L’arianesimo degli Ostrogoti nel sesto secolo: fattore identitario o elemento residuale?

The settlement of the Ostrogoths in Italy has long been regarded as a clear break by historians, who have lingered on the ethnic, linguistic and religious otherness of Theoderic's people. In recent decades, however, these positions have been challenged by a growing number of studies, which stress the rapid assimilation between Ostrogoths and Romans. An essential aspect of this process of acculturation is represented by religion. Unlike the Vandalic rulers, Theoderic and his successors, although Arian, maintained good relations with the Catholic clergy and advocated a policy of tolerance. The religious affiliation of individuals, which has been often associated mechanically with ethnicity, was in reality much less predictable: there were Roman or non-Gothic Arian communities and, vice versa, there were several Catholic Ostrogoths. Far from being one of the pillars of Gothic identity, Arianism was a residual element, destined to disappear as a result of the process of ethnogenesis which led to an almost complete assimilation of Ostrogoths and Romans within a few generations.