The Thervingi were a Gothic people of the Danubian plains west of the Dnestr River in the 3rd and 4th Centuries CE. They had close contacts with the Greuthungi, another Gothic people from east of the Dnestr River, as well as the Late Roman Empire (or early Byzantine Empire). Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche, is a highly romanticized portrait of the Goths as cavalrymen. ... The river Dniestr (in Polish and Russian; Nistru in Romanian; Дністер, Dnister in Ukrainian; Tyras in Latin; also known as Dniester) is a river in Eastern Europe. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent c. ...

Early history

The Thervingi first appeared in history as a distinct people in the year 268 when they invaded the Roman Empire and swarmed over the Balkan peninsula. This invasion overran the Roman provinces of Pannonia and Illyricum and even threatened Italia itself. However, the Thervingi were defeated in battle that summer near the modern Italian-Slovenian border and then routed in the Battle of Naissus that September. Over the next three years they were driven back over the Danube River in a series of campaigns by the emperors Claudius II Gothicus and Aurelian. However, they maintained their hold on the Roman province of Dacia, which Aurelian evacuated in 271. Events The Alamanni invade Italy. ... The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe southeastern Europe (see the Definitions and boundaries section below). ... Position of the Roman province of Pannonia Pannonia is an ancient country bounded north and east by the Danube, conterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. ... This article is about an ancient civilization in southeastern Europe; see also Illyria (software), Illyria (character in the TV series Angel). ... Combatants Roman Empire Goths Commanders Gallienus Aurelius Claudius (commander in chief) Domitius Aurelianus (cavalry commander) Strength unknown unknown Casualties unknown 30,000 to 50,000 The Battle of Naissus took place in September of 268 between the armies of the Goths and forces of the Roman Empire, led by Emperor... Length 2,888 km Elevation of the source 1,078 m Average discharge 30 km before Passau: 580 m³/s Vienna: 1,900 m³/s Budapest: 2,350 m³/s just before Delta: 6,500 m³/s Area watershed 817,000 km² Origin Black Forest (Schwarzwald-Baar, Baden- Württemberg... Claudius Gothicus on a coin celebrating his equity (AEQUITAS AUGUSTI). ... Lucius Domitius Aurelianus (September 9, 214–275), known in English as Aurelian, Roman Emperor (270–275), was the second of several highly successful soldier-emperors who helped the Roman Empire regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth. ... Dacia, in ancient geography the land of the Daci, named by the ancient Greeks Getae, was a large district of Southeastern Europe, bounded on the north by the Carpathians, on the south by the Danube, on the west by the Tisa, on the east by the Tyras or Nistru, now... Events Goths forced to withdraw across the Danube Roman Emperor Aurelian withdraws troops to the Danube frontier, abandoning Dacia. ...

Gothic War (367-369)

Gothic War (376-382)

Main article: Gothic War (377–382)

The Goths remained in Dacia until 376, when one of their leaders, Fritigern, appealed to the Roman emperor Valens to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube. Here, they hoped to find refuge from the Huns. Valens permitted this. However, a famine broke out and Rome was unwilling to supply them with the food they were promised nor the land; open revolt ensued leading to 6 years of plundering and destruction throughout the Balkans, the death of a Roman Emperor and the destruction of an entire Roman army. The Battle of Adrianople in 378 was the decisive moment of the war. The Roman forces were slaughtered; the Emperor Valens was killed during the fighting, shocking the Roman world and eventually forcing the Romans to negotiate with and settle the Barbarians on Roman land, a new trend with far reaching consequences for the eventual fall of the Roman Empire. The Gothic War of 377-382 is a name given to a series of Gothic battles and plunderings of the eastern Roman Empire in the Balkans in the late 4th century. ...

Social Structure

Archaeology

Main article: Chernyakhov Culture

Chernyakhiv culture is shown in orange, the third-century Wielbark Culture in red. ...

Settlement Pattern

Chernyakhov settlements cluster in open ground in river valleys. The houses include sunken-floored dwellings, surface dwellings, and stall-houses. The largest known settlement (Budesty) is 35 hectares.^[1] Most settlements are open and unfortified; some forts are also known. ^{[citation needed]}

Burial Practices

Sintana de Mures cemeteries are better known than Sintana de Mures settlements.^[2]

Sintana de Mures cemeteries show the same basic characteristics as other Chernyakhov cemeteries. These include both cremation and inhumation burials; among the latter the head is to the north. Some graves were left empty. Grave goods often include pottery, bone combs, and iron tools, but almost never any weapons.^[3] The crematorium at Haycombe Cemetery, Bath, England. ... By other animals Humans are not the only species to bury their dead. ...

Religion

The original religion of the Thervingi is unknown.

Roman prisoners brought Christianity to the Thervingi. This spread fast enough that several Therving kings and their supporters persecuted the Christian Thervingi, many of whom fled to Moesia in the Roman Empire. Wulfila translated the Bible into Gothic during this exile.^[4] Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... Moesia is an ancient province situated in the areas of modern Serbia and Bulgaria. ... Representation of Ulfilas surrounded by the Gothic alphabet Ulfilas or Wulfila (perhaps meaning little wolf) (c. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library of Congress. ...

Settled in Dacia, the Thervingi adopted "Arianism," a branch of Christianity that believed that Jesus was not an aspect of God in the Trinity, but a separate being created directly beneath God. ^{[citation needed]} This belief was in opposition to the tenets of Catholicism, which achieved a religious monopoly in the late 4th and 5th century. St Francis Xavier converting the Paravas: a 19th-century image of the docile heathen Ansgar, the 9th century apostle of the North in an 1830 drawing. ... This article is about theological views like those of Arius. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... This article concerns the holy Trinity of Christianity. ... As a Christian ecclesiastical term, Catholic - from the Greek adjective , meaning general or universal[1] - is described in the Oxford English Dictionary as follows: ~Church, (originally) whole body of Christians; ~, belonging to or in accord with (a) this, (b) the church before separation into Greek or Eastern and Latin or...

Languages

Main article: Gothic language

Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ...

Pagan kings

• Athanaric (369–381)
• Rothesteus (underking)^[5]
• Winguric (underking)^[6]

Athanaric (died 381) was ruler of several branches of the Visigoths for at least two decades in the fourth century and undisputed King of the Visigoths for the last year of his life. ... Athanaric, a Visigoth ruler, fights against Valens at Isaccea. ... Events First Council of Constantinople - second Ecumenical council of the Christian Church: The Nicene creed is affirmed and extended, Apollinarism is declared a heresy. ...

Rebel leaders

• Alavivus (c.376)
• Fritigern (c.376–c.380)

Events Visigoths appear on the Danube and request entry into the Roman Empire in their flight from the Huns Births Cyril of Alexandria, theologian Deaths Categories: 376 ... Frithugairns (Gothic for desiring peace) or Fritigern (died ca. ... Events Visigoths appear on the Danube and request entry into the Roman Empire in their flight from the Huns Births Cyril of Alexandria, theologian Deaths Categories: 376 ... This article is about the year 380 AD. For the aircraft, see Airbus A380. ...

References

1. ^ Heather, Peter & Matthews, John, 1991, The Goths in the Fourth Century, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, pp. 52-54.
2. ^ Heather, Peter & Matthews, John, 1991, Goths in the Fourth Century, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, p. 54.
3. ^ Heather, Peter & Matthews, John, 1991, Goths in the Fourth Century, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, pp. 54-56.
4. ^ Philostorgius, Church History, book 2, chapter 5.
5. ^ Passion of St. Saba
6. ^ Martyrology of Batwin and Wereka