[gothic-l] Goths in the East

[Bertil Häggman]

It was in the 250s that the Goti and the Eruli
started attacking across the Black Sea. Of
course the logistical basis was to control the
northern and northeastern coasts of the Black
Sea. Around 250 Tainais was destroyed.
The activities of the Goti and the Eruli of
course resulted in fighting with the Bosporanians,
that inhabited these areas at the time of the
arrival of the Germanic tribes. The Bosporanian
kingdom was a vassal state of the Roman empire.
In the end the Goths and the Bosporanians
started to cooperate.

The Posporanians initially provided the Goths
with ships and pilots and the invaders attacked
Pityus in present day Georgia where the Legio
XV Apollinaris of the Roman Army was stationed.

During the attacks in 257/258 Tyras on the Dnjestr
River mouth was the Gothic base.

The Goths settled on Crimea and the area north thereof,
southeast of the river Dniepr while the Eruli settled on the
northern coast of Maiotis (todays Sea of Azov). But I
haven't seen any info on settlement neither by Goths
nor Eruls on the Taman Peninsula.

The main classical source is Zosimus. Wolfram, _Die
Goten_ gives some information. See also the French
_La Formation de l'Europe et les Invasions Barbares_,
two volumes, Paris 1969 and 1979 by E. Demougeot.
B.Gerov's,  "Die Einfaelle der Nordvoelker in den
Ostbalkanraum im Lichte der Muenzschatzfunde" I.
Das II. und III. Jahrhundert. _Beitraege zur Geschichte der
roemischen Provinzen Moesien und
Thrakien. Gesammelte Aufsaetze, Amsterdam, 1980.
Also Gerov, "Die gotische Invasion in Moesien und
Thrakien unter Decius im Lichte der Hortfunde", also
_Beitraege...._.There is I believe a map of some value
by E.Kettenhofen in :Tuebinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients_.
B V 11, 1982.

The reason I am read up on this is that I am presently
collecting material on an article on the Gothic and Erulic
naval warfare in the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean
as Pre-Vikings.

Gothically

Bertil Haggman



> As this slot is entitled 'Goths in the east', I would like to post a
> short question. What is the evidence of Gothic settlement on the
> eastern shores of the Black Sea, especially the Taman peninsula. I
> have explained in another thread that I am trying to establish if a
> certain coin series can really be attributed to the Goths at the
> Black
>  Sea as some Russian scholars think.



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