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Ok, this is my first article for Wikipedia. The reason I made it was that there were multiple references to Sarus the Goth in WP but no entry for him. However when I started to research, I found that this situation is largely reflected in the scholarship. Apart from PLRE and the odd mention there seems to have been no specific study of Sarus made. WP is not the place for that, so I gathered what I could for the entry. I know there are problems, some of which I list below:
Awkward wording in places. Maybe POV or purple-prosy (esp. in conclusion)
The sources largely echo each other. As far as I know, this is because in antiquity there were only actually one or two contemporary accounts (mainly Olympiodorus, now lost apart from a tenth century precis) which the others all used, traded and copied amongst each other.
I have shied away from mention of Ostrogoth/Visigoth tribes or Amal/Balti clans as I regard them as anachronistic for the period, though I regard Greuthungi/Tervingi as legitimate. However, some scholars have and still do regard the Goths of the period in these terms, so it needs to be mentioned.
A conclusion or appraisal. This is difficult without POV intruding. A simple account of Sarus' deeds leaves a disjointed and confused picture, but without a published synthesis to quote that seems to be all we have. Do we simply state this? I am open to suggestion.
There is a para I inserted about the Sarus mentioned in Jordanes' Getica and in the Ermanaric article. I don't know whether to keep it or not.
In Zosimus, the part where Sarus fights his way through to Stilicho's tent/HQ (Zos. V 34) ... is it me, or does anyone else not know what's going on here? I've seen a couple of different interpretations in the secondary material, but it's got me beat. I put in one interpretation but I could be wrong.
I've sorted this out. That will teach me to read passages in isolation. --Jmullaly (talk) 21:58, 1 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I currently only have net access to sources and articles. Someone with good access to secondary materials needs to have a go. Mine are currently unavailable though that should change soon.
