DOCSLIB.ORG

Coin Finds and the Pay of the Roman Army

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Coin Finds and the Pay of the Roman Army ISSN: 0514-7336 BRONZE, SILVER OR GOLD? COIN FINDS AND THE PAY OF THE ROMAN ARMY ¿Bronce, plata u oro? Hallazgos de monedas y L· paga del ejército romano Reinhard WOLTERS Universidad de Tubingen Fecha de aceptación de la versión definitiva: 12-11-2001 BIBLID [0514-7336 (2000-2001) 53-54; 579-588] RESUMEN: A finales de la república y en el alto imperio romano el stipendium del ejército romano no se pagaba en monedas de bronce sino en monedas de plata y probablemente también de oro. Los hallazgos aislados de monedas en contextos militares no son representativos de la circulación monetaria. Para la datación numismática de centros militares es asimismo relevante el hecho de que los soldados no recibieran siempre monedas recién acuñadas. Las monedas locales autónomas no tienen nada que ver con la paga del ejército romano. Su existencia en contextos militares requiere otra interpretación. Palabras clave: Monedas romanas. Monedas locales y autónomas. Stipendium. Datación de yacimientos arqueológicos. ABSTRACT: Also at the end of the Republic and in the Early Roman Empire the stipendium of the Roman army was paid in silver and probably in gold, not in bronze coins. In so far, stray finds of coins in military contexts are not realy representative for coin supply and for coin circulation. Another fact important for the numismatic dating of military places is, that the Roman soldiers didn't received always newly minted coins. Thirdly, autonomous local coins have nothing to do with the pay of the Roman army; their existence in military contexts needs a different interpretation. Key words: Roman coins. Autonomous local coins. Stipendium. Dating of archaeological sites. Very recently, the thesis has been argued supported by the spectrum of coin finds in repeatedly that the Roman troops in the Augus­ Roman military camps, especially in those on tan time were given their military pay in bron­ the Rhine. Here, indeed, bronze coins, mostly ze coins —possibly in contrast to an earlier prac­ asses, dominate and likewise are the more tice of paying them in silver1. Such a view is recent coins whereas silver coins only play a subordinate role in terms of numbers. Gene­ rally, the silver coins also show the earlier date 1 D. G. Wigg (1997): "Coin Supply and the of minting. Roman Army". In W. Groenmann-van Waateringe et al. This thesis is of fundamental significance (eds.): Roman Frontier Studies 1995. Proceedings of the not only for monetary economy but also for the XVIth International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies. Oxford, pp. 281-288; id. (1999): "Die Rolle des Mili- társ bei der Münzversorgung und Miinzwirtschaft am Rhein in der friihen Kaiserzeit". In W. Schliiter & R. Studies in Cultural Interaction. Portsmouth, pp. 99-124, Wiegels, (eds.): Rom, Germanien und die Ausgrabungen 110 ff; J. van der Vijn (2001): "Monetarisierung und von Kalkriese. Osnabriick, pp. 327-346; id., (1999): "The Handel am Niederrhein in augusteischer Zeit". In M. development of the monetary economy in North Gaul in Grünewald (éd.): Germania Inferior. Besiedlung, Gesells- the late La Tène and early Roman periods". In J. D. chafi und Wirtschaft an der Grenze der romisch-germanis- Creighton, & R. J. A. Wilson (eds.): Roman Germany. chen Welt. Betlin/New York, pp. 397-408, 399. Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, 53-54, 2000-2001, 579-588 580 Reinhard Walters I Bronze, silver or gold?Coin finds and the pay of the Roman army numismatic dating of Roman military places. 1. Soldiers' pay, weights and transport Lacking a developed banking system the Roman state practically could bring newly minted coins With the establishment of a professional stan­ into circulation only by means of state expendi­ ding army under Augustus military pay had been tures. The expenditures for the army in the standardized firmly at the latest4. The pay of a Roman imperial age have been estimated to have common legionary was 225 denarii a year, which comprised 2/3 of all state expenditures2. Thus, was given to him on three days of the year with newly minted coins had to be brought into cir­ 75 denarii on each of these days. Under Domi- culation mostly by means of military