Washington Journal., 1942-01-30
How the Goths Long Ruled the Crimea
By EDWIN EMERSON

Sea of Azov. With those war ships and their
own dragon ships they made bold sea raids
joining forces with their Gothic brethren al
the mouths Of the Dnieper and Dniester.
Together they terrorized all the shores OF
the Black Sea. While besieging Thessalonics
(now Salonik) they penetrated into the Sea
of Marmara. Thence they raided Greek anC
Roman settlements on the coasts of the
Aegean and Mediterranean. Furthermore
they harried the islands there, among them
Lemnos, Mytilene, Crete, Cyprus and Rhodes
Meanwhile the main body Of Cloths in south
ern Russia separated eastward and westward
on conouests bent. Thenceforth they figure
in history either as East Cloths and West
Cloths, or, from their early rulers names, as
Austragoths and Visigoths.
Austragoths' History Sources
Our original source Of information about
Austragoth raids and aggressions is the
chronicle of Herennius Dexippus, an Athen-
ian general, who in the latter half of the
3rd century after Christ defended his native
city against the Cloths. For their earlier
history we have a much later book by Jor-
nandes, "the tale teller, himself a Goth
who wrote in 551 AID, leaning heavily OF
Cassiodorus, who died in 562 as a reputeo
centenarian. Though some of Cassiodorus
works have come down to US, his "History
of the Goths' unfortunately is lost. Another
authoritative work Of the 9th century is that
of Procopius of Caesarea, who wrote foul
books on the Gothic War, wherein he had
served on the staff of Belisarius, a famous
Byzantine general under Emperor Justinian
All later histories Of the Austragoths are
based on those early accounts. AS was to be
expected, German scholars have contributed
the largest number Of Gothic histories, among
them W.. Tomaschek, a Czech, who wrote his
die Gotten in Taurien' in German. TIL
only authoritative works in English, besides
copious references to the Cloths in Gibbons.
HRise and Fall of the Roman Empire, are
"Guthones'' by Alexander NJ. Rackus, 9
Lithuanian numismatician, who wrote his
treatise originally in Lithuanian, and "The
Cloths in the Crimea'' by Alexander Alex
androvich Vasiliev, who wrote his book origi
nally in Russian. What is here related IL
this article is but a meagre4 summary of that
exhaustive work.
Goths Soon Embraced Christianity
The invasions of the Crimean Cloths into
territories of the Roman Empire during the
3rd century brought them in contact with
Christianity. According to tradition some Of
their Greek captives from Asia Minor brought
with them tales of the Savior and his Apostles
During the reign of Emperor Diocletian
28E3O5, the Cloths captured many prisoners
in Palestine, among whom were ChristianizeC
Jews. Presently Archbishop Hermon Of
Jerusalem sent missionaries to the Crimea
One of them, Basileas, was ordained a bishop
of the Tauric Chersonesus (Cherson) ano
later died a martyrs death.
After those early efforts at proselitizing
Christianity gained definite foothold among
the Gothic Chersonesans under the rule Of
their heather king A~lhvaharyis, who made
successful war on Constantine the Great
(306-337), the first Roman Emperor, WI
accepted Christianity.
A tombstone found in modern times al
Kerch, possibly still preserved in the Melel
Chesm6 tumulus, unless latterly displaced
during the recent battles there, shows a cross
with widening ~crosspieces, above which is the
Greek inscription: "Here rests Eutropios'
with the date of his death in the first year
of the seventh century of the Bosporan era
which corresponds to the year 3O4 OF the
Christian era. This proves that there existed
among the Cloths in the Crimea a Christian
community by the beginning of that century
eight years before Constantine first fought
under the sign of the Cross in his decisive
battle at Saxa Rubra near Rome.
Twenty years later Christianity had taken
such hold among the Goths in the Crimea
that they sent to the First Church Council
of Nicaea in 325, (when the Athanasian creed
of the divinity Of Christ was established
three high prelates as delegates. They were
Bishop Cadmus Of Bosporus, Philip Of
Chersonesus and T~heophilus, the Metropol
itan Of Crimean Gothia, which then did not
yet include the Crimean Bosporus and Cher.
sonesus. During the same year the Gothic