Editing Ostrogoths (section)

===The Greuthungi and Ostrogothi before the Huns===
{{Further|Greuthungi}}
The nature of the divisions of the Goths before the arrival of the Huns is uncertain, but throughout all their history the Ostrogoths are only mentioned by that name very rarely, and normally in very uncertain contexts. Among other Gothic group names, however, they are associated with the Greuthungi. Scholarly opinions are divided about this connection. Historian [[Herwig Wolfram]] sees these as two names for one people as will be discussed below. [[Peter Heather]], in contrast, has written that: 
<blockquote>Ostrogoths in the sense of the group led by Theodoric to Italy stand at the end of complex processes of fragmentation and unification involving a variety of groups—mostly but not solely Gothic it seems—and the better, more contemporary, evidence argues against the implication derived from Jordanes that Ostrogoths are Greuthungi by another name.{{sfn|Heather|2007|p=404}}</blockquote>

Some historians go much further than Heather, questioning whether we can assume any single ethnicity, even Gothic, which united the Ostrogoths before they were politically united by the Amal clan.{{efn|{{harvtxt|Heather|2007}} explains Heather's position in contrast to those of {{harvtxt|Amory|1997}}. Also see {{harvtxt|Kulikowski|2002}}.}}
[[File:Gothic Kingdoms.png|thumb|Map of the Gothic migrations and kingdoms]]
[[File:230 CE, Europe.svg|thumb|Europe in 230 AD]]
One dubious early mention of the Ostrogoths is found in the much later-written ''Historia Augusta'', but it distinguishes the Ostrogoths and Greuthungi. In the article for Emperor [[Claudius Gothicus]] (reigned 268–270), the following list of "[[Scythian]]" peoples is given who had been conquered by the emperor when he earned his title "Gothicus": "''peuci trutungi ''austorgoti'' uirtingi sigy pedes celtae etiam eruli''". These words are traditionally edited by modern scholars to include well-known peoples: "''[[Peuci]], Grutungi, ''Austrogoti'', Tervingi, Visi, Gipedes, [[Celts|Celtae]] etiam et [[Heruli|Eruli]]''" (emphasis added). However, this work is not considered reliable, especially for contemporary terminology.{{sfn|Christensen|2002|pp=201–205}}

The first record of a Gothic sub-group acting in its own name, specifically the [[Tervingi]], was dated from 291.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=24, fn52}}<ref>''[[Panegyrici Latini]]'' XI 17.1 (dated 291)</ref> The [[Greuthungi]], [[Vesi]], and Ostrogothi are all attested no earlier than 388.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=24}}

The Ostrogoths were first definitely mentioned more than one hundred years later than the Tervingi in 399, and this is the only certain mention of this name at all before the Amals created their kingdom of Italy. A poem by [[Claudian]] describes Ostrogoths who are mixed with Greuthungi and settled in [[Phrygia]] together as a disgruntled barbarian military force, who had once fought against Rome, but were now supposed to fight for it. Claudian only uses the term Ostrogoth once in the long poem, but in other references to this same group he more often calls them Greuthungi or "[[Getae|Getic]]" (an older word used poetically for Goths in this period). These Goths came to be led into rebellion by [[Tribigild]], a Roman general of Gothic background. Much later [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] also described Tribigild and his rebellion against the eunuch [[Eutropius (consul 399)|consul Eutropius]]. [[Gainas]], the aggrieved Gothic general sent to fight Tribigild, openly joined forces with him after the death of Eutropius. Zosimus believed that was conspiracy between the two Goths from the beginning.{{efn|Claudian, ''Against Eutropius'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Claudian/In_Eutropium/2*.html#141A 2.141]; Zosimus, ''New History'', [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/New_History/Book_the_Fifth Book 5]. For commentary see {{harvtxt|Wolfram|1988|pp=24, 387fn52}}, {{harvtxt|Christensen|2002|pages=216–217}} and {{harvtxt|Cameron|Long|Sherry|1993}}. Note Wolfram describes this as a poem to 392, though as Christensen and Cameron et al. note, it was written after the death of Eutropius the consul (died 399). On the dating of Claudian's poem see {{harvtxt|Long|1996|loc=ch.5}}.}} It is generally believed by historians that this Phrygian settlement of Greuthingi, referred to as including Ostrogoths, were part of the Greuthungi-led force led by [[Odotheus]] in 386, and not the Greuthungi who had entered the empire earlier, in 376 under [[Alatheus and Saphrax]].{{sfn|Heather|1988|p=156}}{{sfn|Christensen|2002|p=214}}

