TheGoths[a] were aGermanic people who played a major role in thefall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence ofmedieval Europe.[1][2][3] They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of theDanube in what is now Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. From here they conducted raids into Roman territory, and large numbers of them joined the Roman military. These early Goths lived in the regions where archaeologists find theChernyakhov culture, which flourished throughout this region during the 3rd and 4th centuries.
In the late 4th century, the lands of the Goths in present-dayUkraine were overwhelmed by a significant westward movement ofAlans andHuns from the east. Large numbers of Goths subsequently concentrated upon the Roman border at the LowerDanube, seeking refuge inside the Roman Empire. After they entered the Empire, violence broke out, and Goth-led forces inflicted a devastating defeat upon the Romans at theBattle of Adrianople in 378. Roman forces regained a level of control but many Goths and other eastern peoples were quickly settled in and near the empire. One group of these, initially led by their kingAlaric I,sacked the city of Rome in 410 and were the precursors of theVisigoths, and their successors eventually established aVisigothic Kingdom in Spain atToledo.[3] Meanwhile, Goths under Hunnic rule gained their independence in the 5th century, most importantly theOstrogoths. Under their kingTheodoric the Great, these Goths established anOstrogothic Kingdom in Italy atRavenna.[4][3]
In theGothic language, the Goths were called the *Gut-þiuda ('Gothic people') or *Gutans ('Goths').[9][10] TheProto-Germanic form of the Gothic name is reconstructed as *Gutōz, but it is proposed that this co-existed with an n-stem variant *Gutaniz, attested inGutones,gutani, orgutniskr. The form *Gutōz is etymologically identical to that of theGutes from Gotland, Sweden, and closely related to that of theGeats, from mainland Sweden, whose name is reconstructed as *Gautōz.[11] Though these names probably all mean the same thing, that meaning is uncertain.[12] They are all thought to be related to the Proto-Germanic verb *geuta-, which means "to pour".[13]
The similarity of these Scandinavian names has long been noted by scholars in connection with the 6th-century bookGetica (c. 551), by the historianJordanes who wrote that the Goths originated onScandza many centuries earlier, and moved to the Vistula delta. However, the accuracy of Jordanes' account for such early Gothic history has been questioned by scholars.[1] A people called theGutones – possibly early Goths – are documented living near the lowerVistula River in currentPoland in the 1st century, where they are associated with the archaeologicalWielbark culture.[1][2]
A crucial source on Gothic history is theGetica of the 6th-century historianJordanes, who may have been of Gothic descent.[27][28] Jordanes claims to have based theGetica on an earlier lost work byCassiodorus, but also cites material from fifteen other classical sources, including an otherwise unknown writer,Ablabius.[29][30][31] Many scholars accept that Jordanes' account on Gothic origins is at least partially derived from Gothic tribal tradition and accurate on certain details, and as a result the Goths are often identified as originating from south-central Sweden.[32][33][34][35]
According to Jordanes, the Goths originated on an island calledScandza (Scandinavia), from where they emigrated by sea to an area calledGothiscandza under their kingBerig.[36] Historians are not in agreement on the authenticity and accuracy of this account.[37][38][39][40][41] Most scholars agree that Gothic migration from Scandinavia is reflected in the archaeological record,[42] but the evidence is not entirely clear.[1][43][44] Rather than a single mass migration of an entire people, scholars open to hypothetical Scandinavian origins envision a process of gradual migration in the 1st centuries BC and AD, which was probably preceded by long-term contacts and perhaps limited to a few elite clans from Scandinavia.[45][46][47][48]
Similarities between thename of the Goths, some Swedishplace names and the names of the Gutes and Geats have been cited as evidence that the Goths originated inGotland orGötaland.[49][50][51] The Goths, Geats and Gutes may all have descended from an early community of seafarers active on both sides of the Baltic.[52][53][54] Similarities and dissimilarities between the Gothic language andScandinavian languages (particularlyGutnish) have been cited as evidence both for and against a Scandinavian origin.[55][56]
Scholars generally locateGothiscandza in the area of theWielbark culture.[57][58][59] This culture emerged in the lower Vistula and along thePomeranian coast in the 1st century AD, replacing the precedingOksywie culture.[60] It is primarily distinguished from the Oksywie by the practice of inhumation, the absence of weapons in graves, and the presence ofstone circles.[61][62] This area had been intimately connected with Scandinavia since the time of theNordic Bronze Age and theLusatian culture.[53] Its inhabitants in the Wielbark period are usually thought to have been Germanic peoples, such as the Goths and Rugii.[1][63][64][65][66] Jordanes writes that the Goths, soon after settlingGothiscandza, seized the lands of theUlmerugi (Rugii).[67][68]
The Goths are generally believed to have been first attested byGreco-Roman sources in the 1st century under the nameGutones.[2][32][33][66][69][70] The equation between Gutones and later Goths is disputed by several historians.[71][72][73][74]
Around 15 AD,Strabo mentions the Butones,Lugii, andSemnones as part of a large group of peoples who came under the domination of theMarcomannic kingMaroboduus.[75] The "Butones" are generally equated with the Gutones.[76][77] The Lugii have sometimes been considered the same people as theVandals, with whom they were certainly closely affiliated.[78] The Vandals are associated with thePrzeworsk culture, which was located to the south of the Wielbark culture.[79] Wolfram suggests that the Gutones were clients of the Lugii and Vandals in the 1st century AD.[78]
In 77 AD,Pliny the Elder mentions the Gutones as one of the peoples ofGermania. He writes that the Gutones,Burgundiones,Varini, and Carini belong to the Vandili. Pliny classifies the Vandili as one of the five principal "German races", along with the coastalIngvaeones,Istvaeones,Irminones, andPeucini.[80][78][81] In an earlier chapter Pliny writes that the 4th century BC travelerPytheas encountered a people called theGuiones.[82] Some scholars have equated theseGuiones with the Gutones, but the authenticity of the Pytheas account is uncertain.[52][83]
In his workGermania from around 98 AD,Tacitus writes that the Gotones (or Gothones) and the neighbouring Rugii andLemovii wereGermani who carried round shields and short swords, and lived near the ocean, beyond the Vandals.[84] He described them as "ruled by kings, a little more strictly than the other German tribes".[85][84][86] In another notable work, theAnnals, Tacitus writes that the Gotones had assistedCatualda, a young Marcomannic exile, in overthrowing the rule of Maroboduus.[87][88] Prior to this, it is probable that both the Gutones and Vandals had been subjects of the Marcomanni.[84]
The Roman Empire underHadrian, showing the location of the Gothones, then inhabiting the east bank of theVistula in modern-day Poland
Sometime after settlingGothiscandza, Jordanes writes that the Goths defeated the neighbouring Vandals.[89] Wolfram believes the Gutones freed themselves from Vandalic domination at the beginning of the 2nd century AD.[78]
In hisGeography from around 150 AD,Ptolemy mentions the Gythones (or Gutones) as living east of the Vistula in Sarmatia, between theVeneti and theFenni.[90][91][92] In an earlier chapter he mentions a people called the Gutae (or Gautae) as living in southernScandia.[93][92] These Gutae are probably the same as the laterGauti mentioned by Procopius.[91] Wolfram suggests that there were close relations between the Gythones and Gutae, and that they might have been of common origin.[91]
Beginning in the middle of the 2nd century, the Wielbark culture shifted southeast towards theBlack Sea.[94] During this time the Wielbark culture is believed to have ejected and partially absorbed peoples of the Przeworsk culture.[94] This was part of a wider southward movement of eastern Germanic tribes, which was probably caused by massive population growth.[94] As a result, other tribes were pushed towards theRoman Empire, contributing to the beginning of theMarcomannic Wars.[94] By 200 AD, Wielbark Goths were probably being recruited into theRoman army.[95]
According to Jordanes, the Goths enteredOium, part of Scythia, under the kingFilimer, where they defeated theSpali.[89][96] This migration account partly corresponds with the archaeological evidence.[43][97] The nameSpali may mean "the giants" inSlavic, and the Spali were thus probably notSlavs.[98] In the early 3rd century AD, western Scythia was inhabited by the agriculturalZarubintsy culture and the nomadicSarmatians.[99] Prior to the Sarmatians, the area had been settled by theBastarnae, who are believed to have carried out a migration similar to the Goths in the 3rd century BC.[100]Peter Heather considers the Filimer story to be at least partially derived from Gothic oral tradition.[101][102] The fact that the expanding Goths appear to have preserved their Gothic language during their migration suggests that their movement involved a fairly large number of people.[103]
