Misplaced Pages

#14985

122-635: A population of Dacians existed on the fringes of the Balkan Roman provinces , especially in the eastern Carpathian Mountains , at least until about AD 340. They were responsible for a series of incursions into Roman Dacia in the period AD 120-272, and into the Roman Empire south of the Danube after the province of Dacia was abandoned by the Romans around AD 275. According to many scholars, amongst

244-623: A dux of the Illyrian and Thracian legions . Ulpius was reportedly born in the city of Italica , in modern Spain . He took an interest in Aurelian's early career. Aurelian was reportedly his deputy for a time. When a group of Goths invaded Illyria and Thrace, Ulpius had fallen ill, so he ordered Aurelian to deal with the invaders. Aurelian was designated as legate of the Third Legion. He used his force of 2,500 auxiliaries , and

366-572: A senator and corrector (governor) of Lucania et Bruttium . Aurelian returned to Rome and won his last honorific from the Senate – Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World"). This title was first assumed by Aurelian in late summer of 272, and had been carried previously by both Valerian and Gallienus. In four years, Aurelian had secured the frontiers of the Empire and reunified it. Aurelian

488-459: A usurper . With his base of power secure, he now turned his attention to Rome's greatest problems – recovering the vast territories lost over the previous two decades, and reforming the res publica . In 248, Emperor Philip the Arab had celebrated the millennium of the city of Rome with great and expensive ceremonies and games, and the Empire had given a tremendous proof of self-confidence. In

610-410: A Moesian". Pseudo-Victor and John Xiphilinus place his birthplace in an area between Dacia Ripensis and Macedonia (overlapping with Dacia Mediterranea ). Modern research considers Dacia Ripensis as the more likely region. When he was born this region was part of Moesia Superior . Aurelian was an Illyrian like several other emperors of the late 3rd century ( Illyrian emperors ) all of whom shared

732-408: A Roman appointed as governor . For centuries, it was the largest administrative unit of the foreign possessions of ancient Rome. With the administrative reform initiated by Diocletian , it became a third level administrative subdivision of the Roman Empire, or rather a subdivision of the imperial dioceses (in turn subdivisions of the imperial prefectures ). A province was the basic and, until

854-513: A common military background. Pseudo-Victor describes his father as a colonus (tenant farmer) who worked the lands of a senator named Aurelius. Aurelian's father was probably a veteran of the Roman army. He married the daughter of Aurelius from whom Aurelian received his name via his mother. The Historia Augusta describes her as "priestess of Sol ", whose worship Aurelian promoted as Emperor ( Sol Invictus ). These two propositions, together with

976-644: A devastating plague swept through the Balkans, killing many soldiers in both armies. Emperor Claudius fell ill on the march to the battle and returned to his regional headquarters in Sirmium, leaving Aurelian in charge of operations against the Goths. Aurelian used his cavalry to great effect, breaking the Goths into smaller groups which were easier to handle. By late summer the Goths were defeated: any survivors were stripped of their animals and booty and were levied into

1098-637: A lie on a minor issue. In fear of what the emperor might do, he forged a document listing the names of high officials marked by the emperor for execution and showed it to collaborators. The notarius Mucapor and other high-ranking officers of the Praetorian Guard , fearing punishment from the emperor, murdered him shortly after October 275 ( Tacitus began his reign in November or December), in Caenophrurium , Thrace . Aurelian's enemies in

1220-403: A major force at this time. Zosimus is regarded as an unreliable chronicler by a single scholar and has been criticised by one scholar as having "an unsurpassable claim to be regarded as the worst of all the extant Greek historians of the Roman Empire...it would be tedious to catalogue all the instances where this historian has falsely transcribed names, not to mention his confusion of events...". It

1342-477: A majority of people in Rome's provinces venerated, respected, and worshipped gods from Rome proper and Roman Italy to an extent, alongside normal services done in honor of their "traditional" gods. The increasing practices of prorogation and statutorily-defined "super commands" driven by popularis political tactics undermined the republican constitutional principle of annually-elected magistracies. This allowed

SECTION 10

#1732765156015

1464-419: A military crisis occurred near some province, it was normally reassigned to one of the consuls; praetors were left with the garrison duties. In the permanent provinces, the Roman commanders were initially not intended as administrators. However, the presence of the commander with forces sufficient to coerce compliance made him an obvious place to seek final judgement. A governor's legal jurisdiction thus grew from

1586-645: A minority ruling over the sedentary Geto-Dacian majority e.g. Muntenia (eastern Wallachia), which was ruled by the Roxolani Sarmatians and possibly also northern Moldavia, which was under the Costoboci, a dacian tribe. But there are no reports of Sarmatians controlling the remaining unoccupied region of Decebal's kingdom between the Transylvanian border of the Roman province and the Siret, i.e.

