Caesar (title)
Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of the Roman dictator; the change from being a familial name to a title adopted by the Roman Emperors can be dated to about AD 68/69, the so-called "Year of the Four Emperors". For political and personal reasons, Octavian chose to emphasize his relationship with Julius Caesar by styling himself "Imperator Caesar", without any of the other elements of his full name, his successor as emperor, his stepson Tiberius bore the name as a matter of course. The precedent was set: the Emperor designated his successor by adopting him and giving him the name "Caesar"; the fourth Emperor, was the first to assume the name "Caesar" upon accession, without having been adopted by the previous emperor. Claudius in turn adopted his stepson and grand-nephew Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, giving him the name "Caesar" in the traditional way; the first emperor to assume the position and the name without any real claim to either was the usurper Servius Sulpicius Galba, who took the imperial throne under the name "Servius Galba Imperator Caesar" following the death of the last of the Julio-Claudians, Nero, in 68.
Galba helped solidify "Caesar" as the title of the designated heir by giving it to his own adopted heir, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi Licinianus. Galba's reign did not last long and he was soon deposed by Marcus Otho. Otho did not at first use the title "Caesar" and used the title "Nero" as emperor, but adopted the title "Caesar" as well. Otho was defeated by Aulus Vitellius, who acceded with the name "Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus". Vitellius did not adopt the cognomen "Caesar" as part of his name and may have intended to replace it with "Germanicus". Caesar had become such an integral part of the imperial dignity that its place was restored by Titus Flavius Vespasianus, whose defeat of Vitellius in 69 put an end to the period of instability and began the Flavian dynasty. Vespasian's son, Titus Flavius Vespasianus became "Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus". By this point the status of "Caesar" had been regularised into that of a title given to the Emperor-designate and retained by him upon accession to the throne.
After some variation among the earliest emperors, the style of the Emperor-designate on coins was Nobilissimus Caesar "Most Noble Caesar", though Caesar on its own was used. The popularity of using the title Caesar to designate heirs-apparent increased throughout the third century. Many of the soldier emperors during the Crisis of the Third Century attempted to strengthen their legitimacy by naming heirs, including Maximinus Thrax, Philip the Arab, Trebonianus Gallus and Gallienus; some of these were promoted to the rank of Augustus within their father's lifetime, for example Philippus II. The same title would be used in the Gallic Empire, which operated autonomously from the rest of the Roman Empire from 260 to 274, with the final Gallic emperor Tetricus I appointing his heir Tetricus II Caesar and his consular colleague for 274. Despite the best efforts of these emperors, the granting of this title does not seem to have made succession in this chaotic period any more stable. All Caesars would be killed before or alongside their fathers, or at best outlive them for a matter of months, as in the case of Hostilian.
The sole Caesar to obtain the rank of Augustus and rule for some time in his own right was Gordian III, he was controlled by his court. On 1 March 293, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus established the Tetrarchy, a system of rule by two senior Emperors and two junior sub-Emperors; the two coequal senior emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors, as Imperator Caesar NN. Pius Felix Invictus Augustus and were called the Augusti, while the two junior sub-Emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors-designate, as Nobilissimus Caesar; the junior sub-Emperors retained the title "Caesar" upon accession to the senior position. The Tetrarchy was abandoned as a system in favour of two equal, territorial emperors, the previous system of Emperors and Emperors-designate was restored, both in the Latin-speaking West and the Greek-speaking East; the title of Caesar remained in use throughout the Constantinian period, with both Constantine I and his co-emperor and rival Licinius utilising it to mark their heirs.
In the case of Constantine, this meant that by the time he died, he had four Caesars: Constantius II, Constantine II, Constans and his nephew Dalmatius, with his eldest son Crispus having been executed in mysterious circumstances earlier in his reign. In the event, Constantine would be su
Diocletian
Diocletian, born Diocles, was a Roman emperor from 284 to 305. Born to a family of low status in Dalmatia, Diocletian rose through the ranks of the military to become Roman cavalry commander to the Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed emperor; the title was claimed by Carus' surviving son, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus. Diocletian's reign marks the end of the Crisis of the Third Century, he appointed fellow officer Maximian as Augustus, co-emperor, in 286. Diocletian reigned in the Eastern Empire, Maximian reigned in the Western Empire. Diocletian delegated further on 1 March 293, appointing Galerius and Constantius as Caesars, junior co-emperors, under himself and Maximian respectively. Under this'tetrarchy', or "rule of four", each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. Diocletian purged it of all threats to his power, he defeated the Sarmatians and Carpi during several campaigns between 285 and 299, the Alamanni in 288, usurpers in Egypt between 297 and 298.
