#jordanes

[viscericorde]

with a gaze as blank and pitiless as the sun

[noctiluqa]

I'm so goth. As in, visigoth. I'm going to sack rome.

[unhistorical]

[Dicineus] urged them to contemplate the twelve signs and the courses of the planets passing through them, and the whole of astronomy. He told them how the disc of the moon gains increase or suffers loss, and showed them how much the fiery globe of the sun exceeds in size our earthly planet. He explained the names of the three hundred and forty-six stars and told through what signs in the arching vault of the heavens they glide swiftly from their rising to their setting. Think, I pray you, what pleasure it was for these brave men, when for a little space they had leisure from warfare, to be instructed in the teachings of philosophy! You might have seen one scanning the position of the heavens and another investigating the nature of plants and bushes. Here stood one who studied the waxing and waning of the moon, while still another regarded the labors of the sun and observed how those bodies which were hastening to go toward the east are whirled around and borne back to the west by the rotation of the heavens. When they had learned the reason, they were at rest.

— The Origin and Deeds of the Getae [Goths], Jordanes, c. 551 AD.

[pantone-palettes]

Jordanes

19070A | 250B0F | 310E14 3D1119 | 4A151E | 561823 621B29 | 6E1F2E | 7A2232

[novakspector]

He was a man born into the world to shake the nations, the scourge of all lands, who in some way terrified all mankind by the dreadful rumors noised abroad concerning him. He was haughty in his walk, rolling his eyes hither and thither, so that the power of his proud spirit appeared in the movement of his body. He was indeed a lover of war, yet restrained in action, mighty in counsel, gracious to suppliants and lenient to those who were once received into his protection. Short of stature, with a broad chest and a large head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with grey; and he had a flat nose and tanned skin, showing evidence of his origin.

Jordanes on Attila the Hun

[barbariansatthegates]

Gaiseric was of medium height and limped as a result of a fall while out riding. He thought deeply, said little, and despised luxury. He had a violent temper and was single-mindedly acquisitive and remarkably farsighted. He was prepared to sow the seeds of discord and incite hatred in order to stir up others.

Jordanes, on Gaiseric King of the Vandals (r. 428 - 477)

[unhistorical]

Our ancestors were of the opinion that the circle of the whole world was surrounded by the girdle of Ocean on three sides. Its three parts they called Asia, Europe and Africa. Concerning this threefold division of the earth's extent there are almost innumerable writers... But the impassable farther bounds of Ocean not only has no one attempted to describe, but no man has been allowed to reach; for by reason of obstructing seaweed and the failing of the winds it is plainly inaccessible and is unknown to any save to Him who made it. But the nearer border of this sea, which we call the circle of the world, surrounds its coasts like a wreath.

The Origin and Deeds of the Getae [Goths], Jordanes, c. 551 AD.