Getae and Dacians? Are they the same? Or is this unknowable?

[Alanus]

Hailog, Diegis

Through courtesy, I'll let Vortigern Studies respond to your above post. But I must note that Jordanes is describing the Dacians as Gothic clients, and Zalmoxis was a client king, not a king of the Goths. (Somewhere, Jordanes gives a list of the actual Amal kings.)

This post continues my last post, which listed the Gothic connection as Germanic and to the Baltic islands. Now let's turn to sociological and trade links. The Goths, even while living in Dacia and Moesia, had trade connections back to the north, to their own homeland and Germanic culture, by way of the route established by King Ermaneric. It included a center near modern Kiev, and one of the valued commodities was amber. Essentially, this was the "Amber Road." In this fashion, bits of Gothic culture were returned to their origin. Among these were the folk tales of Hervor and King Hedrick. These stories deal with the traditional Gothic sword of the Tryfingi (Western Goths prior to being called the Visigoths). The sword was known as Tyrfing. The tales were recorded in the Old Edda, the poetic Edda of Icelandic culture.

So, I ask you this. If the Goths were Dacians and not from "Scandia," then why were their legends (or myths) recorded by a Scandinavian people who-- according to your view-- had no connection to them? Hervor is a legendary figure in Scandic culture, and she uses Tryfing in battling the Huns. In the real world, and to update this cultural-trade link, these same Scandic peoples followed that route right up until the advent of the Rus and the formation of the Kieven State. What the Rus accomplished at this later date-- bringing the local Slavs and Finns into their "kunja"-- is exactly what the Goths did when they incorporated the Dacians at an earlier date.

You said, "The fact that Goths writed in a germanic language, doesnt mean too much ..." On the contrary, it means EVERYTHING! Socialogists have proven that (for purposes of trade and social structure) lesser cultures adopt the language of the dominent culture. Therefore, the dominent Gothic culture and ethos was Germanic.