DOCSLIB.ORG

AMMIANUS on the REVOLT of FIRMUS1 Jan Willem Drijvers

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

AMMIANUS ON THE REVOLT OF FIRMUS1 Jan Willem Drijvers Abstract: This article presents a (re-)evaluation of Ammianus’ account of the Firmus revolt and the revolt itself. It is argued that Ammianus’ report leaves to be desired with respect to the completeness concerning geographical and chronological information. An explanation is given for the length of the account, which was also meant by Ammianus to evoke the Iugurthine war and the Tacfarinas revolt to connect his own work to the writings of Sallust and Tacitus. In his narrative of the suppression of the revolt Ammianus’ critical innuendoes indicate that Theodosius the Elder was not a spotless heroic figure. I. Introduction After the death of Julian and the short reign of Jovian the rule of the empire was taken over by Valentinian and Valens. Ammianus was not particularly impressed by the rule of these Pannonian emperors. Although he praised them, in particular Valentinian, for the way in which they conducted military affairs, they were not his sort of people. He thought them boorish, greedy and savagely cruel by nature, and their reigns rotten. They showed no self-control and did not restrain their powers as (good) rulers should do. The arrogance of the military increased to the detriment of the commonwealth under their rule. The emperors were lenient in punishing officials who abused their positions. But foremost amongst Ammianus’ criticisms of Valentinian and Valens was the lack of justice from which their reigns suffered. Lawsuits were conducted unfairly, punishments were disproportionately harsh, people were convicted without having been given a trial and those who needed to be punished in the eyes of Ammianus could rely on the leniency of the emperors.2 1 I would like to thank the participants at the Wassenaar workshop for their com- ments on an earlier version of this article. Special thanks are due to Jan den Boeft, Sigrid Mratschek, and to David Hunt, who was so kind as to correct my English. 2 E.g.D.A.Pauw,Karaktertekening by Ammianus Marcellinus (Oegstgeest 1972;Diss. Leiden) 138–166; John F. Matthews, The Roman Empire of Ammianus (London 1989) passim. 130 jan willem drijvers Barbarian invasions and warfare characterized the reigns of Valen- tinian and Valens. There were troubles at the frontiers with Alamanni, Saxones, Quadi, Goths, Huns and Alans. There was a conflict with Persia over Armenia, and there were raids by Isaurians and troubles in Britain. Both emperors were also confronted with revolts and usurpa- tions, among which that of Procopius in 365 was definitely the most serious. Another uprising took place in the 370s in Mauretania Cae- sariensis, the so-called Firmus revolt, named after its leader. Ammianus is the principal source for this rebellion against Roman authority. This article focuses on that revolt and on Ammianus’ presentation of it. II. Ammianus’ account (29.5) The Firmus revolt occurred against the background of troubles in Africa since the middle of the 360s and the mismanagement of affairs and exploitation of the provinces by the comes Africae Romanus over which even Iustitia herself had wept.3 According to Ammianus Firmus started his revolt out of fear that he would be condemned and executed because of the murder of his brother Zammac.4 The latter had been secretly killed by Firmus after their father Nubel had died leaving both legitimate sons and offspring by concubines. Zammac had been favoured by Romanus, and his death induced the comes Africae to attack Firmus at court. Romanus who had many friends at the imperial court, in particular the magister officiorum Remigius, managed to conceal the arguments which Firmus brought forward in his defence. Apparently Firmussawnootherwaytosavehisownskinthantorevolt.The uprising was taken seriously and Valentinian sent Theodosius the Elder, magister equitum and one of his best generals, to Africa to deal with it. The greater part of Ammianus’ account reports about Theodo- 3 28.6.1: aerumnas, quas, ut arbitror, Iustitia quoque ipsa deflevit. 4 29.5.3. Most editions have condemnatus. Only Clark (Berlin 1910–1915)hasindem- natus, meaning that Firmus feared that he would be executed without a trial. Clark follows a conjecture by A. Kellerbauer, ‘Kritische Kleinigkeiten’, Bayerische Blätter für das Gymnasial-Schulwesen 9 (1873) 127–141,at136–137: ‘Firmus befürchtete weniger eine Verurteiling als vielmehr Meuchelmord ohne vorgängiges Urteil; ausserdem vgl. man 15, 2,5. 5, 15. 26,6,3.’ The parallels in 15.2.5, 15.5.15 and 26.6.3 are decisive and indem- natus should be preferred over condemnatus..
Recommended publications
  • Bullard Eva 2013 MA.Pdf