1708-536: A more radical reform." Indeed, around this time, Aurelian reformed the Cura Annonae to replace the dole of grain by a dole of bread, salt and pork, as well as subsidized prices for other goods such as oil and wine. The deaths of the Sassanid Kings Shapur I (272) and Hormizd I (273) in quick succession, and the rise to power of a weakened ruler ( Bahram I ), presented an opportunity to attack

1830-479: A multitude of laws had been passed on how a governor would complete his task, requiring presence in the province, regulating how he could requisition goods from provincial communities, limiting the number of years he could serve in the province, etc. Prior to 123 BC, the senate assigned consular provinces as it wished, usually in its first meeting of the consular year. The specific provinces to be assigned were normally determined by lot or by mutual agreement among

1952-486: A process which saw the republic return to "normality": he shared the fasces that year with his consular colleague month-by-month and announced the abolition of the triumvirate by the end of the year in accordance with promises to do so at the close of the civil wars. At the start of 27 BC, Augustus formally had a provincial command over all of Rome's provinces. That year, in his "first settlement", he ostentatiously returned his control of them and their attached armies to

2074-406: A reaction from the senate, which reacted with laws to rein in the governors. After initial experimentation with ad hoc panels of inquest, various laws were passed, such as the lex Calpurnia de repetundis in 149 BC, which established a permanent court to try corruption cases; troubles with corruption and laws reacting to it continued through the republican era. By the end of the republic,

2196-466: A reduced price since 123 BC, and for free since 58 BC through the Cura Annonae . Aurelian is usually credited with changing or completing the change of the food distribution system from grain or flour to bread, and adding olive oil, salt, and pork to the products distributed to the populace. These products had been distributed sporadically before. Aurelian is also credited with increasing the size of

2318-400: A task assigned to a junior magistrates without imperium : for example, the treasury was the provincia of a quaestor and the civil jurisdiction of the urban praetor was the urbana provincia . In the middle and late republican authors like Plautus, Terence, and Cicero, the word referred something akin to a modern ministerial portfolio: "when... the senate assigned provinciae to

2440-480: A vision of the great 1st-century philosopher Apollonius of Tyana , whom he respected greatly, in a dream. Apollonius implored: "Aurelian, if you desire to rule, abstain from the blood of the innocent! Aurelian, if you will conquer, be merciful!" Aurelian spared Tyana, and it paid off; many more cities submitted to him upon seeing that the Emperor would not exact revenge upon them. Within six months, his armies stood at

2562-637: Is accepted that the Zosimus quote proves the continued existence in 381 of the Dacians as a distinct ethnic group. Roman province The Roman provinces ( Latin : provincia , pl. provinciae ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire . Each province was ruled by

SECTION 20

#1732765156015

2684-588: Is contested — his rise to the highest ranks is more easily understood if he did not have to start from the bottom. His suggestion has not been taken up by other academic authorities. Whatever his origins, Aurelian certainly must have built up a very solid reputation for military competence during the tumultuous mid-decades of the century. To be sure, the exploits detailed in the Historia Augusta vita Divi Aureliani , while not always impossible, are not supported by any independent evidence and one at least

2806-429: Is demonstrably an invention typical of that author. However, he was probably associated with Gallienus 's cavalry army and shone as an officer of that elite unit because, when he finally emerged in a historically reliable context in the early part of the reign of Claudius II , he seems to have been its commander. The existence of Ulpius Crinitus has been doubted by many historians . If he did exist he would have been

2928-460: Is reasonable to suppose that the Free Dacians were primarily responsible for these raids. In 180, the emperor Commodus , whose reign lasted from 180 to 192, is recorded as having admitted 12,000 "neighbouring Daci", who had been driven out of their own territory by hostile tribes, for settlement in the Roman province. Some scholars believe that the presence of the free Dacians is attested by

3050-471: The cohortes urbanae ("urban cohorts"), reinforced by some regular troops of the imperial army, to attack the rebelling mob: the resulting battle, fought on the Caelian hill , marked the end of the revolt, even if at a high price (some sources give the figure, probably exaggerated, of 7,000 casualties). Many of the rebels were executed; also some of the supporting senators were put to death. The mint of Rome

3172-551: The lex Gabinia which gave Pompey an overlapping command over large portions of the Mediterranean. The senate, which had long acted as a check on aristocratic ambitions, was unable to stop these immense commands, which culminated eventually with the reduction of the number of meaningfully-independent governors during the triumviral period to three men and, with the end of the republic, to one man. During his sixth and seventh consulships (28 and 27 BC), Augustus began

3294-558: The limes of the Rhine , seceded to form a third, autonomous state within the territories of the Roman Empire, which is now known as the Gallic Empire . In Rome, the Emperor was occupied with internal menaces to his power and with the defence of Italia and the Balkans. The first actions of the new Emperor were aimed at strengthening his own position in his territories. Late in 270, Aurelian campaigned in northern Italia against

3416-535: The Goths at the Battle of Naissus . Aurelian was married to Ulpia Severina , about whom little is known. She was from Dacia . They are known to have had a daughter together. Claudius was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers outside Mediolanum. The new emperor immediately ordered the Senate to deify Gallienus. Next, Claudius began to distance himself from those responsible for his predecessor's assassination, ordering

3538-534: The Greco-Roman world . In the Greek language, a province was called an eparchy ( Greek : ἐπαρχίᾱ , eparchia ), with a governor called an eparch ( Greek : ἔπαρχος , eparchos ). The Latin provincia , during the middle republic, referred not to a territory, but to a task assigned to a Roman magistrate. That task might require using the military command powers of imperium but otherwise could even be

3660-499: The Latin language and Roman culture. Despite this acculturation, the paradigm holds that the Free Dacians were irredentists , repeatedly invading the Roman province in attempts to recover the refugees' ancestral land. They were unsuccessful until the Roman province was abandoned by the emperor Aurelian in AD 275. After this, the Free Dacians supposedly liberated the Roman province and joined

3782-482: The Palmyrene Empire , ruled by Queen Zenobia from the city of Palmyra . Zenobia had carved out her own empire, encompassing Syria , Palestine , Egypt and large parts of Asia Minor . The Syrian queen cut off Rome's shipments of grain, and in a matter of weeks, the Romans started running low on bread. In the beginning, Aurelian had been recognized as Emperor, while Vaballathus , the son of Zenobia, held

