Goths: Encyclopedia II - Goths - History

Goths - History

From Scandinavia, the Goths migrated and set up a kingdom in Scythia ( modern-day Ukraine and Belarus). In the third century, the tribe split into two: the Ostrogoths remained in Scythia, while the Visigoths migrated to Dacia (modern-day Romania) to set up an independent kingdom. The Visigoths sacked Byzantium in the year 267, but by 271, were driven back to Dacia by the Byzantines. Hun domination of the Ostrogoth kingdom began in the fourth century, but was defeated by the year 450. Both the Ostrogoths and Visigoths became heavily Romanized during this period by the influence of trade with the Byzantines, and by their membership in a military covenant centered in Byzantium to assist each other militarily. In the 5th century, the Visigoths would conquer modern-day Spain from the Roman Empire.

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 [1](the one-Handed Tyr), and the captured arms hung in trees as a token-offering. Their kings and priests came from a separate aristocracy, according to Cassiodorus/Jordanes, and their mythic kings of ancient times were honored as gods. Their mythic lawgiver, named Deceneus, traditionally dated about the 1st century BC, ordered their laws, which they possessed by the 6th century in written form and called belagines.

A force of Goths launched one of the first major "barbarian" invasions of the Roman Empire in 267 (Hermannus Contractus, quoting Eusebius, has "263: Macedonia, Graecia, Pontus, Asia et aliae provinciae depopulantur per Gothos"). 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 on the other side of the Danube from Roman territory and established an independent kingdom centered on the abandoned Roman province of Dacia, as the Visigoths. In the meantime, the Goths still in Ukraine established a vast and powerful kingdom along the Black Sea. This group became known as the Ostrogoths.

The Goths were briefly reunited under one crown in the early sixth century under the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great, who became regent of the Visigothic kingdom for nearly two decades.

For the later history of the Goths, see Visigoths and Ostrogoths.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki