Talk:Radagaisus

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A fact from Radagaisus appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 6 November 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the Gothic king Radagaisus abandoned his forces and tried escaping after a counterattack by the Roman army in 406?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2007/November.

Wikipedia

Additional 'aftermath' material

There's a bit more from Zosimus (via Heather) about the fate of Radagaisus's fighters and other followers, which I will add later. Real life demands my attention for the moment... Dppowell 18:23, 6 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Pagan"?

It seems that in almost every article about leaders of the Goths, or Vandals, or Huns, or whoever -- including this one -- the first thing said about the subject is that he was a "pagan." For the earlier leaders, especially, this is irrelevant. In fact, it seems non-NPOV in a "rah, rah, for Christians" sense. --Michael K. Smith (talk) 05:14, 8 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I know, Radagaisus was one of the last—perhaps the very last—Gothic leader specifically described as a pagan by contemporaries. So it would be very relevant to anyone interested in the religious history of the Goths. —benadhem (talk) 21:15, 14 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

By the late 4th, early 5th century there was not a Gothic people, but many different groups which the Romans called Goths or sometimes Scythians. Some of these groups had adopted Christianity at the time, and the fact that Radagais was still a pagan is significant, as it helps a bit to determine his origins. Having said this, it is of course not clear at all whether he thought of himself as a Goths or not. The sources state that his army was recruited from people between Danube and the Rhine, including many different groups. Indeed, historian Heike Grahn-Hoek suggested a link between Radagais and the Thuringians, who started to emerge around the time of Radagais' appearance. The name component Rada-/Rade- and -gis/-gais were unusually common among the Thuringian royal family (e.g. Radegunde 2X, Radagis, Artagis)