Готланд Эрманариха: остроготы в Восточной Европе на рубеже Древности и Средневековья

Chapter VI “Level of economic development” comprises materials allowing us to specify a level of economic development of Chernyakhov culture in its heyday. Its economy was based on plough agriculture, which ensured certain prosperity of the Chernyakhov society and caused a real demographic explosion in IV^th century AD. Presence of specialized workshops (potter’s, blacksmith’s, jeweller’s, bone-cutter’s) testifies the generation of commodity production, which is well consistent with the linguistic material of the Gothic Bible, where artisanal and other specialties are mentioned. From works of ancient authors we know that Ostrogoths had considerable monetary resources (Amm. Marc., XXXI.3.3; Zos., IV.38.3-4). The presence of currency circulation is testified by vocabulary of the Gothic Bible, as well as by widespread occurrence of Roman coins (more than 20,000 pcs. are found) in the territory of Chernyakhov culture. Most likely, the major part of this money found its way to the south of Eastern Europe in IV^th century AD in noneconomic way: in the form of payments to barbarian federates, ‘gifts’ to Gothic kings, as well as prizes of war.

Chapter VII “Culture and religion” deals with a problem of spiritual and intellectual development of people living in Ermanaric’s kingdom. The Chernyakhov phenomenon showed itself in literacy of some people, who used Greek and Latin alphabets, in the use of a runic script, in emergence of complex calendar systems impressed on ritual vessels and, finally, in the spread of Christianity, though en masse Goths in IV^th century AD remained pagans. Archaeological sources testify that during Ermanaric’s rule Ostrogothic society was already crossing the edge separating barbarity from civilization.

Chapter VIII “Ermanaric’s wars” contains detailed analysis of Jordanes’ list of arctoi gentes (Get., 116). The author offers an archaeological identification of one of them — Rogas Tadzans (Goth. *Rauastadians — ‘those living on the banks of Ra’ = Volga) with the population, which left the sites like Lbishche near Samara. This and other latest archaeological discoveries compel us to be much less skeptical to Jordanes’ data, including his list of ‘northern peoples’. Paragraph 2 throws light on Ermanaric’s wars with Heruli and Vandali. Paragraph 3 is dedicated to Ermanaric’s campaigns against Venetae. Analysis of all versions of their localization showed that the Ostrogothic king could lead a military expedition to the North to the Dnieper left-bank forest-steppe area, which was then inhabited by numerous tribes of Kiev culture. Paragraph 4 describes the war of Ermanaric’s successor — king Vinitarius — with Boz’s Antes (Get., 246—247). Entrance of Antes into historical arena was promoted by a unique ethnopolitical situation, which developed in East-European forest-steppe as a result of Hunnic invasion and destruction not only of Ermanaric’s ‘empire’, but also of Ostrogothic potes-tary formations, which emerged on its ruins (like Vinitharius’ ‘kingdom’).

Chapter IX is dedicated to a “conspiracy of Rosomoni” against Ermanaric. In this chapter, the author reviews various versions of Rosomones’ ethnicity: Slavic, Iranian and Germanic. According to comparative analysis of Jordanes’ evidence (Get., 129), Germanic epic tradition (Hervarar saga, 10-11) and an image on a Gottland stone of Ardre VIII, Rosomoni may initially mean ‘those around the ai)Ату Most likely, they were courtiers, servants of Ermanaric and not a special tribe (ethnos), which had been unsuccessfully looked for by lots of historians and archaeologists.