The Creation of Two Ethnographic Identities: the Cases of the Ostrogoths and the Langobards

Kasperski, Robert (2022) The Creation of Two Ethnographic Identities: the Cases of the Ostrogoths and the Langobards. In: Between Ostrogothic and Carolingian Italy. Survivals, revivals, ruptures. Reti Medievali E-Book (43). Firenze University Press, Firenze, pp. 41-57. ISBN 978-88-5518-664-3

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse two ethnographic identities constructed for two barbarian peoples – the Ostrogoths and the Langobards. As I try to argue, the first identity was constructed to show that the Ostrogoths were a civilized people and a better version of the Romans, and moreover, this identity communicated that the Ostrogoths could not be called a barbaric and savage people. Theoderic the Great’s propagandists tried to present the Ostrogothic warriors as defenders of the Roman World. The second identity – constructed for the Langobards – present- ed them as a people who embodied the very antithesis of their main enemies (c. 660): the Franks and the Romans. The origin of the Langobards and the genesis of their ethnic hallmark, i.e. the long beards, were presented as signs of distinction or “limitic” structures which communicated non-Romanitas of this people.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Early Middle Ages, Late Antiquity, Ostrogoths, Langobards, Theoderic the Great, Origo gentis Langobardorum, Ethnographic Identity, Barbarians, Civilization
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History
Depositing User:	dr Vincenzo De Luise
Date Deposited:	17 Apr 2024 10:36
Last Modified:	17 Apr 2024 10:36
URI:	http://www.rmoa.unina.it/id/eprint/4884

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