The Huns conquer the Alans and the Greuthungi, c. 370–376

The Huns conquer the Alans and the Greuthungi

In the early 370s the Huns crossed the Volga, subdued the Alans on the Don and destroyed the realm of the Greuthungian king Ermanaric, setting off the flight of the Goths to the Danube in 376 — the beginning of the Great Migration in Europe.

Date

c. 370 – 376start: year known, approximate; end: year known · duration: ≈ 6 years

Place

Pontic steppe between the Don and the Dnieperapproximate locationtoday: Southern Ukraine and Rostov Oblast, Russia · Eastern Europe

Route

Lower Volga → Lower Don (lands of the Alans) → Dnieper (realm of Ermanaric) → Dniester (the Tervingi)

Participants

Huns, Sarmatians, Goths

Threads

Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)

Also known as

Hunnic invasion; Death of Ermanaric; Гуннское нашествие; Смерть Германариха

Ammianus Marcellinus, a contemporary, tells how the Huns, whom he describes as surpassing all peoples in savagery, first overran the Alans called Tanaites on the Don and, joined by them, fell upon the wide and fertile lands of Ermanaric. The old king, unable to resist, took his own life; his successor Vithimiris fell in battle, and the Greuthungi retreated towards the Dniester. There the Huns scattered the Tervingi of Athanaric, and in 376 masses of Goths appeared on the Danube asking to be admitted into the Roman Empire.

Jordanes, writing in 551, adds legendary details: Ermanaric, ruler of “all the nations of Scythia”, had been wounded by the brothers of Sunilda, whom he had had torn apart by horses, and died at the age of 110. The precise years often cited (the Alans defeated in 371, Ermanaric in 373–375) are modern reconstructions; the sources allow only “the early 370s”. The invasion brought the Chernyakhov culture to an end and reshaped the whole of Eastern Europe.

Connections

Consequences

Vinitharius’ war with the Antes of Bozbetween 375 and 380 · Eastern Europe

Gothic War (376–382)376 – 3 October 382 · Balkans and Anatoliathe Goths fleeing the Huns crossed the Danube into the Roman Empire in 376

Related events

Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europethe migrations it set off broke up the Kyiv culture

Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europethe invasion put an end to the Chernyakhov culture

Sources