Free Dacians - Misplaced Pages Continue

3904-660: The Puchov Culture in Slovakia and of the Lipiţa culture to the northeast of the Carpathians. However, the identification of these cultures with ethnic Dacians is controversial, as mainstream scholarship considers Puchov as a Celtic culture. Other scholars have identified Lipiţa as Celtic, Germanic or Slavic. In any case, according to modern archaeological theory, material cultures cannot reliably prove ethnicity. However,

4026-473: The Tetrarchy (from AD 293), the largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside Roman Italy . During the republic and early empire, provinces were generally governed by politicians of senatorial rank, usually former consuls or former praetors . A later exception was the province of Egypt, which was incorporated by Augustus after the death of Cleopatra and

4148-455: The Vandals , Juthungi , and Sarmatians , expelling them from Roman territory. To celebrate these victories, Aurelian was granted the title of Germanicus Maximus . The authority of the Emperor was challenged by several usurpers — Septimius , Urbanus , Domitianus , and the rebellion of Felicissimus —who tried to exploit the sense of insecurity of the empire and the overwhelming influence of

4270-423: The imperial army 's total regular effectives), also implies a grave threat to Roman Dacia throughout its history, between 106 and 275. There is substantial archaeological evidence of major and devastating incursions into Roman Dacia: clusters of coin-hoards and evidence of the destruction and abandonment of Roman forts. Since these episodes coincide with occasions when emperors assumed the title Dacicus Maximus , it

4392-405: The proconsuls of Africa Proconsularis and Asia through those governed by consulares and correctores to the praesides . The provinces in turn were grouped into (originally twelve) dioceses , headed usually by a vicarius , who oversaw their affairs. Only the proconsuls and the urban prefect of Rome (and later Constantinople) were exempt from this, and were directly subordinated to

4514-560: The tres militia – the three steps of the equestrian military career – one of the routes to higher equestrian office in the Imperial Service. This could be a more expeditious route to senior military and procuratorial offices than that pursued by ex-rankers, although not necessarily less laborious. However, although Saunders's conjecture as to Aurelian's early career is not supported by any evidence other than his nomen which could indicate Italian settler ancestry — and even this

4636-502: The Carpi may have been considered ethnically distinct from the Free Dacians by the Romans. The traditional paradigm is also open to challenge in other respects. There is no evidence that the peoples outside the province were Romanised to any greater extent than their non-Dacian neighbours, since the archaeological remains of their putative zone of occupation show no greater Roman influence than do other Chernyakhov culture sites elsewhere in

4758-401: The Danube by a barbarian coalition of Huns , Sciri and what he terms Karpodakai , or Carpo-Dacians . There is much controversy about the meaning of this term and whether it refers to the Carpi. However, it certainly refers to the Dacians, and most likely means the "Dacians of the Carpathians". However, it is uncertain whether this term constitutes reliable evidence that the Dacians were still

4880-601: The Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following year he conquered the Gallic Empire in the west, reuniting the Empire in its entirety. He was also responsible for the construction of the Aurelian Walls in Rome , the abandonment of the province of Dacia , and monetary reforms attempting to curb the devaluation of the Roman currency . Although Domitian , two centuries earlier,

5002-633: The Free Dacians were refugees from the Roman conquest, who had left the Roman-occupied zone, and some Dacian-speaking tribes resident outside that zone, notably the Costoboci and the Carpi in SW Ukraine , Moldavia and Bessarabia . The refugees may have joined these resident peoples. Through proximity with the Roman province of Dacia , the Free Dacians supposedly became Romanised and adopted

Free Dacians - Misplaced Pages Continue

5124-514: The Great (336). Since such victory-titles always indicated peoples defeated, not geographical regions, the repeated use of Dacicus Maximus implies the existence of ethnic Dacians outside the Roman province in sufficient numbers to warrant major military operations into the early 4th century. The permanent deployment of a massive Roman military garrison, normally of 2 legions and over 40 auxiliary regiments (totaling ca. 35,000 troops, or about 10% of

5246-683: The Persians and another in Egypt against the usurper Firmus , Aurelian was obliged to return to Palmyra in 273 when that city rebelled once more. This time, Aurelian allowed his soldiers to sack the city, and Palmyra never recovered. More honors came his way; he was now known as Parthicus Maximus and Restitutor Orientis ("Restorer of the East"). The rich province of Egypt was also recovered by Aurelian. The Brucheion (Royal Quarter) in Alexandria

5368-471: The Roman province, and even part of the urban population, with few links to the Roman administration or army, remained behind. However, leaving behind the Romano-Dacian peasantry would have defeated the main purpose of the evacuation, which was to repopulate the Roman provinces south of the Danube, whose inhabitants had been decimated by plague and barbarians invasions, and to bring back into cultivation

5490-666: The Roman province. The unoccupied sections of Decebal 's kingdom are likely to have been inhabited predominantly by ethnic Dacians, although according to Ptolemy, the northernmost part of the kingdom (northern Carpathians/ Bukovina ) was shared by non-Dacian tribes: the Anartes and the Taurisci , who were probably Celtic, and the Germanic Bastarnae are also attested in this region. Furthermore, some areas were occupied after 106 by nomadic Sarmatian tribesmen, most likely

5612-826: The Sassanid Empire, and in 275 Aurelian set out for another campaign against the Sassanids. On his way, he suppressed a revolt in Gaul – possibly against Faustinus, an officer or usurper of Tetricus – and defeated barbarian marauders in Vindelicia ( Germany ). However, Aurelian never reached Persia, as he was murdered while waiting in Thrace to cross into Asia Minor. As an administrator, he had been strict and had handed out severe punishments to corrupt officials or soldiers. A secretary of his (called Eros by Zosimus ) had told

