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The Rugii were an East Germanic people whom Tacitus, in the 1st century, locates on the southern Baltic coast. Their name is often linked to the island of Rügen – a popular but linguistically uncertain derivation.
Tacitus names the Rugii together with their neighbours as peoples with round shields, short swords and great obedience to their kings. In the Migration Period they moved south and finally built a kingdom on the Danube, north of today's Lower Austria (Rugiland).
In AD 487 Odoacer, ruler of Italy, shattered the Rugian kingdom. Remnants of the people moved to Italy with the Ostrogoths and vanished there as a distinct group. The Rugii show the typical fate of the East Germanic migrating peoples: set out from the Baltic, perished in the south.
"They are marked by round shields and short swords and by obedience to their kings."after Tacitus, Germania 44 (public domain, own translation)
The Rugii belong to the world of the East Germanic wandering peoples – like the Heruli and Gepids. Continue with the Heruli.
The Heruli · The Suebi · The Lombards · The Marcomanni · Cimbri & Teutones.
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