most southern province of Sweden, being a peninsula, encompassed on three sides by the Baltic Sea, or the channel at the entrance of it. Goths. It is divided into several parts, which are, East Gothland, West Gothland, Smaland, Halland, Bleaking, and Schonen. It was a long time in the possession of the kings of Denmark, but was ceded to Sweden in 1654. The principal towns of Gothland are Calmar, Landskrona, Christianopole, Daleburg, Gothenburg, Helmstad, Lunden, Malmone, and Vexio.

GOTHS, a warlike nation, and above all others famous in the Roman history, came originally out of Scandinavia (the name by which the ancients distinguished the present countries of Sweden, Norway, Lapland, and Finnmark). According to the most probable accounts, they were the first inhabitants of those countries; and from thence sent colonies into the islands of the Baltic, the Cimbrian Cheronesus, and the adjacent places yet destitute of inhabitants. The time of their first settling in Scandinavia, and the time when they first peopled with their colonies the abovementioned islands and Cheronesus, are equally uncertain; tho' the Gothic annals suppose the latter to have happened in the time of Serug the great grandfather of Abraham. This first migration of the Goths is said to have been conducted by their king Eric; in which all the ancient Gothic chronicles, as well as the Danish and Swedish ones, agree. Their second migration is supposed to have happened many ages after; when, the abovementioned countries being overstocked with people, Berig, at that time king of the Goths, went out with a fleet in quest of new settlements. He landed in the country of Ulmerugians, now Pomerania, drove out the ancient inhabitants, and divided their lands among his followers. He fell next upon the Vandals, whose country bordered on that of the Ulmerugians, and overcame them; but instead of forcing them to abandon their country, he only made them share their possessions with the Goths.

The Goths who had settled in Pomerania and the adjacent parts of Germany being greatly increased, inasmuch that the country could no longer contain them, they undertook a third migration in great numbers, under Filimer surnamed the Great, their fifth prince after leaving Scandinavia; and taking their route eastward, entered Scythia, advanced to the Cimmerian Bosphorus, and, driving out the Cimmerians, settled in the neighbourhood of the Palus Maeotis. Thence in process of time, being greatly increased in Scythia, they resolved to seek new settlements; and, accordingly taking their route eastward, they traversed several countries, and at length returned into Germany.

Their leader in this expedition was the celebrated Woden, called also Woden, Oden, Oden, Godan, and Guadan. Of this Woden many wonderful things are related in the Sueo-gothic chronicles. He was king of the Afgardians, whom the northern writers will have to be the same with a people called Alpurgians mentioned by Strabo and Ptolemy. By Strabo they are placed near the Cimmerian Bosphorus. Alpurgia was the metropolis of a province which Strabo calls Asia; and Woden and his followers are styled by the ancient Gothic writers Afe, Afiane, and Afoia. The kings of Alpurgia were masters of all that part of Scythia which lay to the westward of Imaus, and was by the Latins called Scythia intra Imaum, or "Scythia within Imaus."

At what time Woden reigned in this country, is quite uncertain; but all historians agree, that he went out in quest of new settlements with incredible numbers of people following him. He first entered Roxolania, comprehending the countries of Prussia, Livonia, and great part of Muscovy. From thence he went by sea into the north parts of Germany; and having reduced Saxony and Jutland, he at last settled in Sweden, where he reigned till his death, and became so famous that his name reached all countries, and he was by the northern nations worshipped as a god. He is supposed to have brought with him the Runic characters out of Asia, and to have taught the northern nations the art of poetry; whence he is styled the father of the Scaldi or Scaldri, their poets, who described in verse the exploits of the great men of their nation, as the bards did among the Gauls and Britons.

The Romans distinguished the Goths into two classes; the Ostrogoths and Visigoths. These names they received before they left Scandinavia, the Visigoths being softened by the Latins from Wellerogothi, or those who inhabited the western part of Scandinavia, as the Ostrogoths were those who inhabited the eastern part of that country. Their history affords nothing of moment till the time of their quarrelling with the Romans; which happened under the reign of the emperor Caracalla, son to Severus. After that time their history becomes so closely interwoven with that of the Romans, that for the most remarkable particulars of it we must refer to the article Rome. After the destruction of the Roman empire by the Heruli, the Ostrogoths, under their king Theodoric, became masters of the greatest part of Italy, having overcome and put to death Odoacer king of the Heruli in 494. They retained their dominion in this country till the year 553; when they were finally conquered by Narses, the emperor Justinian's general: See (History of) ITALY. The Visigoths settled in Spain in the time of the emperor Honorius, where they founded a kingdom which continued till the country was subdued by the Saracens; see the article SPAIN.

The Goths were famous for their hospitality and kindness to strangers, even before they embraced the Christian religion. Nay, it is said, that from their being eminently good, they were called Goths, by the neighbouring nations; that name, according to Grotius and most other writers, being derived from the German word golen, which signifies "good." They encouraged, says Dio, the study of philosophy above all other barbarous or foreign nations, and often chose kings from among their philosophers. Polygamy was not only allowed but countenanced among them; every one being valued or respected according to the number of his wives. By so many wives they had an incredible number of children, of whom they kept but one at home, sending out the rest in quest of new settlements; and hence those swarms of people which overran so many countries. With them adultery was a capital crime, and irremissibly punished with death. This severity, and likewise polygamy, prevailed among them when they were known to the Romans only by the name of Getes (their most ancient name); as appears from the poet Menander, who was himself one of that nation; and from Horace, who greatly commends the chastity of their women. Their laws fell little short of Gothofred, those of the ancient Romans. Their government was monarchial; their religion was much the same with that of the ancient Germans or Celts; and their dress is described by Apollinaris Sidonius in the following words: "They are shod (says he) with high shoes made of hair, and reaching up to their ankles; their knees, thighs, and legs, are without any covering; their garments of various colours scarce reaching to the knee; their sleeves only cover the top of their arms; they wear green casocks with a red border; their belts hang on their shoulder; their caps are covered with twilled locks; they use hooked lances and muffle weapons."