5734-399: The Senate briefly succeeded in passing damnatio memoriae on the emperor, but this was reversed before the end of the year, and Aurelian, like his predecessor Claudius II, was deified as Divus Aurelianus . There is some evidence that Aurelian's wife, Ulpia Severina , who had been declared Augusta in 274, ruled the empire in her own right for some time after his death, although this

5856-579: The aftermath of the Fourth Macedonian War in 148 BC. Similarly, assignment of various provinciae in Hispania was not accompanied by the creation of any regular administration of the area; indeed, even though two praetors were assigned to Hispania regularly from 196 BC, no systematic settlement of the region occurred for nearly thirty years and what administration occurred was ad hoc and emerged from military necessities. In

5978-719: The area. In early 269, emperor Claudius and Aurelian marched north to meet the Alamanni, defeating them at the Battle of Lake Benacus . While still dealing with the defeated enemy, news came from the Balkans reporting large-scale attacks from the Heruli , Goths , Gepids , and Bastarnae . Claudius immediately dispatched Aurelian to the Balkans to contain the invasion as best he could until Claudius could arrive with his main army. The Goths were besieging Thessalonica when they heard of emperor Claudius' approach, causing them to abandon

6100-612: The armies in Roman politics. Aurelian, being an experienced commander, was aware of the importance of the army, and his propaganda, known through his coinage, shows he wanted the support of the legions. The burden of the northern barbarians was not yet over, however. In 271, the Alamanni moved towards Italia, entering the Po plain and sacking the villages; they passed the Po River , occupied Placentia and moved towards Fano . Aurelian, who

6222-426: The armies of four Germanic chieftains to defeat the Goths in battle. Aurelian used the resources gained from the battles to enrich the provinces . After the battle, Crinitus thanked Valerian , the emperor at the time, for providing him with such a talented deputy. Crinitus adopted Aurelian as his heir, either voluntarily or possibly through force. Emperor Valerian attended the adoption ceremony which took place in

SECTION 50

#1732765156015

6344-582: The army and for agriculture. The end result was that the Empire could not endure the blow of the capture of Emperor Valerian in 260 by the Sassanids . The eastern provinces found their protectors in the rulers of the city of Palmyra , in Syria , whose autonomy grew until the formation of the Palmyrene Empire , which was successful in defending against the Sassanid threat. The western provinces, those facing

6466-422: The army in 235 at around age twenty. It is also generally assumed that, as a member of the lowest rank of society – albeit a citizen – he would have enlisted in the ranks of the legions. Saunders suggests that his career is more easily understood if it is assumed that his family was of Roman settler origins with a tradition of military service and that he enlisted as an equestrian. This would have opened up for him

6588-538: The army or settled as farmers in frontier regions. Aurelian had no time to relish his victories; in late August news arrived from Sirmium that emperor Claudius was dead. When Claudius died, his brother Quintillus seized power with support of the Senate. With an act typical of the Crisis of the Third Century , the army refused to recognize the new emperor, preferring to support one of its own commanders: Aurelian

6710-592: The arrangements during this period is contained in the Notitia Dignitatum (Record of Offices), a document dating from the early 5th century. Most data is drawn from this authentic imperial source, as the names of the areas governed and titles of the governors are given there. There are however debates about the source of some data recorded in the Notitia , and it seems clear that some of its own sources are earlier than others. Some scholars compare this with

6832-488: The baths of Byzantium. Following this, Crinitus disappeared from the historical record. A painting showing Ulpius Crinitus alongside Aurelian has been found in the Temple of Sol , adding to the veracity of his existence. Aurelian's successes as a cavalry commander ultimately made him a member of Emperor Gallienus ' entourage. In 268 Gallienus travelled to Italy and fought Aureolus , his former general and now usurper for

6954-408: The cavalry and sent in only the infantry to stop their break-out. The determined Goths killed many of the oncoming infantry and were only prevented from slaughtering them all when Aurelian finally charged in with his Dalmatian cavalry. The Goths still managed to escape and continued their march through Thrace. The Roman army continued to follow the Goths during the spring and summer of 270. Meanwhile,

7076-525: The change likely reflected Roman unease about Carthaginian power: quaestors could not command armies or fleets; praetors could and initially seem to have held largely garrison duties. This first province started a permanent shift in Roman thinking about provincia . Instead of being a task of military expansion, it became a recurrent defensive assignment to oversee conquered territories. These defensive assignments, with few opportunities to gain glory, were less desirable and therefore became regularly assigned to

7198-429: The commanders; only extraordinarily did the senate assign a command extra sortem (outside of sortition). But in 123 or 122 BC, the tribune Gaius Sempronius Gracchus passed the lex Sempronia de provinciis consularibus , which required the senate to select the consular provinces before the consular elections and made this announcement immune from tribunician veto. The law had the effect of, over time, abolishing

7320-467: The consulship in exchange for a general proconsulship – with a special dispensation from the law that nullified imperium within the city of Rome – over the imperial provinces. He also gave himself, through the senate, a general grant of imperium maius , which gave him priority over the ordinary governors of the public provinces, allowing him to interfere in their affairs. Within the public and imperial provinces there also existed distinctions of rank. In

7442-401: The demands of the provincial inhabitants for authoritative settlement of disputes. In the absence of opportunities for conquest and with little oversight for their activities, many praetorian governors settled on extorting the provincials. This profiteering threatened Roman control by unnecessarily angering the province's subject populations and was regardless dishonourable. It eventually drew

