Everything about Athanaric totally explained
Athanaricus (died
381) was king of several branches of the
Thervings for at least two decades in the
fourth century. Ironically, his Gothic name,
Athanareiks, means "king for the year".
A rival of
Fritigern, another Therving war chief, Athanaric made his first appearance in recorded history in
369, when he engaged in battle with the Eastern Roman Emperor
Valens and ultimately negotiated a favorable peace for his people.
During his reign, the Thervings were divided by religious issues. Many of them had converted to
Arian Christianity during the third and fourth centuries, but Athanaric continued to follow the old
Germanic pagan religion. Fritigern, his rival, was an Arian and had the favor of Valens, who shared his religious beliefs.
Athanaric against Fritigern?
Socrates Scholasticus,
Sozomen, and
Zosimus refer to conflicts between Fritigern and
Athanaric.
Ammianus Marcellinus and
Philostorgius don't record such conflicts.
According to Socrates, Fritigern and Athanaric were rival leaders of the (
Therving) Goths. As this rivalry grew into warfare, Athanaric gained the advantage, and Fritigern asked for Roman aid. The Emperor
Valens and the Thracian field army intervened, Valens and Fritigern defeated Athanaric, and Fritigern converted to Christianity, following the same teachings as Valens followed. Sozomen follows Socrates' account.
According to Zosimus, Athanaric (Athomaricus) was the king of the Goths (Scythians). Sometime after their victory at Adrianople, and after the accession of Theodosius, Fritigern, Alatheus, and Saphrax moved north of the Danube and defeated Athanaric, before returning south of the Danube.
Athanaric in Caucaland
In
376, Valens permitted Fritigern's people to cross the
Danube River and settle on Roman soil to avoid the
Huns, who had recently conquered the
Greuthungs and were now pressing the Thervings then living in
Dacia. Athanaric's people were left to their fate, but many of them found their own way across the river, as well.
Athanaric in the Roman Empire
By
379, one year after Fritigern's great victory over the Romans at the
Battle of Adrianople in
378, he'd won over most of the Thervings to his leadership. But he died a year later, and Athanaric became king of the entire Therving people.
Shortly before his death in
381, he became the first foreign king to visit the new Roman capital of
Constantinople. He negotiated a peace with the new emperor,
Theodosius I, that made some Thervings
foederati, or official allies of Rome allowed to settle on Roman soil as a state within a state.
A few weeks later, Athanaric died, but the treaty he'd brokered stood until Theodosius' death in
395.
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