Ancient Warfare: 11 Rome Sacking Facts About the Original Goths

May 22 is World Goth Day, an occasion minted in 2009 when BBC 6 dedicated the day to goth rock. It has since become a happening in clubs across Europe, the Americas, Australia, and South Africa. To celebrate, we’ve compiled 11 facts about the original Goths—and we don’t mean Bauhaus.

Here are some things you may not know about the Germanic people best known for sacking Rome in 410 CE. Though deemed “savages” and “barbarians” by the Romans, they were actually complex, intelligent, and misunderstood people. The Goths by Peter Heather and The History of the Goths by Herwig Wolfram both served as invaluable sources for the facts listed below.

1. THEY PROBABLY CAME FROM SCANDINAVIA.

Only one source regarding the Goths’ origins survives: Getica, a history written by Jordanes, a 6th century Roman historian of Gothic descent. According to Jordanes, “from this island of Scandza, as from a hive of races or a womb of nations, the Goths are said to have come forth long ago.” Most scholars have accepted Scandza as Scandinavia. Jordanes describes the Goths expelling and subduing a series of peoples along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea to create their domain there, outside the Roman Empire. Twentieth century archaeological evidence suggests such a migration in the first three centuries.

2. THE GOTHS WERE SOPHISTICATED IN TRADE, DIPLOMACY, HUNTING, AND AGRICULTURE.

Goths’ reputation as barbarians comes from Roman sources, which viewed them (at various times) as pests, threats, and second-class subjects of the Empire. In truth, during the time they were settled between the Baltic and Black Seas, the Goths were largely peaceful hunters and farmers, skilled in horsemanship, archery, and falconry. They traded extensively with neighbors, both stationary and nomadic, and Gothic furs were much in demand. “They had generated a reasonably sophisticated agricultural culture with quite complicated political structures,” according to Heather.

3. MANY WERE CHRISTIANS.

Another misconception is that the Goths were pagans. In the 4th century, the bishop of Constantinople sent a missionary named Ulfilas to convert the Goths. Though Christianity was not universal, he brought many to the faith and created an entire Gothic alphabet so as to translate the Bible. (It’s worth noting that Ulfilas practiced and converted the Goths to Arian Christianity, a form deemed heretical by the Catholic Church.)

4. KINGSHIP WAS TEMPORARY.

Until the late 4th century, the Goths had no king. Instead, their political system was a network of clan chieftains who selected a central leader in times of danger or to represent them in diplomacy (usually with the Roman Empire). At times like these, “the king did not differ from other Goths in his habits, at sports or play [and] he did not set himself apart in dress or appearance,” wrote Wolfram.

5. THERE WERE TWO BRANCHES OF GOTHS.

In about 370 CE, the Huns invaded the domain of the Goths, massacring and pillaging villages. This uprooted their society and permanently divided the Goths into two groups. The Ostrogoths (low Latin for “the eastern Goths”) stayed east of Dniester River and were largely subdued by the Huns and made vassals in what was essentially a cross-continental protection racket. The Visigoths (“the good Goths” or “the noble Goths”) established a domain extending from the Dniester to the Danube River and spent the next several decades as frenemies of the Romans.

However, it’s possible that the split between the two branches is much older. Jordanes mentions that the Goths traveled in three boats, which may represent that there were distinct branches before leaving Scandza. On the third boat were the Gepidae, one of the most mysterious of the Germanic tribes. Their name means “the late ones” because their boat arrived last.)

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