By the mid-3rd century AD, the Wielbark culture had contributed to the formation of theChernyakhov culture in Scythia.[104][105] This strikingly uniform culture came to stretch from theDanube in the west to theDon in the east.[106] It is believed to have been dominated by the Goths and other Germanic groups such as theHeruli.[107] It nevertheless also includedIranian,Dacian, Roman and probablySlavic elements as well.[106]
The first incursion into the Roman Empire attributable to Goths involved the sack ofHistria (near the then mouth of the Danube) in 238.[100][108] The first documentary references to the Goths in the 3rd century call themScythians, as their base, known as Scythia, had historically been occupied by an unrelated people of that name.[109] In the late 3rd century the nameGoths (Latin:Gothi) is first mentioned.[110] Ancient authors do not identify the Goths with the earlier Gutones.[111][72]Philologists andlinguists have no doubt that the names are linked.[112][113]
The first Gothic seaborne raids took place in the 250s. The first two incursions intoAsia Minor occurred between 253 and 256;Zosimus attributes them toBoranoi. This may not be an ethnic term but may just mean "people from the north". It is unknown if Goths were involved in these first raids.Gregory Thaumaturgus attributes a third attack to Goths and Boradoi, and claims that some, "forgetting that they were men of Pontus and Christians", joined the invaders.[125] An unsuccessful attack onPityus was followed in the second year by another, which sacked Pityus andTrabzon and ravaged large areas in thePontus. In the third year, a much larger force devastated large areas ofBithynia and thePropontis, including the cities ofChalcedon,Nicomedia,Nicaea,Apamea Myrlea,Cius andBursa. By the end of the raids, the Goths had seized control overCrimea and theBosporus and captured several cities on theEuxine coast, includingOlbia andTyras, which enabled them to engage in widespread naval activities.[117][100][126]
AfterGallienus was assassinated outsideMilan in the summer of 268 in a plot led by high officers in his army,Claudius was proclaimed emperor and headed to Rome to establish his rule. Claudius' immediate concerns were with theAlamanni, who had invadedRaetia and Italy. After he defeated them in theBattle of Lake Benacus, he was finally able to take care of the invasions in theBalkan provinces.[131][100]
In the meantime, a second and larger sea-borne invasion had started. An enormous coalition consisting of Goths (Greuthungi and Thervingi), Gepids and Peucini, led again by the Heruli, assembled at the mouth of river Tyras (Dniester).[b][117] TheAugustan History and Zosimus claim a total number of 2,000–6,000 ships and 325,000 men.[132] This is probably a gross exaggeration but remains indicative of the scale of the invasion.[117] After failing to storm some towns on the coasts of the westernBlack Sea and theDanube (Tomi,Marcianopolis), the invaders attackedByzantium andChrysopolis. Part of their fleet was wrecked, either because of the Goth's inexperience in sailing through the violent currents of thePropontis[130] or because they were defeated by the Roman navy.[117] Then they entered theAegean Sea and a detachment ravaged the Aegean islands as far asCrete,Rhodes andCyprus.[117] According to theAugustan History, the Goths achieved no success on this expedition because they were struck by theCyprianic Plague.[133] The fleet probably also sackedTroy andEphesus, damaging theTemple of Artemis, though the temple was repaired and then later torn down by Christians a century later, one of theSeven Wonders of the Ancient World.[117] While their main force had constructed siege works and was close to taking the cities ofThessalonica andCassandreia, it retreated to the Balkan interior at the news that the emperor was advancing.[117][100]
Europe in AD 300, showing the distribution of the Goths near theBlack Sea
Learning of the approach of Claudius, the Goths first attempted to directly invade Italy.[134] They wereengaged near Naissus by a Roman army led by Claudius advancing from the north. The battle most likely took place in 269, and was fiercely contested. Large numbers on both sides were killed but, at the critical point, the Romans tricked the Goths into an ambush by pretending to retreat. Some 50,000 Goths were allegedly killed or taken captive and their base atThessalonika destroyed.[130][117] ApparentlyAurelian, who was in charge of all Roman cavalry during Claudius' reign, led the decisive attack in the battle. Some survivors were resettled within the empire, while others were incorporated into the Roman army.[117][100] The battle ensured the survival of theRoman Empire for another two centuries.[134]
By the late 3rd century, there were at least two groups of Goths, separated by theDniester River: theThervingi and theGreuthungi.[138] TheGepids, who lived northwest of the Goths, are also attested as this time.[139] Jordanes writes that the Gepids shared common origins with the Goths.[139][140]
In the late 3rd century, as recorded by Jordanes, the Gepids, under their kingFastida, utterly defeated the Burgundians, and then attacked the Goths and their king Ostrogotha. Out of this conflict, Ostrogotha and the Goths emerged victorious.[141][142] In the last decades of the 3rd century, large numbers ofCarpi are recorded as fleeing from Dacia to the Roman Empire, having probably been driven from the area by Goths.[100]
In 332,Constantine helped the Sarmatians to settle on the north banks of the Danube to defend against the Goths' attacks and thereby enforce the Roman border. Around 100,000 Goths were reportedly killed in battle, andAoric, son of the Thervingian kingAriaric, was captured.[143]Eusebius, a historian who wrote in Greek in the early 4th century, wrote that in 334, Constantine evacuated approximately 300,000 Sarmatians from the north bank of the Danube after a revolt of the Sarmatians' slaves. From 335 to 336, Constantine, continuing his Danube campaign, defeated many Gothic tribes.[144]
Having been driven from the Danube by the Romans, the Thervingi invaded the territory of the Sarmatians of theTisza. In this conflict, the Thervingi were led byVidigoia, "the bravest of the Goths" and were victorious, although Vidigoia was killed.[145] Jordanes states that Aoric was succeeded byGeberic, "a man renowned for his valor and noble birth", who waged war on theHasdingi Vandals and their kingVisimar, forcing them to settle in Pannonia under Roman protection.[146][147]
Both the Greuthungi and Thervingi became heavilyRomanized during the 4th century. This came about through trade with the Romans, as well as through Gothic membership of a military covenant, which was based in Byzantium and involved pledges of military assistance. Reportedly, 40,000 Goths were brought by Constantine to defendConstantinople in his later reign, and the Palace Guard was thereafter mostly composed of Germanic warriors, as Roman soldiers by this time had largely lost military value.[148] The Goths increasingly became soldiers in the Roman armies in the 4th century leading to a significantGermanization of the Roman Army.[149] Without the recruitment of Germanic warriors in the Roman Army, the Roman Empire would not have survived for as long as it did.[149] Goths who gained prominent positions in the Roman military includeGainas,Tribigild,Fravitta andAspar.Mardonius, a Gothic eunuch, was the childhood tutor and later adviser of Roman emperorJulian, on whom he had an immense influence.[7]
The Gothic penchant for wearingskins became fashionable in Constantinople, a fashion which was loudly denounced by conservatives.[150] The 4th-century Greek bishopSynesius compared the Goths to wolves among sheep, mocked them for wearing skins and questioned their loyalty towards Rome:
A man in skins leading warriors who wear thechlamys, exchanging his sheepskins for thetoga to debate withRoman magistrates and perhaps even sit next to aRoman consul, while law-abiding men sit behind. Then these same men, once they have gone a little way from the senate house, put on their sheepskins again, and when they have rejoined their fellows they mock the toga, saying that they cannot comfortably draw their swords in it.[150]
In the 4th century, Geberic was succeeded by the Greuthungian kingErmanaric, who embarked on a large-scale expansion.[151] Jordanes states that Ermanaric conquered a large number of warlike tribes, including the Heruli (who were led by Alaric), theAesti and theVistula Veneti, who, although militarily weak, were very numerous, and put up a strong resistance.[152][151] Jordanes compares the conquests of Ermanaric to those ofAlexander the Great, and states that he "ruled all the nations of Scythia and Germany by his own prowess alone."[152] Interpreting Jordanes, Herwig Wolfram estimates that Ermanaric dominated a vast area of the Pontic Steppe stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea as far eastwards as theUral Mountains,[151][153] encompassing not only the Greuthungi, but alsoBaltic Finnic peoples, Slavs (such as theAntes),Rosomoni (Roxolani), Alans,Huns,Sarmatians and probablyAestii (Balts).[154] According to Wolfram, it is certainly possible that the sphere of influence of the Chernyakhov culture could have extended well beyond its archaeological extent.[151] Chernyakhov archaeological finds have been found far to the north in theforest steppe, suggesting Gothic domination of this area.[155]Peter Heather on the other hand, contends that the extent of Ermanaric's power is exaggerated.[156] Ermanaric's possible dominance of theVolga-Don trade routes has led historianGottfried Schramm to consider his realm a forerunner of theViking-founded state ofKievan Rus'.[157] In the western part of Gothic territories, dominated by the Thervingi, there were also populations ofTaifali, Sarmatians and other Iranian peoples,Dacians,Daco-Romans and other Romanized populations.[158]
