Ave!

Brooch, Gepids, Enameled, ca. late 5th Cent, Rare!

Copper alloy; 31 x 25mm/6.9gm

Con/ Attachment missing, otherwise, about As Fabricated; glossy green patina, cleaned and waxed

Description/ At top, red enameled T-bar flanked with engraved circles and dots; to either side, peripheral lugs. Below, sharply engraved raised dome with blue and white enamel flanked by peripheral lugs. Beneath, attachment clasp missing.

Seller's Note/ The Gepids were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary and Serbia. They were said to share the religion and language of the Goths and Vandals. They are first mentioned by Roman sources in the third century. In the fourth century, they were among the peoples incorporated into the Hunnic Empire, within which they formed an important part. After the death of Attila, the Gepids under their leader Ardaric, led an alliance of other peoples who had been in the empire, and defeated the sons of Attila and their remaining allies at the Battle of Nedao in 454. The Gepids and their allies subsequently founded kingdoms on the Middle Danube, bordering on the Roman Empire. The Gepid Kingdom was one of the most important and long-lasting of these was centered in Sirmium (modern Serbia). It covered a large part of the former Roman province of Dacia, north of the Danube, and compared to other Middle Danubian kingdoms it remained relatively un-involved with Rome.

The Gepids were defeated by the Lombards and Avars a century later in 567, Constantinople giving no support to the Gepids. Some Gepids joined the Lombards in their subsequent conquest of Italy, some moved into Roman territory, and other Gepids still lived in the area of the old kingdom after it was conquered by the Avars.