The Goths – from the North to the Fall of Rome

History & Finds The Goths: A People Changes World History

The Goths were an East Germanic people whose origin tradition (Jordanes) places in Scandza – the north. From the lower Vistula they moved in the 2nd/3rd century to the Black Sea and split into Visigoths and Ostrogoths.

Ostrogothic eagle fibula — Ostrogothic eagle-shaped fibula, c. AD 500. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg. author unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Alaric, Rome and the kingdoms

In AD 410 the Visigoth Alaric sacked Rome – a shock to the ancient world. The Visigoths founded a kingdom in Spain, the Ostrogoths under Theoderic one in Italy. Thus a migrating people became at once the heirs and destroyers of Rome.

"From this island of Scandza … the Goths are said once to have set out."after Jordanes, Getica (public domain, own translation)

From Scandinavia to the Black Sea

The Goths were one of the most powerful East Germanic peoples of late antiquity. The Gothic historian Jordanes has them migrate from the island of Scandza across the Vistula and finally move as far as the Black Sea, where they built a great kingdom.

Wulfila and the Gothic Bible

A milestone was the Gothic Bible of Bishop Wulfila in the 4th century. For his translation he created a Gothic script especially. The surviving Codex Argenteus is one of the most precious testimonies of a Germanic language at all.

Alaric sacks Rome

In AD 410 the Visigothic king Alaric conquered the city of Rome – a shock that shook the whole ancient world. The "eternal city" was for the first time in 800 years again in enemy hands.

Visigoths and Ostrogoths

The Goths split into two great branches: the Visigoths, who founded a kingdom in Spain, and the Ostrogoths, who under Theoderic the Great ruled Italy. Both shaped the Europe after the fall of Western Rome.

Evidence: Jordanes ("Getica"), the Codex Argenteus and Alaric's conquest of Rome in 410 (Orosius and others) are secured.

Myth check: The origin "from Scandinavia" (Scandza) is Jordanes's 6th-century origin legend, not a secured factual report. And the historical Goths have nothing to do with the modern "Goths" (Gothic architecture, goth subculture) – only the name migrated.

What is documented: The move to the Black Sea, the split into Visigoths and Ostrogoths, Wulfila's Bible and the Codex Argenteus, Alaric's sack of Rome in 410, the kingdoms in Spain and Italy (Jordanes, Roman historians, the Codex itself).

What is interpretation: The origin "from Scandinavia" comes solely from Jordanes (6th c.) and is a literary origin motif, not a find. Whether "Gotland" really goes back to the Goths is disputed. "Visigoths" and "Ostrogoths" are partly modern ordering terms.

The Goths belong to the great East Germanic wandering peoples – like the Heruli and Rugii. Continue with them.

Glanz & Gravur — From our workshop: Germanic motifs on natural slate, laser-engraved. To the shop →

Sources & literature

Jordanes, Getica; Codex Argenteus (Wulfila Bible); Roman historians; quote public domain (own translation).

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The Goths: A People Changes World History

Alaric, Rome and the kingdoms

From Scandinavia to the Black Sea

Wulfila and the Gothic Bible

Alaric sacks Rome

Visigoths and Ostrogoths

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Sources & literature

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