    Bullard Eva 2013 MA.Pdf

    Marcomannia in the making. by Eva Bullard BA, University of Victoria, 2008 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies Eva Bullard 2013 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Marcomannia in the making by Eva Bullard BA, University of Victoria, 2008 Supervisory Committee Dr. John P. Oleson, Department of Greek and Roman Studies Supervisor Dr. Gregory D. Rowe, Department of Greek and Roman Studies Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee John P. Oleson, Department of Greek and Roman Studies Supervisor Dr. Gregory D. Rowe, Department of Greek and Roman Studies Departmental Member During the last stages of the Marcommani Wars in the late second century A.D., Roman literary sources recorded that the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was planning to annex the Germanic territory of the Marcomannic and Quadic tribes. This work will propose that Marcus Aurelius was going to create a province called Marcomannia. The thesis will be supported by archaeological data originating from excavations in the Roman installation at Mušov, Moravia, Czech Republic. The investigation will examine the history of the non-Roman region beyond the northern Danubian frontier, the character of Roman occupation and creation of other Roman provinces on the Danube, and consult primary sources and modern research on the topic of Roman expansion and empire building during the principate. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee .....................................................................................................
  • Reviewso G I C a C a R P a T H I C281 a Vol

    Reviewso G I C a C a R P a T H I C281 a Vol

    A C T A A R C H A E O L REVIEWSO G I C A C A R P A T H I C281 A VOL. XLIX, 2014 PL ISSN 0001-5229 REVIEWS Rastko Vasic, Die Halsringe im Zentralbalkan. Vojvodina, Serbien, Kosovo und Mazedonien, Prähistorische Bronzefunde 11:7, Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2010, 70 Seiten, 44 Tafeln; ISBN 978-3-515-09678-2. The monograph Die Halsringe im Zentralbalkan by Rastko Vasic is already his fourth scholarly contribution, published in the now respected Prähistorische Bronzefunde (PBF) series. His earlier studies addressed the subject of sickles1, brooches2 and dress pins3. Every one of them was the first monographic study of a given type of object in the central Balkans. This is true also of the study made by Rastko Vasic of neckrings from Vojvodina, Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia. Given the extremely complicated political situation in the region and the fact that the materials, even if analysed, were published in different countries and languages, the study of neckrings must have run into quite a few obstacles. If only for this reason, the great labour put in by Rastko Vasic only to assemble his materials to this and to earlier monographs is worthy of recognition. Incidentally, the study under review is the seventh to be published in the PBF series dedicated to neckrings and neck ornaments. The earlier works concerned addressed the materials from south-western Germany4, Greece5, Slovakia6 and Poland7. Still, as noted earlier, this is the first work to discuss the materials from central Balkans. It might be more accurate to stress that this is the first contribution on some regions of the Balkans which have been overlooked here so far.
  • CHAPTER SEVENTEEN History of the German Language 1 Indo

