212 Swain
into the local Italian landowning classes.44 As Theoderic’s initial invading army
split up and settled in different locales, any sense of Gothic identity, had it ever
existed, would have been impossible to maintain.45
But the evidence is sparse and does not allow us to demonstrate intermar-
riage or peaceful land purchases to any great degree. Other scholars argue for
a full wagon-train migration and believe that Goths in Italy lived among fel-
low Goths in a few militarily strategic locations.46 Evidence for families mak-
ing the trek with the Gothic army is furnished not only by Procopius but also
by Ennodius, a Gallo-Roman cleric active in Ostrogothic Italy. The presence of
these families is attested in two of Ennodius’ texts, one of which was a panegy-
ric delivered before Theoderic and other Goths.47 Had the description been
untrue, it would have been strange to utter it in front of those who had made
the journey about fifteen years earlier.48
As for the location of their settlement, some commentators have argued
that the vast majority of Goths lived in the northern half of Italy, mostly in the
far north. There are various arguments for this. The northern city of Ravenna
was the seat of Theoderic’s power and his permanent residence. Some have
suggested that there was a particular Gothic quarter in the capital where
Goths lived and worshiped, namely in the north-eastern portion of the city.49
Evidence for this is derived from Agnellus, a Ravennan cleric, who identifies
a cluster of churches in that part of the capital as being Arian.50 This style of
habitation would speak to an active sense of shared identity and community
among Goths. Others, though, have noted that there are Arian churches else-
where in the urban area and reckon that the evidence is too scant and incon-
clusive to suggest a concentration of Goths in one part of the city.51
The most important arguments for northern Italian settlement, however,
hinge on the allegedly Gothic grave goods that have been located in the north
in the vicinity of Pavia and Milan, and along the central to northern Adriatic
coast. Meanwhile, there is an absence of such goods south of a line from
44 Goffart, Barbarians and Romans. Discussed further by Halsall in Chapter 7 in this volume.
45 Amory, People and Identity, pp. 91–7.
46 Heather, “Merely an Ideology?”.
47 Ennodius, Panegyric 26–7; Life of Epiphanius 118–19.
48 There is, however, some debate about whether Ennodius publicly delivered the panegy-
ric: Rohr, “La tradizione”, pp. 270–4; Rota, “Teoderico”, pp. 204–6.
49 Budriesi, “Ortodossi e ariani”, p. 109; Lazard, “Goti e Latini”, p. 122.
50 More on Gothic Arianism below.
51 Deliyannis, Ravenna in Late Antiquity, p. 116.