Talk:Fritigern

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(1) There is nothing to suggest Fritigern was king (reiks). The Romanized form 'Fritigernus' leaves some doubt about the Gothic form, its component roots, and thus, its meaning. The specified form and translation are reasonable but hypothetical.

(2) There are problems identifying the Thervingi of the 370s with the Visigoths of the 390s and later. Heather demonstrates that the later Visigoths emerged from mixed Therving/Greuthing/other groups. Heather also notes the survival of Gothic, including Therving, groups outside the Roman sphere.

(3) The famine may have taken place in 376 or 377. Ammianus strongly suggests the famine came before any formal settlement, while many Goths were penned into refugee camps.

(4) The date of death is hypothetical.

Ancient Sources:

Mainly Ammianus, Jordanes & Zosimus.

Modern Sources:

Mainly Heather, Peter, 1998, 'The Goths.' Also Wolfram, Herwig, 1988, 'History of the Goths.'

Linguistic Sources:

Wulfila's translation of the New Testament (in part). Also Bennett, William, 1980, 'An Introduction to the Gothic Language,' & Wright, Joseph, 1954, 'Grammar of the Gothic Language.'

Jacob Haller 00:58, 13 October 2005 (UTC)Reply

Since three users have updated the main page since I posted my concerns, and none have addressed my concerns (on the article or the talk page), I noted these concerns on the article page. I would have to cut half the article to resolve my concerns about its accuracy. I am not willing to tear down other people's work and I would much rather address everything on this talk page. My apologies if this violates wiki protocol Thank you. Jacob Haller 03:54, 26 May 2006 (UTC)Reply

Why in the world is this article included in the Spain Project? Fritigern never came within a thousand miles of Spain, and the Visigothic kingdom won't exist for another century. Also, the third paragraph equates the Goths with the Scythians, which is obviously not true. --Michael K. Smith (talk) 19:37, 19 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

You are correct about Spain; however, ancient historians often called the Goths Scythians - they came from roughly the same place as the Sythians came from, therefore they were Scythians, and a barbarian is a barbarian, right? (Don't blame me, that's how the ancients thought.) --Jmullaly (talk) 13:30, 4 January 2011 (UTC)Reply