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==Works==
[[File:106 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel CVI.jpg|thumb|The deeds of Dacians and Getae (here from [[Trajan's Column]]) were wrongly attributed to Goths by Jordanes]]
Jordanes wrote ''[[Romana (Jordanes)|Romana]]'', about the history of [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], but his best-known work is his ''[[Getica]]'', which was written in [[Constantinople]]{{efn|"Constantinople is 'our city{{'"}} (''Getica'' 38).}} about 551&nbsp;AD.{{efn|He mentions the great [[Plague of Justinian|plague]] of 542 as having occurred "nine years ago" (''Getica'' 104). Still, there are some modern scholars who opt for a later date, see Peter Heather, Goths and Romans 332-489, Oxford 1991, pp. 47-49 (year 552), Walter Goffart, The Narrators of Barbarian History, Princeton 1988, p. 98 (year 554).}}
Jordanes wrote his ''[[Romana (Jordanes)|Romana]]'' at the behest of a certain Vigilius. Although some scholars have identified this person with [[Pope Vigilius]], there is nothing else to support the identification besides the name. The form of address that Jordanes uses and his admonition that Vigilius "turn to [[God]]" would seem to rule out this identification.{{sfn|Christensen|2002}}{{sfn|O'Donnell|1982}}

In the preface to his ''[[Getica]]'', Jordanes writes that he is interrupting his work on the ''Romana'' at the behest of a brother Castalius, who apparently knew that Jordanes possessed the twelve volumes of the History of the Goths by [[Cassiodorus]]. Castalius wanted a short book about the subject, and Jordanes obliged with an excerpt based on memory, possibly supplemented with other material to which he had access. The ''Getica'' sets off with a geography/ethnography of the North, especially of [[Scandza]] (16–24).{{sfn|Thunberg|2012|pp=44–46}}

He lets the history of the Goths commence with the emigration of [[Berig]] with three ships from Scandza to [[Gothiscandza]] (25, 94), in a distant past. In the pen of Jordanes, Herodotus's Getian demigod [[Zalmoxis]] becomes a king of the Goths (39). Jordanes tells how the Goths sacked "[[Troy]] and Ilium" just after they had recovered somewhat from the war with [[Agamemnon]] (108). They are also said to have encountered the Egyptian [[pharaoh]] [[Vesosis]] (47). The less fictional part of Jordanes's work begins when the Goths encounter Roman military forces in the third century AD. The work concludes with the defeat of the Goths by the Byzantine general [[Belisarius]]. Jordanes concludes the work by stating that he writes to honour those who were victorious over the Goths after a history spanning 2,030 years.