GOTHS (Lat.' Got/tones, Guttones, Gutoe, etc.; Gr. Gotthoz, Gottoi, Goutatoi, Guthones; Gothic, GutMinda), tie name of a powerful nation of antiquity, befongiug to the Germanic race. By some they are thought to have had a Scandinavian origin, which was the belief of their own historian. Jornandes. Indeed, Jornandes, Procopius Capitolinus, and Trebellius PoIli° identified them with the Getw, a branch of the Thracian group of nations; but later researches, especially those of Dr. Latham, leave it almost without a doubt that the Goths were originally Germans. The earliest notice of them extant anion.." the writers of antiquity is that of Pythcas of Marseille, who lived about the time of Alexander the Great, and wrote a book of travels, some fragments of which have been preserved in the works of other writers. In one of these_ fragments, we find mention made of a tribe of Guttones bordering upon the Germans, aria who lived round a gulf of the sea called Mentonomon, a day's sail from the island of Abalus, where they used to gather amber, and sell it to the neighboring Teutones. This gulf, there is every reason to believe, was the Frielzes 114,y, situated on the Prussian shore of the Baltic. The next notice that occurs of the Goths is in the Ger mania of Tacit& in which they are called Gothones, and are represented as dwelling beyond the Lygii; in the same direction, that is, as the one pointed out by Pytheas; though not on the.sea-coast. Tacitus also distinguishes them from the Gothini, a tribe e. of the Quadi and Marcomanni, and who are represented by him as using the Gallican tongue. The Gothones, according to this historian, were under regal government, and on that account not quite so free as the other tribes of Germany, but still they enjoyed a considerable amount of liberty. The trihes•next beyond them, and dwelling hnmedi ately on the sea-coast, were the Rugii Lemovii, whose form of government was also monarchical, and their weapons, like those of the Gothones, round shields and short swords.
- We next hear of the Goths as settled on the coast of the Black sea, about the mouths of the Danube, early in the 3d century. But at what time, or under what circum stances, their migration from the Baltic to the Euxine took place, it is impossible to ascertain "Either a pestilence or a famine," says Gibbon, " a victory or a defeat, an. oracle of the gods or the eloquence of a daring leader, were sufficient to impel the Gothic arms on the milder climate of the south." In their new home, which was also the country of the Get (whence, perhaps, the error that confounded them with that people), the Goths increased both in numbers and strength, so that, as early as the reign of Alexander Severus (222-235 A.D.), they made some formidable inroads the Roman province of Dacia. In the reign of Philip (214-249 _kn.), they ravaged that province, and even advanced to the siege of Marcianopolis in ilithsia Secunda. The inhabitants ransomed their lives and property by a large sum of money, and the .invaders withdrew for a time-to their own country. Under Decins, however, they again entered 3Icesia to the number of about 70,000, led by a king named Cuiva. Deeius himself advanced to meet them, and found them engaged before Nicopolis.• On his approach, they raised the siege, and marched away to Philippopolis, a city of Thrace, near the foot of Mount Htemns. Decins pursued them by forced marches; but at a convenient opportunity, the Goths turned with unexampled fury .upon the Roman legions, and utterly defeated them. Philippopolis next fell before them by storm, after a long resistance, during which, and the massacre that followed, 100,000 of its inhabitants are reported to have been slain. This was in 250 AM. In the following year, another
tremendous atook place near an obscure town called Forum Trebonii, in Mtesia, in which the Romans were again defeated with great slaughter, the emperor Deeius and his son being in the number of the slain. The succeeding emperor, Gallus, purchased their retreat by an immediate present of a large sum of money, and the promise of an annual tribute for the future. The Goths now set themselves to the acquisition of a fleet, and with this, in 253, advanced to the conquest of Pityus, a Greek town on the me. coast of the Black sea, which they completely destroyed. In 258 they besieged and took Trebi•ond; when a great fleet of ships that were in the port fell into their hands. In these, they deposited the booty of the city, which was of immense value; chained the robust youth of the sea-coast to their oars; and returned in triumph to the kingdom of Bosphorus. In the following year, with a still more powerful force of men and ship, they took Chalcedon, Nicomedia, Nice, Prusa, Apauraa, and Cias. In it third expedition, which numbered as many as 500 vessels, they took Cyzieus, then sailed down the Alwean, ravaged the coast of Attica, and in 262 anchored at the Piraeus. Athens was now taken and plundered, and many other renowned places in Greece were tither partially or wholly destroyed. Even Italy was threatened; but, says Gibbon, "the approach of such imminent danger awakened the indolent Gallienus from his dream of pleasure." The emperor-appeared in arms; presence seems to have checked the ardor, and to have divided the strength of the enemy. A portion of the Gotha now returned to their own country. But in 269 they again started on a maritime expedition in far greater numbers than ever. After ravaging fhe coasts both of Europe an.d. Asia, the Main armament at length anchored before Thessalonica. In Claudius, the successor of Gallienus, however, the Goths found a far abler general than any they had yet contended with. This emperor defeated their immense host, said to number as many as 320,000 men, in three successive battles, taking or sinking their fleet, and after an immense slaughter_ of. heir troops,,pursuing such as escaped until they wore hemmed in by the passes of MOunt humus, where they perished for the most part by famine. This, however, was only a single reverse. Aurelian, the successor of Claudius, was obliged to cede to them; in 272, the large province of Dacia, after which there was comparative peace between the combatants for about fifty years. In the reign of Constantine, their king, Araric, again provoked hostility, but was obliged eventually to sue for peace with the master of the Roman empire. Under Valens, they once more encountered the Roman legions, with whom they carried on a war for about three years (867-369) with tolerable success. They now began to be distinguished by the appellations of Ostro-Goths and Visi-Goths, or the Goths of the e. and w ; the former inhabiting the shores of the Black sea, and the latter, the Dacian province and the banks of the Danube. On the irruption of the Iluns, the Visigoths sought the pro tection of Valens against those barbarians, and in 375 xere allowed by him to pass into Mcesia, to the number of about 200,000: Great numbers of them also now took service in the Roman army; but a dispute soon arose between the Goths and their new allies, which led to a decisive battle, in 378, near Adrianople, in which the emperor Valens lost his life. The Goths now threatened Constantinople, but were notable to take it; and during the reign of Theodosius, there was again a period of comparative peace.