Starting with the 6th century writer [[Jordanes]], whose ''[[Getica]]'' is a history of the Ostrogothic Amal dynasty, there is a tradition of simply equating the [[Greuthungi]] with the Ostrogothi.{{sfn|Heather|1996|pp=52–57, 300–301}} Jordanes does not mention the Greuthungi at all by that name, but he identified the Ostrogothic kings of Italy, the Amal dynasty, as the heirs and descendants of king [[Ermanaric]]. Ermanaric was described by Roman soldier and historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] as a king of the Greuthungi, however, the family succession described by the two classical authors is completely different, and Ammianus is considered to be the more reliable source.{{efn|Christensen summarizes the field's position: "There has never been any doubt that of these two conflicting accounts, the one by Ammianus Marcellinus was to be preferred". Christensen especially cites Peter Heather.{{sfn|Heather|1989}}{{sfn|Christensen|2002|pp=141–157}} }} Jordanes also specified that around 250 (the time of Emperor [[Philip the Arab]] who reigned 244–249) the Ostrogoths were ruled by a king called [[Ostrogotha]] and they either derived their name from this "father of the Ostrogoths", or else the Ostrogoths and Visigoths got these names because they meant eastern and western Goths.{{sfn|Jordanes|1915|pp=87–88 [24.130–131]}}
[[File:Gothic raids in the 3rd century.svg|thumb|Gothic raids in the 3rd century]]
[[File:305 CE, Europe.svg|thumb|Europe in 305 AD]]
Modern historians agree that Jordanes is unreliable, especially for events long before his time, but some historians such as Herwig Wolfram defend the equation of the Greuthungi and Ostrogoths. Wolfram follows the position of [[Franz Altheim]] that the terms Tervingi and Greuthungi were older geographical identifiers used by outsiders to describe these Visigoths and Ostrogoths before they crossed the Danube, and that this terminology dropped out of use around 400, when many Goths had moved into the Roman empire.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=387, fn58}} According to Wolfram, the terms "Vesi" and "Ostrogothi" were used by the peoples themselves to boastfully describe themselves, and thus remained in use. In support of this, Wolfram argues that it is significant that Roman writers either used terminology contrasting Tervingi and Greuthungi, or Vesi/Visigoths and Ostrogoths, and never mixed these pairs—for example they never contrasted Tervingi and Ostrogoths.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=24–25}} As described above, there are two examples of Roman texts which mix Wolfram's proposed geographical and boastful terminologies as if these were separate peoples, and these are the only two early mentions of Ostrogoths before the Amals. For Wolfram, these ancient sources were mistaken to see these peoples as separate, but he notes that neither contrasts what he considers to be the geographical and boastful terms.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|pp=24–25}}{{sfn|Christensen|2002|pages=202–203}} As an argument for this geographical versus boastful contrast, Wolfram cites [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] as referring to the group of "Scythians" north of the [[Danube]] after 376, who were called "Greuthungi" by the barbarians, arguing that these were in fact Thervingi, and that this shows how the name "Greuthungi" was only used by outsiders.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=387, fn57}} Nonetheless, the Greuthungi alluded to by Zosimus could be those Heather and other historians equate with the rebellious Greuthungi—mentioned later by Claudian in Phrygia in 399/400—who were, according to Claudian, mixed with Ostrogoths.{{sfn|Heather|1988|p=156}}{{sfn|Christensen|2002|p=214}}

In any case, the older terminology of a divided Gothic people disappeared gradually after they entered the Roman Empire. The term "Visigoth" was an invention of the sixth century. [[Cassiodorus]], a Roman in the service of Theodoric the Great, invented the term ''Visigothi'' to match ''Ostrogothi'', differentiating between "western Goths" and "eastern Goths" respectively.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=25}} The western-eastern division was a simplification and a literary device of sixth-century historians, where political realities were more complex.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=26}} Furthermore, Cassiodorus used the term "Goths" to refer only to the Ostrogoths, whom he served, and reserved the geographical term "Visigoths" for the [[Visigothic Kingdom|Gallo-Hispanic Goths]]. This usage, however, was adopted by the Visigoths themselves in their communications with the [[Byzantine Empire]] and was in use in the seventh century.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=26}}

Other names for the Goths abounded. A "Germanic" Byzantine or Italian author referred to one of the two peoples as the ''Valagothi'', meaning "Roman [''[[walha]]''] Goths".{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=26}} In 484 the Ostrogoths had been called the ''Valameriaci'' (men of Valamir) because they followed Theodoric, a descendant of Valamir.{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=26}} This terminology survived in the Byzantine East as late as the reign of [[Athalaric]], who was called ''του Ουαλεμεριακου'' (''tou Oualemeriakou'') by [[John Malalas]].{{sfn|Wolfram|1988|p=389, fn67}}