SECTION 60

#1732765156015

7564-411: The east of Moldavia. The ethno-linguistic affiliation of the Carpi is uncertain. It has also been variously suggested that they were a Sarmatian, Germanic or Proto-Slavic group. The contemporaneous existence, alongside Dacicus Maximus , of the victory-title Carpicus Maximus - claimed by the emperors Philip the Arab (247), Aurelian (273), Diocletian (297) and Constantine I (317/8) - suggests that

7686-564: The eastern Carpathians, and it is therefore in these mountain valleys and foothills that the politically independent Free Dacians were most likely concentrated, and presumably where most of the refugees from the Roman conquest escaped to. Free Dacians are reported to have invaded and ravaged the Roman province in 214 and 218. Several emperors after Trajan, as late as AD 336, assumed the victory title of Dacicus Maximus (" Grand Dacian "): Antoninus Pius (157), Maximinus I (238), Decius (250) Gallienus (257), Aurelian (272) and Constantine I

7808-576: The elite Dalmatian cavalry and soon promoted to overall head of the army after the emperor and what had been Emperor Claudius' own position before his acclamation. The war against Aureolus and the concentration of forces in Italy allowed the Alamanni to break through the Rhaetian limes along the upper Danube . Marching through Raetia and the Alps unhindered, they entered northern Italy and began pillaging

7930-487: The emperor. The emperor Diocletian introduced a radical reform known as the tetrarchy (AD 284–305), with a western and an eastern senior emperor styled Augustus , each seconded by a junior emperor (and designated successor) styled caesar . Each of these four defended and administered a quarter of the empire. In the 290s, Diocletian divided the empire anew into almost a hundred provinces, including Roman Italy . Their governors were hierarchically ranked, from

8052-451: The end of the republic and was regardless in inferior status to a proconsul. More radically, Egypt (which was sufficiently powerful that a commander there could start a rebellion against the emperor) was commanded by an equestrian prefect, "a very low title indeed" as prefects were normally low-ranking officers and equestrians were not normally part of the elite. In Augustus' "second settlement" of 23 BC, he gave up his continual holding of

8174-491: The end of the republic, all governors acted pro consule . Also important was the assertion of popular authority over the assignment of provincial commands. This started with Gaius Marius , who had an allied tribune introduce a law transferring to him the already-taken province of Numidia (then held by Quintus Caecilius Metellus ), allowing Marius to assume command of the Jugurthine War . This innovation destabilised

8296-469: The execution of those directly involved. Aureolus was still besieged in Mediolanum and sought reconciliation with the new emperor, but Claudius had no sympathy for a potential rival. The emperor had Aureolus killed and one source implicates Aurelian in the deed, perhaps even signing the warrant for his death himself. During the reign of Claudius, Aurelian was promoted rapidly: he was given command of

8418-568: The extensive abandoned lands ( terrae desertae ) in those provinces. These were also presumably the aims of Aurelian's contemporaneous resettlement in Roman Pannonia of a substantial section of the Carpi people that he defeated in 273. The latest secure mention of the Free Dacians in the ancient sources is Constantine I's acclamation as Dacicus Maximus in 336. For the year 381, the Byzantine chronicler Zosimus records an invasion over

8540-452: The following years, however, the Empire had to face a huge pressure from external enemies, while, at the same time, dangerous civil wars threatened the empire from within, with usurpers weakening the strength of the state. Also, the economic substrate of the state, agriculture and commerce, suffered from the disruption caused by the instability. On top of this, an epidemic swept through the Empire around 250, greatly diminishing manpower both for

8662-547: The full force of his cavalry, killing many and driving the remainder westward into Thrace . As winter set in, the Goths retreated into the Haemus Mountains , only to find themselves trapped and surrounded. The harsh conditions now exacerbated their shortage of food. However, the Romans underestimated the Goths and let their guard down, allowing the enemy to break through their lines and escape. Apparently emperor Claudius ignored advice, perhaps from Aurelian, and withheld

8784-481: The gates of Palmyra, which surrendered when Zenobia tried to flee to the Sassanid Empire . Eventually Zenobia and her son were captured and made to walk the streets of Rome in his triumph, the woman in golden chains. With the grain stores once again shipped to Rome, Aurelian's soldiers handed out free bread to the citizens of the city, and the Emperor was hailed a hero by his subjects. After a brief clash with

8906-591: The identification of the Costoboci and Carpi as ethnic Dacian is far from secure. Unlike the Dacians proper, neither group is attested in Moldavia before Ptolemy (i.e. before about. 140). The Costoboci are, according to Mommsen , classified as a Sarmatian tribe by Pliny the Elder, who locates them near the river Tanais (southern river Don) in ca. AD 60, in the Sarmatian heartland of modern-day southern Russia, far to

9028-431: The list of military territories under the duces , in charge of border garrisons on so-called limites , and the higher ranking Comites rei militaris , with more mobile forces, and the later, even higher magistri militum . Justinian I made the next great changes in 534–536 by abolishing, in some provinces, the strict separation of civil and military authority that Diocletian had established. This process

9150-467: The loaves of bread without increasing their price – a measure that was undoubtedly popular with the Romans who were not receiving free bread and other products through the dole. Aurelian is believed to have terminated Trajan 's alimenta program. Roman prefect Titus Flavius Postumius Quietus was the last known official in charge of the alimenta , in 271. If Aurelian "did suppress this food distribution system, he most likely intended to put into effect

9272-529: The middle republic created the recurrent task of defending and administering some place. The first "permanent" provincia was that of Sicily, created after the First Punic War . In the immediate aftermath, a quaestor was sent to Sicily to look out for Roman interests but eventually, praetors were dispatched as well. The sources differ as to when sending a praetor became normal: Appian reports 241 BC; Solinus indicates 227 BC instead. Regardless,

