210 Swain
explain the choices that led to the initial Ostrogothic formation and its subse-
quent durability during the conquest of Italy, Theoderic’s reign, and the long
war with Justinian.35
The second position that sets the formation of the Ostrogoths in the post-
Attilan Balkans also rejects the notion that this group was bound by a sense of
cultural or ethnic distinctiveness or possessed a corporate Gothic identity.36 In
this view, the sources for the late 5th-century Balkans that speak of ‘Goths’ and
‘Romans’ as separate groupings are misleading. They reflect only classicizing
literary conventions that explain political alterity in ethnographic terms, and
belie the fact that that these historical actors were all part of the same Balkan
military culture. This was a world of merging Mediterranean and frontier soci-
eties: polyglot, amorphous, and so mixed that distinctive ethnic boundaries
would have been impossible to maintain. In the absence of imperial military
hegemony, various generals sought power for themselves. And with the name
‘Roman’ claimed by the emperor, rival generals chose monikers for their fol-
lowings by drawing from the accumulated bric-a-brac of ethnographic ter-
minology. They called themselves ‘Goths’ or ‘Gepids’ for the sake of political
cohesion and to associate themselves with the martial prowess and ferocity
that those names evoked. Similarly, outsiders would append ethnographic
names to groups to denote alterity. In reality, though, Theoderic was a mem-
ber of the Balkan Roman military aristocracy and his ‘Goths’ bore no relation
whatsoever to the Goths of the 3rd-century sources. ‘Romans’, ‘Goths’, and
other warbands bearing ‘tribal’ names were indistinguishable except for their
artificially contrived names that signalled allegiance (usually temporary) to
this or that general or emperor. The group that Theoderic would lead to Italy
was a mercenary army, not a people.37
The wide and steep divide separating these two interpretations constitutes
the intractability of the Gothic identity question.
The Road to Ravenna and Settlement in Italy
Whether a mercenary army or an ethnic group, Theoderic’s force was some
20,000 to 30,000 strong and its presence in the Balkans was a problem for the
emperor Zeno. Despite their cooperation in the struggle against Zeno’s Isaurian
rival Illus, relations between the emperor and the Gothic leader broke down.
35 Heather, “Gens and Regnum”, pp. 101–2.
36 Amory, People and Identity, ch. 8.
37 Amory, People and Identity, ch. 8.