1.
Marcus Aurelius
–
Marcus Aurelius was Emperor of Rome from 161 to 180. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus death in 169, Marcus Aurelius was the last of the so-called Five Good Emperors. He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his untitled writing, during his reign, the Roman Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East, Aurelius general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. A revolt in the East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately, the major sources for the life and rule of Marcus Aurelius are patchy and frequently unreliable. For Marcus life and rule, the biographies of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus and Lucius Verus are largely reliable, a body of correspondence between Marcus tutor Fronto and various Antonine officials survives in a series of patchy manuscripts, covering the period from c.138 to 166. Marcus own Meditations offer a window on his life, but are largely undateable. The main narrative source for the period is Cassius Dio, a Greek senator from Bithynian Nicaea who wrote a history of Rome from its founding to 229 in eighty books. Dio is vital for the history of the period, but his senatorial prejudices. Inscriptions and coin finds supplement the literary sources, Marcus family originated in Ucubi, a small town southeast of Córdoba in Iberian Baetica. Verus elder son—Marcus Aurelius father—Marcus Annius Verus married Domitia Lucilla, Lucilla was the daughter of the patrician P. Calvisius Tullus Ruso and the elder Domitia Lucilla. The elder Domitia Lucilla had inherited a fortune from her maternal grandfather and her paternal grandfather by adoption. Lucilla and Verus had two children, a son, Marcus, born on 26 April 121 AD, and a daughter, Annia Cornificia Faustina, Verus probably died in 124 AD, during his praetorship, when Marcus was only three years old. Though he can hardly have known him, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations that he had learned modesty and manliness from his memories of his father, Lucilla, following prevailing aristocratic customs, probably did not spend much time with her son. Marcus was in the care of nurses, even so, Marcus credits his mother with teaching him religious piety, simplicity in diet and how to avoid the ways of the rich. In his letters, Marcus makes frequent and affectionate reference to her, he was grateful that, although she was fated to die young, yet she spent her last years with me. After his fathers death, Aurelius was raised by his paternal grandfather Marcus Annius Verus who, technically this was not an adoption, since an adoption would be the legal creation of a new and different patria potestas. Another man, Lucius Catilius Severus, also participated in his upbringing, Severus is described as Marcus maternal great-grandfather, he is probably the stepfather of the elder Lucilla. Marcus was raised in his parents home on the Caelian Hill and it was an upscale region, with few public buildings but many aristocratic villas
Marcus Aurelius
–
Bust of Marcus Aurelius in the
Musée Saint-Raymond,
Toulouse.
Marcus Aurelius
–
The
Statue of Marcus Aurelius (detail) in the
Musei Capitolini in Rome.
Marcus Aurelius
–
Denarius, struck 140 AD with portrait of
Antoninus Pius (obverse) and his adoptive son Marcus Aurelius (reverse).
Marcus Aurelius
–
Statue of young Marcus Aurelius from a private collection housed in the San Antonio Museum of Art
2.
Roman emperor
–
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period. The emperors used a variety of different titles throughout history, often when a given Roman is described as becoming emperor in English, it reflects his taking of the title Augustus or Caesar. Another title often used was imperator, originally a military honorific, early Emperors also used the title princeps. Emperors frequently amassed republican titles, notably Princeps Senatus, Consul, the first emperors reigned alone, later emperors would sometimes rule with co-Emperors and divide administration of the Empire between them. The Romans considered the office of emperor to be distinct from that of a king, the first emperor, Augustus, resolutely refused recognition as a monarch. Although Augustus could claim that his power was authentically republican, his successor, Tiberius, nonetheless, for the first three hundred years of Roman Emperors, from Augustus until Diocletian, a great effort was made to emphasize that the Emperors were the leaders of a Republic. Elements of the Republican institutional framework were preserved until the end of the Western Empire. The Eastern emperors ultimately adopted the title of Basileus, which had meant king in Greek, but became a title reserved solely for the Roman emperor, other kings were then referred to as rēgas. In addition to their office, some emperors were given divine status after death. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the late 5th century, Romulus Augustulus is often considered to be the last emperor of the west after his forced abdication in 476, although Julius Nepos maintained a claim to the title until his death in 480. Constantine XI was the last Byzantine Roman emperor in Constantinople, dying in the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, a Byzantine group of claimant Roman Emperors existed in the Empire of Trebizond until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1461. In western Europe the title of Roman Emperor was revived by Germanic rulers, the Holy Roman Emperors, in 800, at the end of the Roman Republic no new, and certainly no single, title indicated the individual who held supreme power. Insofar as emperor could be seen as the English translation of imperator, then Julius Caesar had been an emperor, however, Julius Caesar, unlike those after him, did so without the Senates vote and approval. Julius Caesar held the Republican offices of four times and dictator five times, was appointed dictator in perpetuity in 45 BC and had been pontifex maximus for a long period. He gained these positions by senatorial consent, by the time of his assassination, he was the most powerful man in the Roman world. In his will, Caesar appointed his adopted son Octavian as his heir, a decade after Caesars death, Octavians victory over his erstwhile ally Mark Antony at Actium put an end to any effective opposition and confirmed Octavians supremacy. His restoration of powers to the Senate and the people of Rome was a demonstration of his auctoritas, some later historians such as Tacitus would say that even at Augustus death, the true restoration of the Republic might have been possible. Instead, Augustus actively prepared his adopted son Tiberius to be his successor, the Senate disputed the issue but eventually confirmed Tiberius as princeps
Roman emperor
–
Augustus
Roman emperor
–
Vexillum
Roman emperor
–
Statue of
Augustus, c. 30 BC–20 BC; this statue is located in the
Louvre
Roman emperor
–
Imaginary portrait of
Constantine XI, the last Roman emperor
3.
Roman Empire
–
Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
Roman Empire
–
The
Augustus of Prima Porta (early 1st century AD)
Roman Empire
–
Aureus of
Augustus, the first
Roman Emperor.
Roman Empire
–
A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England
Roman Empire
–
A 5th-century
papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by
Cicero
4.
Quintillus
–
Quintillus was Roman Emperor for a few months in 270. Quintillus was born at Sirmium in Pannonia Inferior, originating from a low-born family, Quintillus came to prominence with the accession of his brother Claudius II Gothicus to the imperial throne in 268. Quintillus was possibly made Procurator of Sardinia during his brother’s reign and he was declared emperor either by the Senate or by his brother’s soldiers upon the latters death in 270. Eutropius reports Quintillus to have been elected by soldiers of the Roman army immediately following the death of his brother, the choice was reportedly approved by the Roman Senate. Joannes Zonaras reports him elected by the Senate itself, records however agree that the legions which had followed Claudius in campaigning along the Danube were either unaware or disapproving of Quintillus elevation. They instead elevated their current leader Aurelian as emperor, the few records of Quintillus reign are contradictory. They disagree on the length of his reign, variously reported to have lasted as few as 17 days, records also disagree on the cause of his death. Historia Augusta reports him murdered by his own soldiers in reaction to his military discipline. Jerome reports him killed, presumably in conflict with Aurelian, john of Antioch and Joannes Zonaras reported Quintillus to have committed suicide by opening his veins and bleeding himself to death. John reports the suicide to have been assisted by a physician, Claudius Salmasius pointed that Dexippus recorded the death without stating causes. All records however agree in placing the death at Aquileia, Quintillus was reportedly survived by his two sons. The Historia Augusta reports Claudius and Quintillus having another brother named Crispus and through him a niece, Claudia, some historians however suspect this account to be a genealogical fabrication to flatter Constantine I. Surviving Roman records considered Quintillus a moderate and capable Emperor and he was seen as a champion of the Senate and thus compared to previous Emperors Servius Sulpicius Galba and Publius Helvius Pertinax. All three were regarded by Senatorial sources despite their failure to survive a full year of reign. H. M. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, Routledge,2001 Gibbon, decline & Fall of the Roman Empire
Quintillus
–
Quintillus
5.
Marcus Claudius Tacitus
–
Tacitus, was Roman Emperor from 275 to 276. During his short reign he campaigned against the Goths and the Heruli, Tacitus was born in Interamna, in Italia. In the course of his life he discharged the duties of various civil offices, including that of consul in 273. After the assassination of Aurelian, Tacitus was chosen by the Senate to succeed him, and this was the last time the Senate elected a Roman Emperor. There was an interregnum between Aurelian and Tacitus, and there is evidence that Aurelians wife, Ulpia Severina. At any rate, Tacitus was situated at Campania when he heard the news of his election and he decided to re-involve the Senate in some consultative manner in the mechanisms of government and asked the Senate to deify Aurelian, before arresting and executing Aurelians murderers. Next he moved against the mercenaries that had been gathered by Aurelian to supplement Roman forces for his Eastern campaign. These mercenaries had plundered several towns in the Eastern Roman provinces after Aurelian had been murdered and his half-brother, the Praetorian Prefect Florianus, and Tacitus himself won a victory against these tribes, among which were the Heruli, gaining the emperor the title Gothicus Maximus. It was reported that he began acting strangely, declaring that he would alter the names of the months to honor himself, in a contrary account, Zosimus claims he was assassinated, after appointing one of his relatives to an important command in Syria. He appears in Harry Sidebottoms historical fiction novel series Warrior Of Rome, Historia Augusta, Vita Taciti, English version of Historia Augusta Eutropius, Breviarium ab urbe condita, ix. H. M. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I, AD260-395, Cambridge University Press,1971 Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, Routledge,2001 Canduci, Alexander, Triumph & Tragedy, The Rise and Fall of Romes Immortal Emperors, Pier 9, edward Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Tacitus, Marcus Claudius. Constantine P. Cavafy, The Complete Poems, Harcourt, Brace & World, p.201 Alan Dugan, Poems 2, Yale University Press, p.33
Marcus Claudius Tacitus
–
Bust of the Emperor Tacitus
Marcus Claudius Tacitus
–
Antoninianus of Tacitus
6.
Sirmium
–
Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia. In 294 AD, Sirmium was proclaimed one of four capitals of the Roman Empire and it was also the capital of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum and of Pannonia Secunda. Sirmium was located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in northern Serbia, ¨The site is protected as an Archaeological Site of Exceptional Importance. The modern region of Syrmia was named after the city, Sirmium had 100,000 inhabitants and was one of the biggest cities of its time. Colin McEvedy, however, put the population at only 7,000, Ammianus Marcellinus called it the glorious mother of cities. Remains of Sirmium stand on the site of the modern-day Sremska Mitrovica,55 km west of Belgrade and 145 km away from Kostolac, archaeologists have found traces of organized human life on the site of Sirmium dating from 5,000 BC. The city was mentioned in the 4th century BC and was originally inhabited by the Illyrians. The Triballi king Syrmus was later considered the founder of Sirmium, but the roots are different. The name Sirmium by itself means flow, flowing water, wetland, with the Celtic tribe of Scordisci as allies, the Roman proconsul Marcus Vinicius took Sirmium in around 14 BC. In the 1st century AD, Sirmium gained the status of a Roman colony, the Roman emperors Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and Claudius II prepared war expeditions in Sirmium. In 103 Pannonia was split into two provinces, Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior, and Sirmium became the city of the latter. In 296 Diocletian reorganized Pannonia into four provinces, Pannonia Prima, Pannonia Valeria, Pannonia Savia and Pannonia Secunda and he joined them with Noricum and Dalmatia to establish the Diocese of Pannonia, with Sirmium as its capital also. In 293, with the establishment of the Tetrarchy, the Roman Empire was split into four parts, Sirmium emerged as one of the four capital cities, the eastern part of Illyricum remained a separate prefecture under the East Roman Empire with its new capital in Thessalonica. From the 4th century, the city was an important Christian center, five church councils, the Councils of Sirmium, took place in Sirmium. The city also had a palace, a horse-racing arena, a mint, an arena theatre. Ancient historian Ammianus Marcellinus called it the mother of cities. The mint in Sirmium was connected with the mint in Salona, at the end of the 4th century Sirmium came under the sway of the Goths, and later, was again annexed to the East Roman Empire. In 441 the Huns conquered Sirmium, it remained for more than a century in the hands of other tribes, such as Eastern Goths
Sirmium
–
Ruins of Imperial Palace at Sirmium
Sirmium
–
A scale model of Sirmium in the Visitors Center in
Sremska Mitrovica.
Sirmium
–
Three golden helmets found near Sirmium, "kept" by 80 Roman legionnaires, Museum of Vojvodina in
Novi Sad
Sirmium
–
Traianus Decius, first romanized Illyrian that became Roman Emperor (249–51), born in village
Budalia near Sirmium
7.
Sremska Mitrovica
–
Sremska Mitrovica is a city and the administrative center of the Srem District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the bank of the Sava river. As of 2011, the city has a population of 37,751 inhabitants. Once a capital of the Roman Empire during the Tetrarchy, the city was referred to as the mother of cities. Sremska Mitrovica means Mitrovica of Srem, while Mitrovica itself stems from the name Saint Demetrius or Sveti Dimitrije in the Serbian language, the name of the city during the reign of the Roman Empire was Sirmium. Beginning in 1180 AD the name changed from Civitas Sancti Demetrii to Dmitrovica, Mitrovica, Sremska Mitrovica is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Archaeologists have found a trace of organized human life dating from the 5000 BC onwards, ionian jewellery dating to 500BC was excavated in the city. When the Romans conquered the city in the 1st century BC, in the 1st century, Sirmium gained a status of a colony of the citizens of Rome, and became a very important military and strategic location in Pannonia province. The war expeditions of Roman emperors Traian, Marcus Aurelius, in 103, Pannonia was split into two provinces, Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior, and Sirmium became the capital city of the latter. In 296, Diocletian operated a new division of Pannonia. Instead of previous two provinces, there were four new provinces established in territory of original Pannonia, Pannonia Prima. Capital city of Pannonia Secunda was Sirmium, during the tetrarchy, Sirmium was the capital of emperor Galerius. With the establishment of praetorian prefectures in 318, the capital of the prefecture of Illyricum was Sirmium, since the 4th century, the city was an important Christian centre, and was a seat of the Episcopate of Sirmium. Four Christian councils were held in Sirmium, at the end of the 4th century, Sirmium was brought under the sway of the Goths, and later, was again annexed to the Eastern Roman Empire. In 441, Sirmium was conquered by the Huns, and after this conquest, it remained for more than a century in the hands of various Barbarian tribes, such were Eastern Goths and Gepids. For a short time, Sirmium was the center of the Gepide State, after 567, Sirmium was again included into Eastern Roman Empire. The city was conquered and destroyed by Avars in 582. This event marked the end of the period of late Antiquity in the history of Sirmium,11 luxurious golden belts of Avar handicraft dating to the 6th century was excavated in the vicinity
Sremska Mitrovica
–
Panoramic view over centre of Sremska Mitrovica
Sremska Mitrovica
–
Visitors’ Center of the Imperial Palace.