Galerius, aided by Diocletian, campaigned against Sassanid Persia, the empire's traditional enemy. In 299 he sacked Ctesiphon. Diocletian achieved a lasting and favourable peace. Diocletian separated and enlarged the empire's civil and military services and reorganized the empire's provincial divisions, establishing the largest and most bureaucratic government in the history of the empire, he established new administrative centres in Nicomedia, Mediolanum and Trevorum, closer to the empire's frontiers than the traditional capital at Rome. Building on third-century trends towards absolutism, he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the empire's masses with imposing forms of court ceremonies and architecture. Bureaucratic and military growth, constant campaigning, construction projects increased the state's expenditures and necessitated a comprehensive tax reform. From at least 297 on, imperial taxation was standardized, made more equitable, levied at higher rates. Not all of Diocletian's plans were successful: the Edict on Maximum Prices, his attempt to curb inflation via price controls, was counterproductive and ignored.
Although effective while he ruled, Diocletian's tetrarchic system collapsed after his abdication under the competing dynastic claims of Maxentius and Constantine, sons of Maximian and Constantius respectively. The Diocletianic Persecution, the empire's last and bloodiest official persecution of Christianity, failed to eliminate Christianity in the empire. Despite these failures and challenges, Diocletian's reforms fundamentally changed the structure of Roman imperial government and helped stabilize the empire economically and militarily, enabling the empire to remain intact for another 150 years despite being near the brink of collapse in Diocletian's youth. Weakened by illness, Diocletian left the imperial office on 1 May 305, became the first Roman emperor to abdicate the position voluntarily, he lived out his retirement in his palace on the Dalmatian coast. His palace became the core of the modern-day city of Split in Croatia. Diocletian was born near Salona in Dalmatia, some time around 244.
His parents gave him the Greek name Diocles, or Diocles Valerius. The modern historian Timothy Barnes takes his official birthday, 22 December, as his actual birthdate. Other historians are not so certain, his parents were of low status. The first forty years of his life are obscure; the Byzantine chronicler Joannes Zonaras states that he was Dux Moesiae, a commander of forces on the lower Danube. The often-unreliable Historia Augusta states that he served in Gaul, but this account is not corroborated by other sources and is ignored by modern historians of the period; the first time Diocletian's whereabouts are established, in 282, the Emperor Carus made him commander of the Protectores domestici, the elite cavalry force directly attached to the Imperial household – a post that earned him the honour of a consulship in 283. As such, he took part in Carus' subsequent Persian campaign. Carus's death, amid a successful war with Persia and in mysterious circumstances – he was believed to have been struck by lightning or killed by Persian soldiers – left his sons Numerian and Carinus as the new Augusti.
Carinus made his way to Rome from his post in Gaul as imperial commissioner and arrived there by January 284, becoming legitimate Emperor in the West. Numerian lingered in the East; the Roman withdrawal from Persia was unopposed. The Sassanid king Bahram II could not field an army against them as he was still struggling to establish his authority. By March 284, Numerian had only reached Emesa in Syria. In Emesa he was still alive and in good health: he issued the only extant rescript in his name there, but after he left the city, his staff, including the prefect Aper, reported that he suffered from an inflammation of the eyes, he travelled in a closed coach from on. When the army reached Bithynia, some of the soldiers smelled an odor emanating from the coach, they opened its curtains and inside
Praetorian prefect
The praetorian prefect was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides. Under Constantine I, the office was much reduced in power and transformed into a purely civilian administrative post, while under his successors, territorially-defined praetorian prefectures emerged as the highest-level administrative division of the Empire; the prefects again functioned as the chief ministers of the state, with many laws addressed to them by name. In this role, praetorian prefects continued to be appointed by the Eastern Roman Empire until the reign of Heraclius in the 7th century AD, when wide-ranging reforms reduced their power and converted them to a mere overseers of provincial administration; the last traces of the prefecture disappeared in the Byzantine Empire by the 840s. The term praefectus praetorio was abbreviated in inscriptions as'PR PR' or'PPO'.
