Cniva

Cniva led the Gothic invasion that killed a Roman emperor in battle. He is known almost entirely from Jordanes and from fragments of Dexippus, and appears in the record around AD 250 crossing the Danube into Moesia with a force estimated at seventy thousand, including Gothic, Bastarnae and other groups. He divided his forces, sending part against Novae while he besieged Nicopolis ad Istrum. The emperor Decius came north and relieved Nicopolis, and Cniva withdrew over the Balkan mountains rather than fight — a movement that took him through difficult passes with an army carrying plunder, and which suggests a commander of some competence. He then caught the Romans by surprise at Beroe while they were resting, routed them, and drove Decius north. He turned on Philippopolis, one of the largest cities in Thrace, and took it after a long siege. The city's governor Titus Julius Priscus had declared himself emperor and appears to have opened negotiations; the sack is reported to have killed a very large number, and Dexippus gives a figure of a hundred thousand that is not credible. Decius blocked the passes to prevent him leaving with the captives and the plunder, and forced a battle at Abritus in the Dobrudja in June AD 251. Cniva drew the Roman line forward across marshy ground with a feigned retreat, and held a third division concealed beyond it. The Roman army was destroyed, and Decius and his son were both killed — the first Roman emperor to die in battle against a foreign enemy. His successor bought a withdrawal.

• Lived: 200 CE – 270 CE
• Nationality: Gothic
• Roles: ruler, general