Ostrogotha "the Patient", King of the Goths

Ostrogotha, King of the Goths
Also Known As:	"Patientia", "the Patient", "Chief of Greutingi"
Birthdate:	circa 180
Birthplace:	(Present Poland)
Death:	250 (65-75) Scythia (Present Ukraine)
Immediate Family:	Son of Hisarnis "Man of Iron" of the Amal Clan and (Generation 5) Husband of (Generation 6) Father of Hunuil of the Goths
Occupation:	1st King of the Ostrogoths (-250), koning der Goten

Managed by:	Private User
Last Updated:	April 26, 2022

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Immediate Family

(Generation 6)

wife
Hunuil of the Goths

son
(Generation 5)

mother
Hisarnis "Man of Iron" of the Am...

father

About Ostrogotha "the Patient", King of the Goths

From the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy page on Hungary Kings:

http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/HUNGARY.htm#_Toc146273201

B. DYNASTY of the AMAL GOTHS

Iordanes sets out the ancestors of Athal, in order, as follows "Gapt…Hulmul…Augis…Amal a quo et origo Amalorum decurrit…Hisarnis…Ostrogotha…Hunuil…Athal"[31].

Reference:

[31] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, p. 77.

----------------------------

From Jordanes' Getica:

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~vandersp/Courses/texts/jordgeti.html#visi

XIV

(79) Now the first of these heroes, as they themselves relate in their legends, was Gapt, who begat Hulmul. And Hulmul begat Augis; and Augis begat him who was called Amal, from whom the name of the Amali comes. This Amal begat Hisarnis. Hisarnis moreover begat Ostrogotha, and Ostrogotha begat Hunuil, and Hunuil likewise begat Athal. Vinitharius moreover begat Vandalarius;

(80) Vandalarius begat Thiudimer and Valamir and Vidimer; and Thiudimer begat Theodoric. Theodoric begat Amalasuentha; Amalasuentha bore Athalaric and Mathesuentha to her husband Eutharic, whose race was thus joined to hers in kinship. (81) For the aforesaid Hermanaric, the son of Achiulf, begat Hunimund, and Hunimund begat Thorismud. Now Thorismud begat Beremud, Beremud begat Veteric, and Veteric likewise begat Eutharic, who married Amalasuentha and begat Athalaric and Mathesuentha. Athalaric died in the years of his childhood, and Mathesuentha married Vitiges, to whom she bore no child. Both of them were taken together by Belisarius to Constantinople. When Vitiges passed from human affairs, Germanus the patrician, a cousin of the Emperor Justinian, took Mathesuentha in marriage and made her a Patrician Ordinary. And of her he begat a son, also called Germanus. But upon the death of Germanus, she determined to remain a widow. Now how and in what wise the kingdom of the Amali was overthrown we shall keep to tell in its proper place, if the Lord help us.

(82) But let us now return to the point whence we made our digression and tell how the stock of this people of whom I speak reached the end of its course. Now Ablabius the historian relates that in Scythia, where we have said that they were dwelling above an arm of the Pontic Sea, part of them who held the eastern region and whose king was Ostrogotha, were called Ostrogoths, that is, eastern Goths, either from his name or from the place. But the rest were called Visigoths, that is, the Goths of the western country.

---

Ablabbius, described as a 4th/5th century writer who wrote a history of the Goths based on Gothic legends and sources, said to be used by Cassiodorus and Jordanes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ablabius

Scythia: the steppe region consisting of present Kazakhstan, southern Russia, and Ukraine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythia

Pontic Sea, on old way of saying the Black Sea (sort of a redundancy as Pontos in Greek means sea):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontic

---

XV

(83) As already said, they crossed the Danube and dwelt a little while in Moesia and Thrace. From the remnant of these came Maximinus, the Emperor succeeding Alexander the son of Mama. For Symmachus relates it thus in the fifth book of his history, saying that upon the death of Caesar Alexander, Maximinus was made Emperor by the army; a man born in Thrace of most humble parentage, his father being a Goth named Micca, and his mother a woman of the Alani called Ababa. He reigned three years and lost alike his empire and his life while making war on the Christians.

---

Emperor Maximinus Thrax (235-238), thought to have been Gothic-Alanic, but given the chronology, likely Thraco-Roman instead:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximinus_Thrax

Emperor Alexander Severus (222-235), his predecessor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Severus

---

(84) Now after his first years spent in rustic life, he had come from his flocks to military service in the reign of the Emperor Severus and at the time when he was celebrating his son's birthday. It happened that the Emperor was giving military games. When Maximinus saw this, although he was a semi-barbarian youth, he besought the Emperor in his native tongue to give him permission to wrestle with the trained soldiers for the prizes offered.