Under the empire the praetorians or imperial guards were commanded by one, two, or three praefects, who were chosen by the emperor from among the equites and held office at his pleasure. From the time of Alexander Severus the post was open to senators and if an equestrian was appointed he was at the same time raised to the senate. Down to the time of Constantine, who deprived the office of its military character, the prefecture of the guards was held by tried soldiers by men who had fought their way up from the ranks. In course of time the command seems to have been enlarged so as to include all the troops in Italy except the corps commanded by the city praefect; the special position of the praetorians made them a power in their own right in the Roman state, their prefect, the praefectus praetorio, soon became one of the more powerful men in this society. The emperors tried to flatter and control the praetorians, but they staged many coups d'état and contributed to a rapid rate of turnover in the imperial succession.
The praetorians thus came to destabilize the Roman state, contrary to their purpose. The praetorian prefect became a major administrative figure in the empire, when the post combined in one individual the duties of an imperial chief of staff with direct command over the guard also. Diocletian reduced the power of these prefects as part of his sweeping reform of the empire's administrative and military structures. In addition to his military functions, the praetorian prefect came to acquire jurisdiction over criminal affairs, which he exercised not as the delegate but as the representative of the emperor. By the time of Diocletian he had become a kind of grand-vizier as the emperor's vice-regent and'prime minister.' Constantine removed active military command in 312. The prefect remained as chief quarter-master general responsible for the logistical supply of the army; the prefect was the chief financial officer. His office drew up the state liturgical obligations laid on the richer inhabitants of the Empire.
He ceased to be head of administration which had to be shared with the master of the offices attached to the palace. Constantine in 331 confirmed that from the sentence of the praetorian praefect there should be no appeal. A similar jurisdiction in civil cases was acquired by him not than the time of Septimius Severus. Hence a knowledge of law became a qualification for the post, which under Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, but from the time of Severus, was held by the first jurists of the age, under Justinianus, John the Cappadocian, while the military qualification fell more and more into the background; the tetrarchy reform of Diocletian multiplied the office: there was a praetorian prefect as chief of staff —rather than commander of the guard—for each of the two Augusti, but not for the two Caesars. Each praetorian prefect oversaw one of the four quarters created by Diocletian, which became regional praetorian prefectures for the young sons of Constantine ca 330 A. D. From 395 there two imperial courts, at Rome and Constantinople, but the four prefectures remained as the highest level of administrative division, in charge of several dioceses, each of, headed by a Vicarius.
Under Constantine I, the institution of the magister militum deprived the praetorian prefecture altogether of its military character but left it the highest civil office of the empire. The office was among the many maintained after the Western Roman Empire had succumbed to the Germanic invasion in Italy, notably at the royal court of the Ostrogothic king Theoderic the Great, who as a nominal subject of Constantinople retained the Roman-era administration intact; the following is a list of all known prefects of the Praetorian Guard, from the establishment of the post in 2 BC by Augustus until the abolishment of the Guard in 314. The list is presumed to be incomplete due to the lack of sources documenting the exact number of persons who held the post, what their names were and what the length of their tenure was; the Praetorians were sometimes commanded by a single prefect, as was the case with for example Sejanus or Burrus, but more the emperor appointed two commanders, who shared joint leadership.
Overlapping terms on the list indicate dual command. For praetorian prefects after the reformation of the office by emperor Constantine I, see: Praetorian prefecture of Italy Praetorian prefecture of Gaul Praetorian prefecture of the East Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum Bingham, Sandra J. [1
Al-Mada'in
Al-Mada'in was an ancient metropolis which lay between the ancient royal centers of Ctesiphon and Seleucia. It was founded during Sasanian rule, was used as a synonym for Ctesiphon by the Arabs, by the Muslims. According to folklore, al-Mada'in was constructed by the legendary Iranian kings Tahmuras or Hushang, who named it Kardbandad; the city was later rebuilt by the legendary Iranian king Zab, the Macedonian king Alexander the Great and the Sasanian king Shapur II. According to another folklore, the names of five cities that al-Mada'in comprised were Aspanbur, Veh-Ardashir, Hanbu Shapur, Veh Jondiu-Khosrow and Kardakadh. According to Perso-Arabic sources, the capital of the Sasanian Empire, was enlarged and flourished during their rule, thus turning into a metropolis, known by in Arabic as al-Mada'in, in Aramaic as Mahoze; the oldest inhabited places of al-Mada'in was on its eastern side, which in Arabic sources is called “the Old City”, where the residence of the Sasanians, known as the White Palace, was located.
