Danube Frontier Research Articles

Soldiers of Hispanic Origin on the Danubian Border: a Study Through Epigraphic Documentation

In this paper we study the inscriptions of soldiers of Hispanic origin who did their military service on the Danube frontier. Geographically, our study covers the provinces of Raetia, Noricum, Pannonia, Moesia(e) and Dacia; chronologically, we will move between the 1st and the beginning of the 3rd century AD. The basis of this work is an epigraphic corpus of 19 inscriptions mentioning 27 military men. From these inscriptions, we will analyse the communities of origin of the Hispanic soldiers stationed in the Danubian limes, their period and units of service, their social and family relations and, in the case of the veterani, their return to civilian life.

Do shape and size matter? The distribution ofAmphore Crétoise4 containers, 1st–3rd c. CE

AbstractThis paper examines the distinctive distribution patterns ofAmphore Crétoise(AC) 4 amphoras within Roman trade networks through critical assessment of the morphological attributes of this amphora type compared to AC1–3 jars and through consideration of the mechanisms that underlie these patterns. This builds on a growing number of studies that have focused on the design attributes of amphoras as important factors tied to their economic role. It also demonstrates the importance of engaging in more nuanced and detailed investigations that question assumptions about amphora distribution within the Roman world. The AC4 is the primary, and often only, Cretan type found at sites in Rome's northwestern provinces and along the Danube frontier. A narrower profile and smaller capacity appear to have made this amphora type more attractive than other Cretan forms for transport along river and overland routes.

Fighting against nature: Romans and Barbarians on the Icy Danube

Abstract Scholars have long debated the nature of the Roman frontier. From linear defense systems designed to hold back barbarian tides to arteries of communication and exchange, rivers have been at the forefront of this discussion. This paper focuses on the Lower Danube frontier and argues that Rome’s most enduring enemy in the Balkans was not a barbarian tribe, but the river itself. The Danube frequently froze in wintertime facilitating the passage of massive raiding parties. Indeed, the most devastating attacks recorded by ancient observers took place during the dead of winter, when the ice on the Danube was hard enough to allow the crossing of large number of horsemen. These attacks set in motion events and long-term processes that forever changed the cultural fabric of the region. Unable to contain the threat, early Roman emperors led campaigns north of the Danube and ultimately conquered Dacia, which allowed them to control both sides of the river. In Late Antiquity, Constantine and Justinian dramatically altered the cultural landscape with their massive programs of fortification designed to finally secure the Balkan provinces. Centuries after the fall of Rome, Byzantine emperors still relied on a combination of brute force, consolidation and diplomacy in order to prevent winter attacks. In the end, all attempts at devising a permanent solution failed and the frozen Danube remained a barbarian ally slowly eroding the empire’s control in the Balkans.

Domitianus “Germanicus”

Domitian, the last Flavian emperor, placed Germania at the center of his foreign policy. His first military campaign was against the Chatti, which comprised the most dangerous armed forces among German tribes. After neutralizing them, Domitian had extended the frontiers of the Roman Empire in Germania. He made administrative reforms for newly acquired territories, making Roman presence long-lasting. He also gradually expanded Rome’s rule in Germania during his rule. After successfully dealing with the Dacians and subduing them on the Danube frontier, he refocused his attention other German tribes the Marcomanni and the Quadi. While preparing a pincer movement against the Marcomanni and the Quadi and their Sarmatian allies by establishing diplomatic contacts with several tribes in the region and concentrating military forces, he was assassinated in Rome. Had he not been assassinated, the Roman Empire’s expansion into Central Europe could have been achieved. Yet, his successes in Germania rightly earned Domitian the cognomen Germanicus.