Sremska Mitrovica
–
Sremska Mitrovica downtown.
Sremska Mitrovica
–
The
footbridge of
St. Irenaeus of Sirmium, across Sava river. This is the biggest footbridge in Serbia.
8.
Serbia
–
Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
Serbia
–
Clay figure from
Vinča culture, 4000–4500 BC, British Museum
Serbia
–
Flag
Serbia
–
Felix Romuliana,
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Serbia
–
Temnić inscription, is one of the oldest records of
Old Church Slavonic Cyrillic script from the territory of Serbia.
9.
Turkey
–
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
Turkey
–
Some
henges at
Göbekli Tepe were erected as far back as 12,000 BC, predating those of
Stonehenge,
England by almost ten millennia.
Turkey
–
Flag
Turkey
–
The Lion Gate in
Hattusa, capital of the
Hittite Empire. The city's history dates back to the 6th millennium BC.
Turkey
–
The
Library of Celsus in
Ephesus was built by the
Romans in 135 AD. The
Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, built by king
Croesus of
Lydia in the 6th century BC, was one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
10.
Ulpia Severina
–
Ulpia Severina was a Roman Empress, the wife of the emperor Aurelian. Very little is known about her, as there are no sources mentioning her existence. Almost everything known about her, including her name, is gathered from coins and inscriptions, nothing certain is known of Ulpia Severina before her marriage to Aurelian. It has been suggested that she was the daughter of Ulpius Crinitus and this Ulpius is said to have been a descendant of the line of Trajan and to have supported and adopted Aurelian. However, the Historia Augusta is notoriously unreliable, and the story, some scholars believe that Ulpia Severina was from Dacia, where the nomen Ulpius was common due to the influence of Trajan. At any rate, Ulpia Severina married Aurelian probably before he became emperor in 270 and it is known they had a daughter. According to coinage depicting her, Ulpia gained the title Augusta in the autumn of 274 and she also received the titles of Pia and mater castrorum et senatus et patriae. There is considerable evidence for Ulpia Severina ruling in her own right between the death of Aurelian and the election of Marcus Claudius Tacitus. Sources mention an interregnum between Aurelian and Tacitus, and some of Ulpias coins appear to have been minted after Aurelians death, as such she may have been the only woman to rule over the whole Roman Empire in her own power
Ulpia Severina
–
Antoninianus of Severina
11.
Latin language
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin language
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin language
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin language
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin language
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
12.
Roman Emperor
–
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period. The emperors used a variety of different titles throughout history, often when a given Roman is described as becoming emperor in English, it reflects his taking of the title Augustus or Caesar. Another title often used was imperator, originally a military honorific, early Emperors also used the title princeps. Emperors frequently amassed republican titles, notably Princeps Senatus, Consul, the first emperors reigned alone, later emperors would sometimes rule with co-Emperors and divide administration of the Empire between them. The Romans considered the office of emperor to be distinct from that of a king, the first emperor, Augustus, resolutely refused recognition as a monarch. Although Augustus could claim that his power was authentically republican, his successor, Tiberius, nonetheless, for the first three hundred years of Roman Emperors, from Augustus until Diocletian, a great effort was made to emphasize that the Emperors were the leaders of a Republic. Elements of the Republican institutional framework were preserved until the end of the Western Empire. The Eastern emperors ultimately adopted the title of Basileus, which had meant king in Greek, but became a title reserved solely for the Roman emperor, other kings were then referred to as rēgas. In addition to their office, some emperors were given divine status after death. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the late 5th century, Romulus Augustulus is often considered to be the last emperor of the west after his forced abdication in 476, although Julius Nepos maintained a claim to the title until his death in 480. Constantine XI was the last Byzantine Roman emperor in Constantinople, dying in the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, a Byzantine group of claimant Roman Emperors existed in the Empire of Trebizond until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1461. In western Europe the title of Roman Emperor was revived by Germanic rulers, the Holy Roman Emperors, in 800, at the end of the Roman Republic no new, and certainly no single, title indicated the individual who held supreme power. Insofar as emperor could be seen as the English translation of imperator, then Julius Caesar had been an emperor, however, Julius Caesar, unlike those after him, did so without the Senates vote and approval. Julius Caesar held the Republican offices of four times and dictator five times, was appointed dictator in perpetuity in 45 BC and had been pontifex maximus for a long period. He gained these positions by senatorial consent, by the time of his assassination, he was the most powerful man in the Roman world. In his will, Caesar appointed his adopted son Octavian as his heir, a decade after Caesars death, Octavians victory over his erstwhile ally Mark Antony at Actium put an end to any effective opposition and confirmed Octavians supremacy. His restoration of powers to the Senate and the people of Rome was a demonstration of his auctoritas, some later historians such as Tacitus would say that even at Augustus death, the true restoration of the Republic might have been possible. Instead, Augustus actively prepared his adopted son Tiberius to be his successor, the Senate disputed the issue but eventually confirmed Tiberius as princeps
Roman Emperor
–
Augustus
Roman Emperor
–
Vexillum
Roman Emperor
–
Statue of
Augustus, c. 30 BC–20 BC; this statue is located in the
Louvre
Roman Emperor
–
Imaginary portrait of
Constantine XI, the last Roman emperor
13.
Alamanni
–
The Alemanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the upper Rhine river. In 496, the Alemanni were conquered by Frankish leader Clovis, mentioned as still pagan allies of the Christian Franks, the Alemanni were gradually Christianized during the 7th century. The Pactus Alamannorum is a record of their customary law during this period, until the 8th century, Frankish suzerainty over Alemannia was mostly nominal. But after an uprising by Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, Carloman executed the Alamannic nobility, during the later and weaker years of the Carolingian Empire the Alemannic counts became almost independent, and a struggle for supremacy took place between them and the Bishopric of Constance. According to Asinius Quadratus their name means all men and it indicates that they were a conglomeration drawn from various Germanic tribes. Other sources say the name derives from alahmannen which means men of sanctuary and not all men. The Romans and the Greeks called them as such mentioned and this etymology has remained the standard derivation of the term. Walafrid Strabo, a monk of the Abbey of St, the name of Germany and the German language in several languages is derived from the name of this early Germanic tribal alliance. For details, see Names of Germany, the Alemanni were first mentioned by Cassius Dio describing the campaign of Caracalla in 213. At that time they dwelt in the basin of the Main. Cassius Dio portrays the Alemanni as victims of this treacherous emperor and they had asked for his help, says Dio, but instead he colonized their country, changed their place names and executed their warriors under a pretext of coming to their aid. When he became ill, the Alemanni claimed to have put a hex on him, Caracalla, it was claimed, tried to counter this influence by invoking his ancestral spirits. In retribution Caracalla then led the Legio II Traiana Fortis against the Alemanni, the legion was as a result honored with the name Germanica. Not on good terms with Caracalla, Geta had been invited to a reconciliation, at which time he was ambushed by centurions in Caracallas army. True or not, Caracalla, pursued by devils of his own, Caracalla left for the frontier, where for the rest of his short reign he was known for his unpredictable and arbitrary operations launched by surprise after a pretext of peace negotiations. If he had any reasons of state for such actions they remained unknown to his contemporaries, whether or not the Alemanni had been previously neutral, they were certainly further influenced by Caracalla to become thereafter notoriously implacable enemies of Rome. This mutually antagonistic relationship is perhaps the reason why the Roman writers persisted in calling the Alemanni barbari, most of the Alemanni were probably at the time in fact resident in or close to the borders of Germania Superior. At that time the frontier was being fortified for the first time
Alamanni
–
Alemannic belt mountings, from a 7th-century grave in the
grave field at
Weingarten.
Alamanni
–
Area settled by the Alemanni, and sites of Roman-Alemannic battles, 3rd to 6th centuries
Alamanni
–
The
Limes Germanicus 83 to 260 CE.
Alamanni
–
The gold bracteate of
Pliezhausen (6th or 7th century) shows typical iconography of the pagan period. The bracteate depicts the "horse-stabber underhoof" scene, a supine warrior stabbing a horse while it runs over him. The scene is adapted from
Roman era gravestones of the region.
14.
Goths
–
The Goths were an East Germanic people, two of whose branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe. In the Gothic language they were called the Gut-þiuda, most commonly translated as Gothic people, gut-þiudai, or Gutans Inferred from gen. pl. gutani in Pietroassa inscription. In Old Norse they were known as the Gutar or Gotar, in Latin as the Gothi, the exact origin of the ancient Goths is unknown. Evidence of them before they interacted with the Romans is limited, Modern academics have generally abandoned this theory. Today, the Wielbark culture is thought to have developed from earlier cultures in the same area, archaeological finds show close contacts between southern Sweden and the Baltic coastal area on the continent, and further towards the south-east, evidenced by pottery, house types and graves. Rather than a migration, similarities in the material cultures may be products of long-term regular contacts. However, the record could indicate that while his work is thought to be unreliable. Sometime around the 1st century AD, Germanic peoples may have migrated from Scandinavia to Gothiscandza, early archaeological evidence in the traditional Swedish province of Östergötland suggests a general depopulation during this period. However, there is no evidence for a substantial emigration from Scandinavia. Upon their arrival on the Pontic Steppe, the Germanic tribes adopted the ways of the Eurasian nomads, the first Greek references to the Goths call them Scythians, since this area along the Black Sea historically had been occupied by an unrelated people of that name. The earliest known material culture associated with the Goths on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea is the Wielbark culture, centered on the modern region of Pomerania in northern Poland. This culture replaced the local Oxhöft or Oksywie culture in the 1st century, the culture of this area was influenced by southern Scandinavian culture beginning as early as the late Nordic Bronze Age and early Pre-Roman Iron Age. In Eastern Europe they formed part of the Chernyakhov culture and it has been suggested that the Goths maintained contact with southern Sweden during their migration. In the first attested incursion in Thrace, the Goths were mentioned as Boranoi by Zosimus, the first incursion of the Roman Empire that can be attributed to Goths is the sack of Histria in 238. Several such raids followed in subsequent decades, in particular the Battle of Abrittus in 251, led by Cniva, at the time, there were at least two groups of Goths, the Thervingi and the Greuthungs. Goths were subsequently recruited into the Roman Army to fight in the Roman-Persian Wars. The Moesogoths settled in Thrace and Moesia, the first seaborne raids took place in three subsequent years, probably 255-257. An unsuccessful attack on Pityus was followed in the year by another
Goths
–
The
Mausoleum of the Gothic monarch
Theodoric the Great, in
Ravenna,
Italy.
Goths
–
Gothic invasions in the 3rd century
Goths
–
The 3rd-century
Great Ludovisi sarcophagus depicts a battle between Goths and Romans.
Goths
–
Ostrogothic eagle-shaped
fibula, 500 AD, Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg
15.
Vandals
–
The Vandals are believed to have migrated from southern Scandinavia to the area between the lower Oder and Vistula rivers during the 2nd century BC and to have settled in Silesia from around 120 BC. They are associated with the Przeworsk culture and were possibly the people as the Lugii. Around 400 the Vandals were pushed westwards again, this time by the Huns, in 409, the Vandals crossed the Pyrenees into the Iberian Peninsula, where their main groups, the Hasdingi and the Silingi, settled in Gallaecia and Baetica respectively. In 429, under king Genseric, the Vandals entered North Africa, by 439 they established a kingdom which included the Roman province of Africa as well as Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta and the Balearic Islands. They fended off several Roman attempts to recapture the African province and their kingdom collapsed in the Vandalic War of 533–4, in which Justinian I managed to reconquer the province for the Eastern Roman Empire. Renaissance and Early Modern writers characterized the Vandals as barbarians, sacking and looting Rome and this led to the use of the term vandalism to describe any senseless destruction, particularly the barbarian defacing of artwork. However, modern historians tend to regard the Vandals during the period from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages as perpetuators, not destroyers. The connection would be that Vendel is the homeland of the Vandals prior to the Migration Period. Further possible homelands of the Vandals in Scandinavia are Vendsyssel in Denmark, the etymology of the name may be related to a Germanic verb *wand- to wander. The Germanic mythological figure of Aurvandil shining wanderer, dawn wanderer, evening star, much has forwarded the theory that the tribal name Vandal reflects worship of Aurvandil or the Dioscuri, probably involving an origin myth that the Vandalic kings were descended from Aurvandil. Some medieval authors applied the ethnonym Vandals to Slavs, Veneti, Wends and it was once thought that the Slovenes were the descendants of the Vandals, but this is not the view of modern scholars. The Vandals are believed to have migrated from southern Scandinavia to the area between the lower Oder and Vistula somewhere in the 2nd century BC, and to have settled in Silesia from around 120 BC. The earliest mention of the Vandals is from Pliny the Elder, tribes within this category who he mentions are the Burgundiones, Varini, Carini, and the Gutones. Most archaeologists and historians identify the Vandals with the Przeworsk culture, the bearers of the Przeworsk culture mainly practiced cremation, with occasional inhumation. The Lugii have been identified by historians as the same people as the Vandals. The Lugii are mentioned by Strabo, Tacitus and Ptolemy as a group of tribes living between the Vistula and the Oder. Neither Strabo, Tacitus or Ptolemy mentions the Vandals, while Pliny the Elder mentions the Vandals, according to John Anderson, the Lugii and Vandili are designations of the same tribal group, the latter an extended ethnic name, the former probably a cult-title. By the end of the 2nd century, the Vandals were divided in two main groups, the Silingi and the Hasdingi, with the Silingi being associated with Silesia
Vandals
–
Vandalic goldfoil jewellery from the 3rd or 4th century
Vandals
–
Neck ring with plug clasp from the Vandalic
Treasure of Osztrópataka displayed at the
Kunsthistorisches Museum in
Vienna,
Austria.
