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BARBARIAN MILITARY EQUIPMENT AND ITS EVOLUTION IN THE LATE ROMAN AND GREAT MIGRATION PERIODS (3rd–5th C. A.D.) Michel Kazanski Abstract Military equipment and, as a consequence, types of combat underwent sig- nificant changes between the 3rd and 6th c. A.D. The Germanic peoples’ and their neighbours’ weapons became more appropriate to rapid and close tactical manoeuvres in dispersed ranks. The spread of Germanic weapons within Roman territory and in the Pontic region indicates that the same tactics were employed by the Roman army’s barbarian troops and feder- ates. A similar evolution occurred within the armies of the steppe peoples, including those fighting for the empire. The Early Roman armoured cavalry was first replaced by a lighter Alanic cavalry, and then by Hunnic mounted archers. Finally, the light Slavic infantry, with its ‘irregular’ guerrilla tactics, defeated the East Roman armies and conquered the Balkan Peninsula. During the Late Roman period, the Roman Empire faced two main groups of barbarian peoples across its European borders. The sedentary Germans in western and central Europe inhabited the region named ‘Germania’ by Roman authors. As well as Germanic peoples, this area included the Celts of the British and Thracian Isles, namely the Carpi. Meanwhile, the Iranian-speaking nomadic people of eastern and central Europe lived in an area named ‘Scythia’ or ‘Sarmatia’ by the ancient sources. The Sarma- tians lived on the Hungarian plains, while the Alans inhabited the Ponto- Caucasian steppes. All the nomads living between the Danube and the Caucasus around the 4th c. A.D. were referred to as Alans. Lastly, dur- ing the reign of Justinian (ca. 527–65), the empire was forced to confront a third civilisation: an eastern European forest-dwelling people named the Slavs. These three groups had clearly distinctive fighting styles and military equipment. The peoples of Germania were infantrymen, armed predomi- nantly with spears and shields (figs. 1–3).1 The geographical distribution of shields with bosses, and spurs, is particularly significant. These two 1 Raddatz (1985). A. Sarantis, N. Christie (edd.) War and Warfare in Late Antiquity: Current Perspectives (Late Antique Archaeology 8.1–8.2 – 2010–11) (Leiden 2013), pp. 493–521 494 michel kazanski features were characteristic of the Germanic and Celtic peoples of west- ern and central Europe, before spreading into the West during the Roman period. The latter development only affected populations undergoing western military influence, such as the Balts (fig. 4) and the Baltic Finns.2 The steppe people, on the other hand, were exclusively horsemen. They did not carry shields, but were often armoured, at least during the first two centuries of our era.3 As for the Slavs, they mostly employed a light infantry, armed with javelins and bows. They clearly preferred guerrilla tactics to all other forms of combat.4 Ancient authors used such military fighting styles as ethnographic markers. It was on this basis that Tacitus, in the 1st c. A.D., classified the Veneti (the Slavs’ ancestors living on Ger- mania’s eastern border) as a Germanic people. The Veneti were swift like the Sarmatians and yet fought on foot with shields like the Germans.5 The Germanic Zone It is possible to distinguish three zones of barbarian weapon distribution during the Late Roman period from the archaeological evidence. The first zone comprises Germania, with the Baltic territories of the Baltic and Finnish peoples, and the Black Sea’s northern and eastern coastal areas which were populated by sedentary barbarians. Weapon finds in male tombs demonstrate these barbarians’ high level of militarisation. These weapons can regularly be associated with the Przeworsk culture in Poland (see figs. 1 and 2), and with Scandinavian peoples during the Late Roman period.6 There are exceptions to the rule, however: Černjahov tombs north of the Danube and the Black Sea, which belonged to the Goths and their allies, only rarely contain weapons (e.g. fig. 3).7 This is despite the fact that the Goths, one of the main groups living in these regions, were the empire’s most belligerent neighbours. The importance of war for these barbarian peoples is nevertheless confirmed by the discovery in northern 2 Shchukin (1994). 3 Hazanov (1971); Nefedkin (2004). 4 Kazanski (1999). 5 Tac. Germ. 66. 6 Raddatz (1985); Godlowski (1992) and (1994); Ilkjaer (1990). 7 See Kokowski (1993); Shchukin et al. (2006) 38–51. .

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