The War of Vesosis and Tanausis is described in
Jordanes
Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') a ...
'
Getica
''De origine actibusque Getarum'' (''The Origin and Deeds of the Getae oths'), commonly abbreviated ''Getica'', written in Late Latin by Jordanes in or shortly after 551 AD, claims to be a summary of a voluminous account by Cassiodorus of the o ...
, a controversial account of the
Goths
The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...
as happening in remote antiquity when Vesosis, king of the
Egyptians, made war against them. Their king at that time was
Tanausis {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009
Tanausis was a legendary king of the Goths, according to Jordanes's ''Getica'' (5.47). The 19th-century scholar Alfred von Gutschmid assigned his reign to 1323 BC - 1290 BC.
According to the ''Getica'', he was the ...
.
In a battle at the river
Phasis in
Colchis
In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia.
Its population, the Colchians are generally though ...
(modern
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
), Tanausis, king of the Goths, met Vesosis, king of the Egyptians, and there inflicted a severe defeat upon him, pursuing him even to Egypt.
According to
Arne Søby Christensen
Arne Søby Christensen (born 1945) is a Danish historian. He is an associate professor in history at the University of Copenhagen.
Biography
Arne Søby Christensen was born in Copenhagen in 1945. He received a cand.mag. in history from the Unive ...
Jordanes assumed that the
Scythians
The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern
* : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...
were the Goths and the women of the Goths
Amazons. The war seems to be a retelling of an alleged war between the Scythians and Egyptians told by
Orosius with Jordanes recasting a Scythian king as a king of the Goths.
See also
*
Sesostris
Sesostris ( grc-gre, Σέσωστρις), also transliterated as Sesoösis, or Sesonchosis, is the name of a legendary king of ancient Egypt who, according to Herodotus, led a military expedition into parts of Europe. Tales of Sesostris are pro ...
References
Battles involving the Goths
War in mythology
Colchis
{{Battle-stub