Vandals
–
Reconstruction of a Germanic Iron Age warrior's garments representing a Vandalic man, his arms outstretched and his hair in a "
Suebian knot " (170 AD),
Archaeological Museum of Kraków.
Vandals
–
A
denarius of the reign of
Hilderic
16.
Juthungi
–
The Juthungi were a Germanic tribe in the region north of the rivers Danube and Altmühl in the modern German state of Bavaria. The tribe was mentioned by the Roman historians Publius Herennius Dexippus and Ammianus Marcellinus, the meaning of their name is “descendants”, and refers to the ancient Suebian tribe of the Semnoni. The Juthungi invaded Italy in 259–260, but on their way back they were defeated near Augsburg on 24–25 April 260 by Marcus Simplicinius Genialis, at this time the Roman Empire lost control of this part of the limes. Between 356 and 358 the Juthungi and the Alamanni invaded the province of Raetia, a second invasion of Raetia in 383 was repelled by an army of Alans and Huns. Between 429 and 431 the Roman general Aëtius also fought against the Juthungi in Raetia, Augsburg Victory Altar Dexippus - FGrHist 100 Panegyrici Latini VIII10.4 Ammianus Marcellinus 17,6 Sidonius Apollinaris, c. 7,233 List of ancient Germanic peoples
Juthungi
–
Memorial stone from Augsburg
17.
Sarmatians
–
The Sarmatians were a large confederation of Iranian people during classical antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD. They spoke Scythian, an Indo-European language from the Eastern Iranian family and their territory, which was known as Sarmatia to Greco-Roman ethnographers, corresponded to the western part of greater Scythia. In the 1st century AD the Sarmatians began encroaching upon the Roman Empire in alliance with Germanic tribes, in the 3rd century AD their dominance of the Pontic Steppe was broken by the Germanic Goths. With the Hunnic invasions of the 4th century, many Sarmatians joined the Goths, a related people to the Sarmatians known as the Alans survived in the North Caucasus into the Early Middle Ages, ultimately giving rise to the modern Ossetic ethnic group. The Sarmatians were eventually assimilated and absorbed by the Proto-Slavic population of Eastern Europe. Sarmatae probably originated as just one of several names of the Sarmatians. Strabo in the 1st century names as the tribes of the Sarmatians the Iazyges, the Roxolani, the Aorsi. The Greek name Sarmatai sometimes appears as Sauromatai, which is almost certainly no more than a variant of the same name, nevertheless, historians often regarded these as two separate peoples, while archaeologists habitually use the term Sauromatian to identify the earliest phase of Sarmatian culture. Any idea that the name derives from the lizard, linking to the Sarmatians use of reptile-like scale armour. Both Pliny the Elder and Jordanes recognised the Sar- and Sauro- elements as interchangeable variants, Greek authors of the 4th century mention Syrmatae as the name of a people living at the Don, perhaps reflecting the ethnonym as it was pronounced in the final phase of Sarmatian culture. Oleg Trubachyov derived the name from the Indo-Aryan *sar-mat, the Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian word *sar-, by this derivation was noted the unusual high status of women from the Greek point of view and went to the invention of Amazons. Other scholars, like Harold Walter Bailey, derived the word from Avestan sar- from tsar- in Old Iranian. It was also derived from the name of Avestan region in the west Sairima, recently R. M. Kozlova derived it from *Sъrm- < Proto-Slavic adjective *sъrmatъ, with the meaning that is rich with sormima i. e. shallows, referring to the rivers. The Sarmatians emerged in the 7th century BC in a region of the steppe to the east of the Don River, for centuries they lived in relatively peaceful co-existence with their western neighbors the Scythians. Then, in the 3rd century BC, they fought with the Scythians on the Pontic steppe to the north of the Black Sea, the Sarmatians were to dominate these territories over the next five centuries. Pliny the Elder wrote that they ranged from the Vistula River to the Danube, in 1947, Soviet archaeologist Boris Grakov defined a culture flourishing from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, apparent in late kurgan graves, sometimes reusing part of much older kurgans. It was a nomadic steppe culture ranging from the Black Sea eastward to beyond the Volga, in Hungary, a great Late Sarmatian pottery centre was reportedly unearthed between 2001 and 2006 near Budapest, in the Üllő5 archaeological site. Typical grey, granular Üllő5 ceramics form a group of Sarmatian pottery found everywhere in the north central part of the Great Hungarian Plain region
Sarmatians
–
Great steppe of Kazakhstan in early spring.
Sarmatians
–
Approximate extent of
East Iranian languages in the 1st century BC is shown in orange.
Sarmatians
–
A Sarmatian
diadem, found at the Khokhlach
kurgan near
Novocherkassk (1st century AD,
Hermitage Museum).
Sarmatians
–
Sarmatian cataphracts during
Dacian Wars as depicted on
Trajan's Column.
18.
Carpi (people)
–
The Carpi or Carpiani were an ancient people that resided in the eastern parts of modern Romania in the historical region of Moldavia from no later than c. AD140 and until at least AD318, the ethnic affiliation of the Carpi remains disputed, as there is no direct evidence in the surviving ancient literary sources. A strong body of scholarly opinion considers that the Carpi were a tribe of the Dacian nation. Other scholars have linked the Carpi to a variety of groups, including Sarmatians, Thracians, Slavs, Germans. About a century after their earliest mention by Ptolemy, during which time their relations with Rome appear to have been peaceful, in the period AD 250-270, the Carpi were an important component of a loose coalition of transdanubian barbarian tribes that also included Germanic and Sarmatian elements. These were responsible for a series of large and devastating invasions of the Balkan regions of the empire which nearly caused its disintegration in the Crisis of the Third Century, in the period 270-318, the Roman military emperors acted to remove the Carpi threat to the empires borders. Multiple crushing defeats were inflicted on the Carpi in 273,297, 298-308, the Greco-Romans called this people the Carpi or Carpiani. Probably the earliest mention of them, under the name Καρπιανοί is in the Geographia of the 2nd-century Greek geographer Ptolemy, composed c. The name Carpi or Carpiani may derive from the root as the name of the Carpathian mountain range that they occupied. The root may be the putative Proto-Indo-European word *ker/sker, meaning peak or cliff, scholars who support this derivation are divided between those who believe the Carpi gave their name to the mountain range and those who claim the reverse. In the latter case, Carpiani could mean people of the Carpathians. But the similarity between the two names may be coincidence, and they may derive from different roots, for example, it has been suggested that the name may derive from the Slavic root-word krepu meaning strong or brave. Also, it had suggested that Carpathian Mountains may derive from the Sanskrit root kar cut that would give the meaning of rugged mountains. If so, their locations could imply that the Carpi had very gradually migrated westwards in the period 400 BC - AD140 and these names common element carp- appears frequently in Dacian and Thracian placenames and personal names. But there is no consensus that these groups are in fact Carpi, Bichir suggests that they were Thraco-Dacian tribes distantly related to the Carpi. According to Ptolemys Geographia, the Carpi occupied a region between the river Hierasus and the river Porata and this was outside Dacia proper, as defined by Ptolemy, whose eastern border was the Hierasus. East of this river lay what Ptolemy termed Sarmatia Europaea, a vast region stretching as far as the Crimea, predominantly, ethnic Dacians residing outside Roman Dacia. However, it is not possible to define the territories of these groups due to the imprecision of the ancient geographical sources
Carpi (people)
–
Carpiani on a 1467 map based on
Ptolemy 's
Geographia
Carpi (people)
–
Map of
Roman Dacia showing Carpi occupying the region between the rivers Siret and Prut in
Moldavia (eastern Romania)
Carpi (people)
–
Wattle and daub house
Carpi (people)
–
Silver
Antoninianus coin issued by the Roman emperor
Philip the Arab to commemorate his victory over the Carpi in AD 247. Obverse: Head of Philip wearing diadem, with legend: IMP(erator) PHILIPPVS AVG(ustus); Reverse: Figure of winged goddess Victory bearing palm and laurel wreath, with legend: VICTORIA CARPICA. Mint: Rome. Date: undated, but must have been issued in period 247-9
19.
Palmyrene Empire
–
The Palmyrene Empire, a splinter state centered at Palmyra, broke away from the Roman Empire during the crisis of the third century. It encompassed the Roman provinces of Syria Palaestina, Arabia Petraea, Egypt, Zenobia ruled the Palmyrene Empire as regent for her son Vaballathus, who had become King of Palmyra in 267. In 270 Zenobia managed to conquer most of the Roman east in a short period. However, in 271 she claimed the title for herself and for her son and fought a short war with the Roman emperor Aurelian. A year later the Palmyrenes rebelled, which led Aurelian to destroy Palmyra, the Palmyrene Empire is hailed highly in Syria and plays an important role as an icon in Syrian nationalism. The Palmyrene leader Odaenathus was declared king, and remained loyal to Gallienus, forming an army of Palmyrenes. In 260, Odaenathus won a victory over Shapur in a battle near the Euphrates. Next, Odaenathus defeated the usurpers in 261, and spent the remainder of his fighting the Persians. Odaenathus received the title Governor of the East, and ruled Syria as the imperial representative, the Augustan History also claim that Maeonius was proclaimed emperor for a very brief period, before being executed by the soldiers. However, no inscriptions or other evidence exist for Maeonius reign, Odaenathus was succeeded by his minor sons with Zenobia, the ten-year-old Vaballathus. Under the regency of Zenobia, Vaballathus was kept in the shadow while his mother assumed actual rule, Zabdas sacked Bosra, killed the Roman governor and marched south securing Roman Arabia. According to the Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh, Zenobia herself attacked Dumat Al-Jandal, however, Ibn Khordadbeh is confusing Zenobia with al-Zabbā, a semi-legendary Arab queen whose story is often confused with Zenobias story. In October of 270, a Palmyrene army of 70,000 invaded Egypt, afterward, in 271, Zabbai started the operations in Asia Minor, and was joined by Zabdas in the spring of that year. The Palmyrenes subdued Galatia, and occupied Ankara, marking the greatest extent of the Palmyrene expansion, however, the attempts to conquer Chalcedon were unsuccessful. However, toward the end of 271, Vaballathus took the title of Augustus along with his mother, in 272, Aurelian crossed the Bosphorus and advanced quickly through Anatolia. According to one account, Marcus Aurelius Probus regained Egypt from Palmyra, while the emperor continued his march, apollonius implored him, stating, Aurelian, if you desire to rule, abstain from the blood of the innocent. Aurelian, if you will conquer, be merciful, whatever the reason for his clemency, Aurelian sparing of Tyana paid off, many more cities submitted to him upon seeing that the emperor would not exact revenge upon them. Entering Issus and heading to Antioch, Aurelian defeated Zenobia in the Battle of Immae, Zenobia retreated to Antioch then fled to Emesa while Aurelian advanced and took the former
Palmyrene Empire
–
Vaballathus (right) as king on the obverse of an
Antoninianus. To the left, Aurelian as Augustus on the reverse.
Palmyrene Empire
–
The Palmyrene Empire in AD 271.
Palmyrene Empire
–
Vaballathus as Augustus, on the obverse of an Antoninianus.
Palmyrene Empire
–
Zenobia as Augusta, on the obverse of an Antoninianus.
20.
Gallic Empire
–
The Gallic Empire is the modern name for a breakaway part of the Roman Empire that functioned de facto as a separate state from 260 to 274. It originated during the Crisis of the Third Century and it was established by Postumus in 260 in the wake of barbarian invasions and instability in Rome, and at its height included the territories of Germania, Gaul, Britannia, and Hispania. After Postumus assassination in 268 it lost much of its territory and it was retaken by Roman emperor Aurelian after the Battle of Châlons in 274. This left his son Gallienus in very shaky control, shortly thereafter, the Palmyrene Empire, which came to encompass Egypt, Syria, Judea, and Arabia Petraea also broke away. The governors in Pannonia staged unsuccessful local revolts, the Emperor left for the Danube to attend to their disruption. This left Postumus, who was governor of Germania Superior and Inferior, an exceptional administrator, Postumus had also protected the Germania Inferior against an invasion led by the Franks in the summer of 260 very well. In fact, Postumus defeated the Frankish forces at Empel so decisively and this all would have combined to make Postumus one of the most powerful men in the western reaches of the Roman empire. The imperial heir Saloninus and the praetorian prefect Silvanus remained at Colonia Agrippina, to keep the young out of danger. Before long, however, Postumus besieged Colonia Agrippina and put the young heir and his guardian to death, Postumus is thought to have established his capital at Cologne or Augusta Treverorum, with Lugdunum also becoming an important city in the empire. The Gallic Empire had its own praetorian guard, two elected consuls and probably its own senate. According to the evidence, Postumus himself held the office of consul five times. Postumus successfully fended off an incursion by Gallienus in 263. However, in early 268 he was challenged by Laelianus, probably one of his commanders, Postumus quickly retook Mogontiacum and Laelianus was killed. Postumus himself, however, was overthrown and killed by his own troops, after the death of Postumus, the Gallic Empire began to decline. Subsequently Victorinus came to power, being recognized as Emperor in northern Gaul and Britannia, Victorinus spent most of his reign dealing with insurgencies and attempting to recover the Gaulish territories taken by Claudius Gothicus. He was assassinated in 271, but his mother Victoria took control of his troops, with Victorias support, Tetricus was made Emperor, and was recognized in Britannia and the parts of Gaul still controlled by the Empire. He established the court at Trier, and in 273 he elevated his son, also named Tetricus. The following year the younger Tetricus was made co-consul, but the Empire grew weak from internal strife, by that time Aurelian had defeated the Palmyrene Empire and had made plans to re-conquer the west
Gallic Empire
–
The Gallic Empire at its greatest territorial extent, after its creation by
Postumus in 260 A.D.