Food, farming and trade on the Danube frontier: plant remains from Roman Aelia Mursa (Osijek, Croatia)

Archaeobotanical investigations at the Roman town of Aelia Mursa, located near the Danube frontier in modern day Croatia, have revealed an extraordinary assemblage of food remains from a series of pits dated to the early 2nd century ad. The site yielded a wide array of economically important food remains, including staples such as Hordeum (barley), Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet), Triticum aestivum (bread wheat), Secale cereale (rye), Lens culinaris (lentil) and Vicia faba (broad bean). We also found a range of fruits, nuts, herbs and vegetables, such as Daucus carota (carrot), Cichorium intybus (chicory), Allium sativum (garlic), Ficus carica (fig), Vitis vinifera (grape) and Olea europaea (olive). Further, we found clearly identifiable remains of eggshell, fish bones and scales, unidentifiable fruit flesh and porridge or bread remains, as well as possible animal dung. The site provides important evidence of exotic foods including Piper nigrum (pepper), Oryza sp. (rice) and Punica granatum (pomegranate). This diverse and unique assemblage provides a tantalising insight into the character of food, farming and trade of the people living on the frontier of the Roman Empire.

Ceramic production on the Middle Danube frontier: Belgrade in the 14th and 15th centuries

This paper discusses a micro-scale study of the technology, provenance and organisation of ceramic production in Belgrade during the 14th-15th centuries (the Late Medieval period). The study is situated in the context of the Middle Danube frontier and examines the impact of long-term military pressure on local craftsmanship in Belgrade. The production is reconstructed by methods of petrographic and chemical analyses of ceramics consumed in two households of Belgrade’s intra and extra muros settlements. The results indicate that two distinct technological traditions flourished in Belgrade during the 14th and 15th century respectively, each attached to a different community of practice. The production was diversified in the 15th century in a way that suggests that the distribution networks of local workshops were aimed at different social groups. It is suggested that this mode of craft organisation developed as a consequence of social divisions and military events on the frontier.

From the Editor

From the Editor Andy Cain This robust issue, which features twelve pioneering studies by fourteen different authors, typifies JLA's mission to showcase cutting-edge scholarship on all aspects of the late antique world. Collectively spanning the third through eighth centuries, these articles whisk us off to numerous locales, such as Egypt, the Middle East, Gaul, Italy, and the Balkans. They take deep dives into a broad swath of the material culture of the period, and they interface with written sources in an array of languages (Greek, Coptic, Latin, Syriac, and Arabic). Their disciplinary coverage, moreover, is comprehensive, as they make noteworthy advances in everything from papyrology, epigraphy, textual criticism, numismatics, and archaeology, to the history of late antique society, politics, economics, literature, law, religion, medicine and art. Anna Dolganov and Éric Rebillard provide a critical edition, translation, commentary, and interpretive essay on the well-known papyrus P.Mil.Vogl. VI 287. After arguing against a recent identification of it as the transcript of a trial of Christians, they propose that it records not a trial at all but instead a preliminary hearing for an official accused of maladministration, and they also suggest that this fragmentary papyrus belongs to the archive of a prominent office-holding family from the Arsinoite nome. Robert Chenault establishes 369 as the date of Symmachus's embassy to the imperial court at Trier, where he addressed panegyrics to Valentinian I and Gratian, and he gives us a nuanced analysis of this embassy which yields valuable new insights into not only Symmachus's career but also relations between the senate and imperial court at the time. Duncan MacRae examines the anonymous fourth-century De excidio Hierosolymitano, which often is misunderstood as a mere translation of Josephus's historiography. Focusing on an episode within this work (the sexual assault of the Roman aristocrat Paulina in the temple of Isis), MacRae compellingly demonstrates that its author subtly reworks Josephan material to engage with polemic against paganism and with issues surrounding aristocratic marriage and asceticism in contemporary Rome. In an addendum to his substantial 2017 JLA article, Michael Kulikowski sheds further light on the corpus of bronze tesserae of urban and praetorian prefects from late and post-imperial Italy by adducing four previously unknown tesserae (and noting the re-appearance of two more thought to be lost) which introduce one new prefect to the fifth-century fasti. Matthew Cobb considers why the major Egyptian port city of Berenike, after a period of decline, witnessed a sharp upsurge in trade activity during Late Antiquity. [End Page 175] Taking into account recently discovered epigraphic and archaeological evidence, he argues that this revival was tied closely to the Blemmyes's local influence and control of Berenike. Andrei Gandila challenges the prevailing method of studying coin finds in the Balkans, with its heavy reliance on written sources, and proposes a stronger focus on material culture. As he cogently shows, the archaeological and numismatic evidence exposes the local economy as an artificial construct driven by the region's heavy militarization as well as by the state-controlled annona dispatched to the garrisons defending the Danube frontier during the long sixth century. Karen Britt and Ra'anan Boustan forge a new approach to the famous Elephant Mosaic from the fifth-century synagogue at Huqoq in Galilee. Establishing that it evokes a historical episode from the Hellenistic period and is not based on a biblical story (as usually is thought), they make the case that Jewish communities in Galilee had interests in the non-biblical past and actively engaged with broader cultural and artistic trends than scholars hitherto have assumed to be the case. Jordan Pickett challenges current scholarly orthodoxy about why Roman thermae were abandoned or repurposed by the sixth or early seventh century, and he insightfully argues that the Roman state phased them out in part to curtail social unrest and violence for which these grand public baths increasingly had become a breeding ground. Janet Wade explores another source of popular unrest, the circus factions and their partisans. Whereas most scholars have focused on their land-based activities, she adduces fourth- to seventh-century sources documenting their maritime violence (piracy, etc.) and affirms just...