    CHAPTER SEVENTEEN History of the German Language 1 Indo

    CHAPTER SEVENTEEN History of the German Language 1 Indo-European and Germanic Background Indo-European Background It has already been mentioned in this course that German and English are related languages. Two languages can be related to each other in much the same way that two people can be related to each other. If two people share a common ancestor, say their mother or their great-grandfather, then they are genetically related. Similarly, German and English are genetically related because they share a common ancestor, a language which was spoken in what is now northern Germany sometime before the Angles and the Saxons migrated to England. We do not have written records of this language, unfortunately, but we have a good idea of what it must have looked and sounded like. We have arrived at our conclusions as to what it looked and sounded like by comparing the sounds of words and morphemes in earlier written stages of English and German (and Dutch) and in modern-day English and German dialects. As a result of the comparisons we are able to reconstruct what the original language, called a proto-language, must have been like. This particular proto-language is usually referred to as Proto-West Germanic. The method of reconstruction based on comparison is called the comparative method. If faced with two languages the comparative method can tell us one of three things: 1) the two languages are related in that both are descended from a common ancestor, e.g. German and English, 2) the two are related in that one is the ancestor of the other, e.g.
  • CHAPTER ONE — Aspects of Political and Social Developments in Germania and Scandinavia During the Roman Iron Age

    CHAPTER ONE — Aspects of Political and Social Developments in Germania and Scandinavia During the Roman Iron Age

    CHAPTER ONE — Aspects of Political and Social Developments in Germania and Scandinavia during the Roman Iron Age 1.1 Rome & Germania 1.1.1 Early Romano-Germanic Relations It is unclear when a people who may be fairly labelled ‘Germanic’ first appeared. Dates as early as the late Neolithic or early Bronze Ages have been suggested.1 A currently popular theory identifies the earliest Germanic peoples as participants in the Jastorf superculture which emerged c. 500 bc,2 though recent linguistic research on early relations between Finno-Ugric and Germanic languages argues the existence of Bronze-Age Germanic dialects.3 Certainly, however, it may be said that ‘Germanic’ peoples existed by the final centuries bc, when classical authors began to record information about them. A fuller analysis of early Germanic society and Romano-Germanic relations would far outstrip this study’s limits,4 but several important points may be touched upon. For the Germanic peoples, Rome could be both an enemy and an ideal—often both at the same time. The tensions created by such contrasts played an important role in shaping Germanic society and ideology. Conflict marked Romano-Germanic relations from the outset. Between 113 and 101 bc, the Cimbri and Teutones, tribes apparently seeking land on which to settle, proved an alarmingly serious threat to Rome.5 It is unclear whether these tribes 1Lothar Killian, Zum Ursprung der Indogermanen: Forschungen aus Linguistik, Prähistorie und Anthropologie, 2nd edn, Habelt Sachbuch, 3 (Bonn: Habelt, 1988); Lothar Killian, Zum Ursprung der Germanen, Habelt Sachbuch, 4 (Bonn: Habelt, 1988). 2Todd, pp. 10, 26; Mark B.
  • Calendar of Roman Events

    Calendar of Roman Events

    Introduction Steve Worboys and I began this calendar in 1980 or 1981 when we discovered that the exact dates of many events survive from Roman antiquity, the most famous being the ides of March murder of Caesar. Flipping through a few books on Roman history revealed a handful of dates, and we believed that to fill every day of the year would certainly be impossible. From 1981 until 1989 I kept the calendar, adding dates as I ran across them. In 1989 I typed the list into the computer and we began again to plunder books and journals for dates, this time recording sources. Since then I have worked and reworked the Calendar, revising old entries and adding many, many more. The Roman Calendar The calendar was reformed twice, once by Caesar in 46 BC and later by Augustus in 8 BC. Each of these reforms is described in A. K. Michels’ book The Calendar of the Roman Republic. In an ordinary pre-Julian year, the number of days in each month was as follows: 29 January 31 May 29 September 28 February 29 June 31 October 31 March 31 Quintilis (July) 29 November 29 April 29 Sextilis (August) 29 December. The Romans did not number the days of the months consecutively. They reckoned backwards from three fixed points: The kalends, the nones, and the ides. The kalends is the first day of the month. For months with 31 days the nones fall on the 7th and the ides the 15th. For other months the nones fall on the 5th and the ides on the 13th.
  • Tacitus, Germania, 98 CE Tacitus Was Probably Born in 56 Or 57 CE in Northern Italy Into an Equestrian (Minor Noble) Family. He