Gallic Empire
–
The Gallic Empire under
Tetricus I by 271 A.D. (in green)
Gallic Empire
–
Coin of
Tetricus, last emperor (271–274) of the Gallic Empire
21.
Aurelian Walls
–
The Aurelian Walls are a line of city walls built between 271 AD and 275 AD in Rome, Italy, during the reign of the Roman Emperors Aurelian and Probus. They superseded the earlier Servian Wall built during the 4th century BC, the walls enclosed all the seven hills of Rome plus the Campus Martius and, on the right bank of the Tiber, the Trastevere district. The river banks within the city appear to have been left unfortified. The size of the enclosed area is 1,400 hectares. The full circuit ran for 19 kilometres surrounding an area of 13.7 square kilometres, the walls were constructed in brick-faced concrete,3.5 metres thick and 8 metres high, with a square tower every 100 Roman feet. In the 4th century, remodelling doubled the height of the walls to 16 metres, by 500 AD, the circuit possessed 383 towers,7,020 crenellations,18 main gates,5 postern gates,116 latrines, and 2,066 large external windows. By the third century AD, the boundaries of Rome had grown far beyond the area enclosed by the old Servian Wall, Rome had remained unfortified during the subsequent centuries of expansion and consolidation due to lack of hostile threats against the city. The citizens of Rome took great pride in knowing that Rome required no fortifications because of the stability brought by the Pax Romana and the protection of the Roman Army. However, the need for updated defences became acute during the crisis of the Third Century, when barbarian tribes flooded through the Germanic frontier and the Roman Army struggled to stop them. In 270, the barbarian Juthungi and Vandals invaded northern Italy, further trouble broke out in Rome itself in the summer of 271, when the mint workers rose in rebellion. Several thousand people died in the fighting that resulted. The construction of the walls was by far the largest building project that had taken place in Rome for many decades, the construction project was unusually left to the citizens themselves to complete as Aurelian could not afford to spare a single legionary for the project. The walls were built in the time of only five years. Progress was accelerated, and money saved, by incorporating existing buildings into the structure and these included the Amphitheatrum Castrense, the Castra Praetoria, the Pyramid of Cestius, and even a section of the Aqua Claudia aqueduct near the Porta Maggiore. As much as a sixth of the walls is estimated to have composed of pre-existing structures. An area behind the walls was cleared and sentry passages were built to enable it to be reinforced quickly in an emergency, the actual effectiveness of the wall is disputable, given the relatively small size of the citys garrison. The entire combined strength of the Praetorian Guard, cohortes urbanae, instead, they carried out hit-and-run raids against ill-defended targets. The wall was a deterrent against such tactics, parts of the wall were doubled in height by Maxentius, who also improved the watch-towers
Aurelian Walls
–
A section of Aurelian wall between the Porta Ardeatina and
Porta San Sebastiano.
Aurelian Walls
–
Sentry passage near Porta Metronia.
Aurelian Walls
–
Porta Asinaria.
Aurelian Walls
–
A section of wall near the
Pyramid of Cestius.
22.
Rome
–
Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
Rome
Rome
Rome
Rome
23.
Roman Dacia
–
Roman Dacia was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 274–275 AD. Its territory consisted of eastern and south-eastern Transylvania, the Banat and it was from the very beginning organized as an imperial province and remained so throughout the Roman occupation. Historians estimates of the population of Roman Dacia range from 650,000 to 1,200,000, the conquest of Dacia was completed by Emperor Trajan after two major campaigns against Decebalus Dacian kingdom. The Romans did not occupy the entirety of the old Dacian kingdom, as the part of Moldavia, together with Maramureș. In 119, the Roman province was divided two departments, Dacia Superior and Dacia Inferior. In 124, Dacia Superior was divided into two provinces, Dacia Apulensis and Dacia Porolissensis, the Roman authorities undertook a massive and organized colonization of Dacia. New mines were opened and ore extraction intensified, while agriculture, stock breeding, Dacia began to supply grain not only to the military personnel stationed in the province but also to the rest of the Balkan area. It became a province, with about 10 cities known,8 of which held the highest rank of colonia. All the cities developed from old military camps, Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, the seat of the imperial procurator for all the three subdivisions was the financial, religious, and legislative center of the province. Apulum, where the governor of the three subdivisions had his headquarters, was not simply the greatest city within the province. There were military and political threats from the beginning of Roman Dacias existence, Free Dacians who bordered the province were the first adversary, who, after allying themselves with the Sarmatians, hammered the province during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Finding it increasingly difficult to retain Dacia, the emperors were forced to abandon the province by the 270s, making it the first of Romes long-term possessions to be abandoned. Dacia was devastated by the Germanic tribes together with the Carpi in 248–250, by the Carpi and Goths in 258 and 263, ancient sources implied that Dacia was virtually lost during the reign of Gallienus, but they also report that it was Aurelian who relinquished Dacia Traiana. He evacuated his troops and civilian administration from Dacia, and founded Dacia Aureliana with its capital at Serdica in Lower Moesia, the fate of the Romanized population of the former province of Dacia Traiana has become subject of spirited controversy. The opposing theory argues that the Romanians descended from the Romanized population of the Roman provinces of the Balkan Peninsula, the Dacians and the Getae frequently interacted with the Romans prior to Dacias incorporation into the Roman Empire. However, Roman attention on the area around the lower Danube was sharpened when Burebista unified the native tribes and his kingdom extended to Pannonia in the west and reached the Black Sea to the east, while to the south his authority extended into the Balkans. By 74 BC, the Roman legions under Gaius Scribonius Curio reached the lower Danube, Roman concern over the rising power and influence of Burebista was amplified when he began to play an active part in Roman politics. As part of Caesars planned Parthian campaign of 44 BC, he planned to cross into Dacia and eliminate Burebista, although the planned expedition into Dacia did not happen due to Caesars assassination, Burebista failed to bring about any true unification of the tribes he ruled
Roman Dacia
–
Trajan's Column (1820)
Roman Dacia
Roman Dacia
–
Trajan receives
homage from a
Dacian chieftain who has betrayed
Decebalus.
Roman Dacia
–
Captive Dacian (
Capitoline Museums)
24.
Crisis of the Third Century
–
The same number of men became accepted by the Roman Senate as emperor during this period and so became legitimate emperors. Later, Aurelian reunited the empire, the crisis ended with the ascension, the situation of the Roman Empire became dire in 235 AD, when emperor Alexander Severus was murdered by his own troops. Many Roman legions had been defeated during a campaign against Germanic peoples raiding across the borders, leading his troops personally, Alexander Severus resorted to diplomacy and paying tribute in an attempt to pacify the Germanic chieftains quickly. According to Herodian this cost him the respect of his troops, in the years following the emperors death, generals of the Roman army fought each other for control of the Empire and neglected their duties of defending the empire from invasion. Climate changes and a rise in sea levels ruined the agriculture of what is now the Low Countries forcing tribes to migrate, additionally, in 251, the Plague of Cyprian broke out, causing large-scale death, possibly weakened the ability of the Empire to defend itself. After the loss of Valerian in 260, the Roman Empire was beset by usurpers, the Roman provinces of Gaul, Britain and Hispania broke off to form the Gallic Empire. An invasion by a vast host of Goths was defeated at the Battle of Naissus in 268 or 269 and this victory was significant as the turning point of the crisis, when a series of tough, energetic soldier-emperors took power. Victories by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus over the two years drove back the Alamanni and recovered Hispania from the Gallic Empire. When Claudius died in 270 of the plague, Aurelian, who had commanded the cavalry at Naissus, succeeded him as the emperor and continued the restoration of the Empire. Aurelian reigned through the worst of the crisis, defeating the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Palmyrenes, the Persians, by late 274, the Roman Empire was reunited into a single entity, and the frontier troops were back in place. More than a century would pass before Rome again lost military ascendancy over its external enemies. However, dozens of formerly thriving cities, especially in the Western Empire, had ruined, their populations dispersed and, with the breakdown of the economic system. Major cities and towns, even Rome itself, had not needed fortifications for many centuries, finally, although Aurelian had played a significant role in restoring the Empires borders from external threat, more fundamental problems remained. Another issue was the size of the Empire, which made it difficult for a single autocratic ruler to effectively manage multiple threats at the same time. These continuing problems would be addressed by Diocletian, allowing the Empire to continue to survive in the West for over a century. Several emperors who rose to power through acclamation of their troops attempted to create stability by appointing their descendants as Caesar and these generally failed to maintain any form of coherence beyond one generation, although there were exceptions. Internally, the empire faced hyperinflation caused by years of coinage devaluation and this had started earlier under the Severan emperors who enlarged the army by one quarter and doubled the legionaries base pay. This resulted in runaway rises in prices, and by the time Diocletian came to power, some taxes were collected in kind and values were often notional in bullion or bronze coinage
Crisis of the Third Century
–
The divided Empire in AD 271.
25.
Domitian
–
Domitian was the Emperor of Rome from 81 to 96. He was the brother of Titus and son of Vespasian. During his reign, his authoritarian rule put him at odds with the senate. After the death of his brother, Domitian was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard and his 15-year reign was the longest since that of Tiberius. As emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanded the defenses of the empire. Significant wars were fought in Britain, where his general Agricola attempted to conquer Caledonia, and in Dacia, Domitians government exhibited totalitarian characteristics, he saw himself as the new Augustus, an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of brilliance. Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, as a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and army, but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate. Domitians reign came to an end in 96 when he was assassinated by court officials and he was succeeded the same day by his advisor Nerva. Modern revisionists instead have characterized Domitian as a ruthless but efficient autocrat whose cultural, economic, Domitian was born in Rome on 24 October 51, the youngest son of Titus Flavius Vespasianus—commonly known as Vespasian—and Flavia Domitilla Major. He had a sister, Domitilla the Younger, and brother. One such family, the Flavians, or gens Flavia, rose from obscurity to prominence in just four generations, acquiring wealth. Domitians great-grandfather, Titus Flavius Petro, had served as a centurion under Pompey during Caesars civil war and his military career ended in disgrace when he fled the battlefield at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC. Sabinus himself amassed further wealth and possible equestrian status through his services as tax collector in Asia, by marrying Vespasia Polla he allied the Flavian family to the more prestigious gens Vespasia, ensuring the elevation of his sons Titus Flavius Sabinus II and Vespasian to senatorial rank. The political career of Vespasian included the offices of quaestor, aedile, and praetor, and culminated with a consulship in 51, as a military commander, Vespasian gained early renown by participating in the Roman invasion of Britain in 43. Nevertheless, ancient sources allege poverty for the Flavian family at the time of Domitians upbringing, even claiming Vespasian had fallen into disrepute under the emperors Caligula, by all appearances, the Flavians enjoyed high imperial favour throughout the 40s and 60s. While Titus received an education in the company of Britannicus, Vespasian pursued a successful political. The same year the Jews of the Judaea province revolted against the Roman Empire in what is now known as the First Jewish-Roman War. Vespasian was assigned to lead the Roman army against the insurgents, of the three Flavian emperors, Domitian would rule the longest, despite the fact that his youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his older brother
Domitian
–
Bust of Domitian, in the
Musée du Louvre,
Paris.
Domitian
–
A
denarius of Domitian.
Domitian
–
A bust of
Vespasian (
Pushkin Museum).
Domitian
–
A bust of Emperor
Vitellius, (
Louvre).
26.
Illyricum (Roman province)
–
Illyricum /ɪˈlɪrᵻkəm/ was a Roman province that existed from 27 BC to sometime during the reign of Vespasian. The province comprised Illyria/Dalmatia and Pannonia, Illyria included the area along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland mountains. With the creation of this province it came to be called Dalmatia, Illyria/Dalmatia stretched from the River Drin to Istria and the River Sava in the north. The area roughly corresponded to modern northern Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Pannonia was the plain which lie to its north, from the mountains of Illyria/Dalmatia to the westward bend of the River Danube. It was in the modern Vojvodina, northern Croatia and western Hungary, as the province developed Salona became as its capital. Illyricum derived its name from Illyria and these in turn are Latin names derived from the Greek Illyris. This latter area derived its name from the fact that, being close to Greece and it was part of the Roman province of Macedonia. Illyria stretched from the River Drilon in modern northern Albania to Istria, there were numerous islands off the coast, but they lacked drinking water. The mountains were cultivated towards the coast, but for the most they were barren, lack of water and poor or arid soil made much of Illyria poor agricultural area and this gave rise to piracy. The interior of the part of Illyricum was more fertile. Illyria was inhabited by a dozens of independent tribes and tribal groupings, most of them were labelled as Illyrians. In the north there were also Celtic tribes, the Pannonian plain in the north was more fertile. Its tribes were labelled as Pannonian, archaeological finds and toponyms show that the Pannonians differed culturally form the Illyrians and the eastern Celts who lived to their west, in what is now Austria. They were later Celticised following a Celtic invasion of the part of the region at the beginning of the 4th century BC. Some tribes in the area were Celtic, the Pannonians also had cultural similarities with the Illyrians. Iron mining and production was an important part of their economy in the pre-Roman days, the Romans fought three Illyrian wars between 229 BC and 168 BC. The First Illyrian War broke out due to concerns about attacks on the ships of Rome’s Italian allies in the Adriatic Sea by Illyrian pirates, numerous attacks on Italian ships prompted Rome to intervene. The Roman freed the Greek cities and attacked the Ardiaei, in 220 BC the Ardiaei carried out attacks on the Greek coast in the west, south and southeast
Illyricum (Roman province)
–
The Roman province of Illyricum comprised Dalmatia and Pannonia.