pays. tian a quartum stipendium was introduced which However, if the stipendium was paid in bronze increased the basic military pay to 300 denarii coins then these must have constituted a parti­ a year. The payment levels for higher ranks of a cularly large share of the output of the mint. legion were impressive -they increased from one Likewise, these were the coins that probably and a half, double or five times the amount of the were transported straight from the mint to the basic military pay up 15, 30, 60 times the amount legions and auxiliary units and thus came into for centurions up to the primipilus. The basic circulation faster. Correspondingly, the presence pay for members of the auxiliary units is still or non-existence of certain kinds of bronze coins being discussed controversially, but most likely at one location would gain a singular impor­ was 5/6 of the basic pay of a legionary. tance for establishing a terminus post quern or a 25 denarii were one aureus and thus the terminus ante quern. There are also consequen­ amounts of money to be paid in the various pay­ ces, however, for the interpretation of the pic­ ment levels could always exactly be calculated in tures of the coins: insofar one intended to use gold coins, too. Neither did the situation change with the further augmentations of the pay in the coins to spread certain news or to address par­ nd rd ticular groups —and again this was feasible most 2 and 3 centuries A.D. The same applies for accurately by means of military pay— for sol­ unscheduled monetary presents to Roman sol­ diers as recipients of certain messages one has diers, the donatives, which normally amounted to 75 or 100 denarii5. Thus, a stipendium oí 75 to take into consideration mainly bronze coins denarii could theoretically be paid in form of and not denarii any longer. either 3 gold pieces, 75 silver pieces, 300 large The far-reaching consequences of this the­ bronze pieces (sesterces) or 1200 normal bronze 3 sis , which has also been accepted in other pieces (asses) respectively. Since sesterces only fields than numismatics, seem to make it advi­ played a very minor role in the Augustan age, sable to evaluate it critically on the basis of the one would have to assume for the bronze coins available literary and archaeological evidence. payment in form of asses. Since in written sources there are no explicit Three aurei together weighed approximately statements on the topic of this problem, the 24 grams whereas a pay of 75 denarii in silver likelihood of military pay in bronze coins shall pieces amounted to a weight of nearly 300 be assessed from various considerations, and grams. Paid in form of asses the amount to be similarly the basic structures of monetary paid to each soldier on payday added up to supply and circulation in the early Empire shall about 13 kilograms. The yearly payment of a be developed. legion considering the various levels of payment was calculated by Lothar Wierschowski to be 2 R. Wolters (1999): Nummi Signati. Untersu- chungen zur romischen Miinzprâgung und Geldwirtschaft 4 Cf. M. A. Speidel (1992): "Roman Army Pay (= Vestigia 49). Miinchen, 222 ff. Scales", JRS, 82, pp. 87-106; R. Alston (1994) "Roman 3 H.-J. Schalles: "Die Wirtschaftskraft stádtischer Military Pay from Caesar to Diocletian", JRS, 84, pp. Siedlungen am Niederrhein: Zur Frage der wirtschaftli- 113-123; Wolters, Nummi Signati (n. 2), 211 ff. chen Beziehungen des romischen Xanten mit seinem 5 G. R Watson (1994): The Roman Soldier2. New Umland". In Griinewald: Germania Inferior (n. 1), pp. York, 108 ff; R. Duncan-Jones (1994): Money and 431-463, 438, n. 29. Government in the Roman Empire. Cambridge, 39 ff. © Universidad de Salamanca Zephyrus, 53-54, 2000-2001, 579-588 Reinhard Walters I Bronze, silver or gold? Coin finds and the pay of the Roman army 581 1,642,000 denarii. Expressed in terms of weight silver and gold, and nothing was more gratifying this would correspond to over 6,200 kilograms to the Romans, or more awe-inspiring to the of silver or nearly 300,000 kilograms of asses a enemy, than that spectacle"9. year, or 2,000 kilograms of silver or 100,000 If one considers only the third paid in cash kilograms of bronze per payday respectively6. for one legion on one payday, one still had to These figures could be projected to the whole transport