CLAS / HIST 4091 / 5091: The Roman Empire

Reading Handout (14) for Friday Dec. 2, 2011: Rome and the Germans

Reading (see accompanying map)

Ammianus Marcellinus

Bk. 16.xi-xii, begin at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_16_book16.htm#C11

Bk. 17.i-ii; viii-x begin at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_17_book17.htm#C1 and continue at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_17_book17.htm#C8

Bk. 18.ii begin at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_18_book18.htm#C2

Bk. 21.iii-iv begin at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_21_book21.htm#C3

Bk. 27.v begin at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_27_book27.htm#C5

Bk. 31 entire, begin at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/ammianus_31_book31.htm#C1

Martyrdom of St. Saba in P. Heather and J. Matthews The Goths in the Fourth Century 109-17 (on e-reserves at Norlin Library: password "romanempire")

This week we begin examining the period when the Romans faced serious threats on all their borders from non-Roman peoples (barbarians). As a window into this world, we are reading one of our best sources on the barbarians, the late Roman author Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus was a Greek speaker from the province of Syria. At the end of his life, he moved to Rome, learned Latin and composed a history of the 4th C empire in Latin (completed c. 391). Ammianus was especially qualified to write military history since he had served in the army under the emperor Julian. Today we are reading a number of passages where Ammianus idolizes Julian (ruled 355-363), often while disparaging his co-emperor, Constantius (ruled 337-361: in the 4th C more than one emperor ruled simultaneously). We encounter Julian between 356 and 359 fighting against the powerful Germanic confederations who dwelt east of the Rhine, the Alamanni (whence the French and Spanish word for German, "Allemagne" / “Aleman” ) and the Franks (from whom the French themselves take their name). We also encounter Constantius in battle in 358 against the Sarmatians, Indo-Iranian peoples who had migrated to the territory of modern Hungary. Finally, we will look at the emperor Valens (ruled 364-378) as he fought the Goths, who migrated into the Roman empire out of the territory of modern Romania, in two wars which lasted from 367-9 and 376-8. The last battle of the second war, the Battle of Adrianople, cost Valens his life and the eastern empire two thirds of its army. Clearly, the barbarian threat had become so serious that much of a late Roman emperor's time needed to be spent coping with it. As we read these accounts, we should pay attention to how the Romans dealt with these barbarian peoples and how the barbarians reacted to the Romans.

To help us further understand this problem, we will also read one of the few texts surviving from a barbarian context. Valens’ Gothic war of 367-9 had resulted in a Gothic defeat north of the Danube. After this loss, the Gothic leaders initiated a persecution against their tribesmen who had converted to Christianity (the official religion of the Roman empire at this time). One of the martyrs killed in their persecution was a peasant named Saba and his remains were eventually transported by a Roman general named Junius Soranus into Roman territory for veneration. Soranus composed a brief story of Saba's martyrdom which gives us precious insights into the way life functioned in a Gothic village. Read this short source very carefully, sifting for details about this people who, though they had a vast impact on the empire, have left only scraps of evidence behind.

Questions

1. How does the late Roman army work? Where were its troops stationed? How big were the units they used in engagements? Why might they have operated as they did? What sorts of troops made up these units (native Roman or foreign)?

2. Did the emperors of this period appear to have a grand strategy for how to run the empire and deal with barbarians? Was there a master-plan or were their actions more ad hoc? What presuppositions and values governed their choices to undertake campaigns?

3. What tactics do the barbarians use against the Romans? Does their activity reflect a master-plan or is it more ad hoc? Why do conflicts between barbarians and Romans tend to arise?

4. How does barbarian society seem to work? What form of leadership do the barbarians have? How well organized are they? What evidence do we have for the barbarian economy: is it nomadic, pastoral, agricultural, industrial?

5.What do the barbarians think of the Romans? What can we learn about this question from Ammianus? From the Martyrdom of Saba?

6. What is the role of the emperor in late Roman military activity? How does this differ from earlier periods?