The Ostrogoths are a Germanic tribe that once lived in the south of today's Russia. Where did they come from there, what happened to them in the future?
Great Migration
In the 1st century AD, the southern coast of the Baltic Sea and the lower reaches of the Vistula were inhabited by the Goths - tribes of East Germans who came from Scandinavia. In the era of the great migration of peoples at the end of the II century, they began to move south and settled in the territory from the Don to the Danube. Since the 3rd century, the Gothic tribes were divided into eastern (Ostrogoths, Ostrogoths, Greytungs) and western (Visigoths, Visigoths, Tervingi). As a result of the invasion of the Huns, some of the Goths were destroyed, and some moved to the southern Russian steppes. They are mentioned in the ancient Russian literary monument "The Lay of Igor's Host."
Ostrogoths in the III-IV centuries lived in the Crimea and the steppes of the Azov region between the Dnieper and Don. The historian Jordan describes the wars of the Ostrogoths with the Veneti. Indeed, archaeological research has established that at the beginning of the 4th century, individual groups of carriers of the so-called Chernyakhov (late Roman) culture began to move north from the Stugna River, displacing representatives of the Kiev (East European) culture who lived there.
Ostrogoths and Slavs
However, the relations of the Ostrogoths with the Slavic tribes were ambiguous. Living in neighboring lands, they not only fought, but also often became related to each other. Archaeologists and linguists argue that the interpenetration of the Gothic and Slavic cultures continued for at least two centuries. Moreover, then there was no such clear cultural boundary between representatives of different cultures and nationalities, as now. There is also a fairly widespread theory according to which all European peoples had common ancestors - the Aryans - and a common proto-language. The division of the Slavic and Scandinavian languages began only at the end of the second millennium BC, so it was not difficult for the Slavs and Ostrogoths to understand each other.
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Words of Gothic origin appeared in the Slavic languages, in turn, Slavic terms came into use among the Goths.
The rise and fall of the Ostrogoth state
Subsequently, the Ostrogoths even managed to found their own state - the Ostrogothic konung. Its founder is considered to be King Germanarich of the Amal dynasty. Konung Germanarich united under his rule not only the Ostrogoths, but also some of the neighboring tribes of the Sarmatians and Alans, and according to some sources, even the Slavs and Finns. He managed to subdue almost all of Eastern Europe, the upper Volga, the steppes to the Crimea and the Crimea itself. But then the Ostrogoths met resistance from the Rosoman tribe, who, according to one version, are considered the ancestors of the Rus. Having united with the Slavs (those who did not submit to Germanarich), the Rosomans entered into an alliance with the Huns.
Around 370, at the lower reaches of the Don, the troops of Germanarich were defeated by the Huns, and then the king was killed. The confrontation between the Ostrogoths and the Huns lasted quite a long time, and in the end, after many battles and battles, the Ostrogoths were forced to submit to a stronger enemy. Subsequently, many Ostrogothic generals and even the descendants of the Amals were in the service of the famous ruler of the Huns Attila.
The kingdom of the Ostrogoths included many lands, including modern Italy. Theodoric the Great, who ruled the kingdom at the end of the 5th century, being the viceroy of the Roman emperor, dreamed of merging the Ostrogoths and Romans into one people, planting Roman culture among the barbarians. But the Romans were Catholics, and the Ostrogoths were Arians (representatives of one of the early Christian movements). This led to religious strife and confrontation with Rome. After the death of Theodoric in 526, the Ostrogoth state quickly fell into decay.
Until the 12th century, the remnants of the Ostrogothic tribes survived on the Black Sea coast, on the Taman Peninsula and in the Crimea. According to a number of historians, they were "glorified." Over time, the descendants of the Ostrogoths even began to bear Slavic names, and today it would probably be difficult to determine their origin.