09-20-2012, 03:38 AM
When it comes to literacy, the Goths had two disadvantages:
1. Except for parts of Scythia and possibly the Balkans, Gothic was a minority language, and in the west it was gradually lost in favor of Latin dialects. I don't know for sure, but the Passion of St. Saba [or Sava] might qualify as Gothic literature preserved in Greek.
2. And it was far from the desert frontiers. Maybe eventually someone will find a cache of Vandal papyri [mostly in Latin, no doubt] but they won't find Gothic ones.
1. Except for parts of Scythia and possibly the Balkans, Gothic was a minority language, and in the west it was gradually lost in favor of Latin dialects. I don't know for sure, but the Passion of St. Saba [or Sava] might qualify as Gothic literature preserved in Greek.
2. And it was far from the desert frontiers. Maybe eventually someone will find a cache of Vandal papyri [mostly in Latin, no doubt] but they won't find Gothic ones.
