Goths

The Goths (Gothic: , Gutans) were an East Germanic tribe who, according to Jordanes, left Scandinavia 1490 B.C., settled close to the mouth of the Vistula river (in present day Poland), and settled Scythia, Dacia and parts of Moesia and Asia Minor about a millenium before the common era. In the 3rd and 4th centuries, they harried the Roman Empire and later adopted Arianism (a form of Christianity). In the 5th and 6th centuries, by dividing into the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in Italy and on the Iberian peninsula (now Spain & Portugal).[1]

Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche, is a highly romanticized portrait of the Goths as cavalrymen.

History

The only written source for early Gothic history is Jordanes' Getica (finished in 551) a condensation of the lost twelve-volume history of the Goths written in Italy by Cassiodorus[citation needed] around 530. Jordanes may not even have had the work at hand to consult from, and this early information should be treated with caution. Cassiodorus was well placed to write of Goths, for he was an essential minister of Theodoric the Great.
Several historians, including Peter Heather and Michael Kulikowski, argue that Jordanes' Getica presents a fictional genealogy of Theodoric and fictional history of the Goths for ancient propaganda purposes, and cast doubt on the Scandinavian origin, on the supposed royal dynasties, and on the supposed 4th-Century Kingdom of Ermaneric.[2][3][4]
Other major sources for later Gothic history include Ammianus Marcellinus' Historiae, mentioning Gothic involvement in the civil war between emperors Procopius and Valens of 365 C.E. and recounting the Gothic refugee crisis and revolt of 376-382 C.E. and Procopius' de bello gothico, describing the Gothic War of 535-552 C.E..

According to Jordanes, the Goths originated in Scandinavia (Scandza). Their more specific place of origin was most likely Gotland or possibly Götaland in present day Sweden. They would have become separated from related tribes, the Gutar (Gotlanders) and perhaps the Götar (Geats, referred to as Gautigoths and Ostrogoths by Jordanes), who are sometimes included in the term Goths[5] in about the 1st century (but the Gutasaga leaves open the possibility of prolonged contact). They migrated south-east along the Vistula during the 3rd century (Jordanes' Gothiscandza; see Wielbark culture), settling in Scythia, which they called Oium "waterlands", from the 3rd century (see Chernyakhov culture). According to the legendary account of the Hervarar Saga, the capital of this kingdom was Árheimar, at the Dniepr.

Though many of the fighting nomads who followed them were to prove more bloody, the Goths were feared because the captives they took in battle were sacrificed to their god of war, Tyz,[6][not in citation given] and the captured arms hung in trees as a token-offering.[citation needed] Their kings and priests came from a separate aristocracy[citation needed] and their mythic kings of ancient times were honored as gods.[citation needed]
In the 3rd century, the Goths split into at least two groups, the Thervingi, and the Greuthungi. The Thervingi launched one of the first major "barbarian" invasions of the Roman Empire from 263, sacking Byzantium[not in citation given] in 267.[7] A year later, they suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Naissus and were driven back across the Danube River by 271. This group then settled north of the Danube and established an independent kingdom centered on the abandoned Roman province of Dacia. Both the Greuthungi and Thervingi became heavily Romanized during the 4th century by the influence of trade with the Byzantines, and by their membership in a military covenant centered in Byzantium to assist each other militarily. They converted to Arianism during this time. Hunnic domination of the Ostrogoth kingdom began in the 370s,[citation needed] and under pressure of the Huns, Therving king[citation needed] Fritigern in 376 asked the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube. Valens permitted this, and even helped the Goths cross the river,[citation needed] probably at the fortress of Durostorum, but following a famine the Gothic War (376-382) erupted, and Valens was killed at the Battle of Adrianople.
The Visigoths under Alaric I sacked Rome in 410. Honorius granted the Visigoths Aquitania, where they defeated the Vandals and by 475 ruled most of the Iberian peninsula.

The Ostrogoths in the meantime freed themselves of government of the Huns following the Battle of Nedao in 454. At the behest of emperor Zeno, Theoderic the Great from 488 conquered all of Italy. The Goths were briefly reunited under one crown in the early sixth century under Theodoric the Great, who became regent of the Visigothic kingdom following the death of Alaric II at the Battle of Vouillé in 507. Procopius, writing at this time, interpreted the name Visigoth to mean "western Goths", and the name Ostrogoth as "eastern Goth" which corresponded to the current distribution of the Gothic realms.
The Ostrogothic kingdom persisted until 553 under Teia, when Italy briefly fell back under Byzantine control, until the conquest of the Langobards in 568. The Visigothic kingdom lasted longer, until 711 under Roderic, when it had to yield to the Umayyad invasion of Andalusia.