Osteobiographies at the Edge of Empire

Abstract The aim of this research is to employ osteobiography as a means of learning about individuals in the past. Osteobiography entails a life-history approach in the analysis of skeletal human remains. Two groups that have been characterized in the literature as ‘Romans’ and ‘barbarians’ were analyzed by the author. The research questions used skeletal remains to address how the daily life of people under Roman control compared to that of their neighbors to the north, the ‘barbarians’. Looking at two contemporaneous populations from the territory of modern Romania and dating from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD, the study examines pathological conditions and traumatic injuries, in order to gain a better understanding of the general quality of life for these individuals. One collection comes from the site of Ibida (Slava Rusă) from the Roman province of Scythia Minor, and the other originates from the Târgşor site, located to the north of the Danube frontier, in what was considered the ‘barbaricum’ (the land beyond Roman administrative control).1 For the purposes of this article, two individuals from each group were selected and are presented in depth herein.

REDISCOVERING ROMAN CIUS (GÂRLICIU, CONSTANȚA COUNTY). FROM EMPEROR VALENS TO GRIGORE TOCILESCU, THEODOR MOMMSEN AND BEYOND

Our paper aims at bringing more facts to light over one of the Lower Danube forts – i.e. Cius (Gârliciu), by using all available data, including cartographic information, archive mentions by Pamfil Polonic, other epigraphic and numismatic elements, or aero-photogrammetric high-resolution imagery. In early 3 rd century AD it was mentioned in Itinerarium Antonini Augusti 224.5, at a distance of 10000 steps from Carsium (Hârșova) and another 14000 steps from Beroe (Piatra Frecăței). Both forts identified at Cius are situated on Hissarlık Hill, at the end of a 1.5 km long narrow peninsula mentioned by Themistius in the 4 th century AD, almost surrounded by water and wetland. In ancient times, it must have had direct contact to the river and very likely had its own port. Nobody knows anything on the earlier 2 nd -3 rd century castellum and if it stood on the same plateau or if it exploited some other vantage point in the area. On the contrary, Late Roman Cius (120 : 120 m) was built, as most of the fortifications along the Lower Danube frontier, in the last decades of the 3 rd – early decades of the 4 th century. Equipped with U-shaped towers and possibly with a splayed fan-shaped or rectangular (?) corner-tower projecting outward, the larger fortification presents typical Tetrarchic/ Constantinian characteristics, revealed by interpreting recent aerial photos. A second, smaller fort (85 : 60 m) has been identified at the end of the peninsula towards the Hasarlâc Lake. With its Bauinschrift dated 369 AD found somewhere in the middle of its northern side, the latter must be the one explicitly mentioned by Themistius in his On the Peace – 10 th Oration, as being built on a personal initiative of Emperor Valens, during its Gothic war against Athanaric.