Illyricum (Roman province)
27.
Pannonia Inferior
–
Lower Pannonia, was an ancient Roman province. It was one on the provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by the emperor Trajan, the province included parts of present-day Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. While Pannonia Superior bordered with the Quadi to the north, Pannonia Inferior had to the west the Sarmatian Iazyges, major settlements in Pannonia Inferior included, Sirmium which several times served as an imperial residence for several emperors. In the Frankish period, in the 9th century, Lower Pannonia was a duchy that spanned from the Drava to the Sava,141 Marcus Pontius Laelianus Larcius Sabinus c. 153 Marcus Iallius Bassus Fabius Valerianus c,159 Gaius Julius Geminius Capellianus c. 161-164 Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus c.167 Lucius Ulpius Marcellus before 173 Gaius Vettius Sabinanus Julius Hospes c,183 Pannoni Pannonia Pannonia Secunda Pannonia Valeria Diocese of Pannonia Roman Empire Roman Empire - Pannonia Pannonia Inferior - Map
Pannonia Inferior
–
Pannonia Inferior map
28.
Dacia
–
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians. The Greeks referred to them as the Getae, which were specifically a branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus Mons, Dacia was bounded in the south approximately by the Danubius river, in Greek sources the Istros, or at its greatest extent, by the Haemus Mons. Moesia, a region south of the Danube, was an area where the Getae lived and interacted with the Ancient Greeks. In the east it was bounded by the Pontus Euxinus and the river Danastris, but several Dacian settlements are recorded between the rivers Dniester and Hypanis, and the Tisia to the west. At times Dacia included areas between the Tisa and the Middle Danube, the Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus corresponds to the present day countries of Romania and Moldova, as well as parts of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary. Dacian tribes had both peaceful and military encounters with neighboring tribes, such as Sarmatians, Scythians. A Dacian Kingdom of variable size existed between 82 BC until the Roman conquest in AD106, the Dacians are first mentioned in the writings of the Ancient Greeks, in Herodotus and Thucydides. The extent and location of Dacia varied in its three historical periods, The Dacia of King Burebista, stretched from the Black Sea to the river Tisa. During that period, the Geto-Dacians conquered a territory and Dacia extended from the Middle Danube to the Black Sea littoral. In 53 BC, Julius Caesar stated that the lands of the Dacians started on the edge of the Hercynian Forest. After Burebistas death, his kingdom split in four states, later five, the hold of the Dacians between the Danube and Tisza was tenuous. However, the archaeologist Parducz argued a Dacian presence west of the Tisa dating from the time of Burebista, according to Tacitus Dacians bordered Germania in the south-east, while Sarmatians bordered it in the east. Written a few decades after the Roman conquest of parts of Dacia in AD 105–106, according to the scholars interpretation of Ptolemy Dacia was the region between the rivers Tisza, Danube, upper Dniester, and Siret. Mainstream historians accept this interpretation, Avery Berenger Fol Mountain, Waldman Mason, Ptolemy also provided a couple of Dacian toponyms in south Poland in the Upper Vistula river basin, Susudava and Setidava. This could have been an echo of Burebistas expansion and it seems that this northern expansion of the Dacian language, as far as the Vistula river, lasted until AD 170–180 when the migration of the Vandal Hasdingi pushed out this northern Dacian group. This Dacian group, possibly the Costoboci/Lipiţa culture, is associated by Gudmund Schütte with towns having the specific Dacian language ending dava i. e. Setidava. In the 2nd century AD, after the Roman conquest, Ptolemy puts the eastern boundary of Dacia Traiana as far east as the Hierasus river, after the Marcomannic Wars, Dacian groups from outside Roman Dacia had been set in motion
Dacia
–
Dacian Draco
Dacia
–
Dacia cf.
Strabo (c. 20 AD)
Dacia
–
The map of Dacia by Brue Adrien Hubert (1826)
29.
Roman naming conventions
–
The distinguishing feature of Roman nomenclature was the use of both personal names and regular surnames. Throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, other ancient civilizations distinguished individuals through the use of personal names. Consisting of two elements, or themes, these names allowed for hundreds or even thousands of possible combinations. But a markedly different system of nomenclature arose in Italy, where the name was joined by a hereditary surname. Over time, this binomial system expanded to include additional names, the most important of these names was the nomen gentilicium, or simply nomen, a hereditary surname that identified a person as a member of a distinct gens. This was preceded by the praenomen, or forename, a name that served to distinguish between the different members of a family. The origin of this system is lost in prehistory, but it appears to have been established in Latium. In written form, the nomen was usually followed by a filiation, indicating the name of an individuals father. Toward the end of the Roman Republic, this was followed by the name of a citizens voting tribe, lastly, these elements could be followed by additional surnames, or cognomina, which could be either personal or hereditary, or a combination of both. The Roman grammarians came to regard the combination of praenomen, nomen, even then, not all Roman citizens bore cognomina, and until the end of the Republic the cognomen was regarded as somewhat less than an official name. Naming conventions for women also varied from the concept of the tria nomina. By the end of the Republic, the majority of Roman women either did not have or did not use praenomina, most women were called by their nomen alone, or by a combination of nomen and cognomen. For a variety of reasons, the Roman nomenclature system broke down in the following the collapse of imperial authority in the west. The praenomen had already become scarce in written sources during the fourth century, over the course of the sixth century, as Roman institutions and social structures gradually fell away, the need to distinguish between nomina and cognomina likewise vanished. By the end of the century, the people of Italy. But many of the names that had originated as part of the tria nomina were adapted to this usage, as in other cultures, the early peoples of Italy probably used a single name, which later developed into the praenomen. Marcus Terentius Varro wrote that the earliest Italians used simple names, names of this type could be honorific or aspirational, or might refer to deities, physical peculiarities, or circumstances of birth. In this early period, the number of personal names must have quite large
Roman naming conventions
–
An
Etruscan musician, fresco from the
Tomb of the Triclinium, near
Tarquinii, c. 470 BC
Roman naming conventions
–
The Shepherd Faustulus Bringing Romulus and Remus to His Wife Nicolas Mignard, 1606–1668
Roman naming conventions
–
A Roman child. In the Peristyle (1874), John William Waterhouse, 1849–1917
Roman naming conventions
–
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator. Maximus was the branch of the
Fabia gens to which he belonged; Verrucosus was a personal cognomen referring to a wart above his upper lip; Cunctator a cognomen ex virtute referring to his delaying strategy against
Hannibal. Statue at
Schönbrunn Palace,
Vienna
30.
Freedwoman
–
A freedman or freedwoman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed either by manumission or emancipation, a fugitive slave is one who escaped slavery by fleeing. Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become plebeian citizens, the act of freeing a slave was called manumissio, from manus, hand, and missio, the act of releasing. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed not only freedom from ownership. A slave who had acquired libertas was known as a libertus in relation to his former master, as a social class, freed slaves were liberti, though later Latin texts used the terms libertus and libertini interchangeably. Libertini were not entitled to public office or state priesthoods. During the early Empire, however, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, any future children of a freedman would be born free, with full rights of citizenship. The Claudian Civil Service set a precedent whereby freedmen could be used as servants in the Roman bureaucracy. In addition, Claudius passed legislation concerning slaves, including a law stating that sick slaves abandoned by their owners became freedmen if they recovered, the emperor was criticized for using freedmen in the Imperial Courts. Some freedmen enjoyed enormous success and became quite wealthy, the brothers who owned House of the Vettii, one of the biggest and most magnificent houses in Pompeii, are thought to have been freedmen. A freedman who became rich and influential might still be looked down on by the aristocracy as a vulgar nouveau riche. Trimalchio, a character in the Satyricon of Petronius, is a caricature of such a freedman, for centuries Arab slave traders took and transported an estimated 10 to 15 million sub-Saharan Africans to slavery in North Africa and the Middle East. They also enslaved Europeans from coastal areas and the Balkans, many Arabs took women slaves as concubines in their harems. In the patrilineal societies, mixed-race children of concubines and Arab men were considered free and were given inheritance rights related to their fathers property. In the United States, the freedmen and freedwomen refer chiefly to former slaves emancipated during and after the American Civil War, by the Emancipation Proclamation. Slaves freed before the war, usually by individual manumissions, often in wills, were referred to as Free Negroes or free blacks. There were numerous such families formed in the Upper South before the Revolution, for the first two decades after the Revolution, thousands of slaves were freed in the Upper South, and most northern states abolished slavery, some on a gradual basis. In Louisiana and other areas of the former New France, free people of color were classified in French as gens de couleur libres and they were born to African or African-European mothers and white fathers of mixed-race African and French or other European ancestry
Freedwoman
–
Cinerary urn for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter
Freedwoman
–
Old former slave with horn formerly used to call slaves, Texas, 1939. Photo by
Russell Lee.
31.
Sol Invictus
–
Sol Invictus was the official sun god of the later Roman Empire and a patron of soldiers. In 274 AD the Roman emperor Aurelian made it an official cult alongside the traditional Roman cults, scholars disagree about whether the new deity was a refoundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol, a revival of the cult of Elagabalus or completely new. The god was favored by emperors after Aurelian and appeared on their coins until Constantine I, the last inscription referring to Sol Invictus dates to AD387, and there were enough devotees in the 5th century that Augustine found it necessary to preach against them. Different explanations for the date similarity are considered to be academically thoroughly viable hypotheses by some, Invictus was an epithet for several deities of classical Roman religion, including the supreme deity Jupiter, the war god Mars, Hercules, Apollo, and Silvanus. It had been in use from the 3rd century BC, the Roman cult to Sol is continuous from the earliest history of the city until the institution of Christianity as the exclusive state religion. Scholars have sometimes regarded the traditional Sol and Sol Invictus as two separate deities, but the rejection of this view by S. E. Hijmans has found supporters. An inscription of AD102 records a restoration of a portico of Sol in what is now the Trastevere area of Rome by a certain Gaius Iulius Anicetus, another, stylistically dated to the 2nd century, is inscribed on a Roman phalera, inventori lucis soli invicto augusto. Augustus is a regular epithet linking deities to the Imperial cult, Sol Invictus played a prominent role in the Mithraic mysteries, and was equated with Mithras himself. The relation of the Mithraic Sol Invictus to the cult of the deity with the same name is unclear. According to the Historia Augusta, Elagabalus, the teenaged Severan heir, adopted the name of his deity, once installed as emperor, he neglected Romes traditional State deities and promoted his own as Romes most powerful deity. This ended with his murder in 222, the Historia Augusta refers to the deity Elagabalus as also called Jupiter and Sol. While this has seen as an attempt to import the Syrian sun god to Rome. The Roman gens Aurelia was associated with the cult of Sol, after his victories in the East, the Emperor Aurelian thoroughly reformed the Roman cult of Sol, elevating the sun-god to one of the premier divinities of the Empire. Every pontifex of Sol was a member of the senatorial elite, Aurelian also built a new temple for Sol, which was dedicated on December 25,274, and brought the total number of temples for the god in Rome to four. He also instituted games in honor of the sun god, held four years from a. d.274 onwards. The identity of Aurelians Sol Invictus has long been a subject of scholarly debate, based on the Augustan History, some scholars have argued that it was based on Sol Elagablus of Emesa. Professor Gary Forsythe discusses these arguments and adds a more recent one based on the work of Steven Hijmans. Hijmans argues that Aurelians solar deity was simply the traditional Greco-Roman Sol Invictus, statuettes of Sol Invictus, carried by the standard-bearers, appear in three places in reliefs on the Arch of Constantine
Sol Invictus
–
Coin of Emperor
Probus, circa 280, with Sol Invictus riding a
quadriga, with legend SOLI INVICTO, "to the Unconquered Sun": the Emperor (at left) wears a radiated
solar crown, worn also by the god on the
obverse
Sol Invictus
–
Dedication made by a priest of
Jupiter Dolichenus on behalf of the wellbeing (
salus) of the emperors, to Sol Invictus and the
Genius of the military unit
equites singulares
Sol Invictus
–
Roman Imperial
repoussé silver disc of Sol Invictus (3rd century), found at
Pessinus (
British Museum)
Sol Invictus
–
Coin of Emperor
Constantine I depicting Sol Invictus with the legend SOLI INVICTO COMITI, circa 315.
32.
Claudius II
–
Claudius II, commonly known as Claudius Gothicus, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and scored a victory against the Goths at the Battle of Naissus and he died after succumbing to the Plague of Cyprian that ravaged the provinces of the Empire. Born on May 10,210, he was either from Sirmium in Pannonia Inferior or from Naissus Dardania, in September 268, he found himself assigned as a military tribune with the Imperial Army besieging the usurper Aureolus in Milan. His troops then proclaimed him Emperor amid charges, never proven, however, he soon proved to be less than bloodthirsty, as he asked the Roman Senate to spare the lives of Gallienus family and supporters. He was less magnanimous toward Romes enemies, however, and it was to this that he owed his popularity and it is possible Claudius gained his position and the respect of the soldiers by being physically strong and especially cruel. A legend tells of Claudius knocking out a horses teeth with one punch, when Claudius performed as a wrestler in the 250s, he supposedly knocked out the teeth of his opponent when his genitalia had been grabbed in the match. Claudius, like Maximinus Thrax before him, was of barbarian birth, during the 260s, the breakup of the Roman Empire into three distinct governing entities placed the whole Roman imperium into a precarious position. Gallienus was seriously weakened by his failure to defeat Postumus in the West, by 268, however, the situation had changed, as Odaenathus was assassinated, most likely out of court intrigue, and Gallienus fell victim to a mutiny in his own ranks. Upon the death of Odaenathus, power fell to his younger son, after four years of delay, Postumus had established power, but in 265, when Gallienus and his men crossed the Alps, they defeated and besieged Postumus in an Gallic city. When victory appeared to be near, Gallienus made the mistake of approaching the city walls too closely and was gravely injured, in the next three years, Gallienus troubles would only get worse. The Skythai successfully invaded the Balkans in the months of 268, and Aureolus, a commander of the cavalry, declared himself an ally of Postumus. At this time, another invasion was taking place, a group called the Herulians navigated through Asia Minor and then into Greece on a naval expedition. Details of these invasions are abstract, as it is impossible to reconstruct the happenings. Scholars assume Gallienus efforts were focused on Aureolus, the officer who betrayed him, the death of Gallienus is surrounded by conspiracy and betrayal, as were many emperors deaths. Different accounts of the incident are recorded, but they agree that senior officials wanted Gallienus dead, according to two accounts, the prime conspirator was Aurelius Heraclianus, the Praetorian Prefect. It is written that while sitting down at dinner, Gallienus was told that Aureolus, Gallienus rushed to the front lines, ready to give orders, when he was struck down by a commander of his cavalry. In this plot, Aurelian is added as a possible conspirator, whichever story is true, Gallienus was killed in the summer of 268, and Claudius was chosen by the army outside of Milan to succeed him. Accounts tell of hearing the news of the new Emperor
Claudius II
–
Bust of Emperor Claudius II.