According toHervarar saga ok Heiðreks (The Saga of Hervör and Heidrek), a 13th-centurylegendary saga,Árheimar was the capital ofReidgotaland, the land of the Goths. The saga states that it was located on the Dnieper river. Jordanes refers to the region as Oium.[96]
In the 360s,Athanaric, son of Aoric and leader of the Thervingi, supported the usurperProcopius against theEastern Roman EmperorValens. In retaliation, Valens invaded the territories of Athanaric anddefeated him, but was unable to achieve a decisive victory. Athanaric and Valens thereupon negotiated a peace treaty, favorable to the Thervingi, on a boat in the Danube river, as Athanaric refused to set his feet within the Roman Empire. Soon afterwards,Fritigern, a rival of Athanaric, converted to Arianism, gaining the favor of Valens. Athanaric and Fritigern thereafter fought a civil war in which Athanaric appears to have been victorious. Athanaric thereafter carried outa crackdown on Christianity in his realm.[159]
Around 375 the Huns overran theAlans, anIranian people living to the east of the Goths, and then, along with Alans, invaded the territory of the Goths.[160][161] A source for this period is the Roman historianAmmianus Marcellinus, who wrote that Hunnic domination of the Gothic kingdoms in Scythia began in the 370s.[162] It is possible that the Hunnic attack came as a response to the Gothic expansion eastwards.[163]
Upon the suicide of Ermanaric (died 376), the Greuthungi gradually fell under Hunnic domination.Christopher I. Beckwith suggests that the Hunnic thrust intoEurope and the Roman Empire was an attempt to subdue the independent Goths in the west.[164] The Huns fell upon the Thervingi, and Athanaric sought refuge in the mountains (referred to asCaucaland in the sagas).[165]Ambrose makes a passing reference to Athanaric's royal titles before 376 in hisDe Spiritu Sancto (On the Holy Spirit).[166]
Battles between the Goths and the Huns are described in the "Hlöðskviða" (The Battle of the Goths and Huns), a medieval Icelandic saga. The sagas recall thatGizur, king of theGeats, came to the aid of the Goths in an epic conflict with the Huns, although this saga might derive from a later Gothic-Hunnic conflict.[167]
Although the Huns successfully subdued many of the Goths who subsequently joined their ranks, Fritigern approached theEastern Roman emperorValens in 376 with a portion of his people and asked to be allowed to settle on the south bank of the Danube. Valens permitted this, and even assisted the Goths in their crossing of the river (probably at the fortress ofDurostorum).[168] The Gothic evacuation across the Danube was probably not spontaneous, but rather a carefully planned operation initiated after long debate among leading members of the community.[169] Upon arrival, the Goths were to be disarmed according to their agreement with the Romans, although many of them still managed to keep their arms.[168] TheMoesogoths settled in Thrace andMoesia.[170]
Europe in AD 400, showing the distribution of the Goths in the aftermath of theHunnic invasion
Mistreated by corrupt local Roman officials, the Gothic refugees were soon experiencing a famine; some are recorded as having been forced to sell their children to Roman slave traders in return for rotten dog meat.[168] Enraged by this treachery, Fritigern unleashed a widescale rebellion in Thrace, in which he was joined not only by Gothic refugees and slaves, but also by disgruntled Roman workers and peasants, and Gothic deserters from the Roman Army. The ensuing conflict, known as theGothic War, lasted for several years.[171] Meanwhile, a group of Greuthungi, led by the chieftainsAlatheus and Saphrax, who were co-regents with Vithericus, son and heir of the Greuthungi kingVithimiris, crossed the Danube without Roman permission.[171] The Gothic War culminated in theBattle of Adrianople in 378, in which the Romans were badly defeated and Valens was killed.[172][173]
Following the decisive Gothic victory at Adrianople, Julius, themagister militum of theEastern Roman Empire, organized a wholesale massacre of Goths inAsia Minor,Syria and other parts of the Roman East. Fearing rebellion, Julian lured the Goths into the confines of urban streets from which they could not escape and massacred soldiers and civilians alike. As word spread, the Goths rioted throughout the region, and large numbers were killed. Survivors may have settled inPhrygia.[174]
With the rise ofTheodosius I in 379, the Romans launched a renewed offensive to subdue Fritigern and his followers.[175][176] Around the same time, Athanaric arrived in Constantinople, having fled Caucaland through the scheming of Fritigern.[175] Athanaric received a warm reception by Theodosius, praised the Roman Emperor in return, and was honoured with a magnificent funeral by the emperor following his death shortly after his arrival.[177] In 382, Theodosius decided to enter peace negotiations with the Thervingi, which were concluded on 3 October 382.[177] The Thervingi were subsequently madefoederati of the Romans in Thrace and obliged to provide troops to the Roman army.[177]
In the aftermath of the Hunnic onslaught, two major groups of the Goths would eventually emerge, theVisigoths andOstrogoths.[178][179][180][181] Visigoths means the "Goths of the west", while Ostrogoths means "Goths of the east".[182] The Visigoths, led by theBalti dynasty, claimed descent from the Thervingi and lived asfoederati inside Roman territory, while the Ostrogoths, led by theAmali dynasty, claimed descent from the Greuthungi and were subjects of the Huns.[183] Procopius interpreted the nameVisigoth as "western Goths" and the nameOstrogoth as "eastern Goth", reflecting the geographic distribution of the Gothic realms at that time.[184] A people closely related to the Goths, the Gepids, were also living under Hunnic domination.[185] A smaller group of Goths were theCrimean Goths, who remained in Crimea and maintained their Gothic identity well into the18th century.[183]
An illustration ofAlaric enteringAthens in 395. The depiction, includingBronze Age armour, is anachronistic.
The Visigoths were a new Gothic political unit brought together during the career of their first leader, Alaric I.[187] Following a major settlement of Goths in the Balkans made by Theodosius in 382, Goths received prominent positions in the Roman army.[188] Relations with Roman civilians were sometimes uneasy. In 391, Gothic soldiers, with the blessing of Theodosius I,massacred thousands of Roman spectators at the Hippodrome inThessalonica as vengeance for the lynching of the Gothic generalButheric.[189]
The Goths suffered heavy losses while serving Theodosius in the civil war of 394 againstEugenius andArbogast.[190] In 395, following the death of Theodosius I, Alaric and his Balkan Goths invaded Greece, where they sackedPiraeus (the port ofAthens) and destroyedCorinth,Megara,Argos, andSparta.[191][192] Athens itself was spared by paying a large bribe, and the Eastern emperorFlavius Arcadius subsequently appointed Alaricmagister militum ("master of the soldiers") inIllyricum in 397.[192]
In 401 and 402, Alaric made two attempts at invading Italy, but was defeated byStilicho. In 405–406, another Gothic leader,Radagaisus, also attempted to invade Italy, and was also defeated by Stilicho.[108][193] In 408, the Western Roman emperorFlavius Honorius ordered the execution of Stilicho and his family, then incited the Roman population to massacre tens of thousands of wives and children of Goths serving in the Roman military. Subsequently, around 30,000 Gothic soldiers defected to Alaric.[192] Alaric in turn invaded Italy, seeking to pressure Honorious into granting him permission to settle his people inNorth Africa.[192] In Italy, Alaric liberated tens of thousands of Gothic slaves, and in 410 hesacked the city of Rome. Although the city's riches were plundered, the civilian inhabitants of the city were treated humanely, and only a few buildings were burned.[192] Alaric died soon afterwards, and was buried along with his treasure in an unknown grave under theBusento river.[194]
Alaric was succeeded by his brother-in–lawAthaulf, husband of Honorius' sisterGalla Placidia, who had been seized during Alaric's sack of Rome. Athaulf settled the Visigoths in southernGaul.[195][196] After failing to gain recognition from the Romans, Athaulf retreated intoHispania in early 415, and was assassinated inBarcelona shortly afterwards.[197] He was succeeded bySigeric and thenWallia, who succeeded in having the Visigoths accepted by Honorius as foederati in southern Gaul, with their capital atToulouse. Wallia subsequently inflicted severe defeats upon theSilingi Vandals and the Alans in Hispania.[195]
Wallia was succeeded byTheodoric I who completed the settlement of the Goths inAquitania.Periodically they marched onArles, the seat of thepraetorian prefect but were always pushed back. In 439 the Visigoths signed a treaty with the Romans which they kept.[198]
UnderTheodoric II the Visigoths allied with the Romans and foughtAttila to a stalemate in theBattle of the Catalaunian Fields, although Theodoric was killed in the battle.[195][108] UnderEuric, the Visigoths established an independentVisigothic Kingdom and succeeded in driving theSuebi out of Hispania proper and back intoGalicia.[195] Although they controlled Spain, they still formed a tiny minority among a much largerHispano-Roman population, approximately 200,000 out of 6,000,000.[195]
