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59-675: Caucaland is a region mentioned by Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus as Caucalandenses locus , a place where the Goths located on the left bank of the Danube withdrew after the coming of the Huns . It is identified by some modern historians as Valea Strâmbă River (Mureş) , and by Florin Constantiniu in Vrancea and Buzău Mountains . According to British philologist and lexicographer Henry Bradley , Caucaland

118-449: A cheap and easily trained unit that has poor attack, but very high defense, simulating their role in holding the frontier and bogging down enemies while the field armies mobilized. In Civilization VI: Rise and Fall , limitanei are available as a military policy. The policy causes military units to increase the loyalty of the city they are garrisoned in. In Age of Empires IV , limitanei are cheap anti-cavalry infantry available for

177-514: A fairly well equipped and trained force of infantry for their time, especially in relation to other standing armies of the day fielded by Rome's Germanic , Celtic , Iranian , and Eastern neighbours, collectively referred to as " barbarians " by the Romans themselves. It can be surmised, due in part to these reforms, that the Western Roman Empire continued to live on for another 140 years after

236-492: A plan of military reforms enacted in the late 3rd century, was able to extend the life of the Roman Empire by pushing back the great barbarian invasions of late antiquity . The quality of these border troops declined because the limitanei had to live in poor conditions in impoverished and isolated towns, unlike their well-off counterparts the comitatenses , who were typically assigned to more urban and prosperous areas of

295-466: A wounded comrade. The Persians besieged and eventually sacked Amida, and Ammianus barely escaped with his life. When Ursicinus was dismissed from his military post by Constantius, Ammianus too seems to have retired from the military; however, reevaluation of his participation in Julian's Persian campaign has led modern scholarship to suggest that he continued his service but did not for some reason include

354-549: Is derived from Hauhaland, the Gothic form of the English word ' Highland ' (German 'Hochland'), and probably denotes the mountain region of Transylvania . This European geography article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus , occasionally anglicised as Ammian ( Greek : Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born c.  330 , died c.  391  – 400),

413-420: Is disputed by historians. According to Azar Gat , many scholars believe that empires stationed these soldiers on the outskirts of empires as a first line of defense against raiding barbarians tribes. As the soldier profession is often not productive (prolonged periods of training with only occasional conflict), empires had long resorted to this principle of "military colonists". Thus, the late Roman empire adopted

472-497: Is just and mild, and when he condemns the actions of Christians, he does not do so on the basis of their Christianity as such. His lifetime was marked by lengthy outbreaks of sectarian and dogmatic strife within the new state-backed faith, often with violent consequences (especially the Arian controversy ) and these conflicts sometimes appeared unworthy to him, though it was territory where he could not risk going very far in criticism, due to

531-424: Is understandable. Vegetius called for the revival of earlier Roman practices, from before the organization of the limitanei , and Mauricius wrote after the decline of the limitanei . Hugh Elton and Warren Treadgold suggest that, besides garrisoning fortifications along the frontier, they operated as border guards and customs police and to prevent small-scale raids. Hugh Elton describes their roles as "policing

590-413: The comitatenses . The relationship between the limitanei , of the border armies, and the pseudocomitatenses , the lowest-ranking units of the field armies, remains unclear. Theodor Mommsen proposed that the pseudocomitatenses were former units of limitanei incorporated into the mobile field armies, and most authors since have followed his theory. E.C. Nischer proposed the alternate theory that

649-654: The comitatus (field army) of Sabinianus. While on a mission near Nisibis, Ammianus spotted a Persian patrol which was about to try and capture Ursicinus, and warned his commander in time. In an attempt to locate the Persian Royal Army, Ursicinus sent Ammianus to Jovinianus, the semi-independent governor of Corduene , and a friend of Ursicinus. Ammianus successfully located the Persian main body and reported his findings to Ursicinus. After his mission in Corduene, Ammianus left

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708-549: The Praetorian Guard , where he gained firsthand experience in various military campaigns. He served as an officer in the army of the emperors Constantius II and Julian . He served in Gaul (Julian) and in the east (twice for Constantius, once under Julian). He professes to have been "a former soldier and a Greek" ( miles quondam et graecus ), and his enrollment among the elite protectores domestici (household guards) shows that he

767-413: The limitanei changed considerably between their introduction in the 3rd or 4th century and their disappearance in the 6th or 7th century. In the 4th century, the limitanei were professional soldiers, and included both infantry and cavalry as well as river flotillas, but after the 5th century they were part-time soldiers, and after the 6th century they were unpaid militia . The role of

