author
active 6th century Jordanes
A 6th-century historian of the late Roman world, this writer preserved one of the most important surviving accounts of the Goths. His brief, vivid works help modern readers glimpse how people in Justinian’s age understood both Roman and barbarian pasts.
1 Audiobook
The Origin and Deeds of the Goths
by active 6th century Jordanes
About the author
Writing in the mid-6th century, Jordanes was an Eastern Roman bureaucrat who turned to history later in life. Reliable reference works describe him as connected with Gothic background or circles, and he is best known for composing his histories during the reign of Emperor Justinian.
Two works by him survive: the Getica, a history of the Goths, and the Romana, a condensed history of the Roman world. The Getica, completed in 551 according to standard reference sources, is especially valuable because it preserves material linked to the now-lost Gothic history of Cassiodorus and remains a major source for the Goths and Huns.
For audiobook listeners, Jordanes is interesting because his writing stands at the meeting point of empire, memory, and legend. Even when modern historians debate some details, his books remain essential reading for anyone curious about late antiquity and the stories people told about Rome’s changing world.