Claudius II
–
Antoninianus of Claudius II
33.
Gallienus
–
Gallienus was Roman Emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire, while he won a number of military victories, he was unable to prevent the secession of important provinces. The exact birth date of Gallienus is unknown, the Greek chronicler John Malalas and the Epitome de Caesaribus report that he was about 50 years old at the time of his death, meaning he was born around 218. He was the son of emperor Valerian and Mariniana, who may have been of senatorial rank, possibly the daughter of Egnatius Victor Marinianus, and his brother was Valerianus Minor. Inscriptions on coins connect him with Falerii in Etruria, which may have been his birthplace, it has yielded many inscriptions relating to his mothers family, Gallienus married Cornelia Salonina about ten years before his accession to the throne. When Valerian was proclaimed Emperor on 22 October 253, he asked the Senate to ratify the elevation of Gallienus to Caesar and he was also designated Consul Ordinarius for 254. As Marcus Aurelius and his adopted brother Lucius Verus had done an earlier, Gallienus. Valerian left for the East to stem the Persian threat, and Gallienus remained in Italy to repel the Germanic tribes on the Rhine and Danube. Gallienus spent most of his time in the provinces of the Rhine area, though he almost certainly visited the Danube area, according to numismatic evidence, he seems to have won many victories there, and a victory in Roman Dacia might also be dated to that period. Even the hostile Latin tradition attributes success to him at this time, in 255 or 257, Gallienus was made Consul again, suggesting that he briefly visited Rome on those occasions, although no record survives. Valerian II had apparently died on the Danube, most likely in 258, Ingenuus may have been responsible for that calamity. Alternatively, the defeat and capture of Valerian at the battle of Edessa may have been the trigger for the subsequent revolts of Ingenuus, Regalianus, in any case, Gallienus reacted with great speed. He left his son Saloninus as Caesar at Cologne, under the supervision of Albanus and he then hastily crossed the Balkans, taking with him the new cavalry corps under the command of Aureolus and defeated Ingenuus at Mursa or Sirmium. The victory must be attributed mainly to the cavalry and its brilliant commander, Ingenuus was killed by his own guards or committed suicide by drowning himself after the fall of his capital, Sirmium. Franks broke through the lower Rhine, invading Gaul, some reaching as far as southern Spain, the Alamanni invaded, probably through Agri Decumates, likely followed by the Juthungi. After devastating Germania Superior and Raetia, they entered Italy, the first invasion of the Italian peninsula, aside from its most remote northern regions, since Hannibal 500 years before. When invaders reached the outskirts of Rome, they were repelled by an army assembled by the Senate, consisting of local troops. The battle of Mediolanum was decisive, and the Alamanni did not bother the empire for the ten years
Gallienus
–
Bust of Gallienus
Gallienus
–
Gallienus depicted on a lead
seal
Gallienus
–
Arch of Gallienus in Rome, 262 – dedicated to, rather than built by, Gallienus.
Gallienus
–
Antoninianus issued to celebrate LEG II ITAL VII P VII F, "
Legio II Italica seven times faithful and loyal."
34.
Battle of Naissus
–
The Battle of Naissus was the defeat of a Gothic coalition by the Roman Empire under Emperor Gallienus near Naissus. The events around the invasion and the battle are an important part of the history of the Crisis of the Third Century. As is often the case in the history of the Roman Empire in the troubled 3rd century, the text of Dexippus has survived only indirectly, through quotations in the fourth-century Augustan History and extracts in ninth-century Byzantine compilations. Despite his importance for the period, Dexippus has been declared a poor source by the modern historian David S. Potter, to make matters worse, the works making use of Dexippus provide an almost radically different interpretation of events. The imperial propaganda in the age of Constantines dynasty added more confusion by attributing all the calamities to the reign of Gallienus to avoid blemishing the memory of Claudius. As a consequence, controversy still exists on the number of invasions, therefore, there is a dispute over who was the Emperor and head of the army at the time of the battle. In 1939, Andreas Alföldi, preferring the single invasion theory, suggested that Gallienus was the one responsible for defeating the barbarian invasions. His view had been accepted since then, but modern scholarship usually attributes the final victory to Claudius II. The single invasion theory has also rejected in favour of the two separate invasions. The narrative below follows the latter view but the reader must be warned that the evidence is too confused for an entirely safe reconstruction, the battle of Naissus came about as a result of two massive invasions of Scythian tribes into Roman territory between 267 and 269. The first wave came during the reign of Gallienus in 267 and started when the Heruli, raiding on 500 ships, ravaged the southern Black Sea coast and unsuccessfully attacked Byzantium and Cyzicus. Then an Athenian militia, led by the historian Dexippus, pushed the invaders to the north where they were intercepted by the Roman army under Gallienus. He won an important victory near the Nestos River, on the boundary between Macedonia and Thrace, with the aid of the Dalmatian cavalry, reported barbarian casualties were 3,000 men. Subsequently, the Heruli leader Naulobatus came to terms with the Romans, in the past, the battle on the Nessos was identified as the Battle of Naissus, but modern scholarship has rejected this view. On the contrary, there is a theory that the victory at Nessos was so decisive that Claudius efforts against the Goths were no more than a mopping-up operation. After his victory, Gallienus left Marcian in place and hastily left for Italy, after Gallienus was assassinated outside Milan in the summer of 268 in a plot led by high officers in his army, Claudius was proclaimed emperor and headed to Rome to establish his rule. Claudius immediate concerns were with the Alemanni, who had invaded Raetia, after he defeated them in the Battle of Lake Benacus, he was finally able to take care of the invasions in the Balkan provinces. In the meantime, the second and larger sea-borne invasion had started, an enormous coalition of Scythians—actually consisting of Goths, Gepids and Peucini, led again by the Heruli—assembled at the mouth of river Tyras
Battle of Naissus
–
Map of the Gothic invasions of 267–269 AD (according to the two invasions theory)
35.
Aureolus
–
For the Frankish ruler of Aragon, see Aureolus of Aragon. Aureolus was a Roman military commander and would-be usurper and he was one of the so-called Thirty Tyrants who populated the reign of the Emperor Gallienus. Of humble Daco-Roman origins, he was made by the Emperor Gallienus and proved himself to be one of the most brilliant and innovative soldiers of the age. However, he turned against his benefactor, and was destroyed in the political turmoil that surrounded the Emperors assassination in a conspiracy orchestrated by his senior officers. The ancient sources refer to Aureolus are limited and the information they do provide is often contradictory. They include the Historia Augusta, Zonaras epitome and Zosimus Historia Nova and his career was most recently summarised in John Brays biography of Gallienus. The analysis of Aureoluss career given here, especially his final rebellion, is based on Bray. There is no way of determining his date of birth, Zonaras says that he was a herdsman born in the Roman province of Dacia, north of the Danube. It may be conjectured that, like many Dacians, he enlisted in the Roman Army as a man and had the good fortune to come to the attention of the Emperor Gallienus. His first job was said to have been as a groom, if so, he must have been a good one, because we first encounter him as Master of the Imperial Horses according to Zonaras. The exact meaning of term is yet unclear. Does it mean that he was Gallienuss Head Groom or does it refer to his position as commander of Gallienuss cavalry army. He was said to have been ambidextrous which is doubtless a useful skill for a groom, Aureolus was the first commander of this force under the Emperor. Aureolus first made his mark in history in 258 when his cavalry was responsible for the defeat of the usurper Ingenuus at the Battle of Mursa. In 261 he commanded the force which defeated the army of the usurpers Macrianus Major, in any case Gallienus seems to have given Aureolus a free hand in crushing the rebels and entrusted him with a force that proved sufficient for the purpose. After the Macriani were defeated and the Danubian garrison forces who had supported them were pacified, Aureolus accompanied the Emperor in attempt to crush Postumus and his Gallic Empire. It may have been as a result of this campaign that the province of Raetia was recovered from the Gallic Empire, however, Postumus managed to evade complete defeat thanks, it was asserted, to the carelessness of Aureolus. It is often implied that even at this stage Aureolus was willing to see Gallienus displaced as Emperor, Zosimus reports that Aureolus and two other officers conspired against Gallienus, but that all of them were punished and submitted, except Aureolus, who retained his anger against the emperor
Aureolus
–
Aureolus from "Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum "
36.
Milan
–
Milan is a city in Italy, capital of the Lombardy region, and the most populous metropolitan area and the second most populous comune in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1,351,000, Milan has a population of about 8,500,000 people. It is the industrial and financial centre of Italy and one of global significance. In terms of GDP, it has the largest economy among European non-capital cities, Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and lies at the heart of one of the Four Motors for Europe. Milan is an Alpha leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italys Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks, the city is a major world fashion and design capital, well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students, Milans museums, theatres and landmarks attract over 9 million visitors annually. Milan – after Naples – is the second Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, the city hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. Milan is home to two of Europes major football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, the etymology of Milan is uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum comes from the Latin words medio, however, some scholars believe lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe, indeed, the name Mediolanum is borne by about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France, e. g. Saintes and Évreux. Alciato credits Ambrose for his account, around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, renaming it Mediolanum, Milan was eventually declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one, immediately Maximian built several monuments, such as a large circus 470 m ×85 m, the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other buildings. With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians, after the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city, in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Teutonic tribe, the Lombards, conquered Milan, some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne took the title of King of the Lombards, the Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period
Milan
–
Milan Cathedral,
La Scala opera house and
Porta Nuova business district
Milan
Milan
Milan
37.
Limes Germanicus
–
At its height, the limes stretched from the North Sea outlet of the Rhine to near Regensburg on the Danube. Those two major rivers afforded natural protection from mass incursions into imperial territory, with the exception of a gap stretching roughly from Mogontiacum on the Rhine to Castra Regina, the total length was 568 km. It included at least 60 forts and 900 watchtowers, Roman border defences have become much better known through systematic excavations financed by Germany and through other research connected to them. The Saalburg is a fortification and museum of the Limes near Frankfurt. The first emperor who began to build fortifications along the border was Augustus, originally there were numerous Limes walls, which were then connected to form the Upper Germanic Limes along the Rhine and the Rhaetian Limes along the Danube. Later these two walls were linked to form a common borderline, from the death of Augustus until after 70 AD, Rome accepted as her Germanic frontier the water-boundary of the Rhine and upper Danube. Beyond these rivers she held only the plain of Frankfurt, opposite the Roman border fortress of Moguntiacum, the southernmost slopes of the Black Forest. The northern section of this frontier, where the Rhine is deep and broad, the upper Rhine and upper Danube are easily crossed. The frontier which they form is inconveniently long, enclosing an acute-angled wedge of foreign territory between the modern Baden and Württemberg, the Germanic populations of these lands seem in Roman times to have been scanty, and Roman subjects from the modern Alsace-Lorraine had drifted across the river eastwards. The first advance came about 74 AD, when what is now Baden was invaded and in part annexed, the point of the angle was broken off. The second advance was made by Domitian about 83 AD, among the blockhouses was one which by various enlargements and refoundations grew into the well-known Saalburg fort on the Taunus near Bad Homburg. This advance necessitated a third movement, the construction of a frontier connecting the annexations of AD74 and we know the line of this frontier which ran from the Main across the upland Odenwald to the upper waters of the Neckar and was defended by a chain of forts. The angle between the rivers was now almost full, but there remained further advance and further fortification. This is the frontier which is now visible and visited by the curious, the southern part of the Pfahlgraben is remarkably straight, for over 50 km it points almost absolutely true for Polaris. This frontier remained for about 100 years, and no doubt in that long period much was done to it to which precise dates are difficult to fix and it cannot even be absolutely certain when the frontier laid out by Pius was equipped with the manpitts and other special fortifications. Germanic invasions in the late 3rd century led to the abandonment of the so-called Upper Raetian Limes in favour of a Roman defence line along the rivers Rhine, Iller and Danube. Support was provided to some degree by fast river boats, the navis lusoria being the standard type, watch towers were in sight contact and heavily fortified castra placed at important passes and in the hinterland of the frontier. The limes itself is a simple construction
Limes Germanicus
–
Reconstructed Limes near Saalburg, Germany.
Limes Germanicus
Limes Germanicus
–
Reconstructed stone wall near Rainau-Buch. In the foreground: stone tower "WP 12/77"
Limes Germanicus
–
The tower "WP 14/55" at the Upper German-Raetian border wall
38.
Danube
–
The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
Danube
–
Danube in
Vienna
Danube
–
The Danube discharges into the
Black Sea.
Danube
–
Where the Danube Meets the
Black Sea (
NASA Goddard image).
Danube
–
The confluence of the
Sava into the Danube at
Belgrade. Pictured from
Belgrade Fortress,
Serbia
39.
