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260 Beowulf, Swedes and Geats
history of the Gothic wars that the island of Thule (which
can only be equated with Scandinavia) had thirteen very
numerous nations, one of which was the Gautoi, who were
especially powerful. When the Eruli were defeated by
the Lombards, they went off and settled close to this
tribe, who can readily be identified with the Gautar.
Finally, Jordanes, in his History of the Goths, tells us of
a large number of tribes, including Svehans and Svertidi
(= Svear) , Gauthi-gothae and Ostrogothae, probably the
inhabitants of Vaster- and Ostergotland.t?
On the basis of the above survey, it is my interpretation
that the account given by Tacitus of the Sweones has been
over-valued, since the Gautar, or Gautoi, seem to be at
least equally prominent in such early sources as we have
available to us. 71
It is significant that the mid-Swedish lowland, with its
great lakes Vanern, Vattern, Hjalmaren and Malaren, is
about equally divided between the Geats and Swedes.
Professor Stenberger describes this area as the 'heartland
of Sweden', for it offered both fertile clay plains and
comparative ease of communication by water'" (see
Figure 3). In the early Iron Age (c. 400 B.C. - A.D. 50)
impressive cemeteries are known from Oster- and
Vastergotland, Oland and Gotland, and also from Uppland
and Varmland, For some reason, there is little evidence
of settlement in south central Sweden. Gotland and
Oland have a distinctive and somewhat favoured
,. See ]. Svennung, [ordanes und Scandia: kritisch-exegetische Stndien
(Skrifter utgivna av K. Humanistiska Vetenskapssamfundet i Uppsala, 44:
2A,1967).
71 Sir Thomas Kendrick concluded his survey of the early sources for
Scandinavian history on an even more pro-Geatish note: 'I t can be inferred that
by the time of the sixth century the kingdoms of Gotaland, particularly that of
the Vastgtltar, had risen to such strength and power that they seriously
challenged, if indeed they had not overthrown, the supremacy of the Swedes'
(History of the Vikings, 1930, 76).
,. M. Stenberger, Sweden (1962), 17. It is most probable that sixthcentury
settlements would have been largely confined to these 'heartland'
plains, with numerous lakes for transport. It is also probable that conflict
would have arisen there, between the Geats on the west and the Swedes to the
east•. The dense woodlands south of this area inhibited settlement and
development until a much later period.