(85) Severus marvelling much at his great size--for his stature, it is said, was more than 8 feet,--bade him contend in wrestling with the camp followers, in order that no injury might befall his soldiers at the hands of this wild fellow. Thereupon Maximinus threw 16 attendants with so great ease that he conquered them one by one without taking any rest by pausing between the bouts. So then, when he had won the prizes, it was ordered that he should be sent into the army and should take his first campaign with the cavalry. On the third day after this, when the Emperor went out to the field, he saw him coursing about in barbarian fashion and bade a tribune restrain him and teach him Roman discipline. But when he understood it was the Emperor who was speaking about him, he came forward and began to run ahead of him as he rode.

(86) Then the Emperor spurred on his horse to a slow trot and wheeled in many a circle hither and thither with various turns, until he was weary. And then he said to him "Are you willing to wrestle now after your running, my little Thracian?" "As much as you like, O Emperor," he answered. So Severus leaped from his horse and ordered the freshest soldiers to wrestle with him. But he threw to the ground seven very powerful youths, even as before, taking no breathing space between the bouts. So he alone was given prizes of silver and a golden necklace by Caesar. Then he was bidden to serve in the body guard of the Emperor.

(87) After this he was an officer under Antoninus Caracalla, often increasing his fame by his deeds, and rose to many military grades and finally to the centurionship as the reward of his active service. Yet afterwards, when Macrinus became Emperor, he refused military service for almost three years, and though he held the office of tribune, he never came into the presence of Macrinus, thinking his rule shameful because he had won it by committing a crime.

---

Emperor Caracalla (209-217):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracalla

Emperor Macrinus (217-218):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrinus

---

(88) Then he returned to Eliogabalus, believing him to be the son of Antoninus, and entered upon his tribuneship. After his reign, he fought with marvellous success against the Parthians, under Alexander the son of Mama. When he was slain in an uprising of the soldiers at Mogontiacum, Maximinus himself was made Emperor by a vote of the army, without a decree of the senate. But he marred all his good deeds by persecuting the Christians in accordance with an evil vow and, being slain by Pupienus at Aquileia, left the kingdom to Philip. These matters we have borrowed from the history of Symmachus for this our little book, in order to show that the race of which we speak attained to the very highest station in the Roman Empire. But our subject requires us to return in due order to the point whence we digressed.

---

Emperor Elgabalus (among other um, oddities, supposedly the only transgendered/transsexual Roman Emperor):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus

Mogontiacum is modern Mainz:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogontiacum

Parthian Empire:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthians

Emperor Pupienus (April-July 238):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupienus

Aquileia, near Venice on the coast of Udine Province:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquileia

Emperor Philip the Arab (244-249):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_the_Arab

Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachusm, politician and historian (d. 526):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintus_Aurelius_Memmius_Symmachus

---

(Ben M. Angel notes: Chapter XVI Sections 89-92 describes the 349-351 invasion by Cniva, which resulted from Philip the Arab withholding tribute payments, which were set up earlier by Emperor Gordian III as a peace settlement following the initial Gothic raid on Roman Histria in 338. Jordanes then repeats coverage of this episode, attributing the attack correctly to Cniva the second time round, in Chapter XVIII Sections 101-103.

---

XVI

(89) Now the Gothic race gained great fame in the region where they were then dwelling, that is in the Scythian land on the shore of Pontus, holding undisputed sway over great stretches of country, many arms of the sea and many river courses. By their strong right arm the Vandals were often laid low, the Marcomanni held their footing by paying tribute and the princes of the Quadi were reduced to slavery. Now when the aforesaid Philip--who, with his son Philip, was the only Christian emperor before Constantine--ruled over the Romans, in the second year of his reign Rome completed its 1,000th year. He withheld from the Goths the tribute due them; whereupon they were naturally enraged and instead of friends became his foes. For though they dwelt apart under their own kings, yet they had been allied to the Roman state and received annual gifts.

(90) And what more? Ostrogotha and his men soon crossed the Danube and ravaged Moesia and Thrace. Philip sent the senator Decius against him. And since he could do nothing against the Getae, he released his own soldiers from military service and sent them back to private life, as though it had been by their neglect that the Goths had crossed the Danube. When, as he supposed, he had thus taken vengeance on his soldiers, he returned to Philip. But when the soldiers found themselves expelled from the army after so many hardships, in their anger they had recourse to the protection of Ostrogotha, king of the Goths.

