Tomb of Gothic warrior.

[Alanus]

You are correct. The standard term for all the peoples living on the other side of the Danube was "Scythians," used by all the historians (Socrates Scholasticus, Zosimus, Sosoman, etc.).

The Goths were more of a "culture" than an actual ethnic group. Wofram stressed this, but he gave perhaps more of a Germanic ethnos than we believe today. The Goths of reality included Alans, Taifali, Sarmatians, Huns, Mordwines (mentioned in the above posts), Dacians, Carpi, Cappadocians-- even Romans and Greeks, once the Goths crossed into the empire. They became a gigantic mobile army, traveling by oxen-drawn wagons, with a talented cavalry, plus thousands of women and children. After the murder of Stilicho in 408, almost 30,000 Roman soldiers went over to this multicultural element.

Yet the leaderships, and especially the kingships (aka "reiks" or generals), had Germanic names: early-on with Filimir, Cniva; then Ermaneric (the king who conquered the Estoni and Mordwines) to Videric; and finally to the later Fritigern, Alaric, Athaulf, Theodoric, etc. This indicates that the ruling class started out as Germanic and ended as Germanic. The Gothic bible was written in an East Germanic language. And the singular connective thread within the huge Sintana de Mures-Cernjachov "culture" appears to be the distinctive Germanic comb that was produced (from deer antler) in at least 15 "factories" located throughout the Gothic dominions.

The first Goth of historical note was Maximinus I, emperor from 235 to 238. He had a Gothic father and an Alanic mother. Then we had the talents of Fritigern, who used the Roman riparians of Thrace to defeat his arch rival Athanaric. Then Fritigern went on to win the battle of Adrianople; and even later he trapped Theodosius in the emperor's own tent. Let us not forget Flavius Alaric, the former Magister Militum of Illyricum who blockaded Rome in 408 and sacked it in 410. Both Fritigern and Alaric were Romanized "barbarians" who proved to be brilliant tacticians. So the Goths were an anachronism: they helped "destroy" the Western Empire, yet became the last "bearers of the Roman flame." :roll:

The finding of a Gothic warrior grave in the mid-Volga region testifies that Jordanes was correct, and that King Ermanaric really did build a huge empire from Poland and Hungary all the way to the Wolga-Fenni. The archaeology of the Cernjachov Culture seems to co-incide. And when all the findings are gathered, it could be that the Gothic story will become the Great Military and Human Tale of the Late Western Empire.