Gothic Letters
. The ancient Goths were
converted to Christianity by the Greek priests,
and they probably introduced their letters
with their religion, about the reign of Galienus.
Towards the middle of the third century,
Ascholius, Bishop of Thessalonica, and a Greek
priest named Audius, spread Christianity among
the Goths; the former of these is much extolled
by Basil the Great, and the latter by Epiphanius.
The ancient Gothic alphabet consisted of sixteen
letters; they are so similar to the Greek
that their derivation cannot be doubted. Those
writers are certainly mistaken who attribute
the invention of the Gothic letters to Ulphilas,
Bishop of Mœsia, who lived in the fourth
century. The gospels translated by him into
the Gothic language, and written in ancient
Gothic characters about the year 370, were
formerly kept in the library of the monastery
of Werden; but this MS. is now preserved in
the library of Upsal, and is known among the
learned by the title of the “Silver Book of
Ulphilas,” because it is bound in massive silver.
Several editions of this MS. have been printed.
See a specimen of it in Hickes’s “Thesaurus,”
vol. i., pref. p. 8. Dr. Hickes positively disallows
this translation to be Ulphilas’, but says it was
made by some Teuton or German, either as
old, or perhaps older than Ulphilas; but whether
this was so or not, the characters are apparently
of Greek original.