Using archaeological and historical evidence, this work traces the history of Romano-Gothic relations from their earliest stages in the third century and looks at the social and political causes of the conflict between the Roman Empire and its Gothic neighbors, which ultimately led to the catastrophic Gothic War in 376. 4 maps.

Michael Kulikowski is Associate Professor of History at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. A recipient of the Solmsen Fellowship at the Institute for Research in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he is the author of Late Roman Spain and its Cities, which was awarded an Honorable Mention in Classics and Archaeology from the Association of American University Presses. His scholarly articles have appeared in Early Medieval Europe, Britannia, Phoenix, and Byzantium and he has appeared in the History Channel's Barbarians series.

Prologue: before the gates of Rome; 1. The Goths before Constantine; 2. The Roman Empire and the barbarian society; 3. The search for the Gothic origins; 4. Imperial politics and the rise of Gothic power; 5. Goths and Romans, 332¿376; 6. The Battle of Adrianople; 7. Theodosius and the Goths; 8. Alaric and the sack of Rome.