GEPIDAE

a Germanic tribe that lived on the southern Baltic coast in the 1st century AD, having migrated there from southern Sweden some years earlier. The Gepidae again migrated during the 2nd century and were reported in the mountains north of Transylvania by the end of the 3rd century. They united with other tribes in an assault on the Roman Empire but were crushed in 269 in a battle near Naissus (Ni). In 454 they and other Germanic tribes decisively defeated the Huns on the unlocated Nedao (Nedad) River in Pannonia, a province south and west of the Danube. Intermittent wars occurred between the Gepidae and the Lombards from 536 to about 567, when the Gepidae were finally crushed by a coalition of Lombards and Avars. Thereafter, the Gepidae became submerged in Avar domains.