Rise and Fall of the Goths
by Frank Schaefer
When the Goths left their home region of the Gdansk basin in the
2nd century CE to embark on a fantastic journey that took them as
far as the Eastern stretches of Eurasia and even into Southern
Italy and Spain, they did so as barbarians with a penchant for war
and plundering.
By the time Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great became ruler of
Italy (493–526), the Goths had reinvented themselves into a
cultural force that was controlling most of the Western Roman
Empire.
The Gothic people’s migration patterns are unrivaled in Europe;
they settled in areas ranging between Northern Europe, Spain and
even North Africa (Vandals). One could say they were the “Nomads”
of Europe.
Their journey started in the middle of the 2nd century CE marks
the first Migration Period in central Europe. Many Goths moved
south-east, leaving the lands that had been home for two
centuries. They started moving along the River Vistula, and found
a new home in a corner of Scythia (modern-day Romania/Moldovia/Crimea)
in the Black Sea region, establishing a Confederation of tribes.
Archeological finds at the Chernyakhov cemeteries in this region
show a consistency with the Wilbark culture digs, confirming that
these were the same Goths that had first appeared in the Gdanks
basin. They too featured both cremation and ihumation burials; and
here too grave goods often contained pottery, jewelry but hardly
ever weapons (The Goths in the Fourth Century).
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