826-466: The limitanei included legiones of infantry, often divided between two bases and sometimes divided among more, numeri, milites, and cohortes of infantry, as well as vexillationes, equites, cunei, and alae of cavalry. The size of the legions is unclear. A.H.M. Jones suggested that they could have as many as 3,000 troops, because they are often listed with 10 cohorts, and because they are sometimes divided among many bases. Warren Treadgold suggests that

885-423: The limitanei remains somewhat uncertain. Hugh Elton and Warren Treadgold suggest that, besides garrisoning fortifications along the frontier, they operated as border guards and customs police and to prevent small-scale raids. They may have driven off medium-scale attacks without the support of the field armies. Edward Luttwak saw their role as a key part in a strategy of defence-in-depth in combination with

944-402: The limitanei , as units, and as part of the larger system, remains controversial. The soldiers of the frontier armies were paid less than their counterparts in the field armies. However, this does not imply that the field armies always hired the most promising recruits; some may have preferred to stay close to home rather than to join units which could be deployed anywhere else. The soldiers of

1003-466: The pseudocomitatenses were positional garrison units which were independent of the border armies and thus placed under the same command as the field armies. In the past historians have suggested that the limitanei were organized as units of part-time farmer-soldiers. In this view, the limitanei were used in stationary roles along the frontier and were granted plots of land to cultivate, which essentially turned them into part-time soldiers/farmers. It

1062-635: The 380s, Ammianus wrote a Latin history of the Roman empire from the accession of Nerva (96) to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople (378), in effect writing a continuation of the history of Tacitus . At 22.16.12 he praises the Serapeum of Alexandria in Egypt as the glory of the empire, so his work was presumably completed before the destruction of that building in 391. The Res gestae ( Rerum gestarum libri XXXI )

1121-540: The East twice under Ursicinus. He travelled with Ursicinus to Italy in an expedition against Silvanus , an officer who had proclaimed himself emperor in Gaul . Ursicinus ended the threat by having Silvanus assassinated, then stayed in the region to help install Julian as Caesar of Gaul, Spain and Britain. Ammianus probably met Julian for the first time while serving on Ursicinus' staff in Gaul. In 359, Constantius sent Ursicinus back to

1180-570: The Rhine and Danube, or at times part of the Euphrates, along fortified walls such as Hadrian's Wall , or along otherwise unfortified roads such as the Strata Diocletiana . Garrison forts are those at or near the towns along the frontiers, as well as other forts, garrisoned by independent units of limitanei . Detachment forts are those too small for independent units, garrisoned by detachments from

1239-428: The army. The 4th century limitanei included both light and heavy infantry, as well as light and heavy cavalry, and river flotillas. The limitanei garrisoned fortifications along the borders of the Roman empire. Hugh Elton divides these into four categories: "garrison forts, detachment forts, watchtowers, and fortified landing places". These fortifications could be organized into lines along rivers, such as

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1298-594: The border, gathering intelligence, and stopping raids". They may have driven off medium-scale attacks without the support of the field armies. Edward Luttwak saw their role as a key part in a strategy of defence-in-depth, manning a range of defences from forts to walled towns in a deep defensive zone. These defences would deny routes to the enemy, securing food stocks and, in arid areas, water supplies both to restrict attackers and facilitate counterattack by provincial field armies Because units of limitanei operated in one area, had their own camps, and often recruited from

1357-485: The borders and oppose small-scale raids. They may have driven off medium-scale attacks without the support of the field armies. The frontier armies would later be known as limitanei or ripenses . The field armies would respond to larger-scale attacks, would fight against rival emperors, and would conduct any large-scale attacks into neighboring countries. The field armies would later be known as comitatenses or palatini . The first known written reference to ripenses

1416-501: The change, though again referencing parallels of military colonists at other times in history. M.C. Bishop and J.C.N. Coulston, in a major work on Roman military equipment, do not distinguish that of the limitanei from that of the comitatenses and palatini . It is doubtful whether there were any universal differences between the equipment of the limitanei and of the other forces. The late Roman empire had centralized fabricae, introduced by Diocletian, to provide arms and armor for

1475-506: The characteristic sequence of earthquake, retreat of the sea, and sudden incoming giant wave. Limitanei The limitanei were lower-status and lower-paid than the comitatenses and palatīnī , and the distinction in role and status between scholae , palatini , comitatenses , and limitanei had largely replaced the older one between praetorians , legionaries , and auxiliaries . The limitanei and palatini both included legionary units alongside auxiliary units. The nature of