Deep-water shipwrecks in the East Mediterranean: a microcosm of Late Roman exchange

Deep-water shipwrecks provide an opportunity to investigate ships away from the destructive dynamics of coastlines and approaches to harbors where most ancient wrecks to date have been found. Such exploration expands the potential for finding wrecks of periods for which relatively few are known. One such period is the 6th and 7th c. in the E Mediterranean. Studies of cargo assemblages from the few known wrecks of the later Roman period reveal a partial picture of interlinked and overlapping trade networks that incorporated major and minor ports in the adjacent provinces.1 Various trading modes may be discerned, including cabotage, short-haul trade, inter-regional commerce, and private long-haul trade. Largely missing thus far are the wrecks of ships that participated in the annona transport, the “backbone of Late Roman shipping”.2 Each year, an enormous fleet of private ships under state contract hauled thousands of shiploads of Egyptian grain from Alexandria to Constantinople for public distribution,3 but no shipwrecks explicitly associated with these fleets have been found. Also largely invisible are the non-commercial transports associated with the annona militaris, the fiscal supply of foodstuffs destined for armies stationed on the empire‘s borders. The state supply-system became more formalized in 536 when Justinian created the quaestura exercitus, a prefecture that was granted administrative control and jurisdiction of Moesia Secunda, Scythia, Caria, the Aegean islands, and Cyprus.4 Evidence suggests that the quaestor‘s main task was to ensure the supply, by sea, of agricultural products from the Aegean and NE Mediterranean to troops on the Danube frontier.5 While no definitive grain ships have been found in the E Mediterranean — what M. McCormick has called the “annona paradox”6 —, shipwrecks with the larger cargoes expected of state supply have remained rather elusive.

Дунайские легионы поздней Римской империи (I Италийский и V Македонский) в первой половине и в середине IV в.: к вопросу о методах взаимодействия пограничных и экспедиционных армий

Since 325 A. D., when the Emperor Constantine the Great established a self-sufficient and single expeditionary army of the Roman Empire (previously, before 353, it constantly had stood in Thrace, but then it was split in some smaller military groups), military units of this army have interacted to units of frontier armies during many military campaigns. But epigraphic data from the Lower Danube regions (the provinces of Lower Moesia and Dacia Ripensis (River)) give a chance to trace one another way of interaction, which was an absolutely disregarded before. The author means a food supply of frontier units from the provinces where the expeditionary troops (or imperial bodyguards) had their service. The inscriptions covered by this paper contain evidence about two important Danube frontier legions, that are I Italica (Lower Moesia) and V Macedonica (Dacia Ripensis (River)), which received a food from the Roman Near East provinces (the author means Hellespontus at the North-West of the Asia Minor and Syria Foenice and Syria Palestina just at the Persian frontier), but not from the Danube regions. As the author supposes, the reason of such a way of supply was that some military units (vexillations) detached from the staff of the Danube frontier legions served within the Near East Roman provinces, these vexillations moved at the Near East during the time of the Tetrarchy (293–324) or the sole reign of Constantine the Great (324–337). After their relocation to the Near East, vexillations of the Danube frontier legions have never returned in their home Danube provinces, in contrast, they were parts of the Near East expeditionary armies. But, as a matter of award for diminishing of their staff, the Danube frontier («maternal») legions received a food from the provinces, where their «child» vexillations located and served.

Neka razmatranja o gospodarstvu Zapadnog Ilirika od IV do VI stoljeća / Some Considerations on the Economy of Western Illyricum from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries

Neka razmatranja o gospodarstvu Zapadnog Ilirika od IV do VI stoljeća / Some Considerations on the Economy of Western Illyricum from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries

Reconciling the ‘step sisters’: early Byzantine numismatics, history and archaeology

Abstract Despite the growing body of excavation finds and the steady publication of museum collections, the numismatic evidence remains an underutilized historical source. Historians who study Late Antiquity rely on archaeological evidence but tend to ignore coin finds, partly because numismatics developed as an independent field with its own set of specialized tools and research questions. Insufficient dialogue between the disciplines has delayed a proper appreciation of Early Byzantine coins as historical source and the development of a clear methodology for their use in conjunction with the literary and archaeological evidence. In order to overcome such disciplinary divides, this paper proposes several research directions by highlighting the main benefits of integrating the numismatic evidence more fully into the historical narrative. These research directions include a greater emphasis on bronze coinage, the study of the long-distance circulation of people and goods, and distinctions between urban, rural, and fortified contexts. This methodological discussion is followed by a case study from Byzantium’s Lower Danube frontier.