---

Moesia (mostly Northern Bulgaria):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moesia

Thrace (southern Bulgaria, eastern Greece, European Turkey):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrace

Emperor Decius (249-251), notorious persecutor of Christians:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decius

---

(91) He received them, was aroused by their words and presently led out 300,000 armed men, having as allies for this war some of the Taifali and Astringi and also 3,000 of the Carpi, a race of men very ready to make war and frequently hostile to the Romans. But in later times when Diocletian and Maximian were Emperors, the Caesar Galerius Maximianus conquered them and made them tributary to the Roman Empire. Besides these tribes, Ostrogotha had Goths and Peucini from the island of Peuce, which lies in the mouths of the Danube where they empty into the Sea of Pontus. He placed in command Argaithus and Guntheric, the noblest leaders of his race.

---

Taifali, Sarmatian-descended horsemen located in Dacia in the 3rd century:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taifali

Astringi, possibly the Astingi/Hasdingi, the southern tribes of the Vandals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astingi

Carpi, loose coalition of barbarians originally from the Carpathians (the mountains that take their name), but relocated in the 3rd century to Dacia after the Roman evacuation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpi_(people)

Emperor Diocletian (284-305), last great persecutor of Christians, member of the Tetrarchy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian

Emperor Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus, or Maximian,

Galerius (285-305), member of the Tetrarchy from Gaul, 306-311 Emperor pretender:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximian

Emperor Galerius (293-305), member of the Tetrarchy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerius

Peucini or Basternae, members of the Zarubintsy and Chernyakhov cultures, took part as subordinates to the Goths in the 238 raid on Histria and the 249-251 punitive raid that killed Emperor Decius, later resettled by the Romans:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peucini

Argaithus and Guntheric, writers describing the 248 raid on Moesia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dobruja

---

(92) They speedily crossed the Danube, devastated Moesia a second time and approached Marcianople, the famed metropolis of that land. Yet after a long siege they departed, upon receiving money from the inhabitants.

---

Marcianople, founded by Emperor Trajan after the Second Dacian War, named for his sister Ulpia Maricana, Goth target in 249:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcianople

---

(93) Now since we have mentioned Marcianople, we may briefly relate a few matters in connection with its founding. They say that the Emperor Trajan built this city for the following reason. While his sister's daughter Marcia was bathing in the stream called Potamus--a river of great clearness and purity that rises in the midst of the city--she wished to draw some water from it and by chance dropped into its depths the golden pitcher she was carrying. Yet though very heavy from its weight of metal, it emerged from the waves a long time afterwards. It surely is not a usual thing for an empty vessel to sink; much less that, when once swallowed up, it should be cast up by the waves and float again. Trajan marvelled at hearing this and believed there was some divinity in the stream. So he built a city and called it Marcianople after the name of his sister.

---

Emperor Trajan (98-117), conqueror of Dacia, among other achievements:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan

Ulpia Marciana (48-114), sister of Emperor Trajan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulpia_Marciana

Potamus: Greek for river or stream

---

XVII

(94) From this city, then, as we were saying, the Getae returned after a long siege to their own land, enriched by the ransom they had received. Now the race of the Gepidae was moved with envy when they saw them laden with booty and so suddenly victorious everywhere, and made war on their kinsmen. Should you ask how the Getae and Gepidae are kinsmen, I can tell you in a few words. You surely remember that in the beginning I said the Goths went forth from the bosom of the island of Scandza with Berig, their king, sailing in only three ships toward the hither shore of Ocean, namely to Gothiscandza.

---

Gepidae, Goths that arrived in Dacia in 260, after the initial migration to the Black Sea coast:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gepidae

Scandza, the Scandinavian homeland of the Goths, called by Jordanes as the "womb of nations":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandza

Berig, legendary king of the Goths, possibly made up by Cassiodorus based on the British Verica, said to have led the sailing of three ships from present Sweden to present Pomerania to colonize the southern Baltic coast:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berig

Gothiscandza, colony and eventual homeland of Berig's Goths after sailing across the Baltic Sea around 1490 BC:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothiscandza

---

(95) One of these three ships proved to be slower than the others, as is usually the case, and thus is said to have given the tribe their name, for in their language gepanta means slow. Hence it came to pass that gradually and by corruption the name Gepidae was coined for them by way of reproach. For undoubtedly they too trace their origin from the stock of the Goths, but because, as I have said, gepanta means something slow and stolid, the word Gepidae arose as a gratuitous name of reproach. I do not believe this is very far wrong, for they are slow of thought and too sluggish for quick movement of their bodies.

(96) These Gepidae were then smitten by envy while they dwelt in the province of Spesis on an island surrounded by the shallow waters of the Vistula. This island they called, in the speech of their fathers, Gepedoios; but it is now inhabited by the race of the Vividarii, since the Gepidae themselves have moved to better lands. The Vividarii are gathered from various races into this one asylum, if I may call it so, and thus they form a nation.

---

Spesis, province in present Poland.

Vistula, largest river in present Poland:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vistula

Gepidoios, an island in the Vistula said to be the home of the Gepids before their migration southward toward Dacia.