almost 700 kilograms of silver assu­ empire with an average of 28 active legions. ming payment in form of denarii, or over 30,000 These thoughts get restricted by the fact that kilograms of copper assuming payment in asses. military pay was not paid to its full extent. The The transport capacity of an oxcart can be esti­ 10 army high command organized provisions, clo­ mated to be about 250 kilograms , requiring thing, equipment and other things centrally; about 3 carts to fetch the denarii and approxi­ they had to be paid for, however, by the indivi­ mately 120 carts for the asses. Certainly these dual soldiers. For this purpose the troops had a numbers may be further differentiated taking well-developed accountancy system which regis­ into account the discrepancies between supposed tered the amounts the soldiers had to pay with and actual troop sizes, other reconstructions bookkeeping methods. This did not require any of payment levels, variations in the amount of actual flow of money.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Ancient Rome
    Ancient Rome William E. Dunstan ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK ................. 17856$ $$FM 09-09-10 09:17:21 PS PAGE iii Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright ᭧ 2011 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. All maps by Bill Nelson. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. The cover image shows a marble bust of the nymph Clytie; for more information, see figure 22.17 on p. 370. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dunstan, William E. Ancient Rome / William E. Dunstan. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7425-6832-7 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7425-6833-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-7425-6834-1 (electronic) 1. Rome—Civilization. 2. Rome—History—Empire, 30 B.C.–476 A.D. 3. Rome—Politics and government—30 B.C.–476 A.D. I. Title. DG77.D86 2010 937Ј.06—dc22 2010016225 ⅜ϱ ீThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/ NISO Z39.48–1992. Printed in the United States of America ................
    [Show full text]
  • Martyrs and Confessors of Lugdunum: a Validation of Eusebius’S Documentation
    122 Scrinium 11 (2015) 122-134 Ohtani Journal of Patrology and Critical Hagiography www.brill.com/scri Martyrs and Confessors of Lugdunum: A Validation of Eusebius’s Documentation Satoshi Ohtani Research Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan [email protected] Summary In 177 AD, the persecution of Christians in Lugdunum increased. The sole extant account of this persecution is a letter preserved in Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History. However, because of his daring excerpting and muddled terminology, the understanding of the situation of martyrs and confessors of Lugdunum is confusing. In addition, another source about the persecution, Collection of the Ancient Martyrs, was scattered. The pur- pose of this article is to organize the situation of the martyrs’ deaths and to validate how Eusebius recorded the martyrs and the confessors. For this purpose, I compared the fragments of the martyrs’ lists preserved in the Martyrology of Pseudo-Jerome, the Mar- tyrology bearing the name of Bede, several Passions, Glory of the Martyrs by Gregory of Tours, and Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius. Besides, I analyse the categories of martyrs in the reconstructed list of the martyrs of Lugdunum. As a result, it clarifies the way Eusebius constructed the list of martyrs. This article also contributes to the understand- ing of the terminology and documentation concerning martyrs and confessors in early Christian documents. Keywords Eusebius Ecclesiastical History – early Christian martyrs – Lugdunum 1 Introduction In this short paper, I address the Christian persecution that emerged in Lugdu- num in 177 AD. The sole surviving account of this persecution is a letter ISSN 1817-7530 (print version) ISSN 1817-7565 (online version) SCRI 1 © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi 10.1163/18177565-00111p13DownloadedScrinium from Brill.com09/27/2021 11 (2015) 122-134 05:58:31PM via free access Patrologia Pacifica Quarta Martyrs And Confessors Of Lugdunum 123 preserved in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History.