    Tacitus, Germania, 98 CE Tacitus Was Probably Born in 56 Or 57 CE in Northern Italy Into an Equestrian (Minor Noble) Family. He

    Tacitus, Germania, 98 CE As to the Germans themselves, I think it probable that they are Tacitus was probably born in 56 or 57 CE in Northern Italy into an indigenous and that very little foreign blood has been introduced either by equestrian (minor noble) family. He had quite a successful career in invasions or by friendly dealings with neighbouring peoples. For in former Roman public service, holding both military and civil offices, culminating in becoming the proconsul of the Roman province of Asia, 112-113 CE. He times it was not by land but on shipboard that would-be immigrants wrote a several literary and historical works, many of which criticize faults arrived; and the limitless ocean that lies beyond the coasts of Germany, and in Roman society by comparing them to others. Germania is not a travel as it were defies intruders, is seldom visited by ships from our part of the story, nor even a personal account. Instead, Tacitus drew upon earlier writers, and possibly talked to contemporaries who had been there to world. And to say nothing of the perils of that wild and unknown sea, who compile an ethnographic and geographical description of Germania would have been likely to leave Asia Minor, North Africa, or Italy, to go to (which includes parts of present-day France and Germany), especially the Germany with its forbidding landscapes and unpleasant climate - a country customs and culture of the various tribes who lived there, whom the Romans generally called “barbarians.”1 that is thankless to till and dismal to behold for anyone who was not born 1.
  • The Catalyst for Warfare: Dacia's Threat to the Roman Empire

    The Catalyst for Warfare: Dacia's Threat to the Roman Empire

    The Catalyst for Warfare: Dacia’s Threat to the Roman Empire ______________________________________ ALEXANDRU MARTALOGU The Roman Republic and Empire survived for centuries despite imminent threats from the various peoples at the frontiers of their territory. Warfare, plundering, settlements and other diplomatic agreements were common throughout the Roman world. Contemporary scholars have given in-depth analyses of some wars and conflicts. Many, however, remain poorly analyzed given the scarce selection of period documents and subsequent inquiry. The Dacian conflicts are one such example. These emerged under the rule of Domitian1 and were ended by Trajan2. Several issues require clarification prior to discussing this topic. The few sources available on Domitian’s reign describe the emperor in hostile terms.3 They depict him as a negative figure. By contrast, the rule of Trajan, during which the Roman Empire reached its peak, is one of the least documented reigns of a major emperor. The primary sources necessary to analyze the Dacian wars include Cassius Dio’s Roman History, Jordanes’ Getica and a few other brief mentions by several ancient authors, including Pliny the Younger and Eutropius. Pliny is the only author contemporary to the wars. The others inherited an already existing opinion about the battles and emperors. It is no surprise that scholars continue to disagree on various issues concerning the Dacian conflicts, including the causes behind Domitian’s and Trajan’s individual decisions to attack Dacia. This study will explore various possible causes behind the Dacian Wars. A variety of reasons lead some to believe that the Romans felt threatened by the Dacians.
  • A Millennium of Migrations: Proto-Historic Mobile Pastoralism in Hungary