Vidivarii, successor melting pot of cultures to the Willenberg/Wielbark Culture (with which the Goths were once part):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidivarii

---

(97) So then, as we were saying, Fastida, king of the Gepidae, stirred up his quiet people to enlarge their boundaries by war. He overwhelmed the Burgundians, almost annihilating them, and conquered a number of other races also. He unjustly provoked the Goths, being the first to break the bonds of kinship by unseemly strife. He was greatly puffed up with vain glory, but in seeking to acquire new lands for his growing nation, he only reduced the numbers of his own countrymen.

---

Fastida, 3rd century Gepid king:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastida

Burgundians, Germanic tribe that originated on Bornholm Island in the Baltic Sea (southeast of Skane County, Sweden):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundians

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bornholm

---

(98) For he sent ambassadors to Ostrogotha, to whose rule Ostrogoths and Visigoths alike, that is, the two peoples of the same tribe, were still subject. Complaining that he was hemmed in by rugged mountains and dense forests, he demanded one of two things,--that Ostrogotha should either prepare for war or give up part of his lands to them.

(99) Then Ostrogotha, king of the Goths, who was a man of firm mind, answered the ambassadors that he did indeed dread such a war and that it would be a grievous and infamous thing to join battle with their kin,--but he would not give up his lands. And why say more? The Gepidae hastened to take arms and Ostrogotha likewise moved his forces against them, lest he should seem a coward. They met at the town of Galtis, near which the river Auha flows, and there both sides fought with great valor; indeed the similarity of their arms and of their manner of fighting turned them against their own men. But the better cause and their natural alertness aided the Goths.

(100) Finally night put an end to the battle as a part of the Gepidae were giving way. Then Fastida, king of the Gepidae, left the field of slaughter and hastened to his own land, as much humiliated with shame and disgrace as formerly he had been elated with pride. The Goths returned victorious, content with the retreat of the Gepidae, and dwelt in peace and happiness in their own land so long as Ostrogotha was their leader.

---

XVIII

(101) After his death, Cniva divided the army into two parts and sent some to waste Moesia, knowing that it was undefended through the neglect of the emperors. He himself with 70,000 men hastened to Euscia, that is, Novae. When driven from this place by General Gallus, he approached Nicopolis, a very famous town situated near the Iatrus river. This city Trajan built when he conquered the Sarmatians and named it the City of Victory. When the Emperor Decius drew near, Cniva at last withdrew to the regions of Haemus, which were not far distant. Thence he hastened to Philippopolis, with his forces in good array.

---

Cniva or Kniwa, Goth leader of the 349-351 raid on the Roman Balkans:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cniva

Nicopolis, "City of Victory" built by Octavian, restored by Justinian after the Goths destroy it in 349-351:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicopolis

Haemus Mons, the Balkan Mountains, or Stara Planina (Old Mountain) in Bulgaria, named for a legendary Thracian king:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemus_Mons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_mountains

Philippopolis, present Plovdiv, Bulgaria:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plovdiv

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Philippopolis_(250)

---

(102) When the Emperor Decius learned of his departure, he was eager to bring relief to his own city and, crossing Mount Haemus, came to Beroa. While he was resting his horses and his weary army in that place, all at once Cniva and his Goths fell upon him like a thunderbolt. He cut the Roman army to pieces and drove the Emperor, with a few who had succeeded in escaping, across the Alps again to Euscia in Moesia, where Gallus was then stationed with a large force of soldiers as guardian of the frontier. Collecting an army from this region as well as from Oescus, he prepared for the conflict of the coming war.

---

Battle of Beroa, the battle before Abrittus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_history_of_the_Roman_military

Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus or Emperor Gallus (251-253), restored peace with the Goths, killed by his own troops:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebonianus_Gallus

Oescus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oescus

---

(103) But Cniva took Philippopolis after a long siege and then, laden with spoil, allied himself to Priscus, the commander in the city, to fight against Decius. In the battle that followed they quickly pierced the son of Decius with an arrow and cruelly slew him. The father saw this, and although he is said to have exclaimed, to cheer the hearts of his soldiers: "Let no one mourn; the death of one soldier is not a great loss to the republic", he was yet unable to endure it, because of his love for his son. So he rode against the foe, demanding either death or vengeance, and when he came to Abrittus, a city of Moesia, he was himself cut off by the Goths and slain, thus making an end of his dominion and of his life. This place is to-day called the Altar of Decius, because he there offered strange sacrifices to idols before the battle.

---

Battle of Abrittus (July/August 251), the end of Emperor Decius:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Abrittus

This information is according to the Wikipedia page on Ukrainian Rulers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ukrainian_rulers

Greuthungi

The Amali dynasty, Amals, Amaler, or Amalings of the Greuthungi ("steppe dwellers" or "people of the pebbly coasts"), called later the Ostrogothi.