1534-555: The east and the west, or even in different regions of the west. In the east, the emperor Justinian cancelled their pay. After this, the eastern limitanei were no longer professional soldiers, but continued to exist as militia through the Persian Wars and the Arab Conquest. The Arabic ajnad of Palestine, Jordan, Damascus, and Homs, may represent continuations of the commands of Palaestina, Arabia, Phoeniciae, and Syria. In

1593-597: The east to help in the defence against a Persian invasion led by king Shapur II himself. Ammianus returned with his commander to the East and again served Ursicinus as a staff officer. Ursicinus, although he was the more experienced commander, was placed under the command of Sabinianus, the Magister Peditum of the east. The two did not get along, resulting in a lack of cooperation between the Limitanei (border regiments) of Mesopotamia and Osrhoene under Ursicinus' command and

1652-506: The empire. This affected the discipline and morale of the late Roman army . A factor that should also be examined and considered, is how the limitanei ended up as part time forces and eventually even, not being paid at all. Traditionally, the quality of troops degrades as they spend less and less time as active soldiers, and soldiers that aren't being sent their wages, are obviously not being sent new equipment, or money to repair or replace broken equipment. The limitanei were nonetheless

1711-580: The end of Constantine's reign, in the face of numerous migrations and invasions from northern and eastern, nomadic peoples such as the Huns , Goths , Vandals , Ostrogoths , Sarmatians , Alans , Burgundians , Saxons and Franks , which continually weakened the Empire until its eventual collapse in 476 AD. The limitanei are in Rome Total War: Barbarian Invasion as an infantry unit that can be recruited by any Roman faction. They are

1770-474: The experience of the soldiers but at the cost of ignoring the bigger picture. As a result, it is difficult for the reader to understand why the battles he describes had the outcome they did. Ammianus' work contains a detailed description of the earthquake and tsunami of 365 in Alexandria , which devastated the metropolis and the shores of the eastern Mediterranean on 21 July 365. His report describes accurately

1829-494: The frontier armies are often supposed to have been part-time farmer-soldiers without the same degree of training as the soldiers of the field armies; however, they were originally full-time soldiers. Although these military reforms brought about a more effective defensive army than the previous arrangement had, it did have its pitfalls. Constantine I was criticised for allowing what were perceived as "second-class" infantry, often recruited from non-Roman backgrounds, to be given

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1888-471: The frontier armies not counting the river flotillas, 104,000 in the field armies not counting the fleets, and 3,500 in the palace guard. The western portion, from about 420, is harder to work with, because it has been unevenly edited, it omits some frontier provinces, and it includes British provinces which were probably lost to the Empire. The size of the army, and therefore of the limitanei , remains controversial. A.H.M. Jones and Warren Treadgold argue that

1947-521: The growing and volatile political connections between the church and imperial power. Ammianus was not blind to the faults of Christians or of pagans and was especially critical of them; he commented that "no wild beasts are so hostile to men as Christian sects in general are to one another" and he condemns the emperor Julian for excessive attachment to (pagan) sacrifice, and for his edict effectively barring Christians from teaching posts. While living in Rome in

2006-434: The headquarters at Amida in the retinue of Ursinicus, who was on a mission to make sure the bridges across the Euphrates were demolished. They were attacked by the Persian vanguard, who had made a night march in an attempt to catch the Romans at Amida unprepared. After a protracted cavalry battle, the Romans were scattered; Ursicinus evaded capture and fled to Melitene, while Ammianus made a difficult journey back to Amida with

2065-517: The history of his own times without indulging the prejudices and passions which usually affect the mind of a contemporary." But he also condemned Ammianus for lack of literary flair: "The coarse and undistinguishing pencil of Ammianus has delineated his bloody figures with tedious and disgusting accuracy." Austrian historian Ernst Stein praised Ammianus as "the greatest literary genius that the world produced between Tacitus and Dante ". According to Kimberly Kagan , his accounts of battles emphasize

2124-540: The late Roman army was significantly larger than earlier Roman armies, and Treadgold estimates they had up to 645,000 troops. Karl Strobel denies this, and Strobel estimates that the late Roman army had some 435,000 troops in the time of Diocletian and 450,000 in the time of Constantine I. The limitanei were usually under the command of the duces of their respective provinces. There were some exceptions, with comites commanding units of limitanei , and with duces commanding units from two or more provinces. The units of

2183-478: The later 3rd century, due to the frequent wars, field armies could remain together for several years, under the direct command of the emperor, and would require their own recruitment systems. By the mid 4th century, the Roman military was divided into frontier armies under the command of the provincial duces and permanent field armies under the command of the emperor, the magistri peditum , magistri equitum , or comites . The frontier armies would patrol