    A Millennium of Migrations: Proto-Historic Mobile Pastoralism in Hungary

    Bull. Fla. Mus. Nat. Hist. (2003) 44(1) 101-130 101 A MILLENNIUM OF MIGRATIONS: PROTO-HISTORIC MOBILE PASTORALISM IN HUNGARY Ldsz16 Bartosiewiczl During the A.D. 1st millennium, numerous waves of mobile pastoral communities of Eurasian origins reached the area of modern- day Hungary in the Carpathian Basin. This paper reviews animal exploitation as reconstructed from animal remains found at the settlements of Sarmatian, Avar/Slavic, and Early ("Conquering") Hungarian populations. According to the historical record, most of these communities turned to sedentism. Archaeological assemblages also manifest evidence of animal keeping, such as sheep and/or goat herding, as well as pig, cattle, and horse. Such functional similarities, however, should not be mistaken for de facto cultural continuity among the zooarchaeological data discussed here within the contexts of environment and cultural history. Following a critical assessment of assemblages available for study, analysis of species frequencies shed light on ancient li feways of pastoral communities intransition. Spatial limitations (both geographical and political), as well as a climate, more temperate than in the Eurasian Steppe Belt, altered animal-keeping practices and encouraged sedentism. Key words: Central European Migration, environmental determinism, nomadism, pastoral animal keeping Zoarchaeological data central to this paper originate from Data used in this study represent the lowest common settlements spanning much of the A.D. 1st millennium denominator of the three different
  • The Saracen Defenders of Constantinople in 378 Woods, David Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1996; 37, 3; Proquest Pg

    The Saracen Defenders of Constantinople in 378 Woods, David Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1996; 37, 3; Proquest Pg

    The Saracen defenders of Constantinople in 378 Woods, David Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1996; 37, 3; ProQuest pg. 259 The Saracen Defenders of Constantinople in 378 David Woods RITING ca 391, the historian Ammianus Marcellinus has left us a vivid description of the Roman defense of W Constantinople against the Goths shortly after their crushing defeat by these Goths at Adrianopolis on 9 August 378 (31. 16.4ff): Unde Constantinopolim, copiarum cumulis inhiantes amplis­ simis, formas quadratorum agmimum insidiarum metu ser­ vantes, ire ocius festinabant, multa in exitium urbis inclitae molituri. Quos inferentes sese immodice, obicesque portarum paene pulsantes, hoc casu caeleste reppulit numen. Saracen­ orum cuneus (super quorum origine moribusque diversis in locis rettulimus plura), ad furta magis expeditionalium re­ rum, quam ad concursatorias habilis pugnas, recens illuc accersitus, congressurus barbarorum globo repente con­ specto, a civitate fidenter e rup it, diuque extento certamine pertinaci, aequis partes discessere momentis. Sed orientalis turma novo neque ante viso superavit eventu. Ex ea enim crinitus quidam, nudus omnia praeter pubem, subraucum et lugubre strepens, educto pugione, agmini se medio Goth­ orum inseruit, et interfecti hostis iugulo labra admovit, effusumque cruorem exsuxit. Quo monstroso miraculo bar­ bari territi, postea non ferocientes ex more, cum agendum appeterent aliquid, sed ambiguis gressibus incedebant. 1 1 "From there [Perinthus] they [the Goths] hastened in rapid march to Con­ stantinople, greedy for its vast heaps of treasure, marching in square forma­ tions for fear of ambuscades, and intending to make mighty efforts to destroy the famous city. But while they were madly rushing on and almost knocking at the barriers of the gates, the celestial power checked them by the following event.
  • The Myth - the Nordic Origins

    The Myth - the Nordic Origins

    SHEETS The myth - The Nordic origins Original Germanic tribes The so-called “Nordic circle” (Nordischer Kreis) is indicated as the original homeland of the Germanic tribes (second millennium BC). A vast area which - considering present-day names - comprises southern Sweden and Norway, the Jutland peninsula, the Danish islands and the plains of northern Germany. The Germanic peoples of the early days were not one People, nor were the various tribes aware of a common ethnic root. Likewise, today there is no certainty as to the probable existence of an original bloodline which, in any case, belonged to the great Indo-European family. The Germanic peoples are distinguished according to three large groups: North Germanic (Varangians or Norwegian, Danish and Swedish Vikings), East Germanic and West Germanic, to each of which belonged a great number of sub-groups and tribes. The North Germanic group also includes Norwegian, Danish and Swedish Varangians (also known as Vikings). Classified in the East Germanic group were the tribes of the Goths (a group that included Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Gepids, Thervingi, Greuthungi, Crimean Goths), the Rugii, theVandals, the Herules, the Burgundians, theBastarnae, the Scirii and the Thuringians. Classified in the West Germanic group (which in turn was divided into the large groups of the Ingaevones, Irminones and Istvaeones) were the Salians, the Franks - to whom a great part of Longobard history is connected - the Chatti, the Batavi, the Ubii, the Treveri and also the Suebi (or Suevi), the Saxons, the Quadi, the Marcomanni and the Alemanni. As regards the Longobards, the few ancient sources mention them sometimes as belonging to the Eastern Germanic and sometimes to the Western Germanic tribes (Irminones) group).
  • Chapter 2 Usurpers in Gaul.Pdf

