[gothic-l] Book Review IV - Gothic and Erulic Pre-Vikings?

[Bertil Häggman]

_The Role of Migration in the History of the
Eurasian Steppe - Sedentary Civilization vs. -
'Barbarian' and Nomad, (ed. Andrew Bell-Fialkoff),
London: Macmillan, 2000, 355 pp.
_______________________________________

As I am presently writing an article on the seaborne
Goti and Eruli in the Black Sea area and the eastern
Mediterranean it was good to find that this was
dealt with in Bell-Fialkoff's book, however shortly.

The editor concludes: "They were equally effective on the
sea. They had probably learned their maritime skills
on the Baltic for it would be impossible for a land-borne
people to adapt to maritime warfare so fast." (p.124)

A short chronology:

253 AD The Goths became masters of the Crimea,
hving captured the Bosporan fleet and the capital
of the Bosporan kingdom, Panticapaeum, although
the kingdom is said to have ladted until 343 AD.

255-57 AD Major sea-raids in the Black Sea area.

256 AD The Goths push into Greece. Their confederates,
the Eruli, sack Athens in 267 AD.

268 AD A huge sea-borne expedition of the Goths and
their allies spilled into the Aegean. They were robbing
and looting at will.

271 AD A Gothic defeat by the Romans.

276-77 AD Raids reach as far as Galatia and Cilicia in spite
of defeat.

There are two appendixes in this new work, which seemed
to promise much: A. Climate and Migration and B. Some
controversies, but they in the opinion of this reviewer did
not hold the promise of the titles. There is, however,
an excellent bibliography.

On final evaluation this is a book that can be recommended to
all interested in both ancien and modern migrations.

Gothically

Bertil


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