In 507, the Visigoths were pushed out of most of Gaul by theFrankish kingClovis I at theBattle of Vouillé.[108] They were able to retainNarbonensis andProvence after the timely arrival of an Ostrogoth detachment sent byTheodoric the Great. The defeat at Vouillé resulted in their penetrating further into Hispania and establishing a new capital atToledo.[195]
UnderLiuvigild in the latter part of the 6th century, the Visigoths succeeded in subduing the Suebi in Galicia and the Byzantines in the south-west, and thus achieved dominance over most of theIberian peninsula.[195] Liuvigild also abolished the law that prevented intermarriage between Hispano-Romans and Goths, and he remained an Arian Christian.[195] The conversion ofReccared I toRoman Catholicism in the late 6th century prompted the assimilation of Goths with the Hispano-Romans.[195]
At the end of the 7th century, the Visigothic Kingdom began to suffer from internal troubles.[195] Their kingdom fell and was progressivelyconquered by theUmayyad Caliphate from 711 after the defeat of their last kingRoderic at theBattle of Guadalete. Some Visigothic nobles found refuge in the mountain areas of theAsturias,Pyrenees andCantabria. According to Joseph F. O'Callaghan, the remnants of the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy still played an important role in the society of Hispania. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring at a fast pace. Their nobility had begun to think of themselves as constituting one people, thegens Gothorum or theHispani. An unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with the indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy. The population of the mountain region consisted of nativeAstures,Galicians,Cantabri,Basques and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society.[199] The Christians began to regain control under the leadership of the noblemanPelagius of Asturias, who founded theKingdom of Asturias in 718 and defeated the Muslims at theBattle of Covadonga in c. 722, in what is taken by historians to be the beginning of theReconquista. It was from the Asturian kingdom that modernSpain andPortugal evolved.[195]
The Visigoths were never completelyRomanized; rather, they were 'Hispanicized' as they spread widely over a large territory and population. They progressively adopted a new culture, retaining little of their original culture except for practical military customs, some artistic modalities, family traditions such as heroic songs and folklore, as well as select conventions to include Germanic names still in use in present-day Spain. It is these artifacts of the original Visigothic culture that give ample evidence of its contributing foundation for the present regional culture.[164] Portraying themselves heirs of the Visigoths, the subsequent Christian Spanish monarchs declared their responsibility for the Reconquista of Muslim Spain, which was completed with theFall of Granada in 1492.[195]
After the Hunnic invasion, many Goths became subjects of the Huns. A section of these Goths under the leadership of the Amali dynasty came to be known as theOstrogoths.[183] Others sought refuge in the Roman Empire, where many of them were recruited into the Roman army. In the spring of 399,Tribigild, a Gothic leader in charge of troops inNakoleia, rose up in rebellion and defeated the first imperial army sent against him, possibly seeking to emulate Alaric's successes in the west.[200]Gainas, a Goth who along with Stilicho andEutropius had deposedRufinus in 395, was sent to suppress Tribigild's rebellion, but instead plotted to use the situation to seize power in the Eastern Roman Empire. This attempt was however thwarted by the pro-Roman GothFravitta, and in the aftermath, thousands of Gothic civilians were massacred in Constantinople,[7] many being burned alive in the local Arian church where they had taken shelter.[200] As late as the 6th century Goths were settled asfoederati in parts ofAsia Minor. Their descendants, who formed the eliteOptimatoi regiment, still lived there in the early 8th century.[201] While they were largely assimilated, their Gothic origin was still well–known: the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor calls themGothograeci.[7]
The Ostrogoths fought together with the Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451.[202] Following the death of Attila and the defeat of the Huns at theBattle of Nedao in 454, the Ostrogoths broke away from Hunnic rule under their kingValamir.[203] Mentions of this event were probably preserved in Slavic epic songs.[204] Under his successor,Theodemir, they utterly defeated the Huns at theBassianae in 468,[205] and then defeated a coalition of Roman–supported Germanic tribes at theBattle of Bolia in 469, which gained them supremacy inPannonia.[205]
Theodemir was succeeded by his sonTheodoric in 471, who was forced to compete withTheodoric Strabo, leader of theThracian Goths, for the leadership of his people.[206] Fearing the threat posed by Theodoric to Constantinople, the Eastern Roman emperorZeno ordered Theodoric to invade Italy in 488. By 493,[172] Theodoric had conquered all of Italy from theScirianOdoacer, whom he killed with his own hands;[206] he subsequently formed theOstrogothic Kingdom. Theodoric settled his entire people in Italy, estimated at 100,000–200,000, mostly in the northern part of the country, and ruled the country very efficiently. The Goths in Italy constituted a small minority of the population in the country.[148] Intermarriage between Goths and Romans were forbidden, and Romans were also forbidden from carrying arms. Nevertheless, the Roman majority was treated fairly.[206]
The Goths were briefly reunited under one crown in the early 6th century under Theodoric, who became regent of the Visigothic kingdom following the death ofAlaric II at the Battle of Vouillé in 507.[207] Shortly after Theodoric's death, the country was invaded by the Eastern Roman Empire in theGothic War, which severely devastated and depopulated the Italian peninsula.[208] The Ostrogoths made a brief resurgence under their kingTotila,[108] who was, however, killed at theBattle of Taginae in 552. After the last stand of the Ostrogothic kingTeia at theBattle of Mons Lactarius in 553, Ostrogothic resistance ended, and the remaining Goths in Italy were assimilated by theLombards, another Germanic tribe, who invaded Italy and founded theKingdom of the Lombards in 567.[108][209]
Ruins of the citadel ofDoros, capital of the Crimean Goths
Gothic tribes who remained in the lands around the Black Sea,[183] especially inCrimea, were known as theCrimean Goths. During the late 5th and early 6th century, the Crimean Goths had to fend off hordes of Huns who were migrating back eastward after losing control of their European empire.[210] In the 5th century,Theodoric the Great tried to recruit Crimean Goths for his campaigns in Italy, but few showed interest in joining him.[211] They affiliated with theEastern Orthodox Church through theMetropolitanate of Gothia, and were then closely associated with theByzantine Empire.[212]
In the 10th century, the lands of the Crimean Goths were once again raided by the Khazars. As a response, the leaders of the Crimean Goths made an alliance withSviatoslav I of Kiev, who subsequently waged war upon and utterly destroyed theKhazar Khaganate.[213] In the late Middle Ages the Crimean Goths were part of thePrincipality of Theodoro, which was conquered by theOttoman Empire in the late 15th century. As late as the 18th century a small number of people in Crimea may still have spokenCrimean Gothic.[214]
The language was in decline by the mid-500s, due to the military victory of the Franks, the elimination of the Goths in Italy, and geographic isolation. In Spain, the language lost its last and probably already declining function as a church language when the Visigoths converted to Catholicism in 589;[218] it survived as a domestic language in the Iberian peninsula (modernSpain andPortugal) as late as the 8th century.
Frankish authorWalafrid Strabo wrote that Gothic was still spoken in the lowerDanube area, in what is now Bulgaria, in the early 9th century,[217] and a related dialect known asCrimean Gothic was spoken in the Crimea until the 16th century, according to references in the writings of travelers.[219] Most modern scholars believe that Crimean Gothic did not derive from the dialect that was the basis for Ulfilas' translation of the Bible.
An Ostrogothic eagle-shapedfibula, AD 500, Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg
Before the invasion of the Huns, the Gothic Chernyakhov culture produced jewelry, vessels, and decorative objects in a style much influenced by Greek and Roman craftsmen. They developed apolychrome style of gold work, using wrought cells or setting to encrustgemstones into their gold objects.[220]
Detail of thevotive crown of Recceswinth, hanging in Madrid. The hanging letters spell [R]ECCESVINTHVS REX OFFERET [King R. offers this].[c]Visigothic – Pair of eagle fibulae found at Tierra de Barros (Badajoz, southwest Spain) made of sheet gold with amethysts and coloured glass
InSpain an important collection of Visigothic metalwork was found in thetreasure of Guarrazar,Guadamur,Province of Toledo,Castile-La Mancha, anarcheological find composed of twenty-sixvotive crowns and goldcrosses from the royal workshop in Toledo, with Byzantine influence. The treasure represents the high point of Visigothic goldsmithery, according toGuerra, Galligaro & Perea (2007).[221] The two most important votive crowns are those ofRecceswinth and ofSuintila, displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid; both are made of gold, encrusted with sapphires, pearls, and other precious stones. Suintila's crown was stolen in 1921 and never recovered. There are several other small crowns and many votive crosses in the treasure.