Conquest strategy and political discourse: new evidence for the conquest of Dacia from LiDAR analysis at Sarmizegetusa Regia

By the end of the 1st c. A.D., Dacia had been an intermittent thorn in Rome's side for almost two centuries. The ambitions of Burebista and the actions of his various successors continued to threaten Roman hegemony along the lower Danube, culminating in the rise of the powerful kingdom of Decebalus and a substantial Roman defeat in Moesia. Domitian sent troops against the Dacians to restore the dignity of Rome (85-86 and 88-88/89), but with mixed success, finally having to settle for buying peace at a substantial price in order to free himself to deal with threats to security in both Germany and Pannonia. No doubt both the costs involved and the perceived lack of success further contributed to the hostility of Roman authors towards Domitian and left unfinished business on the Danube frontier. It is no great surprise, therefore, that Dacia was the first area to which Trajan — to whom the attitude of contemporary sources (e.g., Pliny's Panegyricus) could not have been in greater contrast — turned his attention within three years of his accession.

Florin Curta, Monede, castre şi schimburi comerciale în peninsula Balcanică (sec. VI – începutul sec. VII) / Coins, Fortifications, and Commercial Exchanges in the Balkan Peninsula during the Sixth and the Early Seventh Century

The nature of settlements in the 6th century Balkans is a matter of current debate. Amphorae and hoards of iron implements and weapons have been discussed in relation to that controversy. The archaeological evidence, particularly that of amphorae and lead seals, points to the great significance of the quaestura exercitus, an administrative unit created in 536 by means of combining rich provinces overseas (islands in the Aegean Sea, Caria, and Cyprus) with border provinces such as Moesia inferior and Scythia Minor, in order to secure both militarily and financially the efficient defense of the Danube frontier. Conspicuously missing from this discussion of military sites, amphorae, and commerce is the numismatic evidence. To be sure, a great number of 6th century hoards of copper are known from hilltop sites, including those that have also produced hoards of iron implements. So far, however, single coins from hilltop sites have rarely been treated as archaeological finds. Single finds of coins remain a category of archaeological evidence commonly neglected in discussions of the 6th century economy in the Balkans.

