In book
The article is dedicated to the sensational discovery of five Gothic graffiti in the Mountainous Crimea where the use of the Gothic language was attested by the sources, but never in written form. The graffiti are scratched on two re-used fragments of early Byzantine cornice from the Mangup Basilica and dated to the 2nd half of the 9th – 10th centuries. Two of them are typical Byzantine invocations, one is a commemoration (?) with a formula of modesty, one is barely survived, and one contains a quotation from Ps 76, 14-15 and a liturgical (probably Gothic poetic) text. The inscriptions are written in archaic variant of Wulfila’s alphabet. The discovered graffiti are of great importance not only for the history of the Crimean Goths and their language, but also for the history of Gothic writing and culture in general.The article is dedicated to the sensational discovery of five Gothic graffiti in the Mountainous Crimea where the use of the Gothic language was attested by the sources, but never in written form. The graffiti are scratched on two re-used fragments of early Byzantine cornice from the Mangup Basilica and dated to the 2nd half of the 9th – 10th centuries. Two of them are typical Byzantine invocations, one is a commemoration (?) with a formula of modesty, one is barely survived, and one contains a quotation from Ps 76, 14-15 and a liturgical (probably Gothic poetic) text. The inscriptions are written in archaic variant of Wulfila’s alphabet. The discovered graffiti are of great importance not only for the history of the Crimean Goths and their language, but also for the history of Gothic writing and culture in general.
The present article deals with the literary image of a Gothic man who happened to be in Edessa in the 5th century AD as a part of Roman auxiliary troops. He is reported to marry there a local girl under pretext of being a celibatarian. Having left Syria for Gothia, it turned out that he was married and had children. The Syrian wife became a slave and suffered a lot before returning miraculously back to Edessa. From the comparative study of the sources it becomes clear that the Gothic auxiliary troops were summoned to Edessa in connection with the advance of the Huns. Notwithstanding the common equation of Goths and Getae, the Gothic soldier in question was Germanic and not Getan (Dacian). The last question is the character of the marriage gift he presented for his temporary marriage.
The newly found Gothic inscriptions from Crimea reopened the question of the Christian identity of the Crimean Goths in its interrelation with the Greek-Byzantine environment. The Mangup graffito I.1 and the Late Medieval inscription from Bakhchysarai both contain the acronymised formula ‘(Saviour) God Jesus’ which we think was a purposeful declaration of the Gothic community’s Orthodox Nicene allegiance. The expanded variant of Ps. 76:15 in the graffito of Mangup proves its liturgical character and the involvement of the Crimean Goths with Byzantine liturgical processes. The alternative counting of weekdays which from the 11th century onwards is epigraphically attesed in the Gothic eparchy in Crimea may have its origin in the Gothic church calendar of the 4th–5th century and have influenced neighbouring peoples of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
The paper discusses a previously unpublished rock inscription found in Bakhchysarai, Crimea, which contains an acronymised Greek formula “Σωτὴρ Θεὸς Ἰησοῦς” arguably written by a person literate both in Greek and Wulfilian Gothic. The analysis of the inscription not only offers some fresh insights into Gothic palaeography, but, backed by the recently published Gothic graffiti from Mangup, new onomastic data from Panticapaeum and a critical reevaluation of the written sources, also permits broader inferences to be made on important aspects of Christianisation of the Goths of the Black Sea. Regarding the latter, the authors suggest that the first Gothic Christians on the North shore of the Black Sea were the Goths of Bosporus. It is not known whether they were originally baptised into Arianism or only subject to Homoian influence, but it is very likely that in the late 4th century John Chrysostom tried to include them within the scope of his campaign of “Nicaeanisation”. The Goths of the South and Southwest Crimea must have converted later, after the mid-5th century: the newly discovered acronymised anti-Arian Christological formulas written in letters of the Gothic alphabet point to a Nicene influence coming in all likelihood from Bosporus. But unlike their Bosporan kinsmen, the Crimean Goths were not given a bishop of their own and stayed subordinate to the powerful Church of Cherson until the early 8th century when the authonomous archbishopric of Gothia (Γοτθία) was established in the Southwest Crimea. -
This issue of the Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik is comprising the full papers of the international symposium on Gothic language, history and culture “The Goths Compared: East Germanic communities between Balticum, Pontus and the West” which was held on November 5–6, 2019 at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (hse) in Moscow. The symposium was organised by the Centre for Medieval Studies, HSE.