Ostrogotha, the Patient, born fl. 170 or ca. 183, died ca. 250 in Ukraine

From "Guthones, Kinsmen of the Lithuanian People: A treatise on the Gothic ethnology, history of the Gothic dominion in Italy and Spain, numismatics, language, and proper names" by Alexander M. Rackus, M.D.:

http://lituani.com/Guthones.pdf

Roman historians mention in their writings 22 famous Gothic kings, namely:

(1)--- The first great king of the Amala people was Au(st)ra-gudas (Austraguta) (1), called "the Patient". During his reign, the most important undertaking was the war with the Roman emperor Philip the Arab. Au(st)ragudas gathered 30,000 warriors, plundered the Roman province of Lower Moesia, laid siege to its capital Marcianopolis and forced its defenders to redeem themselves with a large sum of money. In this war, Argaitis (Argaits) and Gundarikis (Gunthareiks) were the celebrated Au(st)ragudas' generals. Au(st)ragudas "the Patient" died about the year 250, leaving his son Ginvila (Hunuila). Coins with the name of Au(st)ragudas do not exist. There are only some Roman coins with Au(st)ragudas' counterstamp. Bronze, silver and gold shillings were the native money of the Gothic people, of the same shape as you see in fig. 1.

Reference:

1. In modern times the Russians were the biggest enemies of the Lithuanian and Samogitian people, therefore now the Lithuanians apply the disdainful name "Gudas" (=Goth) to any Russian.

(Ben M. Angel notes: Apparently Austragudas or Ostrogotha is supposed to be Cniva, a historically known figure who carried out the raids described.)

---------------------------

From "Widsith: a study in old English heroic legend" by Raymond Wilson Chambers:

http://books.google.cl/books?id=Nn08AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA219&lpg=PA219&dq=...

114. Unwenes. Jordanes (XIV, 79) has "Ostrogotha autem genuit Hunuil: Hunuil item genuit Athal," upon which Müllenhoff comments "Hunuil nominis certe ultimam partem corruptam esse nemo non videt." He suggests in view of this passage in Widsith that Unuin should be read: "Unwin stands for Unwen as Thiudimir interchanges with Thiudemer. The name means son born beyond hope, cf. Z.f.d.A. XII, 253. Unwen must have been a famous hero for to have been remembered in England 'til after the Norman Conquest (see Appendix K). Yet he does not succeed his father Ostrogotha in the Gothic story: he was therefore presumably cut off in his youth. Was it in this connection that Ostrogotha, like Thurisind or Olaf the Peacock, showed his characteristic patience?

English Wikipedia page on the Chernyakhov Culture (likely created by the arrival of the Goths on the Black Sea coast):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernyakhov_Culture

The Santana de Mures-Chernyakhiv culture[1][2][3] (in Ukrainian: Черняхівська культура, transliterated: Chernyakhivska Kultura, translated into English: Chernyakhiv Culture; in Russian: Черняховская культура, transliterated: Chernyakhovskaya Kultura, translated into English: Chernyakhov Culture; Romanian and Moldavian: Sântana de Mureș; Hungarian: Marosszentanna-Csernyahov kultúra; German: Tschernjachow-Sîntana de Mureș-Kultur, also: Sîntana de Mureș-Černjachov-Kultur, short version: Tschernjachow-Kultur, in scientific transliteration: Černjachov-Kultur) (2nd century to 5th century) was found in Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, and parts of Belarus.

In 1900/1901, Russian archeologists excavated a cemetery at Černjachov, not far from Kiev in the Ukraine.

The grave goods they unearthed prove to bear a marked similarity to material discovered shortly afterwards by Romanian archeologists at a cemetery in central Transylvania, Sîntana de Mureș (Mureș is the nearby river) - Peter J. Heather, "The Santana de Mureș/Černjachov Culture"[4]

In fact, the archeologist who discovered the site and who was in charge was a Ukrainian of Czech origin, Vikentii V'iacheslavovych Khvoyka (Ukrainian: Вікентій В'ячеславович Хвойка, Czech: Čeněk Chvojka).

