Christianization of the Goths in the Region of Dory

The sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius placed the Gothic region of Dory (Δόρυ) in the south-western Crimea. Procopius kept silence religious views of the inhabitants of Dory. Undoubtedly, they confessed Christianity, “like other Gothic peoples.” As written sources contain no reliable information about the existence of a Gothic diocese in the mountainous Crimea from the fourth to sixth century, the date when Christianity started spreading among the barbarians of the south-western Crimea is to uncovered by the materials of excavations of the cemeteries they created. Archaeological materials suggest that Gothic and Alan Christian communities emerged in the mountainous Crimea from the late-fourth century on: they imported amphorae with dipinti εὐλογία and τρυγία with wine used at divine service. Apparently, the Christianization of the borderland “barbarians” intensified after the Emperor Theodosius I issued edicts in 380 and 381, proclaiming the Nicene Creed of Christianity as the only state religion and equated church structures with state institutions. From the first half of the sixth century on, the inhabitants of the region of Dori buried their dead in their lifetime, usually ceremonial clothing, together with individual objects of Christian worship which the deceased wore during life. The churches excavated atop of the plateau of Mangup and near its foot, in the Karalez Ravine, are usually attributed to the construction activity of the age of the Emperor Justinian I (527–565).