GOTIIS GOTTINGEN. 



511 



regions adjoining the Black sea. Many other tribes 

 were incorporated with them, and by continual 

 advances and conquests, they established under Er- 

 nienric (about 350), the great Gothic kingdom, extend- 

 ing from the Don, which divides Europe from Asia, to 

 the Theiss, which empties itself into the Danube, 

 and from the Black sea to the Vistula and the Baltic. 

 It embraqed Thrace, Moesia (Servia and Bulgaria), 

 Dacia (part of Hungary, the Bannat, the Bukowina, 

 Transylvania, Walachia, Moldavia to the Pruth), 

 large districts of Poland, Russia and Prussia ; and, in 

 the north, comprised the Sclavonic, Finnish and 

 Lettish tribes. This situation naturally brought the 

 Goths into continual contact, on the west, with the 

 Roman empire, and, on the east, with that of Con- 

 stantinople ; and history is full of the struggles which 

 they maintained, sometimes on the one side, some- 

 times on the other. Two emperors fell in battle with 

 them, and Rome and Constantinople were both forced 

 to pay them tribute. They were the first of the 

 nations beyond the Danube, that received Christi- 

 anity. Ulphilas, bishop of the Moesogoths (the 

 Gothic tribes which inhabited Moesia), as early as 

 360, invented a German alphabet, and translated 

 the New Testament into the Gothic language. All 

 the Goths, however, were not equally advanced with 

 those of Moesia, among whom civilization had made 

 considerable progress, in consequence of their vicinity 

 to the Greek empire, and continual intercourse with 

 it. About the year 369, internal commotions produced 

 the division of the great Gothic kingdom into the 

 kingdom of the Ostrogoths (eastern Goths), on the 

 shores of the Black sea, from the Don to the 

 Dnieper, and the kingdom of the Visigoths (western 

 Goths), or the Thuringian state in Dacia, from the 

 Dnieper to the Danube. These internal storms were 

 soon followed by one from without, which effected 

 the subversion of the Gothic power in those parts. 

 About the year 375, vast multitudes of the Huns, 

 and of the Alans, who had been subdued by them, 

 poured out of Asia, and drove the Ostrogoths in 

 upon the Visigoths. They sought and obtained 

 permission from the emperor Valens to settle in 

 Thrace, at that time lying desolate ; but were soon 

 driven to rebellion by the oppression of the imperial 

 governor. In the war which ensued, Valens himself 

 was completely defeated by them, at Adrianople, in 

 378, and, in his flight, burned in a cottage, which 

 they set on fire. From that time, they had an im- 

 portant influence in the affairs of Constantinople. 

 After many vicissitudes, the Ostrogoths also obtained 

 a settlement in Pannonia and Sclavonia, but not till 

 the destruction of the kingdom of the Huns, in 45:3. 

 The Visigoths, in process of time, obtained a degree 

 of power which excited alarm in Greece and Italy. 

 In 396, Alaric made an irruption into Greece, laid 

 waste the Peloponnesus, and became prefect of 

 Illyria and king of the Visigoths. He invaded Italy 

 about the beginning of the fifth century, and by that 

 measure brought on the destruction of the Roman 

 empire, since Stilicho, the Roman general, could 

 only obtain a victory over Alaric, at Verona (in 403), 

 by withdrawing all the Roman troops from the 

 borders of the Rhine. Alaric himself soon returned 

 to Italy, and sacked Rome in 409, and a second time 

 in 410. After his death (in 410), the Visigoths suc- 

 ceeded in establishing a new kingdom in the southern 

 parts of Gaul and Spain (Septimania, GotJtia), of 

 which, towards the end of the fifth century, Provence, 

 Languedoc and Catalonia were the principal pro- 

 vinces, and Toulouse the seat of government. The 

 last king, Roderic, died (in 711) in battle against the 

 Moors, who had crossed from Africa, and subsequently 

 conquered the kingdom. After the fall of the Western 

 Roman empire (by the invasion of Odoacer, in 476), 



the Eastern emperor, Zeno, persuaded Theodoric, 

 king of the Ostrogoths, to invade Italy, in 489. 