9394-472: The middle republic, the administration of a territory – whether taxation or jurisdictrion – had basically no relationship with whether that place was assigned as a provincia by the senate. Rome would even intervene on territorial disputes which were part of no provincia at all and were not administered by Rome. The territorial province, called a "permanent" provincia in the scholarship, emerged only gradually. The acquisition of territories, however, through

9516-459: The mint workers to revolt: the rebellion spread in the streets, even if it seems that Felicissimus was killed immediately, presumably executed. The Palmyrene rebellion in Egypt had probably reduced the grain supply to Rome , thus disaffecting the population to the emperor. This rebellion also had the support of some senators, probably those who had supported the election of Quintillus , and thus had something to fear from Aurelian. Aurelian ordered

9638-487: The northern Pontic region; nor that the Free Dacians gave up their native tongue and became Latin-speakers. In 271-5, when the Roman emperor Aurelian decided to evacuate Roman Dacia, its Roman residents are reported by ancient sources to have been deported en masse to the province of Moesia Inferior , a Roman territory south of the Danube. These reports have been challenged by some modern scholars who, based primarily on archaeological finds, argue that many rural inhabitants of

9760-465: The occupied zone. Two panels of Trajan's Column depict lines of Dacian peasants leaving with their families and animals at the end of each war. Furthermore, it appears that the Romans did not permanently occupy the whole of Decebal's kingdom. The latter's borders, many scholars believe, are described in Ptolemy's Geographia : the rivers Siret in the east, Danube in the south, Thibiscum ( Timiş ) in

9882-480: The only uprising of mint workers. The rationalis Felicissimus , a senior public financial official whose responsibilities included supervision of the mint at Rome, revolted against Aurelian. The revolt seems to have been caused by the fact that the mint workers, and Felicissimus first, were accustomed to stealing the silver for the coins and producing coins of inferior quality. Aurelian wanted to eliminate this, and put Felicissimus on trial. The rationalis incited

10004-427: The other hand normally served several years before rotating out. The extent to which the emperor exercised control over all the provinces increased during the imperial period: Tiberius, for example, once reprimanded legates in the imperial provinces for failing to forward financial reports to the senate; by the reign of Claudius, however, the senatorial provinces' proconsuls were regularly issued with orders directly from

10126-482: The permanent seat of the government. In Italy itself, Rome had not been the imperial residence for some time and 286 Diocletian formally moved the seat of government to Mediolanum (modern Milan ), while taking up residence himself in Nicomedia . During the 4th century, the administrative structure was modified several times, including repeated experiments with Eastern-Western co-emperors. Detailed information on

10248-402: The powerful men to amass disproportionate wealth and military power through their provincial commands, which was one of the major factors in the transition from a republic to an imperial autocracy . The senate attempted to push back against these commands in many instances: it preferred to break up any large war into multiple territorially separated commands; for similar reasons, it opposed

10370-498: The praetors. Only around 180 BC did provinces take on a more geographically defined position when a border was established to separate the two commanders assigned to Hispania on the river Baetis . Later provinces, once campaigns were complete, were all largely defined geographically. Once this division of permanent and temporary provinciae emerged, magistrates assigned to permanent provinces also came under pressures to achieve as much as possible during their terms. Whenever

10492-504: The principle of "one faith, one empire", which would not be made official until the Edict of Thessalonica . He appears with the title deus et dominus natus ("God and born ruler") on some of his coins, a style also later adopted by Diocletian. Lactantius argued that Aurelian would have outlawed all the other gods if he had had enough time. He was recorded by Christian historians as having organized persecutions . Aurelian's reign records

10614-450: The provinces had been assigned to sitting praetors in the earlier part of the second century, with new praetorships created to fill empty provincial commands, by the start of the first century it had become uncommon for praetors to hold provincial commands during their formal annual term. Instead they generally took command as promagistrate after the end of their term. The use of prorogation was due to an insufficient number of praetors, which

10736-406: The public provinces, the provinces of Africa and Asia were given only to ex-consuls; ex-praetors received the others. The imperial provinces eventually produced a three-tier system with prefects and procurators, legates pro praetore who were ex-praetors, and legates pro praetore who were ex-consuls. The public provinces' governors normally served only one year; the imperial provinces' governors on

10858-464: The ranks. He went on to lead the cavalry of the emperor Gallienus , until Gallienus' assassination in 268. Following that, Claudius Gothicus became emperor until his own death in 270. Claudius' brother Quintillus then ruled for three months, before Aurelian took the empire for himself. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths , Vandals , Juthungi , Sarmatians , and Carpi . Aurelian restored

10980-466: The remaining Romano-Dacians to form a Latin-speaking Daco-Roman ethnic group that were the forebears of the modern Romanian people. There is substantial evidence that large numbers of ethnic Dacians continued to exist on the fringes of the Roman province of Dacia . During Trajan's Dacian Wars in AD 102 and AD 106, enormous numbers of Dacians were killed or taken into slavery. It also appears that many indigenous Dacians were expelled from, or emigrated from,

11102-413: The remaining provinces, largely demilitarised and confined to the older republican conquests, became known as public or senatorial provinces , as their commanders were still assigned by the senate on an annual basis consistent with tradition. Because no one man could command in practically all the border-regions of the empire at once, Augustus appointed subordinate legates for each of the provinces with