Pasquale de Sorgo and the Second Battle of Kosovo (1448): A Translation

Slavonic and East European Review, 94, 1, 2016 DOCUMENT Pasquale de Sorgo and the Second Battle of Kosovo (1448): A Translation MARK WHELAN Introduction Writing in 1502, the Croatian humanist Felix Petancius (Feliks Petančić) referred to the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448 as ‘that unfortunate, unforgettable and abominable disaster’ (illa infausta et omnibus saeculis execranda clades).1 His choice of words is understandable, for the Second Battle of Kosovo, taking place on the plain of the same name over the course of three days (17–19 October), was one of the bloodiest Christian defeats suffered at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century. Despite its significance, however, the campaign features only lightly in the secondary literature. This article will help address this neglect by reproducing and translating a letter of a certain Pasquale de Sorgo, a Ragusan in the service of George Branković, Despot of Serbia (1427–56), who was an eyewitness to the march of the Christian force into Serbia. De Sorgo’s letter has never been translated into a modern language, and his account provides noteworthy information on the state Mark Whelan is a teaching fellow in the Department of History at Royal Holloway. I would like to express my thanks to the anonymous reviewers of the Slavonic and East European Review for their helpful comments, suggestions and bibliographic references. 1 Felix Petancius, Dissertatio de itineribus aggrediendi Turcam ad Vladislaum Hungariae, et Bohemiae regem, printed in Scriptores rerum Hungaricarum veteres ac genuini, ed. György Schwandtner, 3 vols, Vienna, 1746–48, 1, pp. 867–73 (for the quotation, see p. 869). On Felix’s Dissertatio to King Wladislaus II of Hungary (1490–1516), see Norman Housley, Crusading and the Ottoman Threat, 1453–1505, Oxford and New York, 2012, pp. 62–63. On Felix in general, see Agostino Pertusi, ‘Premières études en Occident sur l’origine et la puissance des Turcs’, in Bisanzio e i Turchi nella cultura del Rinascimentio e del Barocco: Tre saggi di Agostino Pertusi, ed. Carlo Maria Mazzucchi, Milan, 2004, pp. 144–47. PASQUALE DE SORGO & THE SECOND BATTLE OF KOSOVO 127 of the Christian force, shedding light on the deployment of Hussite style fighting techniques on the Danube frontier and the military structures of the Kingdom of Hungary, as well as on the religious motivations of many of the participants in the campaign. Although the letter was first published in 1925, it has seldom been used by those working on the later medieval crusades, and as such forms a valuable source for the study of the conflict between the Ottoman Turks and the Christians in the fifteenth century. De Sorgo’s description of the Christian force, led by John Hunyadi, Regent of Hungary (1446–53), has barely been used by historians because the events of 1448 themselves have been neglected in historical scholarship. Perhaps this is because they fall between the more significant events of the Battle of Varna (1444), where King Władysław III of Poland and Hungary (1434/1440–44) disappeared in battle under disputed circumstances, and the Fall of Constantinople (1453) and the Siege of Belgrade (1456). Recent works in this field, such as those by John Jefferson, Colin Imber and Emanuel Antoche, have generally focused on the lead up to and the Battle of Varna, stopping in the mid 1440s.2 Other historians, such as Norman Housley, have begun their studies in 1453.3 This has meant that the events of 1448 have not been studied as intensely as they deserve.4 Admittedly, this perception of the Second Battle of Kosovo as being less worthy of mention is one that we find in some of our main sources. The Greek historian Doukas, writing perhaps in the early 1460s, narrates the events leading up to the events of 1444 and the Battle of Varna in relative detail, but passes over the battle at Kosovo in 1448 in less than a paragraph.5 In fact, the battle seems so unimportant to Doukas that he was not even sure whether Hunyadi met Sultan Murad II (1421–44, 1446–51) in battle at Niš or Kosovo (πρòϚ τò Nῆσιν, ἢ πρòϚ τòν Kόσοβαν).6 Similarly, the account of 2 John Jefferson, The Holy...

CARACALLA AND DACIA. IMPERIAL VISIT, A REALITY OR ONLY RUMOUR?

The author is challenging the Romanian historiography’s interpretation concerning the visit in 213 of the emperor Caracalla in Dacia, until to the northern frontier at Porolissum, where three inscriptions with identical text were considered as the building inscriptions of the stone fortifications of the fort from Pomet Hill. He is mentioning the new inscriptions from different part of the Roman Empire that offer today a better knowledge of the emperor’s actions and journeys during year 213. The conclusion is that he travelled to Orient after October 213 when defeated the Alamanns over the border of Raetia, along the Danube frontier visiting military bases. The journey was probably on the same route as he already done in 202 with his father, but in the other direction, returning from Orient. That time is possible Septimius Severus, Caracalla and Geta were in Dacia, at Drobeta, Tibiscum and Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, as several inscriptions attest. For this reason, it is possible that in 213 Caracalla stopped for a short period at Drobeta and maybe went to Tibiscum to pray in the temple of Apollo. However, continuing the trip to Porolissum is impossible to imagine, the time being too short, as he arrived at Nicomedia on the 17 th of December 213. At the end of the article, the author rejects the theory of any connection between the tile-stamps of the seventh legion Gemina Felix from Leon and those of the third legion Gallica found at Porolissum with Caracalla’s journey. Furthermore, the author also dismisses the idea that these vexillations were taken to Dacia to replace Dacian vexillations involved in the eastern expedition of Caracalla, as there is neither no any positive evidence nor other evidence for similar examples in the history of the Roman military expeditions (e.g., Trajan’s Parthian war).