    [Show full text]
  • Gods of Cultivation and Food Supply in the Imperial Iconography of Septimius Severus
    Jussi Rantala a hundred years.1 The result of this was that a new emperor without any direct connection to the earlier dynasty had risen to the throne. This situation provided a tough challenge for Severus. He had to demonstrate that he was the true and legitimate emperor and he had to keep the empire and especially the capital calm Gods of Cultivation and Food after a period of crisis.2 The task was not made easier by the fact that Severus was not connected with the traditional elites of the capital; he can be considered an Supply in the Imperial Iconography outsider, for some scholars even an “alien”. of Septimius Severus Severus was a native of Lepcis Magna, North Africa. His “Africanness” has been a debated issue among modern researchers. Severus’ Punic roots are Jussi Rantala highlighted especially by Anthony Birley, and the emperor’s interest towards the cult of Serapis is also considered a sign of African identity.3 These ideas are University of Tampere nowadays somewhat disputed. Lepcis Magna was more or less Romanized long This article deals with the question of the role of gods involved with cultivation, grain before the birth of Severus, and the two families (the Fulvii and the Septimii) from and food supply in the Roman imperial iconography during the reign of Septimius which the family of Severus descended, were very much of Italian origin. Moreover, Severus. By evaluating numismatic and written evidence, as well as inscriptions, the the Severan interest in Serapis can hardly be considered an African feature: the article discusses which gods related to grain and cultivation received most attention same god was given attention already by Vespasian (who was definitely not an from Septimius Severus, and how their use helped the emperor to stabilize his rule.
    [Show full text]
  • Resident Aliens and Translocal Merchant Collegia in the Roman Empire
    RESIDENT ALIENS AND TRANSLOCAL MERCHANT COLLEGIA IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE K. Verboven Boundaries are essential features of society. They determine the limits within which specific normative behavior is required. They define the ‘ins’ and the ‘outs’ and distinguish those to whom we are bound by socially prescribed ties of group related solidarity and respect from those who remain unbound by the impersonal rules of group related morality.1 The greatest achievement of the Roman empire was that it succeeded in creating an imagined community based on Roman citizenship, which transcended the local level. Inside this grand imagined community, how- ever, thousands of smaller communities organized in cities, tribes and nations, continued to provide the setting for social life. Under the techno- logical conditions characterizing the empire, social life largely remained local life. Local communities (patriae) remained strong moral commu- nities, based on local citizenship, ethnicity or tribal membership. Nevertheless, as argued by Horden and Purcell,2 mobility was the essence of the Mediterranean and of the Roman Empire. Ports and major cities were familiar with smaller or larger communities of migrants, resi- dent aliens, and passing merchants. Ethnic groups and civic communities were bound together in a continuous exchange of outsiders frequenting and settling in each other’s communities, spreading news and establish- ing links between distant places.3 Problems and challenges were inevitable. Foreign communities sought to maintain their ethnic or cultural identity, preserving close ties with 1 This paper is largely based on research done at the Academia Belgica in Rome in March . I would like to thank the staff of the Academia Belgica for their hospitality and support.
