Berig is a legendary king of the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

appearing in the ''

Getica ''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae oths'), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'', written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the o ...

'' by

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') a ...

. According to Jordanes, Berig led his people on three ships from

Scandza Scandza was described as a "great island" by Gothic-Byzantine historian Jordanes in his work ''Getica''. The island was located in the Arctic regions of the sea that surrounded the world. The location is usually identified with Scandinavia. Jor ...

(Scandinavia) to

Gothiscandza According to a tale related by Jordanes in his ''Getica'', Gothiscandza was the first settlement area of the Goths after their migration from Scandza during the first half of the 1st century CE. He claimed that the name was still in use in his own ...

(the

Vistula Basin The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

). They settled and then attacked the

Rugians The Rugii, Rogi or Rugians ( grc, Ρογοί, Rogoi), were a Roman-era Germanic people. They were first clearly recorded by Tacitus, in his ''Germania'' who called them the ''Rugii'', and located them near the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Some ...

who lived on the shore and drove them away from their homes, subsequently winning a battle against the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

. Arne Søby, a Danish historian, has nonetheless proposed that

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Roman statesman, renowned scholar of antiquity, and writer serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senator'' ...

, who wrote the original text on which Jordanes's work is based, invented Berig, with inspiration from the name of Βέρικος (Berikos or

Verica Verica (early 1st century AD) was a British client king of the Roman Empire in the years preceding the Claudian invasion of 43 AD. From his coinage, he appears to have been king of the, probably Belgic, Atrebates tribe and a son of Commius. Th ...

). Some archaeological research indicates, however, that the transition of the Oksywie culture into the

Wielbark culture The Wielbark culture (german: Wielbark-Willenberg-Kultur; pl, Kultura wielbarska) or East Pomeranian-Mazovian is an Iron Age archaeological complex which flourished on the territory of today's Poland from the 1st century AD to the 5th century AD. ...

was peaceful and its timing coincides with the appearance of a new population of Scandinavian origins in the previously uninhabited area (" no man's land") between the Oksywie and

Przeworsk Przeworsk (; uk, Переворськ, translit=Perevors'k; yi, פּרשעוואָרסק, translit=Prshevorsk) is a town in south-eastern Poland with 15,675 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Since 1999 it has been in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship ...

culture areas.Kokowski 1999 The 16th-century Swedish archbishop of

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

Johannes Magnus, in his history of the Swedes and Goths, was the first to publish a song known as the "

Ballad of Eric The "Ballad of Eric" ( sv, "Eriksvisan") is a ballad found in Latin and Swedish language, Swedish about the legendary Goths, Gothic king, Erik. It was once seen as a valuable source for Migration Period history, but is now regarded as an inauthent ...

", about an early Gothic king called Eric, who bears some similarities to Berig. It was once thought to contain authentic folk tradition about the king, but it is now regarded as inaccurate. However, Magnus discusses King Berig separately as having united the Swedes and Goths some 400 years after Eric's death.

In popular culture

In popular culture, Berig is referenced (as Berik) in the song "Three Ships of Berik, Pts. 1 and 2" by Swedish symphonic metal band Therion.

Notes

References

Andrzej Kokowski Andrzej Kokowski (born 1953) is a Polish archaeologist who is a Professor of Archaeology and Director of the Institute of Archaeology at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University. Biography Andrzej Kokowski was born in Złotów in 1953. He received h ...

"Archäologie der Goten" 1999 ({{ISBN, 83-907341-8-4) Legendary Gothic kings