THE GOTHS IN THE CRIMEA ALEXANDER ALEXANDROVICH YASILIEV Professor of History University of Wisconsin 4 THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 1936 Generated for alum (Columbia University) on 2013-04-27 01:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015066034706 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google The publication of this book was made possible by grants of funds to the Academy from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the American Council of Learned Societies CoPTMQHT BY THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA 1936 Printed in V. S. A. Generated for alum (Columbia University) on 2013-04-27 01:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015066034706 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google PREFACE THIS book is not a history of the Goths in the Crimea. Our scat- tered and fragmentary sources do not permit such a history to be written. I have done my best to collect and use all available material, but I am sure that some related data have escaped my attention. Nor does the title of this book entirely correspond to its subject. The Goths as a remnant of the large Germanic branch which remained in the Crimea and was cut off from the main Gothic stock did not survive the Middle Ages. A minority in the Peninsula, they gradually lost their nationality and their Germanic tongue and were first hellenized and later tartarized. The evidence given by some writers late in the Middle Ages that Gothic was at that time spoken in the Crimea does not change the general pic- ture. Some of these writers are not very reliable, since they drew their information from hearsay, never visiting Gothia themselves; others are more reliable, but their statements may be taken only as proof that in their time some individuals in Gothia, perhaps newcomers from Western Europe, could speak a Germanic dialect. The name Gothia finally lost its ethnographic meaning and was given to a Greek principality, in whose name alone the Germanic origin and old Germanic tradition survived. This example is not unique during the Middle Ages. Late in the Middle Ages Italian documents call the Crimea Ghazaria, which reminds us of the past power of the Khazars, who towards the tenth century lost all political significance. The Slavonic country of modern Bulgaria preserves in its name its Hunno-Turkish origin, just as the Slavonic state of Russia by its name goes back to its Scandinavian origin. No doubt many of my statements in this book will be modified, cor- rected, or even rejected on the basis of new material. The Genoese, Venetian, and Italian archives in general still retain many secrets of Ital- ian (especially Genoese and Venetian) political and economic activities in the Crimea, and the publication of their documents will throw new light on the history of Gothia in the second half of the Middle Ages. And it is not only archival documents that are extremely important for our subject. Archaeological expeditions to the territory of former Gothia are also of the greatest significance to the Gothic problem in the Crimea. The recent excavations undertaken by the Russian State Academy for the History of Material Culture concentrated on Eski-Kermen have already yielded brilliant results. The Russian archaeologists claim to have shown that the original stronghold of the Goths, Dory or Doros (Doras), which was so effectively described by Procopius, was located not on Mankup but on the plateau of Eski-Kermen. Others besides Russians are interested Generated for alum (Columbia University) on 2013-04-27 01:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015066034706 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google vi Preface in the archaeological investigation of Gothia. In 1933 a joint Russo- American expedition (sponsored in part by the University of Pennsyl- vania) worked there. In 1929 a German scholar, Joseph Sauer, visited Gothia and ended his very interesting article on Christian monuments in the Gothic region in the Crimea with the following words: 'It would be an alluring problem, especially for us Germans, to undertake a thorough and systematic investigation of the whole region from the archaeological and ethnographic standpoints, and to give a concrete and vivid meaning to the term Gothia which has been so often discussed in old literature.'1 From the standpoint of the general background of political, social, and economic relations in the basin of the Black Sea during the Middle Ages, Gothia may be regarded and studied as one of the essential elements in the process of the development of European civilization in the Near East in general, and in the Crimea in particular. Professor N. Banescu