    [Show full text]
  • The Military Reforms of Gaius Marius in Their Social, Economic, and Political Context by Michael C. Gambino August, 2015 Directo
    The Military Reforms of Gaius Marius in their Social, Economic, and Political Context By Michael C. Gambino August, 2015 Director of Thesis: Dr. Frank Romer Major Department: History Abstract The goal of this thesis is, as the title affirms, to understand the military reforms of Gaius Marius in their broader societal context. In this thesis, after a brief introduction (Chap. I), Chap. II analyzes the Roman manipular army, its formation, policies, and armament. Chapter III examines Roman society, politics, and economics during the second century B.C.E., with emphasis on the concentration of power and wealth, the legislative programs of Ti. And C. Gracchus, and the Italian allies’ growing demand for citizenship. Chap. IV discusses Roman military expansion from the Second Punic War down to 100 B.C.E., focusing on Roman military and foreign policy blunders, missteps, and mistakes in Celtiberian Spain, along with Rome’s servile wars and the problem of the Cimbri and Teutones. Chap. V then contextualizes the life of Gaius Marius and his sense of military strategy, while Chap VI assesses Marius’s military reforms in his lifetime and their immediate aftermath in the time of Sulla. There are four appendices on the ancient literary sources (App. I), Marian consequences in the Late Republic (App. II), the significance of the legionary eagle standard as shown during the early principate (App. III), and a listing of the consular Caecilii Metelli in the second and early first centuries B.C.E. (App. IV). The Marian military reforms changed the army from a semi-professional citizen militia into a more professionalized army made up of extensively trained recruits who served for longer consecutive terms and were personally bound to their commanders.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476)
    Impact of Empire 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd i 5-4-2007 8:35:52 Impact of Empire Editorial Board of the series Impact of Empire (= Management Team of the Network Impact of Empire) Lukas de Blois, Angelos Chaniotis Ségolène Demougin, Olivier Hekster, Gerda de Kleijn Luuk de Ligt, Elio Lo Cascio, Michael Peachin John Rich, and Christian Witschel Executive Secretariat of the Series and the Network Lukas de Blois, Olivier Hekster Gerda de Kleijn and John Rich Radboud University of Nijmegen, Erasmusplein 1, P.O. Box 9103, 6500 HD Nijmegen, The Netherlands E-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected] Academic Board of the International Network Impact of Empire geza alföldy – stéphane benoist – anthony birley christer bruun – john drinkwater – werner eck – peter funke andrea giardina – johannes hahn – fik meijer – onno van nijf marie-thérèse raepsaet-charlier – john richardson bert van der spek – richard talbert – willem zwalve VOLUME 6 IMEM-6-deBlois_CS2.indd ii 5-4-2007 8:35:52 The Impact of the Roman Army (200 BC – AD 476) Economic, Social, Political, Religious and Cultural Aspects Proceedings of the Sixth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Roman Empire, 200 B.C. – A.D. 476) Capri, March 29 – April 2, 2005 Edited by Lukas de Blois & Elio Lo Cascio With the Aid of Olivier Hekster & Gerda de Kleijn LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
    [Show full text]
  • Representations of Veterans in the Imperial Cult in Gallia Narbonensis, 46 BC-79 AD
    Representations of veterans in the imperial cult in Gallia Narbonensis, 46 BC-79 AD Dennis Hermans s4165527 15-08-2017 Master thesis Eternal Rome Index Introduction p. 2 Chapter 1 – Creating a corpus regarding veterans and the imperial cult p. 10 1.1 Baeterrae p. 15 1.2 Narbo Martius p. 19 1.3 Arausio p. 22 1.4 Forum Iulii p. 24 1.5 Arelate p. 26 1.6 Cularo p. 29 1.7 Geneva p. 30 1.8 Alba Helviorum p. 33 1.9 Allebaece Reiorum Apollinarum p. 34 1.10 Vienna p. 36 1.11 Nemausus p. 38 1.12 Massilia p. 43 Chapter 2 – Inscriptions and the career path for equites and nobiles p. 45 Conclusion p. 54 Bibliography p. 57 Appendix p. 63 1 Introduction1 ‘I settled colonies of soldiers in Africa, Sicily, Macedonia, both Spains, Achaea, Asia, Syria, Gallia Narbonensis, Pisidia. Moreover, Italy has twenty-eight colonies founded under my auspices which have grown to be famous and populous during my lifetime.’2 The quote above comes from the Res Gestae divi Augusti, the works or deeds of the deified Augustus, published after his death in 14 AD. Much like the rest of the Res Gestae, the quote above contains a boasting and propaganda element: Augustus has settled soldiers in colonies all over the world and they have all become great and grew very large. This gives an insight into the image that Augustus wanted to portray about his deeds and himself. Although Augustus has settled veterans in many colonies, he was definitely not the first to do so, as the process of establishing veteran colonies already started around 100 BC.
