Montes Serrorum

In 367, the Roman Emperor Valens attacked the Thervingi (a Gothic people) north of the Danube river.

Marcellinus says that Valens could not find anyone to fight with (nullum inveniret quem superare poterat vel terrere) and even implies that all of them fled, horror-struck, to the mountains (omnes formidine perciti... montes petivere Serrorum).

[8] The toponym has been connected to the Sarmatian tribe Serri settled north of the Caucasus, mentioned by Pliny the Elder (23–79) in Naturalis Historia.

[11] Although by some it seems unlikely,[3][12] the majority of scholars deem the Sarmatian tribal connection as the most credible explanation because it is also similar to other ancient names of the Carpathians, Sarmatian Mountains and Alpes Bastarnicae, the fact Marcellinus reported about the Caucaland referring to the Carpathians, making Montes Serrorum a made-up geographical name.

[17] Slovene anthropologist Niko Županič (1876–1961) treated the toponym as evidence of "Serb presence in Dacia", and this view was supported by Ivo Vukcevich (2001),[who?]