These findings, along with others from some neighbouring sites and with the archaeological excavation of the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and the Royal Spanish Academy of History (April 1859), formed a group consisting of:
Royal Palace of Madrid: a crown and a gold cross and a stone engraved with the Annunciation. A crown, and other fragments of a tiller with a crystal ball were stolen from the Royal Palace of Madrid in 1921 and its whereabouts are still unknown.
The aquiliform (eagle-shaped)fibulae that have been discovered innecropolises such asDuraton,Madrona or Castiltierra (cities ofSegovia), are an unmistakable indication of the Visigothic presence in Spain. These fibulae were used individually or in pairs, as clasps or pins in gold, bronze and glass to join clothes, showing the work of the goldsmiths of Visigothic Hispania.[222]
The Visigothic belt buckles, a symbol of rank and status characteristic of Visigothic women's clothing, are also notable as works of goldsmithery. Some pieces contain exceptionalByzantine-stylelapis lazuli inlays and are generally rectangular in shape, with copper alloy, garnets and glass.[223][d]
Archaeological evidence in Visigothic cemeteries shows that social stratification was analogous to that of the village ofSabbas the Goth. The majority of villagers were commonpeasants. Paupers were buried with funeral rites, unlike slaves. In a village of 50 to 100 people, there were four or five elite couples.[224] In Eastern Europe, houses include sunken-floored dwellings, surface dwellings, and stall-houses. The largest known settlement is theCriuleni District.[220] Chernyakhov cemeteries feature bothcremation andinhumation burials; among the latter the head aligned to the north. Some graves were left empty. Grave goods often include pottery, bone combs, and iron tools, but hardly ever weapons.[220]
Peter Heather suggests that the freemen constituted the core of Gothic society. These were ranked below the nobility, but above thefreedmen and slaves. It is estimated that around a quarter to a fifth of weapon-bearing Gothic males of theOstrogothic Kingdom were freemen.[225]
Initially practisingGothic paganism, the Goths were gradually converted toArianism in the course of the 4th century.[226] According toBasil of Caesarea, a prisoner named Eutychus taken captive in a raid on Cappadocia in 260 preached the gospel to the Goths and was martyred.[227] It was only in the 4th century, as a result of missionary activity by the Gothic bishopUlfilas, whose grandparents were Cappadocians taken captive in the raids of the 250s,[227] that the Goths were gradually converted.[226] Ulfilas devised aGothic alphabet and translated theGothic Bible.[226]
During the 370s, Goths converting to Christianity were subject topersecution by the Thervingian king Athanaric, who was a pagan.[159]
The Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania converted to Catholicism in the late 6th century.[228]
Gothic arms and armour usually consisted of wooden shield, spear and often swords. 'Rank and file' troops did not wear much protection, while warriors of higher social class were better equipped, as was common for most tribal peoples of the time.
Armour was either a chainmail shirt or lamellar cuirass. Lamellar was popular among horsemen. Shields were either round or oval with a central boss grip. They were decorated with tribe or clan symbols, such as animal drawings. Helmets were often of spangenhelm type, often with cheek and neck plates. Spears were used both for thrusting and throwing, although specialized javelins were also in use. Swords were one handed, double edged and straight, with a very small crossguard and large pommel. It was called the Spatha by the Romans, and it is believed to have first been used by the Celts. Short wooden bows were also used, as well as occasional throwing axes.[229]Missile weapons were mainly short throwing-axes such asFransica and short wooden bows. Specialized javelins such asangon were more rare but still used.[229]
Archaeology shows that the Visigoths, unlike the Ostrogoths, were predominantly farmers. They sowed wheat, barley, rye, and flax. They also raised pigs, poultry, and goats. Horses and donkeys were raised as working animals and fed with hay. Sheep were raised for their wool, which they fashioned into clothing. Archaeology indicates they were skilled potters and blacksmiths. When peace treaties were negotiated with the Romans, the Goths demanded free trade. Imports from Rome included wine and cooking-oil.[224]
Roman writers note that the Goths neither assessedtaxes on their own people nor on their subjects. The early 5th-century Christian writerSalvian compared the Goths' and related people's favourable treatment of the poor to the miserable state of peasants inRoman Gaul:
For in the Gothic country the barbarians are so far from tolerating this sort of oppression that not even Romans who live among them have to bear it. Hence all the Romans in that region have but one desire, that they may never have to return to the Roman jurisdiction. It is the unanimous prayer of the Roman people in that district that they may be permitted to continue to lead their present life among the barbarians.[230]
The current structure of themausoleum is divided into twodecagonal orders, one above the other; both are made ofIstria stone. Its roof is a single 230-tonneIstrian stone, 10 meters in diameter. Possibly as a reference to the Goths' tradition of an origin in Scandinavia, the architect decorated thefrieze with a pattern found in 5th- and 6th-century Scandinavian metal adornments.[231][232] A niche leads down to a room that was probably a chapel for funeralliturgies; a stair leads to the upper floor. Located in the centre of the floor is a circularporphyry stone grave, in which Theodoric was buried. His remains were removed duringByzantine rule, when the mausoleum was turned into aChristianoratory. In the late 19th century, silting from a nearby rivulet that had partly submerged the mausoleum was drained and excavated.
ThePalace of Theodoric, also in Ravenna, has a symmetrical composition with arches and monolithic marble columns, reused from previous Roman buildings. With capitals of different shapes and sizes.[233] The Ostrogoths restored Roman buildings, some of which have come down to us thanks to them.
During their governance of Hispania, the Visigoths built several churches ofbasilical orcruciform floor plan that survive, including the churches ofSan Pedro de la Nave in El Campillo,Santa María de Melque inSan Martín de Montalbán, Santa Lucía del Trampal in Alcuéscar, Santa Comba in Bande, andSanta María de Lara in Quintanilla de las Viñas; theVisigothiccrypt (the Crypt of San Antolín) in thePalencia Cathedral is aVisigothic chapel from the mid 7th century, built during the reign ofWamba to preserve the remains of the martyrSaint Antoninus of Pamiers, a Visigothic-Gallic nobleman brought from Narbonne to Visigothic Hispania in 672 or 673 by Wamba himself. These are the only remains of the Visigothic cathedral of Palencia.[234]
Visigothic crypt of Saint Antoninus, Palencia Cathedral
Reccopolis (Spanish:Recópolis), located near the tiny modern village ofZorita de los Canes in theprovince of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, is an archaeological site of one of at least four cities founded inHispania by theVisigoths. It is the only city in Western Europe to have been founded between the fifth and eighth centuries.[e] According to Lauro Olmo Enciso who is a professor of archaeology at theUniversity of Alcalá, the city was ordered to build by the Visigothic kingLeovigild to honor his sonReccared I and to serve as Reccared's seat as co-king in the Visigothic province ofCeltiberia, to the west ofCarpetania, where the main capital, Toledo, lay.