"In that same region -- roughly between Volhynia in the north, the Carpathians in the west, the Danube and Black Sea to the south, and Donets to the east -- a single archaeological culture is visible from the late 3rd until the early 5th century. This archaeological culture is known as the Sântana de Mureș/Černjachov culture and is reasonably well dated on archaeological grounds." - Michael Kulikowski[5]

The archaeological site that lent the culture its name is located in the eponymous village of Cherniakhiv in Ukraine's Kyiv Oblast (in Ukrainian: Черняхів, Chernyakhiv; in Russian: Черняхов, Chernyakhov). The culture existed in the 2nd—5th centuries AD. Around the year 300, the culture extended into the Lower Danube and Transylvania. It is attested to in thousands of sites. The Goths (the Thervingi and the Greutungi) correspond to at least part of the Chernyakhiv culture.[6][7]

Location

The Chernyakhiv culture encompassed the territories of modern Ukraine, Moldavia, and Romania[8]. (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Origins_200_AD.png)

Origins

The culture developed in the 2nd century AD[8]. Of varied origins, the culture quickly became remarkably homogeneous throughout the areas it occupied. Scholars debate whether this means that the disparate peoples "mingled inextricably"[9].

Archeology, Identity, Ethnicity

The 'Culture-Historical' doctrine founded by German archaeologist Gustaf Kossinna, assumed that “sharply defined archaeological culture areas correspond unquestionably with the areas of particular peoples or tribes”[10]. Scholars today are more inclined to see material cultures as cultural-economic systems incorporating many different groups.

"What created the boundaries of these cultural areas were not the political frontiers of a particular people, but the geographical limits within which the population groups interacted with sufficient intensity to make some or all of the remains of their physical culture – pottery, metal work, building styles, burial goods and so on- look very similar[11].

"Kossina's Siedlungsarchäologie ('settlement archeology') postulated that materially homogeneous archeological cultures could be matched with the ethnic groups defined by philologists."

- Michael Kulikowski, Rome's Gothic Wars, p. 61

Essentially, scholars are tentative in ascribing an 'ethnic' identity to the material remains of past populations, although they recognise that certain objects may have been manipulated to represent some form of group identity, especially at times of inter-group conflict.

Pre WWII

In the earlier half of the 20th century, much energy had been spent by scholars debating the ethnic affinity of the people which inhabited the Chernyakov zone. Soviet scholars, such as Boris Rybakov saw it as the archaeological reflection of the proto-Slavs[12], whilst western, especially German historians and Polish archeologists attributed it to the Goths. According to Kazimierz Godłowski (1979), the origins of Slavs culture should be connected with the areas of the upper Dnieper basin (the Kiev culture) while the Chernyakhov culture with the federation of the Goths.[13]

However, the remains of archaeologically visible material culture and their link with ethnic identity are not as clear as originally thought.

The Migration theory from Scandinavia to Polish Baltic and Ukraine was an ideal material for Nazi Ostsiedlung and argument for Lebensraum. A reference material for that era is Ludwig Schmidt's Geschichte der deutschen Stamme (History of the German Tribes) [14]

After WWII

Today, the Chernyakov zone is recognized as representing a cultural interaction of a diversity of peoples, but predominantly from those which already existed in the region[15], whether it be the Sarmatians[16], or the Getae-Dacians (some authors espouse the view that the Getae-Dacians played the leading role in the creation of the Culture).[17]

As an informative sidenote, it is known that later authors often confused the Getae with the Goths, most notably Jordanes in his Getica. In post war Europe the nationalist aspects of pre-war scholarship were repudiated consciously, the barbarian tribes being analyzed as social constructs, rather than timeless and changeless lines of blood kin.[14]

Migration and Diffusion Theories

Migration

Whilst acknowledging the mixed origins of the Chernyakiv culture, Peter Heather suggests that the culture is ultimately a reflection of the Goths' domination of the Pontic area. He cites evidence from literary sources which attests that it was the Goths who were the centre of political attention at this time[18]. In particular, the culture's development corresponds well with Jordanes' tale of Gothic migration from Gothiscandza to Oium, under the leadership of Filimer.

Moreoever, he highlights that crucial external influences which catalysed the development of the Chernyakhov culture were derived from the Wielbark culture. Originating in the mid-1st century, it spread from Pomerania down the Vistula in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Wielbark elements are prominent in the Chernyakhov zone, such as typical 'Germanic' pottery, brooch types and female costume, and, in particular, weaponless bi-ritual burials. Although cultures may spread without substantial population movements, Heather draws attention to a decrease in the number of settlements in the original Pomeranian Wielbark heartland as evidence of a significant population movement. Combined with Jordanes' account, Heather concludes that a movement of Goths (and other east Germanic groups such as Heruli and Gepids) "played a major role in the creation of the Cernjachove culture"[19]. He clarifies that this movement was not a single, royal-led, migration, but was rather accomplished by a series of small, sometimes mutually antagonistic groups[20].

Diffusion

However, Guy Halsall challenges some of Heather's conclusions. He sees no chronological development from the Wielbark to Chernyakhiv culture, given that the latter stage of the Wielbark culture is synchronous with Chernyakhiv, and the two regions have minimal territorial overlap.

