Barbarians and Romans in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

Tornando all'ingresso in Italia dei Longobardi, questi si erano insediati nella Venetia, in accordo con la politica di Costantinopoli, e verosimilmente per rinsaldare il limes veneto in senso antifranco. Qui ottennero la collaborazione dei presidi goti e la buona disponibilità dei maggiorenti tricapitolini. E se ne stettero tranquilli, mentre la situazione politica in Italia era turbata dalla destituzione di Narsete.

part of am assive,a nd continuing, Roman policy of resettlingd efeated or suppliant barbarians within the RomanE mpire. Fore xample, Augustus settled 50,000 Getae on the Danube;⁴ Tiberius 'transfered forty thousand captivesf rom Germanyand settled them on the banks of the Rhine in Gaul';⁵ Nerogranted land in Moesia to over a hundred thousand Transdanubians;⁶ Trajan settled multitudes of Daciansa nd Marcus Aurelius large numbers of Quadi, Vandals, Iazyges, Naristae, and Marcomanni;⁷ under Constantius I, 'captive processions of barbarians' were 'distributed to the provincials and conductedt ot he cultivation of desertedl and';⁸ Constantine Is ettled more than 300,000 Sarmatians 'throughout Thrace, Scythia, Macedonia, and Italy';⁹ in the 360s and 370s Alamanni werer elocated to Gaul and Italy;¹⁰ in 377 defeated Gothsa nd Taifals 'weres ettled around the towns of Mutina,R hegium, and Parma in Italyascultivators of the fields';¹¹ and in 386, 'the nation of the Greuthingi was broughtascaptivesonto Roman soil'.¹² All of these persons were 'Romans' in the eyes of Romanlaw.Other barbarian immigrants also became Roman citizens simply by living under Roman ius civilis.¹³ But that says nothing about how these newcomers identifiedthemselves. To what degreedid individual persons consider themselvesto be 'Roman'? One wayt oa pproach this is by looking at epitaphs,m anyt housandso fw hich provide in just af ew words ag limpse of how individual persons manifested their own sense of identity.T he most prevalent kinds of self identification thatw ere used duringL ate Antiquityi nvolvedg eographical or ethnic, or geographical-cumethnic, terms, such as Hispanus or Gallus,aphenomenon that went back to the Roman Republic but became more prevalent as of the third century.¹⁴ These terms  Strabo7 .3.11, ed. Jones2 13.  Eutropius, Breviarium ab urbe condita 7. 9.10-11,e d. Santini, 44: XL captivorumm ilia ex Germania transtulit et suprar ipam Rheni in Gallia conlocavit.  ILS9 86: Ti.P lautius Silvanus Aelianus legat(us) pro praet(ore) Moesiae, in qua pluraq uam centum mill(ia) ex numeroT ransdanuvianor(um) […]t ransduxit.

The paper asks the question what the Romans really meant, when the used the term "barbarian". The evidence shows that the Romans had been often uneasy with this greek word, as in the end they themselves would be Barbarians, too. Further, the paper focuses also on the non-biological (or even "racial") approach of the Romans. Barbarians can become citizens, if they accept Roman paideia and a cultural set of Romanitas. The Dacians and Tracians are used in this context as examples from a rather neglected zone of the Empire.

This study discusses the relations between the peoples known as Sarmatians, Alans, Vandals, and other groups in the context of fluid identities and political affinities of Late Antiquity and early medieval Europe. It is argued that the Vandals underwent a substantial transformation from being dominantely farmers to centre on horse breeding and mounted warfare. In this process, Sarmatian and Alanian influence on the Vandals was crucial. One could speak of a 'Sarma-tisation' of Vandal warfare, economy, dressing, and conduct, but also of a Vandal confederation of identities to which other 'barbarian' peoples could be connected .

This article examines the performance context of Synesius of Cyrene’s
(ca. 370–415 CE) On Kingship. Synesius draws heavily on the classical tradition, and also incorporates many elements of Themistius’ philosophical style into his speech. But the work was not delivered before the emperor, as it purports, and hints at the fictionality of its own dramatic situation. These hints are not mere play but fit very closely the rhetorical needs of the circumstances. The performance appears to have been a success.

