This article will be released in full online February 5, 2023. Drawing on writings, historical accounts, and personal letters, Kaan Kangal surveys the…
Who Made the Codex Argenteus and Why?
The Goths emerged on the historical scene in Europe suddenly. The earliest reports about Goths are generally attributed to Greco-Roman writers. They mention the Gothic tribes that dwelt beyond the Danube River, in what is today Moldova and Ukraine. Of course, these tribes didn’t simply emerge out of thin air.
Some Roman notes predate these sources, mentioning certain
Gutones around the Vistula River in 1st century AD. These were most likely the early predecessors of the Goths proper. Either way, it is commonly agreed amongst scholars that the Goths formed out of the regional Wielbark culture, an archaeological complex based in modern day Poland. It had a distinct early Germanic character and shows great similarities with the later Gothic culture.