Kniva

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Kniva ( f. 250) was a leader of the Goths who defeated the Romans in the battle of Abrittus . With Decius and his son Herennius, Roman rulers were killed for the first time in the fight against "barbarians".

Kniva's life dates are largely unknown. The Romanized Goth Jordanes , who wrote in the 6th century, sees in him the successor of a certain Ostrogotha , with whom he was not related. Kniva is except for Jordanes discovered even in a few years ago fragments of the so-called Scythica Vindobonensia mentioned, the most likely to Skythika the historian Dexippus belong.

Probably in the spring of 250 Gothic groups and allied tribes, referred to in Greek sources as Skythai ( Scythians ), crossed the Danube under their leader Kniva and raided the provinces of Moesia and Dacia (see also Imperial Crisis of the 3rd Century ). Emperor Decius and his son then set out to repel the invaders. They managed to surprise the Goths at the siege of Nicopolis on the Danube. When the Romans approached, Kniva withdrew, crossed the Balkan Mountains and attacked Philippopolis . Decius followed them, but a heavy defeat at Beroë made it impossible for him to save Philippopolis, which fell into the hands of the Goths, who treated the city with devastating cruelty.

On the other hand, the siege of Philippopolis had so exhausted the number and strength of the Goths that Kniva offered to hand over his booty and his prisoners on condition of free withdrawal. The defender of the city, Priscus , was proclaimed anti-emperor. Decius, hoping to cut off the withdrawal of the Goths, refused to negotiate. Kniva and his men tried to reach their country without an agreement with the Romans but with their booty, but they were provided by the Roman army. Kniva, who was evidently an experienced military leader, now divided his troops into smaller and more agile units and began to push the Romans back into a marshland. In the first half of June 251 both armies met at Abrittus (today Razgrad in Bulgaria ). Both Decius and Herennius fell, which shocked the Romans.

One of the main reasons for the defeat of the Romans was a hasty attack by General Trebonianus Gallus , who benefited from the outcome insofar as the soldiers proclaimed him the successor of the slain emperor. Trebonianus negotiated a contract with the Goths under surrender conditions, which allowed them to take their booty with them and return to their homeland, but also guaranteed them an annual tribute for respecting the borders of the Roman Empire.

The late antique historian Ammianus Marcellinus (31, 5, 12-17) rated the treaty as one of the most serious military defeats of the Roman Empire, in a series with Varus ' defeat in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest , the invasion of the Marcomanni during the reign of Mark Aurel and the Battle of Adrianople in 378.

Just one year after his victory demanded Kniva an increase of the tribute, giving him the new niedermösische governor and later emperor Aemilianus refused. The war broke out, as a result of which the Goths ruler was defeated in 252.

literature

  • Herwig Wolfram :  Kniva (Goth). In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 17, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016907-X , pp. 34-37. ( online )
  • Thomas Gerhardt, Udo Hartmann : Fasti . In: Klaus-Peter Johne (Ed.): The time of the soldiers' emperors . 2 volumes. Berlin 2008, p. 1196 (with further literature).
  • Gunther Martin, Jana Grusková: 'Scythica Vindobonensia' by Dexippus (?): New Fragments on Decius' Gothic Wars. In: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014), pp. 728-754.
  • Jana Grusková, Gunter Martin: A new piece of text from the “Scythica Vindobonensia” on the events after the conquest of Philippopolis. In: Tyche 29, 2014, pp. 29–43.
  • Jana Grusková, Gunter Martin: On the attack of the Goths under Kniva on a Thracian city (Scythica Vindobonensia, f. 195v). In: Tyche 30, 2015, pp. 35-53 ( online ).

Remarks

  1. ↑ The existence of which is now certain due to newly discovered historical fragments, cf. Gunther Martin, Jana Grusková: 'Scythica Vindobonensia' by Dexippus (?): New Fragments on Decius' Gothic Wars. In: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014), here pp. 740f.
  2. Jump up ↑ Gunther Martin, Jana Grusková: 'Scythica Vindobonensia' by Dexippus (?): New Fragments on Decius' Gothic Wars. In: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014), here p. 734ff.
  3. ↑ Cf. also Gunther Martin, Jana Grusková: 'Scythica Vindobonensia' by Dexippus (?): New Fragments on Decius' Gothic Wars. In: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014), here p. 743ff.
personal data
SURNAME Kniva
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Gothic prince
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century or 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH 3rd century