Sciri
The Sciri were mentioned already in the late 3rd century BC as participants in a raid on the city of Olbia near modern-day Odesa.
They subsequently were recorded holding their own kingdom north of the Middle Danube, under the leadership of Edeko and his son Onoulphus.
After the destruction of this kingdom by the Ostrogoths in the late 460s AD, Odoacer, another son of Edeko, attained high status within the Roman army in Italy, ruling Sciri, Rugii and other non-Roman peoples as a king.
Odoacer eventually made himself King of Italy in 476 AD, effectively ending the Western Roman Empire.
[1] Rudolf Much, in the first edition of the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde pointed out that this could be interpreted three ways: "bright" (clari, splendidi), "honest" (candidi, sinceri) or "pure" and "unmixed", and he mentioned that the latter racial implication might make sense for a people living near a borderland.
[8] However, it is commonly accepted by scholars since then that Odoacer's father was described in one classical source as a Hun, and that there are different ways of explaining his name.
[15][16] More specifically, they are frequently grouped together with the Goths, Vandals, Heruli, Rugii, Gepids and Burgundians as East Germanic peoples.
[29] The 1st century Roman writer Pliny the Elder described the peoples inhabiting the region east of the Vistula, as the Sarmatians, Venedi, "Sciri" and Hirri.
[30][31][29] The Sciri are believed to have been one of several Germanic speaking peoples, including the Goths and Rugii, who had moved from the Polish region towards the Black Sea by the 3rd century AD.
[32] Around 300 AD, the Verona List of "barbarians" living near the Roman Empire mentions the Sciri between the Sarmatians to the west and the Carpi to the east.
Attila's empire included not only Huns and Sciri, but also Goths, Gepids, Thuringi, Rugii, Suebi, Heruli, Alans and Sarmatians.
[43][44] Jordanes mentions four tribes that remained loyal to the Huns under Dengizich: Ultzinzures, Bittugures, Bardores and Angisciri.
[46] After the death of Attila, the Sciri, Heruli, Rugii and others joined Ardaric of the Gepids in a revolt against the Huns, winning a major victory at the Battle of Nedao in 454 AD.
[57][58] Valamir was succeeded as king by Theodemir, who subsequently went on the offensive against the Sciri,[59] who in turn received support from the Suebi, Heruli and Sarmatians.
[58] In the Battle of Bolia, the Ostrogoths defeated a coalition of Roman-supported peoples, including Sciri, Heruli, Suebi, Sarmatians, Gepids and Rugii.
[56] After the destruction of the Scirian kingdom, Odoacer led most of the surviving Sciri, in addition to many Heruli and Rugii, into Italy to join the Roman army, which was controlled by Ricimer.
[4] Jordanes calls Odoacer king of the Turcilingi,[62] and they have been interpreted as another East Germanic tribe and/or perhaps the royal family of the Sciri.
In 486 Onoulphus fell out of favor with Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno, and moved to Ravenna with his Scirian followers to join Odoacer.
[69] Wolfgang Haubrichs gives examples such as Scheyern (first attested as Scira in 1080), Scheuer (Sciri, c. 975), Scheuern in Neubeuern (Skira, 11th century) and perhaps Scheuring (Sciringen, 1150).
[70] Historians Reinhard Wenskus and Herwig Wolfram believe that Sciri prided themselves on their unmixed ancestry, and did not allow intermarriage, and that similar practices were followed by other Germanic peoples such as the Rugii and Juthungi.