From "The English Historical Review", 115, no. 463 (2000), p. 1093: In a rigorous and minute analysis of the much debated appearance (unique of its kind) of the temr 'romani' in a Lombard document of 767, A. Ghignoli argues convincingly that it resalts, in fact, from a mistranscription by the baffled tweltfth-century notary responsible for the copy in wich the document survives of the contextually much more fitting word 'massari'.

This text gives some very small selection of details included in the forthcoming Caracalla: A Military Biography (as an advertisement) due to be published by Pen & Sword this year and in fact provides also a short overview of some of the unconventional strategies and tactics employed by Caracalla together with some quite new info regarding period equipment and military practices. A much fuller discussion of all things connected to military matters in its widest sense can be found in the book.

By the late fifth century, there were two primary barbarian powers in Gaul, the Visigoths and the Franks. Both were enlarging their territories in the wake of the final precipitous decline of Roman authority during the 470s. The expansion achieved by the Frankish king Clovis I inevitably brought him into conflict with the Visigothic king Alaric II. During the 490s, the Franks made several unsuccessful forays into Brittany and south of the Loire. Subsequently, both sides did their best to consolidate their resources. Attempts by the Os trogothic king Theoderic to avoid direct conflict failed, and war began in earnest in 507, when Clovis made a massive attack on the Visigothic kingdom. The decisive Frankish vic tory at Vouillé determined the map of sixth-century western Europe: the Franks gained control of most of Gaul, and the Visigoths consolidated their holdings in Spain.

. The objects here considered are buckles with relief zoomorphic and anthropomorphic decoration
(late 5th – mid-6th century) indicating contacts between the eastern part of the Baltic Sea basin and the Eastern
Roman Empire during the later phase of the Great Migration period. These buckles directly or indirectly reflect
the connection between the Baltic region and Byzantine Empire and, perhaps, were introduced with the
appearance of the Scandinavians in the territory of the Empire. With the Byzantine-Baltic contacts, the spread
of the prestigious military fashion was possibly related and they can have been realised via Central Europe,
the famous ‘Amber Route’ and further on through the system of the circumBaltic riverine and sea routes

In 475 Clermont-Ferrand is besieged and Provence is invaded by the Goths. In a bid to liberate Provence, Graecus of Marseilles negotiates to surrender Clermont-Ferrand to the Goths, much to the dismay of Sidonius Apollinaris. The latter is Clermont's bishop and defender of the city, whose only choice resides in writing a letter to Graecus to convince him not to surrender his city. This short essay (1100 words) discusses Epistulae VII.VII in which the might of the Roman rhetoric and the feeling of a crumbling Roman world are laid out powerfully by Sidonius in his call for help against the barbarians.


When Justinian became the Eastern Roman Emperor in 527 and started reforming the state, not everybody welcomed these changes with open arms. Procopius of Caesarea in particular was fiercely against them and set about creating a pamphlet to highlight all the disasters these had caused to the empire. This short essay (549 words) discusses his Secret History which directly links contemporaneous upheavals with Justinian.

Both Plato in the Laws and Montesquieu in The Spirit of the Laws make property sacred, and for the same reasons, though they do it in very different ways. These differences are rooted in the widely divergent religious contexts and the different characters of the peoples for whom each philosopher is, in a way, legislating. Montesquieu finds in the early legal practices of the Germanic and Frankish barbarians certain legal institutions which he opposes to the innovations of Roman law under the influence of classical political thought and Christianity. In this way he diverges from other modern political theorists who make independent philosophic arguments concerning the natural rights to life, liberty, and property to oppose to the justifications for inherited political forms. Instead, Montesquieu points to customary, protean forms of law among the barbarians which are rooted in the passion for vengeance, the desire to feel secure and independent, and the intractability of a warlike, free, and pastoral people. By showing that premodern views of law combined with the Christian concern for belief and tendency toward monarchy or despotism are largely incompatible with these conditions and must therefore defer to the preexisting forms of the sacred and customary, he reflects Plato in his Laws more than he resembles modern imposers of rational, institutional systems. Like Plato, Montesquieu attaches the sacredness of custom to the possession of private property in order to moderate the way in which the prevailing passions work against the common good and tend toward injustice.

