polska: Goths

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first mentioned by Greco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Lower Danube in what is now Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. From here, they conducted raids into Roman territory, and large numbers of them joined the Roman military. These early Goths lived in the regions where archaeologists find the Chernyakhov culture, which flourished throughout this region during the 3rd and 4th centuries. In the late 4th century, the lands of the Goths in present-day Ukraine were overwhelmed by a significant westward movement of Alans and Huns f…

Evidence: 96 • authority: 72

Concerning the origin of the Goths before the 3rd century CE, there is no consensus among scholars. In the 3rd century the Goths began to be mentioned by Roman writers as an increasingly important people living north of the lower Danube and Black Sea, in the area of modern Romania, Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine. The Goths at first allied with, but then increasingly replaced other peoples who had been dominant in the region, especially the Carpi, the Germanic-speaking Bastarnae, and the Sarmatians. While many scholars, such as Michael Kulikowski, believe there is insufficient evidence to come to strong conclusions about their earlier origins, there is also a long-standing proposal that th…

Evidence: 37 • authority: 80

Feeding the Lower Danube and Pontic areas with local wine and fish products (1st century BC-3rd century AD)

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Danube Triangle: Romania-Ukraine-Moldova: Problems and Prospects of Interstate Cooperation. This article analyses the foreign policy of Romania, Ukraine, and Moldova as well as the evolution of institutional establishment in the region of the Danube. Research shows that the Danube Commission is the main platform for policy coordination but at the same time the interstate dialogue on regional problems is maintained at other levels, by implementing the EU Strategy for the Danube Region and establishing Euroregions for cross-border cooperation. Considering this, it is necessary to specify the concrete spheres of cooperation between the countries: the development of transport, infrastructure, c…

Evidence: 31 • authority: 72

The Bastarnae, Bastarni or Basternae, also known as the Peuci or Peucini, were an ancient people who are known from Greek and Roman records to have inhabited areas north and east of the Carpathian Mountains between about 300 BC and about 300 AD, stretching in an arc from the sources of the Vistula in present-day Poland and Slovakia, to the Lower Danube, and including all or most of present-day Moldava. The Peucini were sometimes described as a subtribe, who settled the Peuke Island in the Danube Delta, but apparently due to their importance their name was sometimes used for the Bastarnae as a whole. Near the sources of the Vistula another part of the Bastarnae were the Sidones, while the At…

Evidence: 25 • authority: 88

The Fort of Iatrus in Moesia Secunda: Observations on the Late Roman Defensive System on the Lower Danube (Fourth–Sixth Centuries ad). The seven years of excavation on Dichin (Bulgaria) have made a significant contribution to our understanding of the fifth century AD, a period that is still regarded as a ‘dark age’. The fort of Iatrus was situated in the province of Moesia Secunda, where Dichin is also located. Founded at the beginning of the fourth century, the fort was several times destroyed and then rebuilt over the 300 years of its existence until it was finally abandoned c .AD 600. What is not clear is whether Iatrus' role as a part of the Roman frontier ( limes ) on the lower Danube…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Ukrainian refugee crisis began with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. As of September 2025, the UNHCR has recorded 5.7 million Ukrainian refugees around the world, with 90% of this figure residing in various European countries outside of Ukraine. Older reports by the International Organization for Migration in May 2022 show approximately eight million Ukrainians as internally displaced persons. By 20 March 2022, nearly one-quarter of Ukraine's total population had been displaced due to active military hostilities with Russia. About 90% of all Ukrainian refugees are women and children; by 24 March, more than half of all children in Ukraine had left their homes, of whom a…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Quadi were a Germanic people during the Roman era, who were prominent in Greek and Roman records from about 20 AD to about 400 AD. By about 20 AD they had a kingdom centred in the area of present-day western Slovakia, north of the Roman border on the Danube river. After probably first settling near the Morava river the Quadi expanded their control eastwards over time until they also stretched into present day Hungary. This was part of the bigger region which had been partly vacated a generation earlier by the Celtic Boii, and their opponents the Dacians. The Quadi were the easternmost of a series of four related Suebian kingdoms that established themselves near the river frontier after…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Ostrogoths (Latin: Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people who, in the 5th and 6th centuries, established one of the two major Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire. The Ostrogoths were associated with the earlier Greuthungi mentioned by Roman authors such as Ammianus Marcellinus, and later identified by the historian Jordanes with the realm of Ermanaric in the 4th century. Ancient sources often referred to them simply as "Goths," but modern scholarship distinguishes them as one of the two main branches of the Gothic peoples, alongside the Visigoths. They drew on large Gothic populations settled in the Balkans and rose to prominence under Theodoric the Great,…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The Sarmatians (; Ancient Greek: Σαρμάται, romanized: Sarmátai; Latin: Sarmatae [ˈsarmatae̯]) were a large confederation of ancient Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic steppe from around the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD. The earliest known reference to the Sarmatians comes from the Avesta, where they are mentioned as Sairima-, which in later Iranian sources became Sarm and Salm. Originating in the central parts of the Eurasian Steppe, the Sarmatians formed part of the wider Scythian cultures. They started migrating westward around the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, coming to dominate the closely related Scythians by 200 BC. At their greatest reported extent, aroun…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

The name of the Goths is one of the most discussed topics in Germanic philology. It is first recorded by Greco-Roman writers in the 3rd century AD, although names that are probably related appear earlier. Derived from Proto-Germanic *Gutōz ~ *Gutaniz, it is closely related to and probably means the same as the names of both the Geats of southern Sweden and Gutes of Gotland. The implications of these similarities, and the actual meaning of the Gothic name, are disputed in scholarship.