community
Nicopolis ad Istrum (Ulfilas's Goths)
near Nikyup, Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria · North & Northeast Europe
43.218, 25.612
Attested. Attested by Auxentius, Philostorgius, Socrates and Jordanes. The exact settlement area near Nicopolis follows Jordanes.
Around 347/348 the Gothic bishop Ulfilas led persecuted Gothic Christians across the Danube into the Roman Empire. Jordanes says these 'lesser Goths' settled near Nicopolis ad Istrum. Ulfilas created the Gothic alphabet and translated the Bible into Gothic.
Source stance: neutral. Mixed: Homoian (Arian) and Nicene historians wrote about Ulfilas from opposite sides. Jordanes is a later Gothic-Roman historian.
People and groups named here
- Ulfilas (Wulfila)
- Gothi minores
Sources
- Pleiades place 216895: Nicopolis ad Istrum
Pleiades Gazetteer (ISAW, NYU). Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Jordanes, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths (Getica 51: Ulfilas and the Gothi minores near Nicopolis)
tr. C. C. Mierow (1915), public domain; Project Gutenberg. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Ulfilas
Catholic Encyclopedia (1907-1912), public domain; New Advent. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Socrates Scholasticus, Church History IV.33 (Ulfilas and the Goths)
tr. A. C. Zenos, NPNF2 vol. 2 (1890), public domain; New Advent. Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.