Reiks

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Reiks (pronunciation /ri:ks/; Latinized rix) is a Gothic title for a tribal ruler, often translated as "king". In the Gothic Bible, it translates the Greek árchōn (ἄρχων).[1] It is presumably translated as basiliskos (βασιλίσκος "petty king") in the Passio of Sabbas the Goth.[2]

The Gothic Thervingi were divided into subdivisions of territory and people called kunja (singular kuni, cognate with English kin), by a reiks.[3] In times of a common threat, one of the reiks would be selected as a kindins, or head of the Empire (translated as "judge", Latin iudex, Greek δικαστής).[4]

Herwig Wolfram suggested the position was different to the Roman definition of a rex ("king"), and is better described as that of a tribal chief (see Germanic king).[5] A reiks had a lower order of optimates or megistanes (μεγιστάνες, presumably translating mahteigs[6]) beneath him, on whom he could call on for support.[7]

The term reiks was in origin a Celtic word adopted by the early Germanic peoples (as *rīks; see also Reich). It also figures prominently as second element in Gothic names, Latinized as -rix, and often anglicized as -ric, e.g. in Theoderic (Þiuda-reiks). The use of the suffix extended into the Merovingian dynasty, with kings given names such as Childeric,[8] and it survives in modern German names such as Ulrich, Dietrich.

See also

  • Germanic king
  • Reich
  • King of the Visigoths
  • King of the Ostrogoths

References

  1. ↑ A. W. Van Der Hoek; Dirk H. A. Kolff; M. S. Oort (1992). Ritual, State, and History in South Asia: Essays in Honour of J.C. Heesterman. BRILL. pp. 310–. ISBN 978-90-04-09467-3. Retrieved 4 January 2013. 
  2. ↑ Herwig Wolfram (2005). Gotische Studien: Volk und Herrschaft im frühen Mittelalter. C. H. Beck. pp. 90–. ISBN 978-3-406-52957-3. Retrieved 5 January 2013. 
  3. ↑ Herwig Wolfram, Die Goten: Von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des 6. Jahrhunderts, p. 105.
  4. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus (27,5,9) mentions one Athanaric iudex gentis, "judge of the people."
  5. ↑ P. J. Heather (1999). The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century: An Ethnographic Perspective. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 358–. ISBN 978-1-84383-033-7. Retrieved 5 January 2013. 
  6. ↑ Béla Köpeczi, History of Transylvania: From the beginnings to 1606, Social Science Monographs, 2001, p. 163.
  7. ↑ Béla Köpeczi, History of Transylvania: From the beginnings to 1606, Social Science Monographs, 2001, p. 163.
  8. ↑ Herwig Wolfram (1997). The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples. University of California Press. pp. 17–. ISBN 978-0-520-08511-4. Retrieved 5 January 2013. 
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