Fritigern: a Christian prior to 376?

[Alanus]

To Moi and Steven,

Thanks for the support. mile:
It wasn't my intention to pull anyone out of the "comfort zone," but rather to dispel a longstanding academic error. When we take Scholasticus' material and add it to the equation, we are looking at 3 years of war between Valens and Athanaric, followed by immediate retribution toward "Roman ways" for another 3 years, giving the Tyrfingi a total period of 6 straight years of war. Some historians have gone so far to state they were "starving," no doubt from destroyed crops and the loss of all trading centers with the exception of one (probably Durostorum). No wonder the Huns over-ran them. The two Tyrfingi factions went separate ways, Alaviv and Fritigern to the banks of the Ister, and Athanaric and his pagans to the hinterlands of Transylvania... exactly where the Christians retreated during the First Christian Persecution in the 340s.

This Christianization of the Tyrfingi has been underrated, but even archaeology seems to crystalize it. For instance, the earlier (central) inhumations and cremations at Cernjachov contain grave goods. The later graves, around the periphery (all of them inhumations), lack grave goods. They comprise 50% of Cernjachov's burials. I agree with Heather and Matthews, that these later graves indicate a Christian burial. This is what Athanaric was trying to eradicate.

To discount religion in all its manifest forms, as NOT significant in the historical equation, can come back to haunt you... particularly if you're someone like Heather, the current "guru" on the Goths. In the above posts, I've mentioned Scholasticus, Sozomen, Heather, and Lenski... all available online in PDF form. RAT members can form their own opinions. Also, to those interested in the original "core" of the problem-- Orthodox vs Arian in the Gothic territories-- you will find Hagith Sivan's Ulfila's Own Conversion, Harvard Theological Review, Sept. 1996.