    Chapter 2 Usurpers in Gaul.Pdf

    1 Chapter 2: Usurpers in Gaul The Gallic provinces faced their own challenges in the first decade of the fifth century. Severe threats to Italy under Stilicho’s regime, specifically the invasions of Alaric (401-402) and of an otherwise unknown Gothic leader named Radagaisus (405-406), forced the MVM to take a series of ad hoc decisions favoring the central provinces over the other regions of the western empire. Stilicho severely reduced the military forces of Gaul in order to supply men for the defense of the Italian peninsula.1 He also allowed the traditional conduct of Roman foreign policy with the barbarians beyond the Rhine/Danube limes to lapse, leading to confusion and tension on the frontiers.2 While Stilicho’s actions were arguably necessary responses to the threats of the period, they nevertheless amounted to a fundamental neglect of imperial management of the Gallic provinces. Under the circumstances, it is perhaps inevitable that such neglect would result in problems for the Honorian regime. The usurpations of Maximus and Eugenius remained a part of living memory and the extension of the control of the Theodosian dynasty into the western empire was a relatively new development.3 The potential for the abuse or rejection of Italian authority was therefore quite real, though it was perhaps an unavoidable risk given the circumstances prevailing in Italy during the first half of the decade. 1 Claudian De Bello Gothico 414-429. For discussion, see Drinkwater, “Usurpers”, 271-275; Janssen, Stilicho, 203- 204; Walter Goffart, Barbarian Tides: The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006) 95-96; Guy Halsall, Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376-568 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) 195-200, 206-211.
  • Who Were the Eruli?

    Who Were the Eruli?

    © Scandia 2008 www.scandia.hist.lu.se ABvar Elkgird Who were the Eruli? I. The received view In practically all the standard handbooks covering the history of the Germanic tribes,' the Eruli, or Heruli2 are represented as originating somewhere in Scan- dinavia. Thus A. kippold in Der Kleine Pauly (1967) describes them as a Ger- manic tribe, expelled from Scandinavia by the Danes around A.D. 250. In all es- sentials Lippold agrees with B. Rappaport's long article in the unabridged Pau- lys Real-Encyklopadie, 2nd ed. 1913. The same general picture emerges from the shorter and much less specific ar- ticle by R. Much in Hoops' Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, 2nd ed. 1913. The Eruli are said to have had their original home ("Stamrnsitz") in Scandinavia. Following the sixth-century historian Jordanes, Much declares that the EruIi were driven out by the Danes. After this, part of the tribe settled somewhere in northwest Germany, from where they made an abortive incursion into Gau'l in 287. Another part of the tribe, says Much, accompanied the Goths to the region north of the Black Sea. Much also refers to a very detailed story by the sixth century Greek historian Prokopios, in which a group of Eruli, led by members of their royal family, made a long trek from 1llyricu.m to Scandinavia some time in the beginning of the sixth century. This is described by Much as a "return" ("Riickwanderung") of the tribe to their ancestral home. One of the standard works on the history of the ancient Germanic tribes, by Ludwig Schmidt, has the same story and the same interpretation, both in the first edition (1910) and in the second (1933).