Thervingi (East Germanic tribe)
Nation | Defunct
244 CE to 388 CE
The Thervingi, Tervingi, or Teruingi (sometimes pluralized "Tervings" or "Thervings") are a Gothic people of the Danubian plains west of the Dniester River in the 3rd and 4th Centuries CE.
They have close contacts with the Greuthungi, another Gothic people from east of the Dnestr River, as well as the Late Roman Empire (or early Byzantine Empire).
They may have been the same people as the later Visigoths.
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The Augustan History (Latin: Historia Augusta), a late Roman collection of biographies, in Latin, of the Roman Emperors, their junior colleagues and usurpers of the period 117 to 284, presents itself as an assemblage of works by six different authors (collectively known as the Scriptores Historiae Augustae), written in the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine I, but the true authorship of the work, its actual date, and its purpose (if any), have long been matters for controversy.
Despite major problems, themselves of considerable interest, with the nature of the sources it used, and how much of the content is sheer fiction, it is the only continuous account for much of its period and is thus continually being reevaluated, modern historians being understandably unwilling to abandon it as a unique source of possible information, despite its obvious untrustworthiness on many levels.
The youth and good nature of the late Gordian III, along with the deaths of his grandfather and uncle and his own tragic fate, possibly at the hands of another usurper, grant him the everlasting esteem of the Romans.
Despite the opposition of the new emperor, the Senate deifies Gordian in order to appease the population and avoid riots.
Philip, unwilling to repeat the mistakes of previous claimants, and aware that he has to return to Rome in order to secure his position with the senate, leaves his brother Gaius Julius Priscus, who had been a member of the Praetorian guard under Gordian III, as extraordinary ruler of the Eastern provinces.
In Rome, Philip is confirmed Augustus, and nominates his young son Caesar and heir.
His rule begins with yet another Germanic incursion on the provinces of Pannonia, and the Goths invade Moesia (modern-day Serbia and Bulgaria) in the Danube frontier.
His reign sees the true beginning of the crisis of the third century, which will be marked by a series of barbarian invasions across the Danube and internal civil war led by dissident generals.
The Romans finally defeat the invading Goths in 248 after undertaking a series of campaigns against these and other tribes on the Danube, but the legions are not satisfied with the result, probably due to a low share of the plunder, if any.
Rebellion soon arises and Tiberius Claudius Pacatianus is proclaimed emperor by the troops.
He is known from coins, and from mentions in Zosimus and Zonaras, who say that he was an officer in one of the Danube legions.
According to Zosimus, the revolts of Pacatianus in Moesia (he probably controlled Viminacium) and Iotapianus in Syria prompted Philip to make an offer to the Roman Senate to step down, but the senator Gaius Messius Quintus Decius (who was sent by Philip to deal with the rebellion), correctly predicted that Pacatianus the Great would soon be killed by his own men before his own arrival.
After crushing the uprising, Philip nominates Decius as governor of the province, which future events will prove to be a mistake, at least where Philip is concerned.
Pacatianus's revolt had not been the only threat to Philip’s rule: in the East, Marcus Iotapianus had led another uprising in response to the oppressive rule of Priscus and the excessive taxation of the Eastern provinces.
Two other usurpers, Marcus Silbannacus and Sponsianus, are reported to have started rebellions without much success.
Philip returns to Rome in April 248 to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of the founding of the city, combining the anniversary with the celebration of Rome's alleged tenth saeculum.
According to contemporary accounts, the festivities are magnificent and include spectacular games, ludi saeculares, and theatrical presentations throughout the city.
In the coliseum, more than a thousand gladiators are killed along with hundreds of exotic animals including hippos, leopards, lions, giraffes, and one rhinoceros.
The events are also celebrated in literature, with several publications, including Asinius Quadratus's History of a Thousand Years, specially prepared for the anniversary.
Despite the festive atmosphere, discontent in the legions is growing.
Decius takes the field against Cniva’s Goths.
The final engagement in this campaign takes place on swampy ground at Abritus in the Dobruja, in June 251, and ends in the defeat and death of Decius and his son, Herennius Etruscus, largely owing to the failure of the general Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus to attack aggressively.
Herennius had died in battle, struck by an enemy arrow.
Decius had survived the initial confrontation, only to be slain with the rest of the army before the end of the day.
Herennius and Decius are the first two emperors to be killed by a foreign army in battle.
With the news of the death of the emperors, the army proclaims as emperor Trebonianus Gallus, who, under duress, negotiates a treaty with the Goths that allows them to keep their booty and return to their homes on the other side of the Danube, while at the same time promising an annual tribute in return for the Goths' promise to respect Roman territory.
Ammianus Marcellinus (31.5.12-17) rates this reverse with the most serious military disasters of the Roman Empire to his time: Varus' defeat at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the incursions of the Marcomanni during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, and the Battle of Adrianople.
The Gothic army has taken a number of captives, predominantly female, many of which are Christian.
This is assumed to represent the first lasting contact of the Goths with Christianity.
The Goths break the peace treaty, renewing their attacks early in 253.
The army is not pleased with the emperor and when Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus, who had replaced Gallus as governor of Moesia Superior and Pannonia, takes the initiative of battle and defeats the Goths in midyear, the soldiers proclaim him emperor.
The Goths move south to ravage the Aegean island ports, as well as several mainland Greek towns.
Gallus, preparing for a fight with the usurper Aemilianus, recalls several legions under Licinius Valerianus and orders reinforcements to return to Rome from the Rhine frontier.
Despite these dispositions, Aemilianus marches onto Italy ready to fight for his claim.
Valerian heads south with the northern armies, but Gallus has no chance to face Aemilian in battle: he and Volusian are murdered by their own troops in August 253, in Interamna; these troops then join Aemilianus’ side before his arrival.
The Roman forces of the Upper Rhine declare Valerian emperor a few weeks later and continue their march towards Rome.
Before the two sides come to battle, Aemilianus is assassinated near Spoletium by his troops, who proclaim Valerian emperor.
Despite Aemilianus’ victory over the Goths, his attempt to seize power has allowed the defeated Goths to regroup and invade Greece.
The Goths, according to Jordanes's Getica, had entered Oium, part of Scythia, under their fifth king, Filimer, where they subdued the Spali (Sarmatians), conquered the Kingdom of the Bosporus and partially destroyed two or three cities on the Euxinean coast, including Olbia and Tyras, where they become divided into the Visigoths ruled by the Balthi family and the Ostrogoths ruled by the Amali family.
Jordanes parses Ostrogoths as "eastern Goths", and Visigoths as "Goths of the western country."
At times, rival kings of some other tribes arise and probably produce some disorganization.
At one of these periods (255), the Goths are able to seize Bosporan shipping and raid the shores of Anatolia.
Rome’s crisis deepens during Valerian's reign as barbarian and Persian invaders continually ravage the empire, simultaneously weakened by a persistent plague.
The empire’s hold on Dacia has remained precarious.
In the early second century, Emperor Hadrian, conscious of the difficulty of retaining the province, reportedly had contemplated its abandonment and was only deterred by consideration for the safety of the numerous Roman settlers.
In 256, Dacian tribes such as the Carpi, or Carpians, allied with the Goths, cross the Carpathians and drive the Romans from Dacia, with the exception of a few fortified places between the Timis and the Danube.
No details of the event are recorded, and the chief argument in support of the statement, found in Avienus' works, that "under the Emperor Gallienus Dacia was lost" is the sudden cessation of Roman inscriptions and coins in the country after this period.