Jan Prostko-Prostyński, A History of the Herules, Poznań Adam Mickiewicz University Press 2021
Jan Prostko-Prostyński is a Polish ancient historian from the University of Poznań. In his monograph, published in 2021, the author contextualises the history of the Heruls against the background of the migration period. The history of the Heruls shows how the development and migration of a military group in this period should always be understood in a wider context of tension between the Eastern Roman and Western Roman Empires. The few reports by ancient authors have received little attention from previous research and only a few publications on this gens have appeared in recent years.
The book begins (pp. 19–27) with the discussion of the origin of the Heruls from Scandinavia, based on the literary evidence in Procopius and Jordanes, which is regarded by scholars as either mythical, fictitious or credible. Prostko-Prostyński argues that Jordanes did not know Procopius, thus Jordanes should be treated as an authentic source for a Scandinavian origin of the Heruls, even if Procopius Herulian excursus to Thule contains fictitious elements. While most recent researchers deliberately leave the question of origin open, or reject an origin from Scandinavia, Prostko-Prostynski emphasises “The sources leave no doubt that the Herules came from Scandinavia” (p. 27), a position that will be met by criticism. This position is also maintained in the next chapter, “The Herules on the Azov Sea” (pp. 29–41), in which the author speculates (partly based on archaeological evidence) about migration routes between the Baltic Sea and the Sea of Azov, where the Heruls first came into contact with the Roman Empire in the 3rd century.
The fifth chapter “From Attila to the defeat of King Rodulf” (pp. 63–86) starts in a promising manner. It deals with Herulian history between the Battle of Nedao in 454 and the death of Attila, as well as with the destruction of the Herulian Empire in Pannonia by the Lombards. This chapter also deals with Prokop’s Thule excursus, focusing on the reconstruction of the migration route of the Heruls. Prostko-Prostyński assumptions are again based on a clearly traceable origin of the Heruls from Scandinavia.
The following chapter, “The Herules in the Byzantine Empire” (pp. 63–97), deals with the settlement and commissioning of Herulian units in Eastern Roman service under Anastasios and Justinian. In particular, the episode about a Herulian legation to Thule to find a new leader after the extinction of the stirps regia is at the heart of this chapter.
The operations of Herulian units in Justinian’s wars in Mesopotamia, North Africa and Italy, as recorded by Prokop, are dealt with in the next chapters “Herules in Justinian’s army: Asian battle-fronts” (pp. 99–108) and “The Herules in Roman campaigns in North Africa and Italy” (pp. 109–127). The four hundred Heruls under their leader Pharas took an important position alongside the Huns as foederati in Procopius narrative during the Vandal War. Central is the episode between Pharas and besieged Gelimer on Mount Papua.
A short chapter (pp. 129–131) deals with Sinduald, the magister militum and last known rex of the Heruls, who was defeated by Narses and executed under Justin II.
The aim of the book was to constitute a critical study of the history of the Heruls, which Prostko-Prostynski, confronting publications of recent years, provides in part, although he at times adopts older positions when in doubt. The short conclusion at the end of the book (pp. 185–187) once again summarises Prostko-Prostynski’s interpretations and views, which are at serious odds with the publications of recent years. Statements such as “The terminology of textual evidence, which consistently speak of ‘gens’ or ‘ethnos’ Herulorum, leaves no doubt that they were a ‘people’, a nation, and not some constellation of multiethnic warrior bands” (p. 186) suggest either lacking or dismissive engagement with the research of the “Viennese School” around Walter Pohl on ethnicity and identity. Instead, there is a repeated tendency to rely on older research opinions, especially those of Caspar Zeus and Ludwig Schmidt. Critical approaches that explain a Scandinavian origin of the Heruls in Procopius and Jordanes as topical and politically motivated descriptions are sweepingly dismissed as “hypercritical and ungrounded” (p. 186).
The history of the Heruls shows once again that the emergence and formation of barbarian groups and military units must always be read in the context of internal Roman politics and warfare. All in all, Jan Prostko-Prostynski offers a successful and qualitative overview of the history of the Heruls, which partly stands in sharp contrast to similar works of the past years and will certainly elicit reactions. Despite a tone that is sometimes too polemical, Prostko-Prostyński nevertheless often provides clear arguments and a meticulous analysis of sources and research literature.
Most recently Roland Steinacher, Rom und die Barbaren. Völker im Alpen- und Donauraum (300–600), Stuttgart 2017; Roland Steinacher, The Herules: Fragment of a History, in: Florin curta (ed.), Neglected Barbarians, Turnhout 2010, pp. 319–360; Alexander Sarantis, The Justinianic Herules: From Allied Barbarians to Roman Provincials, in: Florin curta (ed.), Neglected Barbarians, Turnhout 2010, pp. 361–402.
E.g. Walter Pohl (ed.), Kingdoms of the Empire. The Integration of Barbarians in Late Antiquity, ed. Walter Pohl, The Transformation of the Roman World 1, Leiden, New York, Cologne 1997; Walter Pohl, Helmut Reimitz (eds.), Strategies of Distinction. The Construction of Ethnic Communities, 300-800, The Transformation of the Roman World 2, Leiden, New York, Cologne 1998; Walter Pohl, Clemens Gantner, Richard Payne (eds.), Visions of Community in the Post-Roman World. The West, Byzantium and the Islamic World, 300-1100, Farnham, Burlington 2012.