"Although it is often claimed that Cernjachov metalwork derives from Wielbark types, close examination reveals no more than a few types with general similarities to Wielbark types"[21].

Michael Kulikowski also challenges the Wielbark connection, highlighting that the greatest reason for Wielbark-Chernyakhov connection derives from a "negative characteristic" (i.e. the absence of weapons in burials), which is less convincing proof than a positive one. He argues that the Chernyakhov culture could just as likely have been an indigenous development of local Pontic, Carpic or Dacian cultures, or a blended culture resulting from Przeworsk and steppe interactions.

Furthermore, he altogether denies the existence of Goths prior to the 3rd century. Kulikowsky states that no Gothic people, nor even a noble kernal, migrated from Scandinavia or the Baltic. Rather, he suggests that the "Goths" formed in situ. Like the Allemani or the Franks, the Goths were a "product of the Roman frontier"[22].

Other influences, such as a minority of burials which did contain weapons, are seen from the Przeworsk and Zarubinec cultures. The latter has been connected with early Slavs[16].

Ethogenesis/Philology

One of the most important figures in historical Romanticism, Johann Gottfried Herder, states that the Volk—the people— is the essence of history. The work of Herder placed Gothic in the family of Germanic Languages. Till then the historical sources had referred to the Goths as Scythians.[23]

In linguistic terms, it is said that this is when and where Slavic and Iranian borrowed lexical items from each other, and where Slavic picked up many of its Germanic loanwords. (Gothic, however, has few Slavic loanwords).

Finds

Settlements

Houses were arranged in parallel, and are of two predominant types. The most numerous are sunken huts, called Grubenhäuser in German. They are generally small in size, measuring 5-16 square metres in area. The other predominant type is surface dwellings called Wohnstallhäuser, which are of more variable size, tending to be larger. Some settlements have both types of dwellings, although Romanian finds have only sunken-floored houses.

Although the variation in types may be attributable to the different ethnic groups in the zone, the differences are also a reflection of socio-economic factors. The Wohnstallhäuser are typical of Germanic settlements in central Europe, and had not been found in early cultures of south-eastern Europe. Conversely, the sunken-floored huts have been found in earlier Dacian cultures in the Carpathians and the farmers of the forest-steppe, and continued well after the period (and became widespread throughout eastern Europe). Whatever their origins, these styles were readily adopted by all peoples of the culture.

Funerary Rites

Both inhumation and cremation were practiced. The dead were buried with grave goods – pottery, iron implements, bone combs, personal ornaments, although in later periods grave goods decrease. Of the inhumation burials, the dead were usually buried in a north-south axis (with head to north), although a minority are in east-west orientation. Funerary gifts often include fibulae, belt buckles, bone combs, glass drinking vessels and other jewelry. Women's burials in particular shared very close similarities with Wielbark forms - buried with two fibulae, one on each shoulder. Like in the Wielbark culture, Chernyakhov burials usually lack weapons as funerary gifts, except in a few cremation burials reminiscent of Przeworsk influences [24]. Although cremation burials are traditionally associated with Germanic and Slavic peoples, and inhumation is suggestive of nomadic practice, careful analysis suggests that the mixed burials were of an earlier period, whilst toward the end there was a trend toward inhumation burials without grave goods. This could be the result of the influences of Christianity, but could just as easily be explained in terms of an evolution on non-Christian views about the afterlife.

Ceramic wares

Pottery was predominantly of local production, being both wheel and hand-made. Wheel made pottery predominated, and was made of finer clay. It was reminiscent of earlier Sarmatian types, refined by Roman and La Tene influences. Hand made pottery showed a greater variety in form, and was sometimes decorated with incised linear motifs. In addition, Roman amphorae are also found, suggesting trade contacts with the Roman world. There is also a small, but regular, presence of distinct hand–made pottery typical of that found in western Germanic groups, suggesting the presence of Germanic groups.

Economy

The Chernyakhov people were primarily a settled population involved in cultivation of cereals – especially wheat, barley and millet. Finds of ploughshares, sickles and scythes have been frequent. Cattle breeding was the primary mode of animal husbandry, and the breeding of horses appears to have been restricted to the open steppe. Metalworking skills were widespread throughout the culture, and local smiths produced much of the implements, although there is some evidence of production specialization.

Decline

The Chernyakhov culture ends in the 5th century, attributed to the arrival of the Huns.[16] The collapse of the culture is no longer explained in terms of population displacement, although there was an outmigration of Goths. Rather, more recent theories explain the collapse of the Chernyakhov culture in terms of a disruption of the hierarchical political structure which maintained it.

John Mathews suggests that, despite its cultural homogeneity, a sense of ethnic distinction was kept between the disparate peoples. Some of the autochthonous elements persist,[25] and become even more widespread, after the demise of the Gothic elite – a phenomenon associated with the rise and expansion of the early Slavs.