In ancient sources, the Goths are always described as tall and athletic, withlight skin,blonde hair andblue eyes.[236][237] The 4th-century Greek historianEunapius described their characteristic powerful musculature in a pejorative way: "Their bodies provoked contempt in all who saw them, for they were far too big and far too heavy for their feet to carry them, and they were pinched in at the waist – just like those insectsAristotle writes of."[238]Procopius notes that the Vandals and Gepids looked similar to the Goths, and on this basis, he suggested that they were all of common origin. Of the Goths, he wrote that "they all have white bodies and fair hair, and are tall and handsome to look upon."[239]
Stolarek et al. (2023) and Antonio et al. (2022) both sequenced genomes from theWielbark culture Goths. Stolarek et al. includes samples from multiple sites all over the territory of the Wielbark culture, in large numbers. The results are in alignment with archaeological and historical evidence, strongly suggesting that the Wielbark culture formed through migration from Southern Scandinavia. A large majority of the Wielbark culture samples are autosomally Scandinavian-like, and carry predominantly Scandinavian Y-DNA haplogroups. The most common Y-DNA haplogroup among the Wielbark individuals was Y-DNA haplogroup I1-M253, characteristic of the Nordic Bronze Age in Southern Scandinavia, in which it was found at a very high frequency and from where it first expanded. Among the Wielbark Goths, substantial subclade diversity is seen among the I1 carriers, suggesting that the male founders of the culture descended from clans from a rather widespread area in Scandinavia.[240][241][242]
Assessing the population movement during late Antiquity, a 2023 study on the Roman frontier on the Danube concludes that "Goths were ethnically diverse confederations". A number of samples obtained from Roman sites close to the limes (such asViminacium) dated to the 3rd century or later were shown to carry admixture from Central/North European and Pontic-Kazakh Steppe ancestries in addition to 42%–55% local Balkan Iron Age-related ancestry. 7 out of 9 males among these samples belonged to haplogroups associated with these trans-frontier ancestry sources (I1 and R1b-U106: North European; Z93: Iron Age Steppe). Many of these samples suggest that admixture between Central/North European and Pontic-Kazakh Steppe ancestries likely occurred beyond the frontier prior to the movement into the Roman Empire, "perhaps indicative of, e.g., the formation of diverse confederations under Gothic leadership".[243][244]
The Goths' relationship with Sweden became an important part of Swedish nationalism, and until the 19th century, before the Gothic origin had been thoroughly researched by archaeologists, Swedish scholars considered Swedes to be the direct descendants of the Goths. Today, scholars identify this as acultural movement calledGothicismus, which included an enthusiasm for thingsOld Norse.[245]
Inmedieval and modern Spain, the Visigoths were believed to be the progenitors of theSpanish nobility (compareGobineau for a similar French idea). By the early 7th century, the ethnic distinction between Visigoths and Hispano-Romans had all but disappeared, but recognition of a Gothic origin, e.g. on gravestones, still survived among the nobility. The 7th century Visigothic aristocracy saw itself as bearers of a particular Gothic consciousness and as guardians of old traditions such as Germanic namegiving; probably these traditions were on the whole restricted to the family sphere (Hispano-Roman nobles were doing service for the Visigothic Royal Court in Toulouse already in the 5th century and the two branches of Spanish aristocracy had fully adopted similar customs two centuries later).[246]
Beginning in 1278, whenMagnus III of Sweden ascended to the throne,a reference to Gothic origins was included in the title of the king of Sweden: "We N.N. by the Grace of God King of the Swedes, the Goths and the Vends". In 1973, with the accession of KingCarl XVI Gustaf, the title was changed to simply "King of Sweden".[247]
In all history there is nothing more romantically marvellous than the swift rise of this people to the height of greatness, or than the suddenness and the tragic completeness of their ruin.[248]
The Spanish and Swedish claims of Gothic origins led to a clash at theCouncil of Basel in 1434. Before the assembledcardinals and delegations could engage in theological discussion, they had to decide how to sit during the proceedings. The delegations from the more prominent nations argued that they should sit closest to thePope, and there were also disputes over who were to have the finest chairs and who were to have their chairs on mats. In some cases, they compromised so that some would have half a chair leg on the rim of a mat. In this conflict,Nicolaus Ragvaldi, bishop of theDiocese of Växjö, claimed that the Swedes were the descendants of the great Goths, and that the people of Västergötland (Westrogothia in Latin) were the Visigoths and the people of Östergötland (Ostrogothia in Latin) were the Ostrogoths. The Spanish delegation retorted that it was only the "lazy" and "unenterprising" Goths who had remained in Sweden, whereas the "heroic" Goths had left Sweden, invaded the Roman empire and settled in Spain.[249][250]
In Spain, a man acting with arrogance would be said to be "haciéndose los godos" ("making himself to act like the Goths"). InChile,Argentina, and theCanary Islands,godo was anethnic slur used against European Spaniards, who in the early colonial period often felt superior to the people born locally (criollos).[251] In Colombia, it remains as slang for a person withconservative views.[252]
A large amount of literature has been produced on the Goths, withHenry Bradley'sThe Goths (1888) being the standard English-language text for many decades. More recently,Peter Heather has established himself as the leading authority on the Goths in theEnglish-speaking world. The leading authority on the Goths in theGerman-speaking world isHerwig Wolfram.[253]
^According toThompson (1963), the others were (i)Victoriacum, founded by Leovigild and may survive as the city ofVitoria, but a twelfth-century foundation for this city is given in contemporary sources, (ii)Lugo id est Luceo in theAsturias, referred to byIsidore of Seville, and (iii)Ologicus (perhapsOlogitis), founded usingBasque labour in 621 bySuinthila as a fortification against the Basques, is modernOlite. All of these cities were founded for military purposes and at least Reccopolis, Victoriacum, and Ologicus in celebration of victory. A possible fifth Visigothic foundation isBaiyara (perhaps modernMontoro), mentioned as founded by Reccared in the fifteenth-century geographical account,Kitab al-Rawd al-Mitar.[235]
^abcdefHeather 2012, p. 623. "Goths, a Germanic people, who, according to Jordanes' Getica, originated in Scandinavia. The Cernjachov culture of the later 3rd and 4th cents. AD beside the Black Sea, and the Polish and Byelorussian Wielbark cultures of the 1st–3rd. cents. ad, provide evidence of a Gothic migration down the Vistula to the Black Sea, but no clear trail leads to Scandinavia."
^abcdHeather 2018, p. 673. "a Germanic tribe whose name means 'the people', first attested immediately south of the Baltic Sea in the first two centuries."
^Thompson 1973, p. 609. "Goths, a Germanic people described by Roman authors of the 1st century a.d. as living in the neighbourhood of the mouth of the Vistula river."
^"Goth". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.Merriam-Webster.Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved22 March 2021.Goth... [A] member of a Germanic people that overran the Roman Empire in the early centuries of the Christian era;"Goth".WordReference.com.Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.Random House. 2021.Archived from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved22 March 2021.Goth... [O]ne of a Teutonic people who in the 3rd to 5th centuries invaded and settled in parts of the Roman Empire.;"Goth".Webster's New World College Dictionary.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2010.Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved22 March 2021.Goth... [A]ny member of a Germanic people that invaded and conquered most of the Roman Empire in the 3d, 4th, and 5th centuries a.d.;"Goth".Lexico.Oxford University Press. Archived fromthe original on 25 July 2021. Retrieved22 March 2021.Goth... A member of a Germanic people that invaded the Roman Empire from the east between the 3rd and 5th centuries. The eastern division, the Ostrogoths, founded a kingdom in Italy, while the Visigoths went on to found one in Spain.;"Goth".The Free Dictionary.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2016.Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved22 March 2021.Goth... A member of a Germanic people who invaded the Roman Empire in the early centuries of the Christian era.;"Goth".The Free Dictionary. Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary.Random House. 2016.Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved22 March 2021.Goth... [A] member of a Germanic people settled N of the Black Sea in the 3rd century a.d., who, with the collapse of the Roman Empire, established kingdoms in Spain and Italy.
^Fulk 2018, p. 19. "[A] number of named early Germanic groups are to be counted among the East Germanic peoples... Usually included in this group are Goths (among whom are probably to be counted Gepids, Greuthingi, and Thervingi), Bastarnae, Burgundians, Heruli, Rugii, Sciri, Silingi, and Vandals."
^Murdoch & Read 2004, pp. 5, 20. "The Goths, another East Germanic group like the Vandals and the Burgundians, had originated (by tradition) in Scandinavia, and are attested at an early stage at the mouth of the Vistula in modern Poland."
^"Goth".WordReference.com.Collins Concise English Dictionary.HarperCollins Publishers.Archived from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved22 March 2021.Goth... [A] member of an East Germanic people from Scandinavia who settled south of the Baltic early in the first millennium ad. They moved on to the Ukrainian steppes and raided and later invaded many parts of the Roman Empire from the 3rd to the 5th century.
^Wolfram 2005, p. 5. "While the Gutones, the Pomeranian precursors of the Goths, and the Vandili, the Silesian ancestors of the Vandals, were still considered part of Tacitean Germania, the later Goths, Vandals, and other East Germanic tribes were differentiated from the Germans and were referred to as Scythians, Goths, or some other special names. The sole exception are the Burgundians, who were considered German because they came to Gaul via Germania. In keeping with this classification, post-Tacitean Scandinavians were also no longer counted among the Germans, even though they were regarded as close relatives."
^Halsall 2014, p. 519 "Goths, who have in recent decades become something of a paradigm for 'Germanic migrations', spoke a Germanic language but they were not considered Germani by Graeco-Roman authors, who usually saw them as 'Scythians' or as descendants of other peoples recorded in the same region like the Getae."
