wrote the earliest translation of the Bible into a Germanic language
- Wulfila teached an Arian form of christianity
- Arianism is the belief that the Son is neither equal with the Father nor eternal
- Some extant Arian writings have been ascribed to him.
- He didn't translate the book of kings, because he thought it was too agressive.
- The Arianism caused a breach between the Roman empire, it was part of the national selfconsciousness of the Visigoths and other Germanic people.

Visigoths:
- seperated from the Ostrogoths in 4AC
- leader of the army that sacked Rome in 410, this symbolized the fall of the Roman empire

Art and culture:
- Sisebut wrote the long poem De rerum natura
- Fibulas were created in the form of an eagle

- Jordanes wrote the Getica, a history of the Goths