Pages: 35-42 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp2243542

The author aims to analyze the story of Gothic witches and Hunnic progenitress in the Getica by Jordanes in the context of studying Gothic magical practices and ideas. The Getica is the main and most ambivalent source on the history of the Goths before the Great Migration. Besides absence of other sources on the early Gothic history, studies of this source is further complicated by a possible reflection of oral tradition on its text, and the story of the witches can be an example of this influence. Moreover, it is placed in the part of the Getica with the highest concentration of the mythical and fabulous features. The article analyzes in detail the arguments against the origin of this story from the Gothic oral tradition, testifying to its constructiveness and Christian influence, as well as arguments in favor of the folklore nature of the story about the expulsion of witches using philological and folkloristics tools. The author borrows some external sources and offers an assessment of to what extent the existence of ideas about such witches could be realistic in Gothic communities, for the historicity of the story itself about their expulsion seems to be hardly probable. Finally, the article attempts to estimate relations between the information from the Getica and reconstructible reality of Gothic magical practices.

Keywords: magical practices, Getica, Great Migration, Goths, oral tradition

Information about author:

Yana Bespalchikova (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation), European University at St. Petersburg. Gagarinskaya st., 6/1A, Saint Petersburg 191187, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-1573-4897