Gepidae, a Germanic people, akin to the Goths, who first appear in history in the 3d century A. C. as living on the Baltic near the Vistula. They subsequently moved further S. and settled N. of Pannonia, between the Ostrogoths on the east and the Visigoths on the west. They were at first compelled to follow Attila, but regaining their independence at his death, under their king Arderic, they drove back the Huns and occupied their territory on the lower banks of the Theiss, Danube, Drave, and Save. Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, defeated them in 488 near Sirmium (now Szerem in Slavonia), and Alboin, king of the Lombards, assisted by the Avars, destroyed their power in 56G. The remnants of the people became gradually amalgamated with the conquerors.