Notes

1. ^ Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568 Guy Halsall

2. ^ Rome's Gothic Wars Michael Kulikowski

3. ^ The Goths in the fourth century By Peter J. Heather, John Matthews page 47

4. ^ Peter J. Heather, John Matthews, 1991, The Goths in the Fourth Century, page 47.

5. ^ Michael Kulikowski, 2007, Rome's Gothic Wars, p. 63.

6. ^ “In the past, the association of this [%C4%8Cernjachov] culture with the Goths was highly contentious, but important methodological advances have made it irresistible.” The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 13: The Late Empire, p. 488 (1998)

7. ^ Peter J. Heather, John Matthews, 1991, The Goths in the Fourth Century, pp. 88-92.

8. ^ Mallory (1997, p. 104)

9. ^ Matthews (1991, p. 92)

10. ^ Curta (2001, p. 24). Citing Kossinna 1911:3

11. ^ Heather (2006)

12. ^ Barford (2001, p. 40)

13. ^ Buko (2008, p. 58)

14. ^ Michael Kulikowski Rome Gotic Wars

15. ^ Halsall (2007, p. 132)The Cernjachov culture is a mixture of all sorts of influences, but most come from existing cultures in the region

16. ^ Mallory (1997, p. 106)

17. ^ Matthews (, p. 90)

18. ^ Matthews (1991)

19. ^ Heather (1998, pp. 22, 23)

20. ^ Heather (1998, pp. 43, 44)

21. ^ Halsall (2007, p. 133)

22. ^ Kulikowski (, pp. 60–68)

23. ^ Michael Kulikowski Rome's Gothic Wars page 47

24. ^ Heather (1998, p. 47)

25. ^ Matthews (, p. 91) settlement was continuous from the period of the Sintana de Mures/ Cernjachov Culture right through the Migration Period into the Middle Ages proper

References

Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (1997), Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 1884964982

Heather, Peter (2006), The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195159543

Eiddon, Iorwerth; Edwards, Stephen; Heather, Peter (1998), "Goths & Huns", The Cambridge Ancient History, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521302005

Barford, Paul M (2001), The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0801439779

Halsall, Guy (2007), Barbarian migrations and the Roman West, 376-568, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521434912

Curta, Florin (2001), The Making of the Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region, C. 500-700, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521802024

Matthews, John; Heather, Peter (1991), The Goths in the fourth century, Liverpool University Press, ISBN 0853234264

Heather, Peter J (1998), The Goths, Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN 0631209328

Kulikowsky, Michael (2007), Rome's Gothic Wars: from the third century to Alaric, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521846331

Buko, Andrzej (2008), The Archeology of Early Medieval Poland. Discoveries-Hypotheses-Interpretations, Brill, ISBN 9004162305

External links

Slavs in Antiquity, summary in English translation of a text by Valentin V. Sedov, originally in Russian (V. V. Sedov: "Slavyane v drevnosti", Moscow 1994).

http://www.rastko.rs/arheologija/vsedov-slavs.html

("Migration of Goths to the North Pontic Area" (p. 222). In the last decades of the 2nd century A.D. a movement of a great mass of population from the Lower Vistula region towards south under the leadership of Goths took place. The most part of it settled in Mazovia, Podlasie and Volyn' (Wielbark culture), but a part moved further — to the western part of North Pontic Area, where the basis of future Gothia was laid. The second wave of migrants under the leadership of Goths dates back to the middle of the 3rd century. Some large groups of the migrants settled at those times between Dniester and Lower Dnieper, and some little ones — widely within the Cherniakhov territory.)

Ben M. Angel summary: Ostrogotha is supposed to have been the King of the Goths that led the future Visigoths and Ostrogoths to the region north of the Black Sea. The Goths first emerge on the shores of the Black Sea with the 238 raid on the Roman settlement of Histria (present Lake Sinoe on the present Romanian Dobruja coast) and the pressure they exerted on the ancient Bosporan Kingdom in present Crimea during the reign of King Ininthimeus 235-240. By 242, the Romans had evacuated from their client state, abandoning it to the Goths. (The Goths, however, would not apparently make any serious effort to conquer this kingdom until 342, a year after the last known Bosporan coin was minted.)

Speculation about Cniva, the known leader of the 250 Gothic punitive raid on the Roman Balkans, being Ostrogotha apparently comes from Jordanes, who described the same event in two sets of passages, depicting them as separate raids.

Not much can be determined from creating a timeline for Ostrogotha's life, as the only two states with any recorded history that he made contact with were on the Black Sea (and timelines are provided in the About Me section of his descendants through to the next great Gothic King, Airmanareiks.