^Goffart 1989, p. 112. "Goths, Vandals, and Gepids, among others, never called themselves German or were regarded as such by late Roman observers."
^Goffart 2010, p. 5 "The use of "German" waned sharply in late antiquity, when, for example, it was mainly reserved by Roman authors as an alternative to "Franks" and never applied to Goths or the other peoples living in their vicinity at the eastern end of the Danube."
^Heather 2010, pp. 104, 111, 662. "Goths, Rugi and other Germani... Goths but also of some other Germani, notably Heruli... Germani such as the Vandals or Goths..."
^Heather 2007, p. 503. "Militarized freedmen among the Germani appear in sixth- and seventh-century Visigothic and Frankish law codes."
^James & Krmnicek 2020, p. xv. "They also became aware of some groups regarded as Germani, notably the Goths, migrating south-eastwards during the early centuries AD towards the Black Sea."
^Heather 1994, p. 3. "[T]he Getica of Jordanes has nevertheless played a crucial role. Written in the mid-sixth century, it is the only source which purports to provide an overview of Gothic history in our period, and has decisively influenced all modern historians of the Goths.
^Heather 1998, pp. 9–10. "Modern approaches to the history of the Goths have been decisively shaped by the survival of one particular text: the Origins and Acts of the Goths or Getica of Jordanes. Written in Constantinople in about AD 550, it is a unique document. Although its author wrote in Latin, he was of Gothic descent, and drew upon Gothic oral traditions... [T]he Getic's consolidated account has exercised enormous influence on the overall "shape" of modern reconstructions of Gothic history... Thanks to [archaeology]... it is now possible to exercise at least some kind of control of Jordanes' account of even this earliest period of Gothic history."
^abFulk 2018, pp. 21–22. "How the Goths arrived at the Black Sea, and where they originated, are matters of debate. The usual assumption, and the one still credited by the considerable majority of scholars, has been that the account given in the sixth-century Getica of Jordanes is trustworthy at least in general outline: according to this account, the Goths migrated, perhaps about 100 BCE, from Scandinavia (Scandza) to the banks of the Vistula. Their area of settlement on the southern coast of the Baltic is called by Jordanes Gothiscandza... In accordance with the account of Jordanes, the Goths have usually been identified with the Gutones first mentioned by Pliny the Elder ca. 65 CE as living on the shore of (apparently) the Baltic Sea. On this reasoning the Goths have also commonly been associated with the island of Gotland and with the region of south-central Sweden called Götaland (named after the ON Gautar, OE Gēatas), from which areas they are assumed to have migrated originally... In more recent times the account of Jordanes, recorded so many centuries after the purported departure from Scandinavia, has been called into question, in part on archaeological grounds... [T]he presence of Goths in Scandinavia is not to be doubted... At all events, the name of the Goths is so common in place-names in Sweden – and place-names are often among the most archaic evidence – that it is difficult to believe that the Gothic presence in Scandinavia could have been a late development."
^abRobinson 2005, p. 36. "Greek and Roman sources of the first and second centuries A.D. are the earliest written evidence we have for the Goths, under the names Guthones, Gothones, and Gothi. The sources agree in placing these people along the Vistula river, although whether they were on the coast or a bit inland is unclear. Also not totally clear is the connection between these people and other tribal groupings of similar names found at that time and later in parts of south central Sweden (now Västergötland and Östergötland) and on the island of Gotland. If the legend recorded by the sixth-century Gothic historian Jordanes is accurate, the Goths came to the mouth of the Vistula from across the sea, displacing a number of Germanic tribes who were there before them, including the Vandals. The weight of scholarship appears to support this story, with (mainland) Götland being seen as the likely point of origin, and the early first century B.C. as the likely time. Owing perhaps partially to population pressure, a large number of Goths subsequently left the Vistula in the mid-second century A.D. Around 170 they reached an area north of the Black Sea, where they settled between the Don and the Dniester rivers."
^Kasperski 2015, abstract. "The story by Jordanes about the migration of Goths from Scandza is a matter of a vivid and long standing discussion between historians. Most scholars argue that it is a part of the Gothic tribal tradition... Historians have long wondered how Jordanes learned about the migration. Some researchers claim that the source of his inspiration was an original Gothic tribal saga. It is even believed that the story about the origin (origo) of the Goths in Scandza is one of the most important parts of the Gothic tribal tradition, passed orally from generation to generation, a pillar sustaining the ethnicity of this people. However, not all scholars share this belief"
^Goffart 2010, pp. 56–57. "The report that the earliest Goths departed from Scandinavia for the Continent at some undetermined moment in the distant past still commands an impressive body of believers.... Experts in Germanic literature who instantly discount reports of Trojan or Scythian or Noachic origins as being fabulous, solemnly assent: emigration from Scandinavia is an authentic "tribal memory:' the one kernel of historicity to be plucked from an unholy stew of misconceptions and fabrications.
^Hedeager 2000, p. 27. "Nevertheless, that these explanations cannot be used to confirm the historicity of the origin myth does not mean that the Goths and many others did not originate from Scandinavia. Several independent, unrelated, pieces of evidence, both philological and archaeological, indicate that there might be a grain of historical truth in these stories. If Scandza is a literary motif, it might also reflect some long-gone historical reality, at least for the Goths, the Lombards, and the Anglo-Saxons, and perhaps even for groups like the Heruli, the Vandals and the Burgundians too."
^Heather 1994, pp. 6, 66. Some sections of narrative may also derive from oral tradition. We hear of King Berig, for instance, who led the Goths' migration from Scandinavia (4. 25), and of King Filimer guiding them into lands above the Black Sea (4. 28). Both are events of the distant past, and Gothic oral history seems the most likely source of these stories.... "[T]he Scandinavian origin of the Goths would seem to have been one sixth-century guess among several... The myths themselves perhaps referred only to an unnamed, mysterious island... The Scandinavian origin-tale would thus be similar to much else in the Getica, depending upon a complex mixture of material from Gothic oral and Graeco-Roman literary sources."
^Goffart 2005, p. 391. "[I]t takes a weird conception of any Gothic oral tradition to imagine that it would have supplied Jordanes or his source withScandinavia in the same garb as Ptolemy, Pliny, and Pomponius Mela and would have added to it, besides, circumstantial recollections of the Goths' one-time neighbors when they emigrated 2,030 years ago."
^Christensen 2002, p. 346. "[Cassiodorus] had found out about this island [of Scandza] by reading works by Ptolemy and by listening to reports from people who had come to Ravenna from those regions... [He] knew... that this island was home to a people whose name was strongly reminiscent of the name of the Goths. They were called Gauts, however, and had nothing at all to do with the Goths.".
^Christensen 2002, p. 349. "Today we are able to conclude that this narrative is fictitious, a fabrication in which the omnipotent author himself has created both the framework and the content of the story. But in spite of all this, it is never justifiable to completely discard a relic of the past. If it cannot tell us something about the past it claims to describe; then at least it speaks volumes about the period in which it was conceived – contingent of course upon our own ability to precisely date the source. Parting is a painful process, as in this case, where we must relinquish something we have grown accustomed to regarding as Gothic history."
^Olędzki 2004, p. 279. "Most scholars agree that contents of Jordanes' text... concerning the arrival of the Goths and Gepidae from Scandinavia to Pomerania is fully reflected in archaeological sources."
^abHeather 1998, pp. 25–29. "The archaeogical evidence would seem at least partly to confirm Jordanes' account of Filimer's migration; the movement of Goths from the European mainland opposite Scandinavia to the hinterland of the Black Sea. Given that the events occurred some 300–400 years before the Getica was composed, at a time when the Goths were not themselves literate, Jordanes' account is more correct, it seems to me, than we have any right ro expect... It is certainly possible... that Scandinavia was explicitly mentioned in Gothic tales of the past... The story of Berig as told by Goths might have said Scandinavia... I think it likely... that the story of Berig and his migration genuinely reflect Gothic story telling in some way, but I am less sure that the original Gothic stories mentioned Scandinavia."
^Oxenstierna 1948, p. 73 claimed to have found archaeological evidence of a Gothic origin inÖstergötland.Hachmann 1970 claimed there was no archaeological evidence for a Scandinavian origin of the Goths.Kokowski 1999 andKaliff 2008, p. 236 believe there is archaeological evidence for a partial Gothic origin in Scandinavia.