 The Goth became king of Italy, in 493, and laid the 

 foundation of a new Ostrogothic kingdom, which, 

 together with Italy, comprised Rhsetia (a part of 

 Switzerland and the Tyrol), Vindelicia (part of 

 Bavaria and Suabia), Noricum (Saltzburg, Stiria, 

 Carinthia, Austria), Dalmatia, Pannonia, (Farther 

 Hungary, Sclavonia), and Dacia beyond the 

 Danube (Transylvania, Walachia). This kingdom 

 came to an end in 554. This people, so famous in 

 history, was not destitute of science and learning, 

 having maintained a connexion with the Eastern 

 and Western Roman empires, long before their ir- 

 ruption into Italy. Theodoric, who was educated at 

 Constantinople, was such a friend to the fine arts, 

 that he established the office of a comes nitentium 

 rerum (count of the arts, overseer of the works of 

 art), whose business was to watch over the statues, 

 to see that they were not injured or stolen ; and ap- 

 pointed a public architect, who was intrusted with the 

 preservation of the ancient edifices. He not only 

 caused various public buildings at Rome to be re- 

 paired, but also adorned other cities with new edi- 

 fices.. (For information on the Gothic architecture, 

 see Architecture. See Gibbon's Decline and Fall ; 

 also Manso's Geschichte des Ostgothischen Reichs in 

 Italien History of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in 

 Italy ; Breslau, 1824.) 



GOTTENBURG (in Swedish, Gotheborg); a large 

 and thriving town in the south-west of Sweden, situ- 

 ated near the. mouth of the large river called Gotha- 

 Elf. It stands in a marshy plain, surrounded by pre- 

 cipitous ridges of naked rocks, rising to the height 

 of from 100 to 300 feet, but intersected by several 

 cultivated openings. The town is divided into Upper 

 and Lower. The latter is perfectly level; the houses, 

 owing to the marshiness of the ground, are all built 

 upon piles. The principal street, called Great Har- 

 bour street, runs from E. to W., and divides the town 

 into two nearly equal parts. The Upper town, from 

 its situation, is built with less regularity ; but it has 

 an imposing appearance, the houses rising one above 

 another, in the form of an amphitheatre. The only 

 considerable public edifices of Gottenburg are, 

 the exchange, the extensive buildings belonging to 

 the East India company, an hospital, and a magnifi- 

 cent church, built since 1812, with stones from Scot- 

 land. The only curiosities of the place are a few 

 private collections of paintings. The harbour is com- 

 modious for vessels of moderate size, and has a fort on 

 a small rocky island, to defend the entrance. It has 

 manufactures of coarse linen and woollen stuffs, lea- 

 ther, sail-cloth, ropes, some silk and cotton goods, 

 soap, tobacco ; also sugar refineries. Iron and steel, 

 furnished by the rich mines of Warmeland, form the 

 principal articles of export ; and, after these, her- 

 rings, linen, timber, tar, train oil, and alum. Here 

 is a large provincial school, a mercantile academy, 

 and an academy of sciences and literature, incorpor- 

 ated in 1775. The English language is pretty ge- 

 nerally spoken here, the merchants being, many of 

 them, English. Few places have suffered more from 

 fire. The canal of Trolhatta (see Canals) promotes 

 the commerce with the inner country. Gottenburg 

 was founded by Charles IX., in 1607. Population, 

 24,000. Lon. 11 57' 4S 7 ' E. ; lat. 57 42' 4" N. 



GOTTINGEN; a city in the kingdom of Hanover, 

 on the Leine ; 22 leagues S. S. E. of Hanover, 85 

 leagues N. E. of Cassel ; lat. 51 31' 49" N. y Jon. 

 9 51' 45" E. ; in a./ertile valley, in the former 

 principality of Kalenburg, now in the principality 

 of Gottingen. Population, 10,000. There are 

 manufactories of cloth, hosiery, linen, &c. The 

 sausages of Gottingen are celebrated among epicures. 



