The Problem of Ethnic Identification of the Barbarians Who Invaded Olbia during the Rule of Antoninus Pius
Yartsev Sergei V.
The author reconsiders the complicated problem of identification of the barbarians who invaded Olbia about the middle of the 2 century AD. He believes them to have come from the foothills of the Crimea and to have been the descendants of Tauroscythae. They were cattle raisers and wanderers and suffered greatly because of wars and tribe migrations. They joined the Sarmatians who attacked Olbia and might have fought against squads of Goths, Gepids and Vandals coming from the North. Probably all these barbarians were involved in the sea robbery localized on at the «Achilles’ Run».
Keywords: Olbia, barbarians, migrations, piracy, war