В статье анализируется процесс возникновения варварских государств на примере франков, правовой статус различных категорий населения, определяется, что в обществе франков возникло три сословия (полноправных свободных, неполноправных свободных и несвободных) и три класса (эксплуататоров, мелких неэксплуатируемых производителей и эксплуатируемых производителей). Делается вывод, что общество франков относилось к древним (рабовладельческим) обществам варварского типа (которое возникало как раннерабовладельческое в условиях кризиса и разложения рабовладельческого способа производства, с чем связано появление экзимированной (изъятой из общины) земельной собственности.

The Classical Foundations of Modern Historiography başlığı altında 1992’de California’da basılmış olan eser 2011 yılında Türkçe’ye çevrilerek dilimize kazandırılmıştır. Çalışma İçindekiler (5), Pisa Üniversitesi Klasik Filoloji Bölümü Öğretim Üyesi Riccardo Di Donato’nun kaleme aldığı Önsöz (7-10), Kaynakça Üzerine Not (11-12), Giriş (13-15), altı ana bölüm ve Sonuç (160-163) başlıklarından meydana gelmektedir. Önsöz’de, bu çalışmanın Arnaldo Momigliano’nun 1961-62 yılında Berkeley California Üniversitesi’ndeki Sather Konferansı’nda sunduğu bildirilerden oluştuğu belirtilmektedir. Ayrıca bu konferansların düzenlenme amacı, bildirilerin yayımlanma süreci ve yazarın bu bildiriler üzerine sonraki çalışmaları hakkında bilgi verilmektedir. Burada Arnaldo Momigliano’nun 30 Mart 1962’de sonuncu konferanstan sonra kaleme aldığı kısa bir önsöz de nakledilmiştir. Konferansları sunduğu tarih olan 1962’den ölümü olan 1987’ye kadar yazar her fırsatta kendisi için hayati saydığı bu konuşmalar üzerine tekrar tekrar eğilmiştir.

DChAE 41 (2020), 57-68
After the Herulian invasion (267 CE) Athens was transformed just like other Greek cities did at that time. The analysis of the Athenian building activity shows that from the late 3rd to the 4th century an inner, reduced wall was constructed, ancient public buildings were abandoned or dismantled, workers were installed in ancient public places, while the city’s core was transferred from the west to the east, to the area of the nowadays Greek Parliament and the National Garden.

Introduzione, testo latino con traduzione italiana a fronte a cura di Elena Necchi.
Due celebri leggende, quella di Attila ‘flagello di Dio’ e quella delle origini della città di Venezia, si intrecciano in questo romanzo cavalleresco, in una «summa» dei temi narrativi più popolari nella letteratura del basso medioevo, in cui abissi di abiezione si mescolano a vertici di santità: dalla nascita mostruosa del sovrano unno alla conversione dell’imperatore Costantino, dalle stragi della guerra alla potenza dei santi, dalla brutalità del tradimento all’eroismo del guerriero. Non mancano gli accenni al Graal, i riferimenti alla storia mitica delle città venete e romagnole, e – come in qualsiasi buon romanzo – il colpo di scena con lieto finale, in cui i conti si pareggiano e buoni e malvagi si vedono compensare con ciò che è loro dovuto. Il testo, scritto in francese alla fine del Duecento, ma più diffuso nella sua traduzione latina, eseguita qualche decennio più tardi, è reso qui per la prima volta accessibile al pubblico con il corredo di una traduzione italiana.

To the Vandals, the Goths seemed like tpouAOl., trolls, as the Scandinavians still call the demons and monsters of the other world. (Wolfram, History of the Goths, pp. 26-27 and 389 nn. 71-72) The Vandals call the Goths Trul/i because, when the Goths were oppressed by hunger, they bought grain from the Vandals at one solidus per trul/a [spoon]. A trul/a is less than one-third of a sextarius. (Olympiodorus ofThebes, frag. 29.1, trans. by Blockley in Frag. Class. Hist. with minor modifications)

In which some passages of the Historia Langobardorum are examined, with the purpose of evidentiating the existence of a "trickster" or shapeshifting figure in the Lombard culture of the VII century.
Parallels among this character and the Norse character of Loki (or rather Loptr) are made.
Original Latin text included.
Emglish translation soon to follow.