    [Show full text]
  • Atlas of the Ornamental and Building Stones of Volubilis Ancient Site (Morocco) Final Report
    Atlas of the ornamental and building stones of Volubilis ancient site (Morocco) Final report BRGM/RP-55539-FR July, 2008 Atlas of the ornamental and building stones of Volubilis ancient site (Morocco) Final report BRGM/RP-55539-FR July, 2008 Study carried out in the framework of MEDISTONE project (European Commission supported research program FP6-2003- INCO-MPC-2 / Contract n°15245) D. Dessandier With the collaboration (in alphabetical order) of F. Antonelli, R. Bouzidi, M. El Rhoddani, S. Kamel, L. Lazzarini, L. Leroux and M. Varti-Matarangas Checked by: Approved by: Name: Jean FERAUD Name: Marc AUDIBERT Date: 03 September 2008 Date: 19 September 2008 If the present report has not been signed in its digital form, a signed original of this document will be available at the information and documentation Unit (STI). BRGM’s quality management system is certified ISO 9001:2000 by AFAQ. IM 003 ANG – April 05 Keywords: Morocco, Volubilis, ancient site, ornamental stones, building stones, identification, provenance, quarries. In bibliography, this report should be cited as follows: D. Dessandier with the collaboration (in alphabetical order) of F. Antonelli, R. Bouzidi, M. El Rhoddani, S. Kamel, L. Lazzarini, L. Leroux and M. Varti-Matarangas (2008) – Atlas of the ornamental and building stones of Volubilis ancient site (Morocco). BRGM/RP-55539-FR, 166 p., 135 fig., 28 tab., 3 app. © BRGM, 2008. No part of this document may be reproduced without the prior permission of BRGM. Atlas of the ornamental and building stones of Volubilis Synopsis The present study titled “Atlas of the ornamental and building stones of Volubilis” was performed in the framework of the project MEDISTONE (“Preservation of ancient MEDIterranean sites in terms of their ornamental and building STONE: from determining stone provenance to proposing conservation/restoration techniques”) supported by the European Commission (research program FP6-2003-INCO-MPC-2 / Contract n° 015245).
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Ross Burns Justinian's Fortifications East of Antioch
    Ross Burns Justinian’s Fortifications East of Antioch Almost fifty years ago, Dillemann put the issues starkly – fortifications were a useless distraction: The Notitia Dignatatum, at the beginning of the 5th Century, only speaks of units, generally cavalry, with their bases. In [Procopius’] Buildings, the only issues are fortified positions with no mention of units. Defence policy has reached sclerosis. Previously, positions were surrounded by walls of light construction, like enclosures, which attracted Procopius’ disapproval. For good reasons Justinian’s predecessors judged it useless to raise solid ramparts; it was a nonsense to condemn cavalry to defend them. The latter only had to be given shelter from the blows of marauders and pillagers; they did not imagine they had to withstand a siege.1 Is it true, as Dillemann has argued, that Justinian put too much faith in fortresses and not enough in manpower and élan? As a corrective, we have Liebeschuetz’s observation that while fortresses did not in themselves amount to an impermeable physical barrier, they prevented permanent occupation of territory by an enemy. In the sixth century there was no way in which the Persians could be prevented from penetrating into the Empire. The only way to check an invasion was by means of a field army strong enough to defeat or at least to threaten the invading force. Fortified cities provided no kind of barrier and most of them could be captured easily. Nevertheless, they too had an important function. They provided shelter for the inhabitants, their corn and their animals. They also provided bases for Roman armies operating in the neighbourhood…[The Persians] could not remain in permanent occupation while the cities were not in their hands.2 It is well recognised that no line of fortresses can operate as an effective line of defence in its own right.3 Nevertheless, the distribution of forts could mark out the extent of territory a state sought to control for most purposes.