The southern side of al-Mada'in was known as Aspanbar, known by its prominent halls, games and baths. The western side was known as Veh-Ardashir, known as Mahoza by the Jews, Kokhe by the Christians, Behrasir by the Arabs. Veh-Ardashir was populated by many wealthy Jews, was the seat of the church of the Nestorian patriarch. To the south of Veh-Ardashir was Valashabad. In 495, during the turbulent reign of King Kavadh I, Mahoza was the scene of a Jewish revolt led by Exilarch Mar-Zutra II. After the king denied Jews the right to organize their own militia, Mar-Zutra took advantage of the confusion into which Mazdak's communistic attempts had plunged Persia and led a successful military revolt that achieved political independence for the Jews of Mahoza; the Jewish state lasted seven years until 502 CE when Kavadh defeated Mar-Zutra and punished him with crucifixion on the bridge of Mahoza. In 540, Khosrau I Anushirvan resettled captives from Antioch to the south of Aspanbur, a place which became known as Weh Antiok Khosrau, a Middle Persian name meaning “better than Antioch, Khosrau built this”.
It was known by the locals of the place as Rumagan. In 590, a member of the House of Mihran, Bahram Chobin repelled the newly ascended Sasanian ruler Khosrau II from Iraq, conquered the region. One year Khosrau II, with aid from the Byzantine Empire, reconquered his domains. During his reign, some of the great fame of al-Mada'in decreased, due to the popularity of Khosrau's new winter residence, Dastagerd. In 628, a deadly plague hit al-Mada'in and the rest of the western part of the Sasanian Empire, which killed Khosrau's son and successor, Kavadh II. In 629, al-Mada'in was under the control of Mihranid usurper Shahrbaraz, but the latter was shortly assassinated by the supporters of Khosrau II's daughter Borandukht. Al-Mada'in continued to be involved in constant fighting between two factions of the Sasanian Empire, the Pahlav faction under the House of Ispahbudhan and the Parsig faction under Piruz Khosrow. In 636, the Muslim Arabs, who had since 633 invaded the territories of the Sasanian Empire, defeated them during a great battle known as the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah.
The Arabs attacked Ctesiphon, seized some parts of al-Mada'in. The Muslim military officer Khalid ibn'Urfuta seized Valashabad and made a peace treaty with the inhabitants of Rumiya and Behrasir; the terms of the treaty was that the inhabitants of Rumiya were allowed to leave if they wanted to, but if they did not, they were forced to acknowledge Muslim authority, pay tribute. When the Muslim military officer Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas arrived to al-Mada'in, it was desolated, due to flight of the Sasanian royal family and troops. However, the Muslims had managed to take some of troops captive, many riches were seized from the Sasanian treasury and was given to the Muslim troops. In 637 Sa`d made Qa'qa' ibn'Amr al-Tamimi responsible for the defense of al-Mada'in, Shurahbil ibn al-Simt as the governor of al-Mada'in; the Persian companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Salman the Persian was buried in al-Mada'in in 656/7. In 661, al-Mada'in was under control of the Umayyad Caliphate, which had put an end to the Rashidun Caliphate.
A certain Simak ibn'Ubayd al-'Absi served as the governor of the metropolis in 663, another person named Ishaq ibn Mas'ud served as its governor in 685. The Azariqa, a faction of the Kharijites, attacked al-Mada'in in 687/8, massacred its inhabitants; the city was governed by Kardam ibn Martad ibn Najaba, some time by Yazid ibn Harith al-Shaybani. In 696, the Kharjite leader Shabib ibn Yazid occupied al-Mada'in. In 697, Mutarrif ibn al-Mughira was made the governor of al-Mada'in, in 701, Hanzala ibn al-Warrad and Ibn'Attab ibn Warqa' were appointed as the combined governors of the metropolis; some time the governorship of al-Mada'in was abolished. In 750, the Abbasid family captured al-Mada'in and the rest of Iraq, declared themselves as the new caliphate. In 754, the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur held his court at Rumiya, he had his prominent military officer Abu Muslim Khorasani killed at the same place. In 755, the White Palace of al-Mada'in was destroyed under the orders of al-Mansur, who wanted to create a new ci
Bahram II
Bahram II was the fifth king of the Sasanian Empire from 274 to 293. He was the son of Bahram I, he was the first Sasanian ruler to have coins minted of his family. He ordered the carving of several rock reliefs that unambiguously emphasizes distinguished representations of his family and members of the high nobility. In the east, Bahram II had to deal with revolts by his cousin Hormizd of Sakastan and brother Hormizd I Kushanshah. At the same time his empire was invaded in the west by the Roman emperor Carus, who may have occupied the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon. In Khuzestan, a Zoroastrian factional revolt had occurred. After making peace with the newly ascended Roman emperor Diocletian, Bahram II was capable of bringing peace to his domains. Bahram II died in 293, was succeeded by his son Bahram III, who after only four months of reigning, was overthrown by Narseh, a son of the second Sasanian shah Shapur I, his theophoric name "Bahram" is the New Persian form of the Middle Persian Warahrān, derived from the Old Iranian Vṛθragna.
