Gepids Totally Explained

Everything about Gepidae totally explained

The Gepids ( (Beowulf, Widsith) - possibly from *Gibiðos, "givers" or gepanta, see below) were an East Germanic Gothic tribe most famous in history for defeating the Huns after the death of Attila. The state of the Gepids was commonly known as Gepidia or Kingdom of the Gepids, whose territory is composed of modern Romania.

History

The Gepids were first mentioned around A.D. 260, when they participated with the Goths in an invasion in Dacia, where they were settled in Jordanes' time, the mid 6th century. Their early origins are reported in Jordanes' Origins and Deeds of the Goths, where he claims that their name derives from their later and slower migration from Scandinavia:

You surely remember that in the beginning I said the Goths went forth from the bosom of the island of Scandza with Berig, their king, sailing in only three ships toward the hither shore of Ocean, namely to Gothiscandza. One of these three ships proved to be slower than the others, as is usually the case, and thus is said to have given the tribe their name, for in their language gepanta means slow.. (xvii.94-95)

The first settlement of the Gepids were at the mouth of the Vistula River, which runs south to north from the Polish Carpathian mountains.

These Gepidae were then smitten by envy while they dwelt in the province of Spesis on an island surrounded by the shallow waters of the Vistula. This island they called, in the speech of their fathers, Gepedoios (perhaps Gibið-aujos, meaning "Gepid waterlands" In 546 the Byzantine Empire allied themselves with the Lombards to expel the Gepids from this region. In 552 the Gepids suffered a disastrous defeat from Alboin in the Battle of Asfeld and were finally conquered by the Lombards in 567.
   Alboin had a drinking-cup made from the skull of Cunimund, which occasioned his death later in Italy, at the hands of an assassin sent by Rosamund, Cunimond's daughter.
   Many Gepids followed Alboin to Italy (see Paulus Diaconus), but many remained. In 630, Theophylact Simocatta reported that the Byzantine Army entered the territory of the Avars and attacked a Gepid feast, capturing 30,000 Gepids (they met no Avars). Recent excavation by the Tisza River at Szolnok brought up a Gepid nobleman from an Avar period grave who was also wearing Turkic-Avar pieces next to the traditional Germanic clothes in which he was buried.
Archeological sites in Romania
In Vlaha, Cluj County, Romania, a necropolis was discovered in August 2004 with 202 identified tombs dated to the 6th century AD. 85% of the discovered tombs were robbed in the same period. The remaining artifacts are ceramics, bronze articles and an armory. Also in Romania, at Miercurea Sibiului, there's another necropolis with rich artifacts. Other necropoleis in Romania are:

Moreşti, Mureş County
Noşlac, Alba County
Brateiu, Sibiu County
Şeica Mică, Sibiu County
Timişoara Freidorf site
Royal necropolis at Apahida
Turda: the richest Germanic tomb found in Romania is here. The "Franziska" tomb was found in a Roman site and dated to the 5th century AD. Gepid treasures were also found at Someşeni and Şimleul Silvaniei.

Kings of the Gepids

Fastida, fl. c. 250
Ardaric, fl. c. 454
Gunderit
Trapstila, fl. 488
Trasericus, fl. 505
Mundonus
Gelemund, fl. c. 549
Thurisind, fl. 552
Cunimund, fl. 560s Further Information
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