page_title: Goths
section_title: Art of the migration period
hierarchical_section_title: Goths / Culture / Art of the migration period
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Adllerfibel aus Gold und Almandin. 12 cm hoch, um 500 nach Chr. aus dem Umkreis des Ostgotenkönigs Theoderich des Großen. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg. English: Ostrogothic eagle-shaped fibula, 500 AD, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg.
context_page_description: 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 definitely reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is now Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. Later, many moved into the Roman Empire, or settled west of the Carpathians near what is now Hungary.
  A people called the Gutones—possibly early Goths—are documented living near the lower Vistula River in the 1st century, where they are associated with the archaeological Wielbark culture. In his book Getica, the Gothic historian Jordanes claimed that the Goths originated in southern Scandinavia more than 1,000 years earlier, but his reliability is disputed. The Wielbark culture expanded southwards towards the Black Sea, where by the late 3rd century it contributed to the formation of the Chernyakhov culture, which is associated with the Goths who were in frequent conflict and contact with the Roman Empire. By the 4th century at the latest, several groups were distinguishable, among whom the Thervingi and Greuthungi were the most powerful.
context_section_description: Before the invasion of the Huns, the Gothic Chernyakhov culture produced jewelry, vessels, and decorative objects in a style much influenced by Greek and Roman craftsmen. They developed a polychrome style of gold work, using wrought cells or setting to encrust gemstones into their gold objects.
caption: An Ostrogothic eagle-shaped fibula, AD 500, Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "90", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1528", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2584"}