The aim of this ongoing research project is to resolve the question of attribution of a series of barbarian imitation tremisses identified by the mark •T• (typically appearing on the reverse inscription). This series has traditionally been attributed to the Merovingian king Thierry Ier of Metz, son of Clovis, although this claim has not been fully substantiated and a review of previous scholarship is needed.

In light of new numismatic and archaeological evidence, there is another likely contender for the mark: Theoderic the Great, king of Ostrogothic Italy from 493AD, and king of the Visigoths from 511AD, until his death in 526AD.

This revised attribution contributes to addressing broader questions of authority and minting practices in the barbarian West, and understanding the relationship with the Byzantine Empire as pars imperii.

And, with the coins themselves being Narbonne-issued Visigothic coins with the mint-mark of Theoderic the Great, it goes some way to understanding minting policy during his reign of 511-526AD: do the coins serve a dual purpose of reinforcing Imperial authority and Theoderic’s constitutional position in the West?

Abstract
This article examines the longstanding rivalry of Rome and Parthia, which began as an unintended consequence of Crassus’ decisive defeat at Carrhae in 53 BCE. It synthesizes the accounts and opinions of numerous Graeco-Roman writers from the Augustan Age to late antiquity in order to help illustrate the new and interconnected post-Carrhae world and its legacy. The rivalry of the Romans and Parthians became a primary focus of their foreign policies and drastically expanded their perceptions of the world in which they interacted. Even after the fall of the Parthians to the rebellious Sassanid Persians in the 220s CE, the Romans continued to find their three-century-long rivalry with the Parthians of interest and relevant to the changing world of late antiquity.

Tourist guide of the Roman Villa of Larderìa (Roggiano Gravina, CS) and the Esaro valley (Calabria), from the Prehistoric period to the Early Middle Ages.
- I section: The territory of the Esaro valley. From the first prehistoric frequentations to the Enotrian settlements;
- II section: The territory of the Esaro valley. From the "Empire" of Sybaris to the affirmation and decline of the Italic populations (end of VIII-III century BC);
- III section: The Romans in the Bruttii. Organization of the territory and production facilities;
- IV section: The Esaro valley in Roman and Late Antiquity;
- V section: The Larderìa Villa;
- VI section: Villa Larderìa: thermal baths and mosaics.

From the First Roman-Parthian War to the Battle of Nineveh, Rome and Persia fought each other at the East for nearly seven 188 GABRIEL SANZ CASASNOVAS MIEDO Y ANSIEDAD FRENTE AL BÁRBARO. AMIANO MARCELINO Y LOS PERSAS Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca / CC by-nC-nd Stud. hist., H.ª antig., 36, 2018, pp. 187-220 hundred years. It is well known how Roman writers perpetuated ancient stereotypes which represented the Persians as inferior barbarians. Yet, modern researchers have held that Ammianus Marcellinus, miles quondam et Graecus, built a nuanced image of the Persians, due to his direct experience over their land: the Persians would not be barbarians to Ammianus. The aim of this paper is to analyze the literary devices of Res gestae in order to prove that the Persians, in fact, were perceived, categorized and represented as barbarians by Ammianus. Medi, Parthi, and Persae provoke fear and anxiety in our author, who uses the word 'barbari' with the Persians at two passages of his work: Amm. XXIII, 5, 2 and XXIV, 3, 4. Furthermore, Ammianus attributes a Scythian origin to the Persians, and he represents them as barbarians throught pejorative vocabulary and degrading hetero-images. 189 GABRIEL SANZ CASASNOVAS MIEDO Y ANSIEDAD FRENTE AL BÁRBARO. AMIANO MARCELINO Y LOS PERSAS Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca / CC by-nC-nd Stud. hist., H.ª antig., 36, 2018, pp. 187-220

Este trabalho tem como objetivo ilustrar os principais motivos do declínio e eventual queda de um dos maiores e talvez o mais importante império do mundo ocidental. Com origem ao remoto ano de 735 a.C., ano em que se credita a fundação da cidade de Roma e sua dissolução em 476 d.C. a historia de Roma é repartida em três grandes fases, Monarquia, República e Império, que se estenderam por mais de 1200 anos, um período sem duvida bastante extenso e marcado por alterações por vezes lentas e graduais e por outras surpreendentemente abruptas.

