Read Rome's Gothic Wars: From the Third Century to Alaric (Key Conflicts of Classical Antiquity) for Free Online Page A

Together they led some of the Greuthungi across the Danube in 376, eventually joining forces with the Tervingi of Fritigern and fighting at the battle of Adrianople in 378.
Alavivus
Gothic leader of the Tervingi, and with Fritigern one of two chieftains primarily responsible for the Danube crossing of 376. Last heard of in 377 when the Gothic revolt broke out at Marcianople.
Alexander Severus
emperor 222–235. Last emperor of the Severan dynasty, his murder in 235 began the political crisis of the third century.
Alica
Gothic general who led a Gothic regiment in the army of Licinius during his civil war with Constantine in 324.
Ambrose
bishop of Milan 374–397, famous for having imposed public penance on Theodosius after the massacre of Christians in Thessalonica in 390. The prologue of his On the Holy Spirit gives important evidence for Gothic royal titles in the period before Adrianople.
Arbogast
general of Gratian and later Theodosius, who served with Bauto in the Balkans after Adrianople. In 391 Theodosius left him in Gaul to supervise Valentinian Ⅱ, but the latter’s suicide forced Arbogast to revolt against Theodosius, raising up Eugenius as a usurper in 392 and killing himself shortly after losing the battle of the Frigidus in 394.
Arcadius
emperor 383–408, eldest son of Theodosius, named augustus while still a child in 383. Left in Constantinople in 394, he was eastern ruler after his father’s death in 395, but was controlled by a series of high-ranking officials opposed to Stilicho, whose final falling-out with Honorius was precipitated by Arcadius’ death in 408.
Ardashir
founder of the Sassanian Persian royal dynasty, ruling from c. 224 to 241.
Argaith
Gothic king in 249, he invaded the eastern provinces along with Guntheric.
Ariaric
Gothic king of the Tervingi defeated by Constantine and Constantinus in 332 and forced to hand over his son as a hostage to be raised in Constantinople. He may be the grandfather of Athanaric.
Arinthaeus
general of Valens who negotiated peace with the Gothic iudex Athanaric in 369.
Arius
Egyptian priest whose christology postulated that God the Son was subordinate to God the Father in the holy trinity. This ‘Arianism’ was condemned at the council of Nicaea in 325, but a variant of it became dominant among Gothic Christians within the empire.
Arminius
chieftain of the Cherusci who destroyed three Roman legions in the battle of the Teutoburger forest in A.D. 9.
Arpulas
fourth-century Gothic monk and martyr whose relics were deposited at Cyzicus by the Gothic noblewoman Dulcilla.
Athanaric
Gothic iudex – ‘judge’ or ‘king’ – of the Tervingi. Defeated by Valens after three-year Gothic war, 367–369, he sought refuge in the empire in January 381 and died two weeks after being welcomed to Constantinople by Theodosius.
Atharid
son of the Gothic king Rothesteus, he commanded the execution of the Christian Goth Saba in 372.
Athaulf
Gothic leader, perhaps king, 410–415, brother-in-law and successor of Alaric. He led the Goths out of Italy into Gaul, then Spain, and married the emperor Honorius’ sister Galla Placidia before being murdered in Barcelona in 415.
Augustus
princeps or first citizen, 27 B.C.–A.D. 14, and thus the first Roman emperor.
Aurelian
emperor 270–275. Very active general who fought a Gothic war among many others. The city of Rome was fortified by the massive ‘Aurelianic’ wall during his reign.
Aurelian (2)
praetorian prefect of the East in 400, he succeeded Eutropius as the chief power at the court of Arcadius. Like Eutropius, he was brought down by the revolts of Tribigild and Gainas.
Aureolus
general of Gallienus who campaigned against the Goths, but rebelled in 268.
Auxonius
praetorian prefect of the East under Valens, and principally responsible for organizing the supply of the Gothic wars of 367–369.
Bacurius
tribune of an elite schola palatina unit, the Sagitarii, he and Cassio began the fighting at the battle of Adrianople in