^Kazanski 1991, pp. 15–18. "R. Wolagiewicz who has studied the chronology of the Gothic kings provided by Jordanes, rightly estimates, in our opinion, that Berig, the king that led the Goths to the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, would have lived at this time… Wolagiewicz' point of view requires some remarks, though. First of all, why did the first Scandinavian settlers seem so few? Would the first Gothic migration not have been that of a people or of a big tribe, but of a more restricted group? That is also what Jordanes seems to tell us, since he reports that the Goths arrived from Scandinavia on only three ships. How can we then justify that this author attached enough importance to this migration that he mentioned it several times? The political role played by these new arrivals, and the presence among them of their king Berig are without a doubt significant for this. Polish historianJ. Kolendo has interpreted the history of the Goths as that of the Gothic royal dynasty of the Amales that would reign until the VIth c. and of which Berig was the first king. Taking into account the archaeological data that we have just mentioned, this hypothesis seems likely to us. We can suppose that the king of the Goths and his closest followers, once they had disembarked on the continent, began to dominate the local tribes. We know similar cases in the history of ancient peoples that held in high regard the kings that descended from illustrious families, often made sacred... [O]nly the royal dynasty and their followers could have had a Scandinavian origin. We add also that the Scandinavian parallels of the sites in Pomerania are, as we have seen, very scattered. We also find them in the south of Norway as well as in Sweden and on the islands of the Baltic Sea. This observation could show the heterogeneous origins of the migrants."
^Kaliff 2008, pp. 223, 235–36. "The archaeological record indicates that Jordanes' history concerning the origin of the Goths was based on an oral tradition with a real background... In modern research, the theory of a massive migration has generally been abandoned... Limited migration is likely to have taken place."
^Wolfram 1990, p. 23. "The similarity of the name of the Gothic people and that of the island of Gotland seems to support the migration legend of the Origo Gothica. This area was also the home of the medieval Gutasaga."
^Andersson 1998b, p. 283. "Die drei Stämme der Gauten, Goten und gutar scheinen sich im s. Ostseeraum aus einem *gautōz/*gutaniz-Volk entwickelt zu haben. Wo und wie deren Ethnogenese vor sich gegangen ist, bleibt zwar ungewiß, aber in der fortgesetzten Diskussion über die geogr. Herkunft der Stämme ist auf jeden Fall die sprachliche Analyse der Stammesbezeichnungen von wesentlichem Gewicht." English translation: "The three tribes of the Gautes, Goths and Gutar appear to have developed from a *gautōz/*gutaniz people in the southern Baltic region. Where and how their ethnogenesis took place remains uncertain, but in the ongoing discussion about the geographical origin of the tribes, the linguistic analysis of the tribal names is of considerable importance."
^Kortlandt 2001, pp. 21–25 "Witold Mańczak has argued that... the original homeland of the Goths must therefore be located in the southernmost part of the Germanic territories... I think that his argument is correct..."
^Wolfram 1990, p. 12. "Archaeologists equate the earliest history of the Goths with the artifacts of a culture named after the East Prussian town Willenberg-Wielbark."
^Heather 2010, p. 104. "[I]s now generally accepted that the Wielbark culture incorporated areas that, in the first two centuries AD, were dominated by Goths, Rugi and other Germani."
^Heather 2010, p. 679. "[T]he Wielbark and Przeworsk systems have come to be understood as thoroughly dominated by Germanic-speakers, with earlier archaeological 'proofs' that the latter comprised just a very few migrants from southern Scandinavia being overturned."
^abHeather 1998, pp. xiv, 2, 21, 30. "[The] Goths are met in historical sources... [in] northern Poland in the first and second centuries... Goths are first mentioned occupying territory in what is now Poland in the first century AD... The history of people labelled "Goths" thus spans 700 years, and huge tracts of Europe from northern Poland to the Atlantic ocean... [T]he Wielbark culture.... took shape in the middle of the first century AD... in Pomerania and lands either side of the lower Vistula... [T]his is the broad area where our few literary sources place a group called Goths at this time... Tacitus Germania 43–4 places them not quite on the Baltic coast; Ptolemy Geography 3.5.8 locates them east of the Vistula; Strabo Geography 7.1.3 (if Butones should be emended to Gutones) broadly agrees with Tacitus... The mutually confirmatory information of ancient sources and the archaeological record both suggest that Goths can first be identified beside the Vistula. It is here that this attempt to write their history will begin."
^Wolfram 1990, pp. 12–13, 20, 23: "Goths – or Gutones, as the Roman sources called them... The Gutonic immigrants became Goths the very moment the Mediterranean world considered them "Scythians"... The Gothic name appears for the first time between A.D. 16 and 18. We do not, however, find the strong form Guti but only the derivative form Gutones... Hereafter, whenever the Gutones and Guti are mentioned, these terms refer to the Goths."
^Christensen 2002, pp. 32–33, 38–39. "During the first century and a half AD, four authors mention a people also normally identified with 'the Goths'. They seem to appear for the first time in the writings of the geographer Strabo... It is normally assumed that [the Butones/Gutones] are identical with the Goths... It has been taken for granted that these Gotones were identical to the Goths... Finally, around 150, Klaudios Ptolemaios (or Ptolemy) writes of certain [Gutones/Gythones] who are also normally identified with 'the Goths'... Ptolemy lists the [Gutae], also identified by Gothic scholars with the Goths..."
^Goffart 1980, pp. 21–22. "We hear, for instance, that "the true history of the Goths" – true, that is, as distinct from legendary "but not inadmissible" – "begins with Pliny, who, toward A.D. 75, cited the Gutones, and Tacitus, who, towards 98, knows the Gothones." Prodigies of ingenuity are performed in creating arguments that sometimes are wholly circular. By normal standards of source analysis, the early Gothic migrations in Jordanes are about as historical as the tales of Genesis and Exodus; to champion their simple equivalence to history is a task for religious fundamentalists."
^abChristensen 2002, p. 343. "They might possibly have been mentioned in some geographical and ethnographical works dating from the first century AD, but the similarity in the names is not significant, and no antique author later considers them to be the forefathers of the Goths... No one sees this connection, even during the Great Migration. Chronologically it would, of course, be quite a realistic possibility..."
^Kulikowski 2006, p. 212. "The Gotones mentioned in Tacitus, Germania 44.1 and located somewhere in what is now modern Poland would not be regarded as Goths if Jordanes' migration stories did not exist."
^Halsall 2007, pp. 52, 120. "Although the Scythians were long gone, their name was still applied to the inhabitants of these regions: Taifals and Sarmatians, Alans and Goths... Also significant is the fact that, as mentioned, when not using 'Scythian', these writers used Getae as a synonym for Goths, rather than (as modern historians do) associating the Goths with the Gutones, who had a respectable pedigree going back to Pliny at least... We might note the similarity of names such as Eudoses and Jutes, or Gutones and Goths but how much continuity does this imply, especially when the different names are recorded in different geographical locations?"
^James & Krmnicek 2020, p. 412. "Except for a few examples where material, ritualized patterns (recognizable in burial rites, offerings, or ways of structuring settlements) and cultural change correspond almost perfectly with the written account – e.g. concerning the migration of the Goths from the Southern Baltic shore to the Black Sea – identification and localization of single Germanic tribes via patterns in archaeological material has mostly not been possible."
^Heather 1994, p. 5. "[T]here is a Gothic origin to some of the Getica's material, which makes it unique among surviving sources. It specifically refers, for instance, to Gothic songs and tales recording Filimer's migration to the Black Sea"
^Wolfram 1990, pp. 13. "The Goths of the third century were considered a new people to whom the old Scythian name applied. No ancient ethnographer made a connection between the Goths and the Gutones. The Gutonic immigrants became Goths the very moment the Mediterranean world considered them Scythians".
^Heather 2010, p. 115. "In the period of Dacian and Sarmatian dominance, groups known as Goths – or perhaps 'Gothones' or 'Guthones' – inhabited lands far to the north-west, beside the Baltic. Tacitus placed them there at the end of the first century AD, and Ptolemy did likewise in the middle of the second, the latter explicitly among a number of groups said to inhabit the mouth of the Vistula. Philologists have no doubt, despite the varying transliterations into Greek and Latin, that it is the same group name that suddenly shifted its epicentre from northern Poland to the Black Sea in the third century."
^Christensen 2002, p. 41. "However, linguists believe there is an indisputable connection."
^Altheim, Franz (1969). "Dichtung".Geschichte der Hunnen. Erster Band: Von den Anfängen bis zum Einbruch in Europa (in German). Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 243.
^abMarcellinus 1862,Book XXI, II, 1. "The following circumstances were the original cause of all the destruction and various calamities which the fury of Mars roused up, throwing everything into confusion by his usual ruinous violence: the people called Huns, slightly mentioned in the ancient records, live beyond the Sea of Azov, on the border of the Frozen Ocean, and are a race savage beyond all parallel."
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