Raetia
–
Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the west with Transalpine Gaul and on south with Venetia et Histria. It thus comprised the districts occupied in modern times by eastern and central Switzerland, southern Bavaria and the Upper Swabia, Vorarlberg, the part of Tirol. Later Vindelicia formed part of Raetia, the northern border of Raetia during the times of Augustus and Tiberius was the River Danube. Later the Limes Germanicus marked the boundary, stretching for 166 km north of the Danube. Raetia linked to Italy across the Alps over the Reschen Pass, the Romansh people living in Southeast Switzerland are believed to be direct descendants of the Raetians. However, the lineage of the Romansh people remains incomplete. Little is known of the origin or history of the Raetians, livy states distinctly that they were of Etruscan origin. The Raetians are first mentioned by Polybius, and little is heard of them till after the end of the Republic, there is little doubt, however, that they retained their independence until their subjugation in 15 BC by Tiberius and Drusus. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, Raetia was governed by the commander of the Legio III Italica, the boundary between them is not clearly defined, but may be stated generally as a line drawn eastwards from the lacus Brigantinus to the Oenus. Much of Raetia prima remained as a political unit, Raetia Curiensis, for several centuries. Some of the valleys, however, were rich and fertile, and produced wine, Augustus Caesar preferred Raetian wine to any other. Considerable trade in pitch, honey, wax, and cheese occurred, the chief towns of Raetia were Tridentum and Curia. The Rätikon mountain range derives its name from Raetia, Alpine regiments of the Roman army This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Raetia. PC von Planta, Das alte Rätien T Mommsen in Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, iii. p.706 Joachim Marquardt, P. pp.16,161,196 Mary B Peaks, The General Civil and Military Administration of Noricum and Raetia. Bagnall, R. J. Drinkwater, A. Esmonde-Cleary, W. Harris, R. Knapp, S. Mitchell, S. Parker, C. Wells, J. Wilkes, R. Talbert, M. E. Downs, M. Joann McDaniel, B. Z. Lund, T. Elliott, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list
Raetia
40.
Alps
–
The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
Alps
–
Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, view from the
Savoy side
Alps
Alps
–
An "alp" refers to a high mountain pasture, often with a structure, such as this one on the south side of the Alps, where cows are taken for grazing.
Alps
–
The Alps extend in an arc from France in the south and west to Slovenia in the east, and from Monaco in the south to Germany in the north.
41.
Battle of Lake Benacus
–
Ιn 268, the Alamanni, who had been making incursions into Roman territory since the reign of Marcus Aurelius, had broken through the Roman frontier at the Danube and crossed the Alps. Having defeated and killed Aureolus in the Siege of Mediolanum Claudius led his army, together with the remnants of Aureolus force, details of the battle are unknown but future emperor Aurelian certainly played a part. After what was described as a victory, Claudius assumed the title Germanicus Maximus. Much of the German army was slaughtered on the field with the remainder retreating beyond the bounds of the empire, Claudius returned to Rome after the battle to attend to affairs of state. The Alemanni returned to Italy in 271 and won a victory against Emperor Aurelian at the Battle of Placentia before their defeat in the Battle of Fano
Battle of Lake Benacus
–
Lake Garda, the location of the battle
42.
Balkans
–
The Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkans, is a peninsula and a cultural area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe with various and disputed borders. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch from the Serbia-Bulgaria border to the Black Sea, the highest point of the Balkans is Mount Musala 2,925 metres in the Rila mountain range. In Turkish, Balkan means a chain of wooded mountains, the name is still preserved in Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary and the Balkan Province of Turkmenistan. A less popular hypothesis regarding its etymology is that it derived from the Persian Balā-Khāna, from Antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Balkan Mountains had been called by the local Thracian name Haemus. According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment, a reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, a third possibility is that Haemus derives from the Greek word haema meaning blood. The myth relates to a fight between Zeus and the monster/titan Typhon, Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhons blood fell on the mountains, from which they got their name. The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, the Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565. There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, there is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion. The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲j̲a-Balkan, Čatal-Balkan, and Ungurus-Balkani̊. The concept of the Balkans was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, during the 1820s, Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers. Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term, zeunes goal was to have a geographical parallel term to the Italic and Iberian Peninsula, and seemingly nothing more. The gradually acquired political connotations are newer and, to a large extent, after the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term Balkans again received a negative meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, even in casual usage. A European Union initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and its northern boundary is often given as the Danube, Sava and Kupa Rivers. The Balkan Peninsula has an area of about 470,000 km2. It is more or less identical to the known as Southeastern Europe. As of 1920 until World War II, Italy included Istria, the current territory of Italy includes only the small area around Trieste inside the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, the Western Balkans is a neologism coined to describe the countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Albania
Balkans
–
The Balkan Peninsula, as defined by the
Danube -
Sava -
Kupa line
Balkans
–
The Peninsula's most extensive definition, bordered by water on three sides and connected with a line on the fourth
Balkans
–
Panorama of
Stara Planina. Its highest peak is
Botev at a height of 2,376 m.
Balkans
–
View toward
Rila, the highest mountain in the Balkans which reaches 2925 m
43.
Heruli
–
In the third century, they were named along with Goths as one of the most important Scythian groups who attacked Greece from the Black Sea by sea, and marauded around the Balkans for several years. In the fourth century, they were subjugated by the empires of Ermanaric the Ostrogoth, and later Attila the Hun and they established their own kingdom and many joined Odoacer, who deposed the last Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus in 476 AD. They became well known both as soldiers in various Roman armies, in the Italian kingdom of Odoacer, and as sea raiders on the Atlantic coast, the Danubian kingdom broke up and remnants settled in the Balkans and other places. The last known political entity which was described as Herulian seem to have been in the area of modern Belgrade in the 550s, as a settlement within the Roman empire, the details of their history are difficult to reconstruct. The Herules are possibly first mentioned as the Hirri in the writings of Pliny the Elder, plinius stated that the territory extending from the Vistula river, as far as Eningia, is inhabited by the following nations, the Wends, the Scirii and the Hirri. According to Procopius, they maintained links with Thule and some even moved there after the conquest of their Danubian kingdom and their request was granted, and a new king arrived with 200 young men. The first clear mention of the Herules by Roman writers is generally taken to be in the reign of Gallienus and this is based on accepting the later writer Jordanes, who equated the Herules of his time and the Elouri mentioned by Dexippus. These Elouri accompanied the Goths and other Scythians ravaging the coasts of the Black Sea and later entering the Aegean, sacks of Byzantium, Chrysopolis, Lemnos, Scyros, Sparta, Corinth and Argos followed. Armed groups moved around Greece and the Balkans, and the East Roman military took several years to contain the threat. After suffering a defeat at the river Nessos one surrendering Herul chief named Naulobatus became the first barbarian known from written records to receive imperial insignia from the Romans. It seems to have been the Herules specifically who sacked Athens despite the construction of a new wall and this was the occasion for a famous defense made by Dexippus, whose writings were a source for later historians. Herules were also seen in western Europe before the empire of Attila, in 268 Claudius Mamertinus reported the victory of Maximian over a group of Herules and Chaibones attacking Gaul. In 406, a number of barbarian groups crossed the Rhine, entering the Roman empire. However this list is thought to have drawn on historical lists for literary effect. Some historians have speculated that there must have been a western Herul group with a power base somewhere in northern Europe. After this nothing is heard of again in that region. After the death of Attila his sons and their Ostrogoth allies lost power over the peoples of his empire at the Battle of Nedao in 454. The centre of this alliance was now settled upon the Roman border, Herules on the winning side of the Gepids were subsequently among the several peoples now able to form a kingdom on the northern banks of the Danubian area
Heruli
–
Map of the Roman empire and contemporary indigenous Europe in AD 125, showing the location of the Heruli on the
Danish islands.
44.
Gepids
–
The Gepids were an East Germanic tribe. They were closely related to, or a subdivision of, the Goths and they are first recorded in 6th-century historiography as having been allied with the Goths in the invasion of Dacia in c. In the 4th century, they were incorporated into the Hunnic Empire, under their leader Ardaric, the Gepids united with other Germanic tribes and defeated the Huns at the Battle of Nedao in 454. The Gepids then founded a kingdom centered on Sirmium, known as Gepidia, remnants of the Gepids were conquered by the Avars later in the 6th century. Jordanes reports that their name is from gepanta, an insult meaning sluggish, an Old English form of their name is recorded in Widsith, as Gefþ-, alongside the name of the Wends. The Gepids were the most shadowy of all the major Germanic peoples of the migration period, neither Tacitus nor Ptolemy mentioned them in their detailed lists of the barbarians, suggesting that the Gepids emerged only in the 3rd century AD. The first sporadic references to them, which were recorded in the late 3rd century, the 6th-century Byzantine writer, Procopius, listed the Gepids among the Gothic nations, along with the Vandals, Visigoths and Goths proper, in his Wars of Justinian. All information of the Gepids origins came from malicious and convoluted Gothic legends, according to Jordanes narration the northern island of Scandza, which is associated with Sweden by modern scholars, was the original homeland of the ancestors of the Goths and Gepids. They left Scandza in three boats under the leadership of Berig, the legendary Gothic King, Jordanes also writes that the Gepids ancestors traveled in the last of the three ships, for which their fellows mocked them as gepanta, or slow and stolid. They settled along the shore of the Baltic Sea on an island at mouth of the Vistula River, called Gepedoius, or the Gepids fruitful meadows. Jordanes passage in his Getica is the following, Should you ask how the and Gepidae are kinsmen, I can tell you in a few words. One of these three ships proved to be slower than the others, as is usually the case, and thus is said to have given the tribe their name, for in their language gepanta means slow. Hence it came to pass that gradually and by corruption the name Gepidae was coined for them by way of reproach. For undoubtedly they too trace their origin from the stock of the Goths, but because, as I have said, gepanta means something slow and stolid, the word Gepidae arose as a gratuitous name of reproach. Modern historians who write of the Gepids early history tend to apply a mixed argumentation, according to Jordanes, the Gepids decided to leave Gepedoius during the reign of their legendary king, Fastida. They moved to the south and defeated the Burgundians, after the victory, Fastida demanded land from Ostrogotha, King of the Visigoths, because the Gepids territory was hemmed in by rugged mountains and dense forests. Ostrogotha refused Fastidas demand and the Gepids joined battle with the Goths at the town of Galtis, near which the river Auha flowed and they fought until darkness when Fastida and his Gepids withdrew from the battlefield and returned to their land. Archaeologist Kurdt Horedt writes that the battle took place east of the Carpathian Mountains after 248, on the other hand, historian István Bóna says that the two armies clashed in the former province of Dacia around 290
Gepids
–
A belt buckle from the
treasure of Apahida
Gepids
–
Polities in South-Eastern Europe c. 520 AD; post Huns & before the Byzantine invasion of Gothic Italy.
Gepids
–
Gold ring with the inscription Omharus found at
Apahida.
45.
Bastarnae
–
The Bastarnae were an ancient people who between 200 BC and 300 AD inhabited the region between the Carpathian mountains and the river Dnieper, to the north and east of ancient Dacia. The Peucini, denoted a branch of the Bastarnae by Greco-Roman writers, the ethno-linguistic affiliation of the Bastarnae was probably Germanic, which is supported by ancient historians and modern archeology. However, some ancient literary sources imply Celtic or Scytho-Sarmatian influences, the most likely scenario is that they were originally a group of East Germanic tribes, originally resident in the lower Vistula river valley. In ca.200 BC, these tribes then migrated, possibly accompanied by some Celtic elements, some elements appear to have become assimilated, to some extent, by the surrounding Sarmatians by the 3rd century. Although largely sedentary, some elements may have adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle and it has not, so far, been possible to identify archaeological sites which can be conclusively attributed to the Bastarnae. The archaeological horizons most often associated by scholars with the Bastarnae are the Zarubintsy, the Bastarnae first came into conflict with the Romans during the 1st century BC, when, in alliance with Dacians and Sarmatians, they unsuccessfully resisted Roman expansion into Moesia and Pannonia. Later, they appear to have maintained relations with the Roman empire during the first two centuries AD. 180, when the Bastarnae are recorded as participants in an invasion of Roman territory, in the mid-3rd century, the Bastarnae were part of a Gothic-led grand coalition of lower Danube tribes that repeatedly invaded the Balkan provinces of the Roman empire. Large numbers of Bastarnae were resettled within the Roman empire in the late 3rd century, the origin of the tribal name is uncertain. It is not even whether it was an exonym or an endonym. One possible derivation is from the proto-Germanic word *bastjan means binding or tie, in this case, Bastarnae may have had the original meaning of a coalition or bund of tribes. It has also suggested that the name is linked with the Germanic word bastard. But Batty considers this derivation unlikely, if the name is an endonym, then this derivation is unlikely, as most endonyms have flattering meanings. The original homeland of the Bastarnae remains uncertain, babeş identifies the Sidoni, a branch of the Bastarnae which Strabo places north of the Danube delta with the Sidini located by Ptolemy in Pomerania. Batty argues that Greco-Roman sources of the 1st century AD locate the Bastarnae homeland on the side of the Northern Carpathian mountain range. Pliny locates the Bastarnae between the Suebi and the Dacians, the Peutinger Map shows the Bastarnae north of the Carpathian mountains and appears to name the Galician Carpathians as the Alpes Bastarnicae. From Galicia, the Bastarnae expanded into modern-day Moldavia and Bessarabia, Strabo describes the Bastarnae as inhabiting the territory between the Ister and the Borysthenes. He identifies three sub-tribes of the Bastarnae, the Atmoni, Sidoni and Peucini, the latter derived their name from Peuce, a large island in the Danube delta, which they had colonised
Bastarnae
–
Attempt to reconstruct Bastarnae costumes, in display at the
Archaeological Museum of Kraków. Such clothing and weapons were commonplace among barbarian peoples on the empire's borders
Bastarnae
–
Map showing
Roman Dacia and surrounding peoples in AD 125
Bastarnae
–
Silver
tetradrachm of Philip V of Macedon.