Para os objetivos propostos no trabalho vamos focar-nos na ultima fase do Império (baixo império ou antiguidade tardia) nomeadamente a partir do período da Anarquia Militar (235-284 d.C), que costuma ser amalgamado sob o rótulo de "Crise do Século III", e que representa um ponto de viragem e momento de transformação do mundo antigo, onde as estruturas clássicas vão sendo gradualmente substituídas por outras, culminando na “queda” do então Império no ano de 476 d.C.

A abordagem feita ao tema “declínio e queda” neste trabalho é apenas superficial, sendo que qualquer dos pontos focados pode ser extensamente aprofundado, o objetivo é dar uma panorâmica geral do que se passou no Império Romano do Ocidente a partir do Sec. III e acima de tudo mostrar que a “queda” de Roma não foi um acontecimento abrupto, mas sim o resultado de seculos de transformações sociais, políticas, militares e religiosas que ocorreram em todo o Império.

Para isto, e em vez de amalgamarmos todos os acontecimentos tidos como relevantes ao longo de três séculos num texto único e contínuo o trabalho foi dividido por épocas, nomeadamente a crise do Sec. III, o Sec. IV e o Sec. V seguido de uma breve conclusão, de modo a melhor entendermos a progressão dos acontecimentos que em ultima instância levaram á dissolução do Império Romano do Ocidente.

Ringborgarna på Öland och romarrikets fall När man utforskar kopplingen mellan romarriket och Skandinavien slås man ofta av den ojämna fördelningen av arkeologiska fynd. På de flesta platser i Sverige är romerska fynd mycket sällsynta medan vissa områden i Danmark och södra Sverige uppvisar ett otroligt överflöd. Men rikedomen på romerska fynd är sällan påvisbar över en längre tid. De många fynden av romerska solidi, 24-karatiga guldmynt, är de bästa bevisen på ett livaktigt utbyte mellan Östersjöområdet och Medelhavet under senantiken. Kontakterna verkar ofta ha varit intensiva men kortvariga. Man kan nämna området kring Gudme på ön Fyn i Danmark, som hade mycket nära band till romarriket fram till mitten av 300-talet e.Kr. Öland är därefter det landskap i Norden som har i särklass flest belägg för mycket täta förbindelser med Italien och Gallien under 400-talet. När Öland förlorar kopplingen till Italien efter 476 e.Kr. tar istället Bornholm, Gotland och Helgö i Mälaren vid. Utifrån solidusfynden kan man se att dessa områden upprätthållit kontakten med Italien en bit in på 500-talet. På Öland finns dessutom ringborgarna som ett ytterligare bevis på inflytande av romerskt tankegods. Ringborgarna och solidusmynten är kopplade till varandra genom att man finner guldmynten i nära anslutning till ringborgarna. Det är sanno-likt att ytterligare en djupgående koppling finns, eftersom flera av ringborgarna, sär-skilt Eketorp II, den andra av tre borgar på platsen, och Sandby borg, troligen är inspirerade av de befästa amfiteatrar som återfinns i städer där solidusmynten präg-lats, särskilt Arles, Rom och Trier. Till skillnad från centrala platser i Sve-riges inland eller längs med kusten (läs mer om detta i Frands Herschends artikel i detta temanummer), hade Öland gan-ska lite att erbjuda ifråga om exportva-ror, utöver ett befolkningsöverskott som kunde omsättas till arbetskraft. Vanlig handel med romarriket var därför inte alltid möjlig, särskilt inte mot slutet av 400-talet då romarriket genomgick en större ekonomisk kris, som framförallt påverkade fjärrhandeln. I brist på bättre fick ölänningarna helt enkelt resa söderut och erbjuda en handelsvara som kunden inte kunde tacka nej till-man tog tjänst som legosoldater istället. För det fick man sold-solidi, dvs. de romerska guldmyn-ten. Sannolikt utvandrade många ölän-ningar för gott och stannade kvar i romar-riket, men tillräckligt många återvände hem till Öland och skapade ett mycket märkligt om än kortlivat rövarsamhälle, en kleptokrati, som endast varade ett par generationer.

