Goths. The Goths were an early Germanic people, two of whose branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe.
Possibly originating in southern Sweden, the Goths are mentioned by Roman authors as living in the Vistula basin in northern Poland in the 1st century AD. During the subsequent centuries the Goths expanded towards the Black Sea, where they replaced the Sarmatians as the dominant power on the Pontic Steppe and launched a series of expeditions against the Roman Empire as far as Cyprus. During this time the Goths became divided into two major factions, the Thervingi and the Greuthungi, who were led by the Balti dynasty and Amali dynasty respectively.
In the 300s, Ermanaric, king of Greuthungi, is said to have dominated a vast territory stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea as far as the Ural Mountains. During this time many of the Goths were converted to Arianism by the missionary Ulfilas, who devised a Gothic alphabet to write the Gothic Bible.
In 370s, the territories of the Goths were overrun by the Huns. While the Greuthungi became subjects of the Huns, later being known as the Ostrogoths, many of the Thervingi, later known as Visigoths, crossed the Danube into the Roman Empire, where they, after suffering severe mistreatment, ignited a widescale rebellion and inflicted
Possibly originating in southern Sweden, the Goths are mentioned by Roman authors as living in the Vistula basin in northern Poland in the 1st century AD. During the subsequent centuries the Goths expanded towards the Black Sea, where they replaced the Sarmatians as the dominant power on the Pontic Steppe and launched a series of expeditions against the Roman Empire as far as Cyprus. During this time the Goths became divided into two major factions, the Thervingi and the Greuthungi, who were led by the Balti dynasty and Amali dynasty respectively.
In the 300s, Ermanaric, king of Greuthungi, is said to have dominated a vast territory stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea as far as the Ural Mountains. During this time many of the Goths were converted to Arianism by the missionary Ulfilas, who devised a Gothic alphabet to write the Gothic Bible.
In 370s, the territories of the Goths were overrun by the Huns. While the Greuthungi became subjects of the Huns, later being known as the Ostrogoths, many of the Thervingi, later known as Visigoths, crossed the Danube into the Roman Empire, where they, after suffering severe mistreatment, ignited a widescale rebellion and inflicted
Wikipedia ...