Skip to content
Category

Gothic kings

page 1
Athanaric
Athanaric or Atanaric (; died 381) was king of several branches of the Thervingian Goths () for at least two decades in the 4th century. Throughout his reign, Athanaric was faced with invasions by the Roman Empire, the Huns and a civil war with Christian rebels. He is considered the first king of the Visigoths, who later settled in Iberia, where they founded the Visigothic Kingdom.
Fritigern
Fritigern (fl. 370s) was a Thervingian Gothic chieftain whose decisive victory at Adrianople during the Gothic War (376–382) led to favourable terms for the Goths when peace was made with Gratian and Theodosius I in 382.
Ermanaric
right|250px|thumb|The orange area signifies the Chernyakhov Culture, identified with Ermanaric's kingdom, in the early fourth century. right|250px|thumb|Ermanaric's kingdom at the end of the fourth century (a map from 1899). Ermanaric (died 376) was a Greuthungian king who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of Oium, the part of Scythia inhabited by the Goths at the time. He is mentioned in two Roman sources: the contemporary writings of Ammianus Marcellinus, and in Getica by the sixth-century historian Jordanes. He also appears in a fictionalized form in later Germani
Radagaisus
thumb|upright=1.35|Giorgio Vasari, Defeat of Radagaiso below Fiesole, 1563–1565 Radagaisus (died 23 August 406) was a Gothic king who led an invasion of Roman Italy in late 405 and the first half of 406. A committed pagan, he was executed after being defeated by the general Stilicho.
Cniva
thumb|250-251 Gothic campaign Cniva ( mid-3rd century AD) was a Gothic king who invaded the Roman Empire in the middle of the 3rd century AD. His regnal years are uncertain. He successfully captured the city of Philippopolis (Plovdiv in Bulgaria) in 250 and killed Emperor Decius and his son Herennius Etruscus at the Battle of Abritus as he was attempting to leave the Empire in 251. This was the first time a Roman Emperor had been killed in combat against foreigners. He was allowed by the new Emperor Trebonianus Gallus to leave with his spoils and was paid tribute to stay out of the empire.
Vithimiris
Vithimir or Vithimer (in Latin: Vithimiris) was a king of the Greuthungi, ruling for some unspecified time in the area of present-day southern Ukraine.
Theodoric Strabo
Ostrogoth chieftain
Geberic
Geberic was a king of the Goths of the fourth century AD, reported in the 6th by Jordanes in his history of the Amal dynasty-led Goths, the Getica.
Alaviv
Alavivus (flourished in 4th century AD) was a Gothic co-king of a group of Thervingi together with Fritigern. Along with the latter he led the migration of the Thervingi from Dacia across the Danube into the Roman Empire in the late 4th century AD. Upon arrival in the Roman Empire, the Goths suffered from widespread famine, with some Gothic parents reportedly being forced to sell their children into slavery in return for rotten dog meat in order to avoid starvation. In 376, Valens' lieutenant Lupicinus invited Alavivus and Fritigern to a banquet to discuss provisions for their people, where Al
Ariaricus
Ariaric also known as Ariacus was a 4th-century Thervingian Gothic pagan ruler (reiks, kindins) He was succeeded by Geberic. In 328, Constantine the Great constructed a bridge across the Danube and built fortifications in the territory of Oltenia and Wallachia. This caused a migration of the Thervingi and Taifali to the west into Tisza Sarmatian controlled areas. The Sarmatians joined forces with Constantine, who appointed his son Constantine II to campaign against the Goths in late winter 332, reportedly resulting in the deaths of approximately one hundred thousand people due to the weather
Aoric
Aoric (Latinized Aoricus) was a Thervingian Gothic king (reiks and kindins) who lived in the 4th century. Aoric was son of Ariaric and father of Athanaric, he was raised in Constantinople, where a statue was erected in his honour. He was recorded by Auxentius of Durostorum leading a persecution of Gothic Christians in 347/348. Herwig Wolfram noted that "alliteration, variation, and rhythm in the line of names Athanaric, Aoric, Ariaric resemble the 'ideal type' of Hadubrand, Hildebrand, Heribrand". He considered the similarities and comparison suggested that all three kings were members of the
Ostrogota
Ostrogotha was a leader of the Goths in Ukraine, who invaded Roman Moesia during the Crisis of the Third Century. He was a contemporary of Cniva, who also led Gothic armies in the same period.
Vinitharius
Vinitharius or Vinithar was possibly a king of the Greuthungian Goths around 375-376 AD. Vinitharius is mentioned by Gothic historian Jordanes in Getica. According to him, Vinitharius became the new king of the Greuthungi after the death of Ermanaric (Hermanaric). Ammianus Marcellinus reports that Ermanaric was succeeded by Vithimiris.
Odotheus
Odotheus (in Zosimus Aedotheus) was a Greuthungi king who in 386 led an incursion into the Roman Empire. He was defeated and killed by the Roman general Promotus. His surviving people settled in Phrygia.
Heidrek
Heidrek or Heiðrekr (Old Norse: ) is one of the main characters in the cycle about the magic sword Tyrfing. He appears in the Hervarar saga, and probably also in Widsith, together with his sons Angantyr (Incgentheow) and Hlöð (Hlith), and Hlöð's mother Sifka (Sifeca). The etymology is , meaning "honour", and , meaning "ruler, king".
Cannabaudes
Cannabaudes or Cannabas (died 271) was a third-century leader of the Gothic tribe of the Tervings, who died in a battle against the Roman emperor Aurelian.