11224-584: The republic did not annex the kingdom, even as Macedonia was continuously assigned until 205 BC with the end of the First Macedonian War . Even though the Second and Third Macedonian Wars saw the Macedonian province revived, the senate settled affairs in the region by abolishing Macedonia and replacing it with four client republics. Macedonia only came under direct Roman administration in

11346-602: The senate, likely by declaring that the task assigned to him either by the lex Titia creating the Triumvirate or that the war on Cleopatra and Antony was complete. In return, at a carefully-managed meeting of the senate, he was given commands over Spain, Gaul, Syria, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt to hold for ten years; these provinces contained 22 of the 28 extant Roman legions (over 80 per cent) and contained all prospective military theatres. The provinces that were assigned to Augustus became known as imperial provinces and

11468-408: The siege and pillage north-eastern Macedonia. Aurelian intercepted the Goths with his Dalmatian cavalry and defeated them in a series of minor skirmishes, killing as many as three thousand of the enemy. Aurelian continued to harass the enemy, driving them northward into Upper Moesia where emperor Claudius had assembled his main army. The ensuing battle was indecisive: the northward advance of the Goths

11590-515: The system of assigning provincial commands, exacerbated internal political tensions, and later allowed ambitious politicians to assemble for themselves enormous commands which the senate would never have approved: the Pompeian lex Gabinia of 67 BC granted Pompey all land within 50 miles of the Mediterranean; Caesar's Gallic command that encompassed three normal provinces. In the late Republican period, Roman authorities generally preferred that

11712-410: The temporary provinciae , as it was not always realistic for the senate to anticipate the theatres of war some six months in advance. Instead, the senate chose to assign consuls to permanent provinces near expected trouble spots. From 200 to 124 BC, only 22 per cent of recorded consular provinciae were permanent provinces; between 122 and 53 BC, this rose to 60 per cent. While many of

11834-491: The tetrarchs. Although the Caesars were soon eliminated from the picture, the four administrative resorts were restored in 318 by Emperor Constantine I , in the form of praetorian prefectures , whose holders generally rotated frequently, as in the usual magistracies but without a colleague. Constantine also created a new capital, named after him as Constantinople , which was sometimes called 'New Rome' because it became

11956-430: The throne. Driving Aureolus back into Mediolanum , Gallienus promptly besieged his adversary in the city. However, during the siege the Emperor was assassinated. One source says Aurelian, who was present at the siege, participated and supported general Claudius for the purple — which is plausible. In 268 or 269 Aurelian and his cavalry participated in the victory of Emperor Gallienus (or Emperor Claudius II Gothicus ) over

12078-456: The title legatus Augusti pro praetore . These lieutenant legati probably held imperium but, due to their lack of an independent command, were unable to triumph and could be replaced by their superior (Augustus) at any time. These arrangements were likely based on the precedent of Pompey's proconsulship over the Spanish provinces after 55 BC entirely through legates, while he stayed in

12200-527: The title Germanicus Maximus . However, the menace of the Germanic people and a Germanic invasion was still perceived by the Romans as likely; therefore Aurelian resolved to build a new system of walls around Rome that became known as the Aurelian Walls . The emperor led his legions to the Balkans, where he defeated and routed the Goths beyond the Danube, killing the Gothic leader Cannabaudes , and assuming

12322-447: The title of rex and imperator ("king" and "supreme military commander"), but Aurelian decided to invade the eastern provinces as soon as he felt his army to be strong enough. Asia Minor was recovered easily; every city but Byzantium and Tyana surrendered to him with little resistance. The fall of Tyana lent itself to a legend: Aurelian to that point had destroyed every city that resisted him, but he spared Tyana after having

12444-409: The title of Gothicus Maximus . However, he decided to abandon the province of Dacia , on the exposed north bank of the Danube, as it was too difficult and expensive to defend. He reorganized a new province of Dacia south of the Danube, inside the former Moesia , called Dacia Aureliana , with Serdica as the capital. In 272, Aurelian turned his attention to the lost eastern provinces of the empire,

12566-400: The tradition that the clan Aurelius had been entrusted with the maintenance of that deity's cult in Rome, inspired the notion that this could explain the devotion to the sun-god that Aurelian was to manifest as emperor. However, it seems that this extrapolation of unverifiable facts is now generally accepted as being no more than just that. It is commonly accepted that Aurelian probably joined

12688-455: The various magistrates... what they were doing was more like allocating a portfolio than putting people in charge of geographic areas". The first commanders dispatched with provinciae were for the purpose of waging war and to command an army. However, merely that a provincia was assigned did not mean the Romans made that territory theirs. For example, Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus in 211 BC received Macedonia as his provincia but

12810-477: The vicinity of Rome. In contrast, the public provinces continued to be governed by proconsuls with formally independent commands. In only three of the public provinces were there any armies: Africa , Illyricum , and Macedonia ; after Augustus' Balkan wars , only Africa retained a legion. To make this monopolisation of military commands palatable, Augustus separated prestige from military importance and inverted it. The title pro praetore had gone out of use by

12932-560: The west and the northern Carpathian Mountains in the north. But the eastern border of the Roman province was by AD 120 set at the Limes Transalutanus ("Trans-Olt Frontier"), a line to the just east of the river Aluta ( Olt ), thus excluding the Wallachian plain between the limes and the river Siret. In Transylvania, the line of Roman border-forts seems to indicate that the eastern and northern Carpathians were outside

13054-466: Was a Roman emperor who reigned from 270 to 275 during the Crisis of the Third Century . As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited the Roman Empire after it had nearly disintegrated under the pressure of barbarian invasions and internal revolts. Born in modest circumstances, most likely in Moesia Superior , he entered the Roman army in 235 and climbed up

