Fifth- and sixth-century use of classical ethnographic ideologies – in propaganda, literature, theology and art – created the Goths of Italy. This re-use of elements from the heritage of Mediterranean ethnographic culture “created” the Goths not only for us, for whom they so frequently seem a concrete and stable community or tribe, but also for men and women of the period, for whom distinct advantages or disadvantages accrued from accepting the label Goth at different times and in different places.

Ancient ethnographic description of barbarian groups such as the Goths need not always have described ethnicity. Ethnicity is not the only form of community in a society, or the necessary primary identity for an individual. He or she may belong to several different groups, the relative importance of which can shift according to the circumstance of the moment. These different communities within society attracted ethnographic description in late antiquity. A soldier in Italy in 510 could belong to the Catholic church, own tax-bearing property and speak the Latin language. As a soldier he could be called a “Goth” by the king, as a Latin-speaking taxpayer a “Roman,” as a member of the Catholic church and an inhabitant of Italy, a citizen of the imperium Christianum – or of the province of Lucani et Brutii and the episcopal see of Reggio. At different moments in his life, different labels would be of use to him or to the powers who chose to classify him in such ways.