The territory where the Goths at last took up their abode embraced
the whole of the northern coast of the Black Sea. In the east it was
separated by the Don from that of the Alani, in the west it bordered on
the tract of country northward of the Danube Delta and the Dacian
frontier which had been settled four hundred years earlier by the
Bastamae and the Sciri. Here the Goths divided into two sections soon
after their immigration, that dwelling more to the west being known
as the Tervingi, “the inhabitants of the forest region,” while the
eastern division was known as the Greutungi, “the inhabitants of the
Steppes.” For the former the name Visigoths (Vesegoti) came into use,[1]
at latest c. 850, for the latter the name Ostrogoths, designations however
of which the meaning is not absolutely certain, although “the western
Goths” and “the eastern Goths” was an interpretation already known
to Jordanes. The boundary between them was formed by the Dniester.
Before long there appear alongside of them other Germanic peoples, the
Gepidae, Taifali, Borani, Urugundi, and Heruli. The two first of these
had some original link of connexion with them. The Gepidae indeed
appear in the Gothic legend of their migrations as an actual part of
the Gothic nation. Whether they migrated to the Black Sea region
at the same time as the Goths, or followed them later, must remain an
open question.
Towards the end of the reign of Severus Alexander (222-285) the first indications of the appearance on the northern shores of the Black Sea of a new and powerful barbarian race, of a most warlike temper, had already become manifest, when the Greek towns of Olbia and Tyras fell victims to the sudden descent of an unknown enemy from the North. A little later, under Gordian III (288-244), its name is found. In the spring of 288 Gothic war-bands marched southwards, crossed the Danube with the connivance of the Dacian Carpi and broke into the province of Lower Moesia, where they captured and plundered the town of Istrus. The Procurator of the province, Tullius Menophilus (288-241), being unable to repel the invasion by force of arms, induced the Goths to retire by the promise of a yearly subsidy. But by 248 they had renewed their attacks on the Roman frontier in alliance with the Taifali, Asdingi, and Bastamae. Under the leadership of Argaith and Gunterich their bands again broke into Lower Moesia, assailed without success the fortified town of Marcianople and plundered the unfortunate province again.
But these first exploits of the Goths were completely thrown into the shade by the great invasion of Roman territory made at the beginning of 250 by the half-legendary King Kniwa at the head of a powerful army. While the Carpi flung themselves upon Dacia, the Gothic attack was directed as before upon Moesia. Thence a strong
- ↑ These names, like the division of the race which they express, may have been considerably older, and as the occurrence of Greutungi in Scandinavia suggests, brought by the Goths from their original home.
