Geats

The Geats are the tribal people to whom Beowulf belongs, and of whom he eventually becomes king. There are a great number of possible historical tribes who are associated with the Geats. The southern part of modern Sweden is known as Götaland after the Göta people. Many scholars place Beowulf's homeland in the county of Östergötland. In 2018, Bo Gräslund revived the theory that the Geats had their homeland on the island of Gotland. The Geats are sometimes nicknamed the wethergeatas in Beowulf. This nickname has been associated with the weather (i.e. the storm-Geats), but Gräslund associates it with the Swedish word Vädur, meaning "ram." He notes that for the whole of history, the sheep has been the heraldic animal of Gotland.