13176-474: Was a reformer, and settled many important functions of the imperial apparatus, dealing with the economy and religion. He restored many public buildings, reorganized the management of the food reserves, set fixed prices for the most important goods, and prosecuted misconduct by the public officers. Aurelian strengthened the position of the Sun god Sol Invictus as the main divinity of the Roman pantheon. His intention

13298-558: Was an improvement over the previous situation gives an idea of the severity of the economic situation Aurelian faced. The Emperor struggled to introduce the new "good" coin by recalling all the old "bad" coins before their introduction. A very large number of rare gold coins of Aurelian have been discovered as part of the Lava Treasure in Corsica , France, in the 1980s. Rome had been distributing grain to its poorest citizens at

13420-524: Was born on 9 September, a date recorded in the Chronograph of 354 . The 6th-century chronicler John Malalas wrote that he died at the age of 61, implying a birth in 214. However, his chronicle is often described as "too frequently unreliable", meaning that his statement may not be completely accurate. The Historia Augusta describes him both as a Pannonian from Sirmium and as a native of Dacia Ripensis "which he founded so that he would have been

13542-459: Was burned to the ground. This section of the city once contained the Library of Alexandria , although the extent of the surviving Library in Aurelian's time is uncertain. In 274, the victorious emperor turned his attention to the west, and the Gallic Empire which had already been reduced in size by Claudius II . Aurelian won this campaign largely through diplomacy; the "Gallic Emperor" Tetricus

13664-448: Was closed temporarily, and the institution of several other mints caused the main mint of the empire to lose its hegemony. His monetary reformation included the introduction of antoniniani containing 5% silver. They bore the mark XXI (or its Greek numeral form KA ), which meant - according to some researchers - that twenty of such coins would contain the same silver quantity of an old silver denarius . Considering that this

13786-567: Was continued on a larger scale with the creation of extraordinary Exarchates in the 580s and culminated with the adoption of the military theme system in the 640s, which replaced the older administrative arrangements entirely. Some scholars use the reorganization of the empire into themata in this period as one of the demarcations between the Dominate and the Byzantine (or the Later Roman) period. Cisalpine Gaul (in northern Italy )

13908-425: Was for two reasons: more provinces needed commands and the increased number of permanent jury courts ( quaestiones perpetuae ), each of which had a praetor as president, exacerbated this issue. Praetors during the second century were normally prorogued pro praetore , but starting with the Spanish provinces and expanding by 167 BC, praetors were more commonly prorogued with the augmented rank pro consule ; by

14030-475: Was halted but Roman losses were heavy. Claudius could not afford another pitched battle, so he instead laid a successful ambush, killing thousands. However, the majority of the Goths escaped and began retreating south the way they had come. For the rest of year, Aurelian harassed the enemy with his Dalmatian cavalry. Now stranded in Roman territory, the Goths' lack of provisions began to take its toll. Aurelian, sensing his enemies' desperation, attacked them with

14152-632: Was in Pannonia to control the Vandals ' withdrawal, quickly entered Italia, but his army was defeated in an ambush near Placentia (January 271). When the news of the defeat arrived in Rome, it caused great fear for the arrival of the barbarians, but Aurelian attacked the Alamanni camping near the Metaurus River , defeating them in the Battle of Fano , and forcing them to re-cross the Po river; Aurelian finally routed them at Pavia . For this, he received

14274-465: Was occupied by Rome in the 220s BC and became considered geographically and de facto part of Roman Italy , but remained politically and de jure separated. It was legally merged into the administrative unit of Roman Italy in 42 BC by the triumvir Augustus as a ratification of Caesar 's unpublished acts ( Acta Caesaris ). Aurelian Aurelian ( Latin : Lucius Domitius Aurelianus ; 9 September c. 214 – c. November 275)

14396-444: Was proclaimed emperor about August or September (older sources argue for May) by the legions in Sirmium. Aurelian defeated Quintillus' troops, and was recognized as emperor by the Senate after Quintillus' death. The claim that Aurelian was chosen by Claudius on his death bed can be dismissed as propaganda; later, probably in 272, Aurelian put his own dies imperii at the day of Claudius' death, thus implicitly considering Quintillus

14518-496: Was ruled by a governor of only equestrian rank, perhaps as a discouragement to senatorial ambition. That exception was unique but not contrary to Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus's personal property, following the tradition of the kings of the earlier Hellenistic period . The English word province comes from the Latin word provincia . The Latin term provincia had an equivalent in eastern, Greek-speaking parts of

14640-546: Was the first emperor who had demanded to be officially hailed as dominus et deus ("master and god"), these titles never occurred in written form on official documents until the reign of Aurelian. His successes were instrumental in ending the crisis, earning him the title Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World"). Many details about Aurelian's early life come from the Historia Augusta and are considered unreliable. Comparative research with other sources from his era has rendered some details more secure than others. Aurelian

14762-548: Was to give to all the peoples of the Empire, civilian or soldiers, easterners or westerners, a single god they could believe in without betraying their own gods. The centre of the cult was a new temple , built in 274 and dedicated on December 25 of that year in the Campus Agrippae in Rome, with great decorations financed by the spoils of the Palmyrene Empire. During his short rule, Aurelian seemed to follow

14884-474: Was willing to abandon his throne and allow Gaul and Britain to return to the Empire, but could not openly submit to Aurelian. Instead, the two seem to have conspired so that when the armies met at the Battle of Châlons at Durocatalaunum that autumn, Tetricus simply deserted to the Roman camp and Aurelian easily defeated the Gallic army facing him. Tetricus was rewarded for his collusion by Aurelian who made him

#14985