Original version

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Radio

World Service Radio

The Forum

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The Forum: The original Goths

Discussion & Talk

Goth Girl (BBC) and Coin Showing Gothic King Theoderic (Museo nazionale romano di palazzo Altemps [Public domain])

03/03/2018 GMT

The original Goths

BBC World Service - The Forum, The original Goths

The ancient tribe which shaped Europe's history

The history and legacy of the Goths, with Bridget Kendall, David Gwynn, Janina Ramirez, and Mischa Meier.

The Goths were a Germanic tribe infamous for their brief sack of Rome in 410 AD, but their cultural and political influence was felt throughout Europe for centuries. They re-shaped the Balkans, preserved the Roman way of life in Italy, and presided over a cultural flourishing in Spain. But how, many centuries after their demise, did they come to give their name to an important architectural style in medieval Europe and, in the 20th century, to a subculture popular all over the world?

Bridget Kendall talks all things Gothic with David Gwynn, historian at Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of Goths, the Lost Civilisation. Also on the panel are Janina Ramirez, a cultural historian, broadcaster and author who focuses on the Middle Ages, based at the University of Oxford, and Mischa Meier, professor of ancient history at the University of Tubingen in Germany.

(Photo credits: Goth girl - BBC, Gothic King Theodoric coin - Mark Cartwright)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Forum

The original Goths

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service

About BBC World Service