of the University of Cluj (in Roumania) is at present particularly interested in the problem of the Crimean Goths. He announced a paper to be read at the Fourth International Congress of Byzantine Studies, which was held at Sofia in Bulgaria 9-16 September, 1934, with the title, 'Contribution to the History of the Principality of Theodoro-Mangup in the Crimea.' Banescu did not personally attend the Congress, and for a while I had at my disposal only a brief summary of his paper, which runs as follows: 'Analysis of the information on the Goths of the Tauric Chersonesus, from Procopius down to their disappear- ance. The life of St John of Gothia and the Martyrdom of St Abo of Tiflis. In the fourteenth century Greek rulers replace the Gothic chiefs of the country; they reside in Doros, the same city as that of the former Gothic chiefs. Historical data which permit the identification of x&pa t6 Abpv in Procopius with Doros, Theodoro, Mangup. Explanation of the enig- matic name of "Theodoro" of the Greek princes of Mangup.' In 1935 Banescu printed his interesting study under the title given above.2 The first three sections of this book appeared in Russian, in the Publica- tions (Izvestiya) of the Academy for the History of Material Culture, I (1921), 1-80 (pagination of an offprint) and v (1927), 179-282. For this book these three sections have been corrected, revised, and augmented. The last three sections (iv-vi) embracing the period from the year 1204 to the end of the eighteenth century have never before been printed. The manuscript of their original text is in the Archives of the Academy for 1 J. Sauer, 'Die christlichen Denkmaler im Gotengebiet der Krim,' Oriens Chrutianus, 3rd Series, vii (Leipzig; 1932), 202. See also L. Schmidt, 'Zur Geschichte der Krimgoten,' Schumacher-Fest- schrift (Mainz, 1930), p. 336. * N. Banescu, 'Contribution a l'histoire de la seigneurie de Theodoro-Mangoup en Crimee,' Byzantinische Zeitschrift, xxxv (1935), 20-37. The author is not acquainted with the results of the recent Russian expedition to Eski-Kermen. Generated for alum (Columbia University) on 2013-04-27 01:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015066034706 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google Preface the History of Material Culture; but in spite of all my efforts the authori- ties of the Academy have refused to send me my manuscript, so that I have rewritten these sections on a much larger scale. Working on a subject the references to which are scattered in many publications of different countries, in many languages, I have not been able to obtain access to all this material in the United States. Much of it I used during my stay in Paris in the summer of 1932; but for many questions connected with my work I have been forced to resort to the competence and kindness of my colleagues both in Europe and in this country. Their most liberal help, always offered with good will, spon- taneity, and sincerity, has been very useful and comforting to me in the process of writing this book. I take pleasure in expressing my deep grati- tude to many of my colleagues: in Czecho-Slovakia, Dr (Miss) M. A. Andreeva, of Prague; in England, Professor V. Minorski, of London; in France, Mr G. Lozinski, of Paris; in Germany, Professor Dr Franz Babinger, of Berlin; in Poland, Professor K. Chylinski, of Lwow (Lem- bergf); in Roumania, Professors N. Banescu, of Cluj, N. Iorga, of Buca- rest, and 0. Tafrali, of Jassy; in Russia, Professor S. A. Zhebelev, of Leningrad, and Mr D. S. Spiridonov, of Simferopol; in the United States of America, Professors R. P. Blake, of Harvard, and N. N. Martinovich, of New York. And last but not least, I acknowledge my indebtedness to Mrs C. W. Thomas, who has conscientiously revised my manuscript and corrected the inadequacies of my English. A. A. Vasiliev Madison, Wisconsin 3 June 1935 Generated for alum (Columbia University) on 2013-04-27 01:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015066034706 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google Generated for alum (Columbia University) on 2013-04-27 01:24 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015066034706 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-google CONTENTS Page Preface v CHAPTER I The Early Period of Christianity and the Epoch of the Mi- grations 3 1. The Appearance of the Goths in the Crimea 3 2. The Introduction of Christianity among the Goths... 4 3. The Fall of the Bosporan Kingdom in the Fourth Century a.d 21 4. The Invasion of the Huns in the Crimea in the Fourth Cen- tury, and the Legend of the Doe and the Cow ... 23 5. The Origin of the Gothic Eparchy in the Crimea ... 32 6. The Hunnic Predominance in the Fifth Century ..