The Visigoths first appeared in history as a distinct people in the year A.D. 268 when they invaded the Roman Empire and swarmed over the Balkan peninsula. This invasion overran the Roman provinces of Pannonia and Illyricum. The Visigoths were defeated however at the Battle of Naissus and over the next three years pushed back across the Danube River by the emperors Claudius II, Gothicus and Aurelian. They maintained a stronghold in Dacia which Emperor Aurelian abandoned in A.D. 271. Bold text