A Greek Roman Empire: power and belief under Theodosius II, 408-450

Preface Abbreviations Ancient Sources: Texts, Editions, and Translations I. Roman and Greek: State and Subject 1. Introduction: Roman and Greek 2. Imperial Legislation 3. Theodosius's Greek Empire 4. Latin and Greek 5. The Greek City, and Greek Literary Culture 6. Letters and the Rhetoric of Persuasion II. Security and Insecurity 1. Introduction 2. The Military Structure 3. Constantinople and the West 4. Border Wars in Libya and Egypt 5. The Eastern Frontier: Sasanids and Saracens 6. The Danube Frontier and the Huns III. Integration and Diversity 1. Latin in Government 2. Greek as the Lingua Franca 3. Greek and Other Languages at the Church Councils 4. The Public Role and Status of Syriac in the Fifth-Century Church 5. The Empire, the Church, and Paganism 6. Samaritans and Jews IV. State and Church: Civil Administration, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and Spiritual Power 1. Religious Conflicts and Spiritual Authority 2. State and Church: Regional Structures of Hierarchy and Authority 3. State and Church: Contested Borders 4. Theodosius and Heresy 5. The Nestorian Controversy and the Two Councils of Ephesus V. State Power and Moral Defiance: Nestorius and Irenaeus 1. Introduction: Sources and Perspectives 2. Episcopal Persuasion and the Imperial Will 3. Nestorius: Return to Monastic Life, Condemnation and Exile 4. Renewed Controversy, Imperial Condemnation, and Popular Reaction VI. Persuasion, Influence, and Power 1. Structures and Persons 2. The Routine of Public Persuasion: The Suggestio 3. Identifying Powerful Intermediaries 4. Approaching the Emperor Appendix A. The Acta of the Fifth-Century Councils: A Brief Guide for Historians Appendix B. Verbatim Reports of Proceedings from the Reign of Theodosius II Illustrations IA. The Theodosian Empire: Civil Government, Northern Half IB. The Theodosian Empire: Civil Government, Southern Half II. The Syriac Codex of 411, written in Edessa III. Autograph Greeting by Theodosius on a Letter to an Official IV. Church Built at Dar Qita, Syria, in 418 V. Statue of the Governor Oecumenius from Aphrodisias VI. Reconstruction of the Statue of the Governor Oecumenius with its Inscribed Base VII. The Structure of the Army of Theodosius's Empire VIII. Legionary Dispositions on the Danube Frontier IX. Legionary Dispositions on the Eastern Frontier X. Cities in the Balkan and Danubian Region whose Bishops attended one or more of the Fifth-Century Church Councils XI. The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy in the Northern Part of the Secular Diocese of Oriens General Index Index of Sources

The Making of Slavs: History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region c. 500-700

This book offers an alternative approach to the problem of Slavic ethnicity in south-eastern Europe between c. 500 and c. 700, from the perspective of current anthropological theories. The conceptual emphasis here is on the relation between material culture and ethnicity. The author demonstrates that the history of the Sclavenes and the Antes begins only at around 500 AD. He also points to the significance of the archaeological evidence, which suggests that specific artefacts may have been used as identity markers. This evidence also indicates the role of local leaders in building group boundaries and in leading successful raids across the Danube. Because of these military and political developments, Byzantine authors began employing names such as Sclavines and Antes in order to make sense of the process of group identification that was taking place north of the Danube frontier. Slavic ethnicity is therefore shown to be a Byzantine invention.

Galerius and the Revolt of the Thebaid in 293/4

The First Tetrarchy was inaugurated in March 293 (all dates are A.D.) with the nomination of two Caesars to assist the existing two Augusti. In the west, Constantius I was named Caesar and immediately given the task of wresting Britain from the usurpers Carausius and Allectus. In the east, Galerius received imperial authority, although apparently entrusted with less specific labours. Scholars had once assumed that Galerius took up station defending the Danube frontier. Then, in 297, he was called forth from there to meet the threat of Narses, the Persian king, who had invaded Mesopotamia whilst Diocletian was busy elsewhere.