The Roman army between the Alps and the Adriatic

Abstract

The results of the international collaboration of the three institutions from Austria, Italy and Slovenia (Alpen-Adria-Universitat Klagenfurt, Universita degli studi di Udine and Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Institut za arheologijo of Ljubljana) are being published in the Studia Alpium et Adriae series. New discoveries and the re-examination of old ones is offering new insights into the Roman army and the historical questions related to its presence and activity in the regions of the northern Adriatic and the eastern Alps. The first volume of Studia Alpium et Adriae contains the contributions of twenty-one authors from four countries (Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria) who present the results of their work conducted in recent years within different research groups and projects. The book titled The Roman army between the Alps and the Adriatic spans the time from the beginnings of the Roman conquest to the Late Roman period (1st century BC – 5th century AD) in Regio X of Italy and parts of the Roman provinces of Noricum, Pannonia Superior and Dalmatia. The contributions tackle the questions of the chronology and strategy of the Roman conquest, the architecture of the military posts, as well as the remains of weapons and military equipment, while the inscriptions on stones reveal the origins of the soldiers, the methods of recruitment, the movements of the army units and the settlement of the veterans. The chapters of the book follow a geographical order, from west to east, beginning at Aquileia, which was the starting point for the military operations in the period of conquest and later served as the point of defence against the incursions from the east. The last chapters deal with the questions pertaining to the role of the Roman army in Pannonia.