GOTHS. The name of a powerful nation of an tiquity, belonging to the Germanic race. By some writers they are thought to have had a Scandi navian origin, which was the belief of their own historian, Jordanes. The earliest notice of them extant among the writers of antiquity is that of Pytheas of Marseilles, who lived about the time of Alexander the Great, and wrote a book of travels, some fragments of which have been pre served in the works of other writers. In one of these fragments, quoted by Pliny, we find men tion made of a tribe of Guttones bordering upon the Germans, and living 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 Frisches Haft, situated on the Prussian shore of the Baltic. The next notice that occurs of the Goths is in the Germania of Tacitus, in which they are called Gothones, and are represented as dwelling beyond the Lygii, in the same direction • as the one pointed out by Pytheas, though not on the seacoast. Tacitus also distinguishes them from the Gothini, a tribe east of the Quadi and the Marcomanni, and represented by him as using the Gallic tongue. The Gothones, accord ing to this historian, were under regal govern ment, and on that account not quite so free as the other tribes of Germany, but still they en joyed a considerable amount of liberty. The tribes next beyond them, and dwelling immedi ately on the seacoast, were the Rugii and 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 third century. But at what time, or under what circumstances, their migration from the Baltic to the Euxine took place, it is impossible to ascertain. 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 in both numbers and strength, so that, as early as the reign of Alexander Severus (A.D. 222-235), they made some formidable inroads into the Roman Province of Dacia. In the reign of Philip (A.D. 244-249) they ravaged that province, and even advanced to the siege of Marcianopolis in Meesia Secunda. The inhabitants ransomed their lives and property with a large sum of money, and the invaders withdrew for a time to their own coun try. Under Decius, however, they again entered Mcesia to the number of about 70,000, led by a King named Cniva. Decius himself advanced to meet them, and found them before Nicopolis. On his approach they raised the siege and marched away to Philippopolis, a city of Thrace, near the foot of Mount Ilsemus. Decius pursued them by forced marches, but the Goths turned with 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 in habitants are reported to have been slain. This was in A.D. 250. In the following year another tremendous battle took place near an obscure town called Forum Trebonii, in Mcesia, in which the Romans were again defeated with great slaughter, the Emperor Decius and his son being in the number of the slain. The succeeding Em
peror, 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 north east coast of the Black Sea, which they com pletely destroyed. In 258 they besieged and took Trebizond, 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 youth of the sea coast to their oars; and returned in triumph the Kingdom of Bosporus. In the following year, with a still more powerful force of men and ships, they took Chalcedon, Nicomedia, Nice, Prusa, Apamea, and Gins. In a third expedition, which numbered as many as 500 vessels, they took Cyzicus, then sailed down the ..7.gean. rav aged the coast of Attica, and in 262 anchored at the Pincus. Athens was now taken and plun dered, and many other renowned places in Greece were either partially or wholly destroyed. Even Italy was threatened; but the danger drew the indolent Emperor, Gallienus, from his seclusion. The Emperor appeared in arms, and his presence seems to have checked the ardor and to have divided the strength of the enemy. A portion of the Goths now returned to their own country. But in 269 they again started on a maritime expedition in far greater numbers than ever. After ravaging the coasts of both Europe and Asia, the main armament at length anchored before Thessalonica. In Claudius II., 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 300,000 men, in three successive battles, taking or sinking their fleet, and after an immense slaughter of their troops, pursuing such as escaped until they were hemmed in by the passes of Mount Hcemus, 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, Alaric, again provoked hostilities, 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 (367-369) with tolerable success. They now began to be distinguished by the appellations of Ostrogoths and Visigoths, or the Goths of the east and the west; 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 Huns the Visi goths sought the protection of Valens against those barbarians, and in 376 were 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 Constanti nople, but were not able to take it; and during the reign of Theodosius there was again a period of comparative peace.