Below is a map of what the Balkans looked like in 493 CE. The Gepid kingdom included the lands of the original province of Dacia, plus territory to the west and north which hadn’t been part of the Roman empire.

​If we take a wider view of the Mediterranean world at this moment, we see that the Gepids were but one of the various Germanic peoples that had established their rule over formerly Roman lands, from Hispania to Dacia, and from Britannia to Africa.

Of course, these migratory peoples didn’t inhabit all the territory which they controlled, but ruled as armed minorities extracting tribute from and collaborating with the native populations they had conquered.