The Avestan equivalent was Vərəθraγna, the name of the god of victory, whilst the Parthian version was *Warθagn. Bahram II was the son of Bahram I, the grandson of the prominent Sasanian shah Shapur I. Bahram II, although being the eldest son of Shapur I, was not considered a candidate for succession due to his mother's lowly origin, either a minor queen or even a concubine. Shapur I died in 270, was succeeded by his son Hormizd I, whose only reigned for a year before he died. Bahram I, with the aid of the powerful Zoroastrian priest Kartir, ascended the throne, he made a settlement with his brother Narseh to give up his entitlement to the throne in return for the governorship of the important frontier province of Armenia, the source of war between the Roman and Sasanian Empires. Narseh still most viewed Bahram I as a usurper. Bahram I's reign however, lasted shortly, ending on September 274 with his death. Bahram II succeeded him as shah; this most frustrated Narseh, who held the title of Vazurg Šāh Arminān, used by the heir to the throne.
Bahram II was met with considerable challenges during his reign. His brother Hormizd I Kushanshah, who governed the eastern portion of the empire, rebelled against him. Hormizd I Kushanshah was the first Kushano-Sasanian ruler to mint coins with the inscription of Hormizd, the "Great Kushan King of Kings" instead of the traditional "Great Kushan King" title; the Kushano-Sasanian king, now laying claims to the title of King of Kings, which had also been used by the Kushan Empire, displays a noteworthy transition in Kushano-Sasanian ideology and self-perception and a direct dispute with the ruling branch of the Sasanian family. Hormizd I Kushanshah was supported in his efforts by the Sakastanis and Kushans. Another revolt occurred in Sakastan, led by Bahram II's cousin Hormizd of Sakastan, suggested to be the same person as Hormizd I Kushanshah. However, according to Rezakhani, this proposal must now be disregarded. At the same time, a revolt led by a high-priest occurred in the province of Khuzestan, seized by the latter for a period.
Meanwhile, the Roman emperor Carus, hearing of the civil war occurring in the Sasanian Empire, chose to take advantage of the situation by making a campaign into the empire in 283. He invaded Mesopotamia while Bahram II was in the east, besieged the Sasanian capital of Ctesiphon without facing much fighting; the Sasanians, due to facing severe internal problems, were unable to mount an effective coordinated defense at the time. However, Carus shortly died afterwards being struck by lightning; the Roman army as a result withdrew, Mesopotamia was re-conquered by the Sasanians. The following year, Bahram II made peace with the Romans, now ruled by Diocletian, faced with internal issues of his own; the terms of the peace was that Armenia was to be divided between the two empires, with Western Armenia being ruled by the pro-Roman Arsacid prince Tiridates III, the remaining greater portion being kept by Narseh. However, this division is dismissed by Weber, who argues that it conflicts with other sources, that the Sasanians most kept control over Armenia until the Roman-Iranian treaty of 299.