British Museum, London
Bastarnae
–
Map of
Scythia Minor (Dobruja), showing the Greek coastal cities of Histria, Tomis, Callatis and Dionysopolis (Istria, Constanţa, Mangalia and Balchik).
46.
Thessalonica
–
Its nickname is η Συμπρωτεύουσα, literally the co-capital, a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα or co-reigning city of the Eastern Roman Empire, alongside Constantinople. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, Thessaloniki was the 2014 European Youth Capital. The city of Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, an important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Ottomans in 1430, and passed from the Ottoman Empire to modern Greece on November 8,1912, the citys main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans. Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece, among street photographers, the center of Thessaloniki is also considered the most popular destination for street photography in Greece. All variations of the name derive from the original appellation in Ancient Greek, i. e. Θεσσαλονίκη. The alternative name Salonica derives from the variant form Σαλονίκη in colloquial Greek speech, in local speech, the citys name is typically pronounced with a dark and deep L characteristic of Macedonian Greek accent. The name often appears in writing in the abbreviated form Θεσ/νίκη, the city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great, under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, the city later became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire because of the importance in the Balkan peninsula. At the time of the Roman Empire, about 50 A. D. Later, Paul wrote two letters to the new church at Thessaloniki, preserved in the Biblical canon as First and Second Thessalonians. Some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the first written book of the New Testament, in 306 AD, Thessaloniki acquired a patron saint, St. Demetrius, a native of Thessalonica whom Galerius put to death. A basilical church was first built in the 5th century AD dedicated to St. Demetrius, in 379, when the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum. In 390, Gothic troops under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, by the time of the Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki was the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire. From the first years of the Byzantine Empire, Thessaloniki was considered the city in the Empire after Constantinople. With a population of 150,000 in the mid-12th century, the city held this status until its transfer to Venetian control in 1423. In the 14th century, the population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000
Thessalonica
–
The 4th-century AD
Rotunda of Galerius, one of several Roman monuments in the city and a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Thessalonica
–
The
White Tower of Thessaloniki
Thessalonica
–
Hagia Sophia church was erected in the 8th century AD based on the
Hagia Sophia in
Constantinople. Hagia Sophia is one of 15
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the city.
Thessalonica
–
Section of the
Walls of Thessaloniki
47.
Upper Moesia
–
Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included most of the territory of modern-day Serbia and the parts of the modern Republic of Macedonia, as well Northern Bulgaria. In ancient geographical sources, Moesia was bounded to the south by the Haemus and Scardus mountains, to the west by the Drinus river, on the north by the Donaris, the region was inhabited chiefly by Thracians, Dacians, Illyrian and Thraco-Illyrian peoples. The name of the region comes from Moesi, Thraco-Dacian peoples who lived there before the Roman conquest, parts of Moesia belonged to the polity of Burebista, a Getae king who established his rule over a large part of the Northern Balkans between 82 BC and 44 BC. He led plunder and conquest raids across Central and Southeastern Europe, after his assassination in an inside plot, the empire was divided into several smaller states. The region, however, was not organized as a province until the last years of Augustus reign, in 6 AD, mention is made of its governor, as a province, Moesia was under an imperial consular legate. In 86 AD the Dacian king Duras ordered his troops to attack Roman Moesia, each was governed by an imperial consular legate and a procurator. From Moesia, Domitian began planning future campaigns into Dacia and by 87 he started an offensive against Dacia. Therefore, in the summer of 87, Fuscus led five or six legions across the Danube. The campaign against the Dacians ended without an outcome, and Decebalus. Emperor Trajan later arrived in Moesia, and he launched his first military campaign into the Dacian Kingdom c, march–May 101, crossing to the northern bank of the Danube River and defeating the Dacian army near Tapae, a mountain pass in the Carpathians. Trajans troops were mauled in the encounter, however, and he put off further campaigning for the year to heal troops, reinforce, during the following winter, King Decebalus launched a counter-attack across the Danube further downstream, but this was repulsed. Trajans army advanced further into Dacian territory and forced King Decebalus to submit to him a year later, Trajan returned to Rome in triumph and was granted the title Dacicus. The victory was celebrated by the Tropaeum Traiani, however, Decebalus in 105 undertook an invasion against Roman territory by attempting to stir up some of the tribes north of the river against the empire. Trajan took to the field again and after building with the design of Apollodorus of Damascus his massive bridge over the Danube, sometime around 272, at the Moesian city of Naissus or Nissa, future emperor Constantine I was born. During administrative reforms of Emperor Diocletian, both of the Moesian provinces were reorganized, in the same time, Moesia Inferior was divided into Moesia Secunda and Scythia Minor. Moesia Secundas main cities included Marcianopolis, Odessus, Nicopolis, Abrittus, Durostorum, Transmarisca, Sexaginta Prista and Novae, the garrison of Moesia Secunda included Legio I Italica and Legio XI Claudia, as well as independent infantry units, cavalry units, and river flotillas. The Notitia Dignitatum lists its units and their bases as of the 390s CE, units in Scythia Minor included Legio I Iovia and Legio II Herculia
Upper Moesia
–
The Roman empire in the time of
Hadrian (ruled 117-138 AD), showing, on the lower
Danube river, the
imperial provinces of Moesia Superior (Serbia) and Moesia Inferior (N. Bulgaria/coastal Romania), and the 2
legion deployed in each in 125
48.
Thrace
–
It comprises southeastern Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, and the European part of Turkey. In antiquity, it was referred to as Europe, prior to the extension of the term to describe the whole continent. The name Thrace comes from the Thracians, an ancient Indo-European people inhabiting Southeastern Europe, the word itself was established by the Greeks for referring to the Thracian tribes, from Ancient Greek Thrake, descending from Thrāix. The name of the continent Europe first referred to Thrace proper, the region obviously took the name of the principal river there, Hebros, probably from the Indo-European arg white river, according to an alternative theory, Hebros means goat in Thracian. In Turkey, it is referred to as Rumeli, Land of the Romans. The name appears to derive from an ancient heroine and sorceress Thrace, who was the daughter of Oceanus and Parthenope, the historical boundaries of Thrace have varied. In one ancient Greek source, the very Earth is divided into Asia, Libya, Europa and this largely coincided with the Thracian Odrysian kingdom, whose borders varied over time. After the Macedonian conquest, this regions former border with Macedonia was shifted from the Struma River to the Mesta River and this usage lasted until the Roman conquest. Henceforth, Thrace referred only to the tract of land covering the same extent of space as the modern geographical region. The medieval Byzantine theme of Thrace contained only what today is Eastern Thrace, the largest cities of Thrace are, İstanbul, Plovdiv, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Yambol, Komotini, Alexandroupoli, Xanthi, Edirne, Çorlu and Tekirdağ. Most of the Bulgarian and Greek population are Christians, while most of the Turkish inhabitants of Thrace are Muslims, Ancient Greek mythology provides them with a mythical ancestor, named Thrax, son of the war-god Ares, who was said to reside in Thrace. The Thracians appear in Homers Iliad as Trojan allies, led by Acamas, later in the Iliad, Rhesus, another Thracian king, makes an appearance. Cisseus, father-in-law to the Trojan elder Antenor, is given as a Thracian king. Homeric Thrace was vaguely defined, and stretched from the River Axios in the west to the Hellespont, Greek mythology is replete with Thracian kings, including Diomedes, Tereus, Lycurgus, Phineus, Tegyrius, Eumolpus, Polymnestor, Poltys, and Oeagrus. In addition to the tribe that Homer calls Thracians, ancient Thrace was home to other tribes, such as the Edones, Bisaltae, Cicones. Thrace is also mentioned in Ovids Metamorphoses in the episode of Philomela, Procne, Tereus, the King of Thrace, lusts after his sister-in-law, Philomela. He kidnaps her, holds her captive, rapes her, Philomela manages to get free, however. She and her sister, Procne, plot to get revenge, by killing Itys, at the end of the myth, all three turn into birds – Procne, a swallow, Philomela, a nightingale, and Tereus, a hoopoe
Thrace
–
The physical-geographical boundaries of Thrace: the Balkan Mountains, the Rhodope Mountains and the Bosporus. The Rhodope mountain range is highlighted.
Thrace
–
The modern boundaries of Thrace in
Bulgaria,
Greece and
Turkey
Thrace
–
The Roman province of Thrace
Thrace
–
Map of Ancient Thrace made by
Abraham Ortelius in 1585, stating both the names Thrace and Europe
49.
Roman legion
–
A Roman legion was the largest unit of the Roman army involving from 3000 men in early times to over 5200 men in imperial times, consisting of centuries as the basic units. Until the middle of the first century,10 cohorts made up a Roman Legion and this was later changed to nine cohorts of standard size and one cohort, the first cohort, of double strength. In the early Roman Kingdom the legion may have meant the entire Roman army but sources on this period are few, Legions also included a small ala or cavalry unit. By the third century AD, the legion was a smaller unit of about 1,000 to 1,500 men. In the fourth century AD, East Roman border guard legions may have even smaller. The Roman army, for most of the Imperial period, consisted mostly of auxiliaries rather than legions, because legions were not permanent units until the Marian reforms, and were instead created, used, and disbanded again, several hundred legions were named and numbered throughout Roman history. To date, about 50 have been identified, toward the end of the 2nd Century BC, Rome started to experience manpower shortages brought about by property and financial qualifications to join the army. In the time of Augustus, there were nearly 50 upon his succession but this was reduced to about 25–35 permanent standing legions, a legion consisted of several cohorts of heavy infantry known as legionaries. The recruitment of non-citizens was rare but appears to have occurred in times of great need, For example, Caesar appears to have recruited the Legio V Alaudae mostly from non-citizen Gauls. In the period before the raising of the legio and the years of the Roman Kingdom. These centuries were grouped together as required and answered to the leader who had hired or raised them, the roles of century leader, second in command and standard bearer are referenced in this early period. Much Roman history of the era is shrouded in legend, but it is believed that during the reign of Servius Tullius, the census was introduced. Joining the army was both a duty and a mark of Roman citizenship, during the entire pre-Marian period the wealthiest land owners performed the most years of military service. These individuals would have had the most to lose should the state have fallen. The first and wealthiest common class was armed in the fashion of the hoplite with spear, sword, helmet, breast plate and round shield, there were 82 centuries of these, Roman soldiers had to purchase their own equipment. The second and third class also acted as spearmen but were heavily armoured and carried a larger oval or rectangular shield. The fourth class could afford no armour, perhaps bearing a shield and armed with spear. All three of the latter made up about 26 centuries
Roman legion
–
A re-enactor as a Roman centurion, c. 70.
Roman legion
Roman legion
–
A re-enactor, showing a Roman
miles, (2nd century).
Roman legion
–
Map of Roman legions by 14 AD.Source: http://f.hypotheses.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/1447/files/2014/05/Roman-legions-14-AD-Centrici-site-Keilo-Jack.jpg
50.
Philip the Arab
–
Marcus Julius Philippus, also known commonly by his nickname Philip the Arab, also known as Philip, was Roman Emperor from 244 to 249. He was born in Arabia Petraea, the Roman province of Arabia and he went on to become a major figure in the Roman Empire. He achieved power after the death of Gordian III, quickly negotiating peace with the Sassanid Empire, during his reign, Rome celebrated its millennium. Among early Christian writers, Philip had the reputation of being sympathetic to the Christian faith, probably for this reason it was even claimed by some that he had converted to Christianity, which would have made him the first Christian emperor. He supposedly tried to celebrate Easter with Christians in Antioch, Philip and his wife received letters from Origen. Philip was overthrown and killed following a rebellion led by his successor Decius, little is known about Philips early life and political career. He was born in what is today Shahba, about 55 miles southeast of Damascus, at the time this was in the Roman province of Arabia, earning Philip the nickname the Arab. He was the son of a citizen, Julius Marinus. While the name of Philips mother is unknown, he did have a brother, Gaius Julius Priscus, in 234, Philip married Marcia Otacilia Severa, daughter of a Roman Governor. Philips rise to prominence began through the intervention of his brother Priscus and his big break came in 243, during Gordian IIIs campaign against Shapur I of Persia, when the Praetorian prefect Timesitheus died under unclear circumstances. Following a military defeat, Gordian III died in 244 under circumstances that are still debated, while some claim that Philip conspired in his murder, other accounts state that Gordian died in battle. Whatever the case, Philip assumed the purple robe following Gordians death, according to Edward Gibbon, His rise from so obscure a station to the first dignities of the empire seems to prove that he was a bold and able leader. But his boldness prompted him to aspire to the throne, and his abilities were employed to supplant, not to serve, his indulgent master. Philip was not willing to repeat the mistakes of previous claimants, however, his first priority was to conclude a peace treaty with Shapur I of Persia, and withdraw the army from a potentially disastrous situation. Although Philip was accused of abandoning territory, the terms of the peace were not as humiliating as they could have been. Philip apparently retained Timesitheus’ reconquest of Osroene and Mesopotamia, but he had to agree that Armenia lay within Persia’s sphere of influence and he also had to pay an enormous indemnity to the Persians of 500,000 gold denarii. Philip immediately issued coins proclaiming that he had made peace with the Persians, leading his army back up the Euphrates, south of Circesium Philip erected a cenotaph in honor of Gordian III, but his ashes were sent ahead to Rome, where he arranged for Gordian III’s deification. Whilst in Antioch, he left his brother Priscus as extraordinary ruler of the Eastern provinces, moving westward, he gave his brother-in-law Severianus control of the provinces of Moesia and Macedonia
Philip the Arab
–
Philip the Arab
Philip the Arab
–
Coin of Marcia Otacilia Severa, wife of Philip. The Greek legend states she received the title of
Augusta.
Philip the Arab
–
Rock-face relief at
Naqsh-e Rustam of
Shapur I (on horseback) with Philip the Arab and
Emperor Valerian kneeling in surrender to the Persian king.
Philip the Arab
–
Cippus commemorating Roman Millennium.
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