Diplomacy at the End of the World: Theoderic’s Letters to the Warni and Hesti

Theoderic’s diplomacy with distant peoples has often been considered as a kind of Realpolitik chiefly aimed at military or strategical purposes, but the symbolic importance of two embassies from the Warni and Hesti should be taken into consideration more carefully. The king aimed to convince his subjects and neighbours that he was the rightful heir of the Roman emperors by following a subtle policy of imitatio Imperii. He also used diplomacy to achieve this goal and took advantage of two embassies from remote peoples of Northern Europe in order to imitate both Augustus and contemporary emperors, who prided themselves upon receiving envoys from far-away lands.