Seafaring East Germanic tribe [1], which at the beginning of the 3rd cent. AD was allegedly driven out of Scandinavia by the Danes and split into East and West Heruli. The latter attacked the Romans at the Lower Rhine in 287, were defeated and repeatedly attacked Roman territory from the Dutch-Frisian coast to southern Spain (esp. 456/459). Threatened by the Franci, they made an effort in 476 to gain the friendship of the Visigoths. At the beginning of the 6th cent. they are no longer attested.
From their home by the Sea of Azov, the much stronger East H. advance…