    [Show full text]
  • THE SEVERAN DYNASTY Brian Campbell
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-30199-2 - The Cambridge Ancient History: Second Edition: Volume XII: The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193–337 Edited by Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey and Averil Cameron Excerpt More information CHAPTER 1 THE SEVERAN DYNASTY brian campbell i. the background and accession of septimius severus After Commodus had been strangled on the evening of 31 December 192, the main instigators of the deed, Aemilius Laetus the praetorian prefect and Eclectus the chamberlain, immediately approached Pertinax. This was a wise choice. Pertinax held the eminent positions of consul II and prefect of the city, and a long career that had included the frequent command of soldiers and the governorship of four consular provinces had earned him a distinguished reputation. He sent a friend to check that Commodus was dead, and probably was genuinely unaware of any plan to kill the emperors.1 Despite some reservations among senators about Pertinax’sorigins as the son of an ex-slave, there was general approbation, especially since, in contrast to Commodus, Pertinax attempted to play down the autocratic and dynastic aspects of his position. Styling himself ‘princeps senatus’, he refused to name his wife Augusta or his son Caesar. In Pertinax’s view the purple was not his to bestow on others. He was affable and approachable; his integrity and benevolence in the conduct of his imperial duties contributed to an atmosphere free from terror, where freedom of speech could flourish. Informers were punished; the death penalty for treason was not invoked; public affairs were efficiently managed in the interests of the state.
    [Show full text]
  • The Scottish Campaigns of Septimius Severus 208-211
    The Scottish campaigns of Septimius Severus 208-211 A reassessment of the evidence Author : L.J.J. Kieboom The Scottish campaigns of Septimius Severus 208-211 A reassessment of the evidence Name author: L.J.J. Kieboom Student number: s1424904 Course: Bachelorthesis Name supervisor: Dr. J. de Bruin Specialisation: Archaeology of Europe University of Leiden, Faculty of Archaeology Leiden, 15-06-2017, Final version Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 5 1.1 The aim of the research 5 1.2 Research approaches and questions 6 1.3 Chapter layout 7 Chapter 2: Background information 8 2.1 Iron Age Scotland 8 2.2 Roman military 11 2.2.1 Organisation 11 2.2.2 The Roman army on march 12 2.3 Roman military campaigns into Scotland prior to Severan campaigns 17 Chapter 3: Historical sources and consensus of the Severan campaigns 19 3.1 Roman sources regarding the reign of Severus 19 3.2 Septimius Severus 22 3.2.1 Personal life 22 3.2.2 Personal involvements with Britain 24 3.3 Historical accounts of the Severan campaigns 29 3.3.1 Third century histories: Dio and Herodian 29 3.3.2 Fourth century histories: Eutropius and the Historia Augusta 34 3.4 Current image of the Severan campaigns 35 Chapter 4: Archaeological evidence for the Severan campaigns 38 4.1 Scotland 38 4.1.1 Forts 40 4.1.2 Camps 43 4.1.3 Miscellaneous evidence 47 4.2 Outside Scotland 50 4.2.1 Hadrian’s Wall 50 4.2.2 Outposts at High Rochester and Risingham 53 Chapter 5: Synthesis and discussion 55 5.1 Preparations (Pre-208 CE) 55 5.2 The campaigns (208-210 CE) 58 5.3 Aftermath of the campaigns (post-211 CE) 63 Chapter 6: Conclusions 64 3 Summary 66 Samenvatting 67 References 68 List of figures and tables 74 4 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 The aim of the research When discussing the Roman military presence in modern day Scotland, the campaigns of governor and generalGnaeus JuliusAgricola between 79/80-83/84 usually get the most attention from both scholars and the general public.
    [Show full text]