F. Cenerini - I. G. Mastrorosa (ed.), Donne, istituzioni e società fra tardo antico e alto medioevo, Lecce-Brescia, Pensa Multimedia, 2016  -  Collection of papers focusing on some aspects and historical events in order to ascertain the evolution of women’s attitudes and possibility of intervention in Late Antiquity as well as to demonstrate that through various methodological approaches, gender history can offer a pluralistic interpretation of society of such an important period of transition.

This article explores two late antique and early medieval texts: The Apocalypse of Peter, dated to about the second century CE, and the Apocalypse of Paul, dated to approximately the fourth century CE. I will examine the extant manuscript transmission of both texts in Latin, from the sixth century to about 1000 CE, in order to see how these texts circulated and why they gained the popularity that they did across the centuries. I will argue that the many versions of the texts were copied and used to different aims in different regions and times, according to the immediate needs and messages that the copyists wanted to convey to their readers.

Redakcja tomu andrzej Maciałowicz Recenzenci tomu dr hab. adam cieśliński, prof. uw dr hab. katarzyna czarnecka Opracowanie graficzne P. Holub, t. rakowski, a. wiśniewska, M. woźniak Skład i łamanie radosław Prochowicz Korekta autor andrzej Maciałowicz Okładka Szklany puchar z grobu 884 (fot.: M. woźniak) © Muzeum Starożytnego Hutnictwa Mazowieckiego im. Stefana woydy © fundacja Monumenta archaeologica Barbarica © wydział archeologii uniwersytetu warszawskiego © autor dofinansowano ze środków Ministra kultury i dziedzictwa narodowego pochodzących z funduszu Promocji kultury iSSn 1644-8774 iSBn 978-83-948500-3-6 (MSHM) iSBn 978-83-962807-3-2 (fMaB) iSBn 978-83-66210-18-9 (wa uw) Druk: drukarnia Biały kruk, Sobolewo, ul. tygrysia 50, 15-509 Białystok i. wstęp i.1. Historia badań i.2. Metodyka badań wykopaliskowych i.3. Materiały zabytkowe ii. katalog ii.1. wprowadzenie ii.2. System klasyfikacji naczyń glinianych kultury przeworskiej ii.2.1. Młodszy okres przedrzymski ii.2.2. okres wpływów rzymskich ii.3. obiekty ii.4. znaleziska luźne oraz materiały z wypełnisk obiektów średniowiecznych iii. Bibliografia iV. tablice Spis treści I. Wstęp wieś kleszewo 1 zlokalizowana jest 4 km na północ od Pułtuska, na południowo-wschodnim skraju mezoregionu wysoczyzny ciechanowskiej, bezpośrednio przy krawędzi doliny dolnej narwi 2. teren wsi znajduje się na wyraźnie wyeksponowanym, rozległym wyniesieniu, zbudowanym z glin zwałowych, iłów warwowych oraz piasków rzecznych i wodnolodowcowych. Pagórek ten od północy, zachodu i południa ograniczony jest młodszymi geologicznie (holoceńskimi) piaszczystymi terasami nadzalewowymi byłych 3 i obecnych prawobrzeż-1 gmina Pułtusk, powiat pułtuski, województwo mazowieckie. 2 J. kondracki 2002, 185. 3 Prawobrzeżne dopływy narwi na tym jej odcinku charakteryzują się dużym spadkiem i znaczną prędkością przepływu, czego rezultatem są częste zmiany sieci rzecznej. Manifestują się nych dopływów narwi (m.in. Przewodówki i Pełty), a od wschodu-jej rozległą doliną 4. wielokulturowe stanowisko nr 8 (azP 46-67/23) zlokalizowane jest na północnym zboczu tego wyniesienia, około 500 m na zachód od krawędzi doliny narwi i około 400 m na południowy zachód od Pełty 5 (ryc. 1-5). one licznymi obniżeniami, przecinającymi lekko pofałdowany, równinny, urozmaicony pagórkami krajobraz tej części wysoczyzny ciechanowskiej (k.