By the time of Bahram II's death in 293, the revolts in the east had been suppressed, with his son and heir Bahram III being appointed the governor of Sakastan, receiving the title of sagān-šāh. Following Bahram II's death, Bahram III was unwillingly proclaimed shah in Pars by a group of nobles led by Wahnam and supported by Adurfarrobay, governor of Meshan. After four months of reigning, however, he was overthrown by Narseh; the line was thus shifted to Narseh, whose descendants continued to rule the empire until its fall in 651. Bahram II, like his father, received the influential Zoroastrian priest Kartir well, he saw him as his mentor, handed out several honors to him, giving him the rank of grandee, appointing him as the supreme judge of the whole empire, which indicates that thenceforth priests were given the office of judge. Kartir was appointed the steward of the Anahid fire-temple at Istakhr, under the care of the Sasanian family; the Sasanian kings thus lost much of their religious authority in the empire.
The clergy from now on served
Thrace
Thrace is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split between Bulgaria and Turkey, bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south and the Black Sea to the east. It comprises northeastern Greece and the European part of Turkey; the word Thrace was established by the Greeks for referring to the Thracian tribes, from ancient Greek Thrake, descending from Thrāix. It referred to the Thracians, an ancient Indo-European people inhabiting Southeast Europe; the name Europe first referred to Thrace proper, prior to the term vastly extending to refer to its modern concept. The region could have been named after the principal river there, Hebros 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, owing to this region being the last part of the Eastern Roman Empire, conquered by the Ottoman Empire. In terms of ancient Greek mythology the name appears to derive from the heroine and sorceress Thrace, the daughter of Oceanus and Parthenope, sister of Europa.
The historical boundaries of Thrace have varied. The ancient Greeks employed the term "Thrace" to refer to all of the territory which lay north of Thessaly inhabited by the Thracians, a region which "had no definite boundaries" and to which other regions were added. In one ancient Greek source, the Earth is divided into "Asia, Libya and Thracia"; as the Greeks gained knowledge of world geography, "Thrace" came to designate the area bordered by the Danube on the north, by the Euxine Sea on the east, by northern Macedonia in the south and by Illyria to the west. This coincided with the Thracian Odrysian kingdom, whose borders varied over time. After the Macedonian conquest, this region's former border with Macedonia was shifted from the Struma River to the Mesta River; 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. In its early period, the Roman province of Thrace was of this extent, but after the administrative reforms of the late 3rd century, Thracia's much reduced territory became the six small provinces which constituted the Diocese of Thrace.
The medieval Byzantine theme of Thrace contained only. The largest cities of Thrace are: Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Komotini, Xanthi, Istanbul, Çorlu, Kırklareli and Tekirdağ. Most of the Bulgarian and Greek population are Orthodox Christians, while most of the Turkish inhabitants of Thrace are Sunni Muslims. Ancient Greek mythology provides the Thracians with a mythical ancestor Thrax, the son of the war-god Ares, said to reside in Thrace; the Thracians appear in Homer's Iliad as Trojan allies, led by Peiros. In the Iliad, 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, stretched from the River Axios in the west to the Hellespont and Black Sea in the east; the Catalogue of Ships mentions three separate contingents from Thrace: Thracians led by Acamas and Peiros, from Aenus. Ancient Thrace was home to numerous other tribes, such as the Edones, Bisaltae and Bistones in addition to the tribe that Homer calls the “Thracians”.
Greek mythology is replete with Thracian kings, including Diomedes, Lycurgus, Tegyrius, Polymnestor and Oeagrus. Thrace is mentioned in Ovid's Metamorphoses, in the episode of Philomela and Tereus: Tereus, the King of Thrace, lusts after his sister-in-law, Philomela, he kidnaps her, holds her captive, rapes her, cuts out her tongue. Philomela manages to get free, however, she and her sister, plot to get revenge, by killing her son Itys and serving him to his father for dinner. At the end of the myth, all three turn into birds – Procne into a swallow, Philomela into a nightingale, Tereus into a hoopoe; the indigenous population of Thrace was a people called the Thracians, divided into numerous tribal groups. The region was controlled by the Persian Empire at its greatest extent, Thracian soldiers were known to be used in the Persian armies. On, Thracian troops were known to accompany neighboring ruler Alexander the Great when he crossed the Hellespont which abuts Thrace, during the invasion of the Persian Empire itself.
The Thracians did not describe themselves by name. Divided into separate tribes, the Thracians did not form any lasting political organizations until the founding of the Odrysian state in the 4th century BC. Like Illyrians, the locally ruled Thracian tribes of the mountainous regions maintained a warrior tradition, while the tribes based in the plains were purportedly more peaceable. Discovered funeral mounds in Bulgaria suggest that Thracian kings did rule regions of Thrace with distinct Thracian national identity. During this period, a subculture of celibate ascetics called the Ctistae lived in Thrace, where they served as philosophers and prophets. Sections of Thrace in the south star
Noricum
Noricum is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire, its borders were the Danube to the north and Vindelicia to the west, Pannonia to the east and southeast, Italia to the south. The kingdom was founded around 400 BC, had its capital at the royal residence at Virunum on the Magdalensberg. Around 800 BC, the region was inhabited by the people of the local Celtic Hallstatt culture. Around 450 BC, they merged with the people of the other core Celtic areas in the south-western regions of Germany and eastern France; the country is rich in iron and salt. It supplied material for the manufacturing of arms in Pannonia and northern Italy; the famous Noric steel was used in the making of Roman weapons. Gold and salt were found in considerable quantities; the plant called saliunca was used as a perfume according to Pliny the Elder. The Celtic inhabitants developed a culture rich in art, cattle breeding, salt mining and agriculture.
When part of the area became a Roman province, the Romans introduced water management and the vivid trade relations between the people north and south of the alps boosted - Noric steel was famous for its quality and hardness. Archaeological research in the cemeteries of Hallstatt, has shown that a vigorous Celtic civilization was in the area centuries before recorded history, but the Celtic Hallstatt civilization was a cultural manifestation prior to the other Celtic invasions, The Hallstatt graves contained weapons and ornaments from the Bronze Age, through the period of transition, up to the "Hallstatt culture", i.e. the developed older period of the Iron Age. The Noric language, a continental Celtic language, is attested in only fragmentary inscriptions, one from Ptuj and two from Grafenstein, neither of which provide enough information for any conclusions about the nature of the language; the kingdom of Noricum was a major provider of weaponry for the Roman armies from the mid-Republic onwards.
Roman swords were made of the best-quality steel available from this region, the chalybs Noricus. The strength of iron is determined by its carbon content; the wrought iron produced in the Greco-Roman world contained traces of carbon and was too soft for tools and weapons. It needed at least 1.5% carbon content. The Roman method of achieving this was to heat the wrought iron to a temperature of over 800 C and hammer it in a charcoal fire, causing the iron to absorb carbon from the charcoal; this technique developed empirically: there is no evidence ancient iron producers understood the chemistry. This rudimentary methods of carburisation made the quality of iron ore critical to the production of good steel; the ore needed to be rich in manganese, contain little or no phosphorus, which weakens steel. The ore mined in Carinthia fulfilled both criteria well; the Celts of Noricum discovered their ore made superior steel around 500 BC and built a major steel industry. At Magdalensberg, a major production and trading centre, specialised blacksmiths crafted metal products and weapons.
The finished arms were exported to Aquileia, a Roman colony founded in 180 BC. From 200 BC the Noricum tribes united into Celtic kingdom, known as the regnum Noricum, with its capital at a place called Noreia. Noricum became a key ally of the Roman Republic, providing high-quality weapons and tools in exchange for military protection; this was demonstrated in 113 BC. In response, the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo led an army over the Alps to attack the Germanic tribes at the Noreia. Noricum was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 16 BC. For a long time the Noricans had enjoyed independence under princes of their own and carried on commerce with the Romans. In 48 BC they took the side of Julius Caesar in the civil war against Pompey. In 16 BC, having joined with the Pannonians in invading Histria, they were defeated by Publius Silius, proconsul of Illyricum. Thereafter, Noricum was called a province, although it was not organized as such and remained a kingdom with the title of regnum Noricum, yet under the control of an imperial procurator.
Under the reign of Emperor Claudius the Noricum Kingdom was incorporated into the Roman Empire without offering resistance. It was not until the reign of Antoninus Pius that the Second Legion, Pia was stationed in Noricum, the commander of the legion became the governor of the province. Under Diocletian, Noricum was divided into Noricum ripense, Noricum mediterraneum; the dividing line ran along the central part of the eastern Alps. Each division was under a praeses, both belonged to the diocese of Illyricum in the Praetorian prefecture of Italy, it was in this time that a Christian serving as a military officer in the province suffered martyrdom for the sake of his faith canonised as Saint Florian. The Roman colonies and chief towns were Virunum, Flavia Solva, Celeia in today's Slovenia, Ovilava, Lauriacum. Knowledge of Roman Noricum has been decisively expanded by the