2242-428: The legions probably had about 1,000 troops and the other units probably had about 500 troops each. The different titles of numeri, milites, and cohorts, or vexillationes, equites, cunei, and alae, probably did not correspond with different structures or roles, although according to Pat Southern and Karen Dixon, the legiones , auxilia , and cunei of the border armies were part of the limitanei , but higher-status than

2301-528: The loss of the first thirteen books, the remaining eighteen are in many places corrupt and lacunose . The sole surviving manuscript from which almost every other is derived is a ninth-century Carolingian text, Vatican lat. 1873 ( V ), produced in Fulda from an insular exemplar. The only independent textual source for Ammianus lies in Fragmenta Marbugensia ( M ), another ninth-century Frankish codex which

2360-625: The nearest garrison fort. Fortified landing places are those on the opposite side of riverine borders. Both Diocletian and Constantine I reinforced the frontier fortifications. The fort of Deutz /Divitia, an important bridgehead on the east bank of the Rhine , was built in this period. Generally speaking there were more and smaller forts along the late Roman border than along the earlier Roman imperial borders. This has been interpreted as evidence that units were smaller than before, that units were divided among multiple forts, or both. The effectiveness of

2419-406: The older cohortes and alae in the same armies. Warren Treadgold estimates that 50.1% of the limitanei were infantry and 49.9% cavalry, not counting river flotillas. The role of the limitanei remains somewhat uncertain. Neither Vegetius , writing in the late 4th or early 5th century, nor Mauricius , writing in the late 6th century, discuss the limitanei in their military manuals. This

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2478-744: The period in his history. He accompanied Julian, for whom he expresses enthusiastic admiration, in his campaigns against the Alamanni and the Sassanids . After Julian's death, Ammianus accompanied the retreat of the new emperor, Jovian , as far as Antioch. He was residing in Antioch in 372 when a certain Theodorus was thought to have been identified the successor to the emperor Valens by divination. Speaking as an alleged eyewitness, Marcellinus recounts how Theodorus and several others were made to confess their deceit through

2537-510: The poor text of the 1474 edition; the 1474 edition was pirated for the first Froben edition (Basle, 1518). It was not until 1533 that the last five books of Ammianus' history were put into print by Silvanus Otmar and edited by Mariangelus Accursius . The first modern edition was produced by C.U. Clark (Berlin, 1910–1913). The first English translations were by Philemon Holland in 1609, and later by C.D. Yonge in 1862. Edward Gibbon judged Ammianus "an accurate and faithful guide, who composed

2596-425: The provincial field armies. In the early 3rd century, the Roman military was organized into several provincial armies under the command of the provincial governors, a smaller reserve under the command of the emperor , guard units such as the Praetorian Guard , and the urban cohorts. Field armies were temporary formations, usually composed of the reserve and/or of detachments drawn from the provincial armies. In

2655-461: The reorganization to Constantine I and his successors. Karl Strobel sees the reorganization as the culmination of trends going back well into the 3rd century, with Diocletian strengthening both the frontier and field armies. The division of the Roman Empire, the collapse of its western portion, and the formation of the successor states means that the limitanei may have developed differently in

2714-496: The responsibility of watching over Rome's most troublesome regions. The elite comitatenses and Scholae Palatinae (the personal bodyguards of the late Roman Emperors such as Constantine I ) resented being reduced to trivial home guard duties and acting more similarly to an urban police force until such a time that a serious enough threat presented itself at a nearby border, when they were called upon for duty. They are historically significant in that their appearance, as part of

2773-438: The same area, they tended to maintain better relations with the locals than the comitatenses and palatini , who would often be transferred to other areas, and were often quartered in civilian homes. They were light troops and served as a policing force to patrol Rome's distant, far-flung border regions and when necessary, to delay advancing enemy forces until counter-attacks could be arranged. They worked in conjunction with

2832-456: The system of limitanei (frontier-colonist-soldier) for economic reasons. By employing soldiers in this way, Rome was able to capitalize on their knowledge of warfare as well benefit from the agriculture produced by limitanei . Edward Luttwak, however, sees the change as due a strategic shift away from a firmly held frontier ( preclusive defence ) to a less firmly held frontier zone backed with mobile forces ( defence-in-depth ) as responsible for

2891-463: The use of torture, and cruelly punished. He eventually settled in Rome and began the Res gestae . The precise year of his death is unknown, but scholarly consensus places it somewhere between 392 and 400 at the latest. Modern scholarship generally describes Ammianus as a pagan who was tolerant of Christianity. Marcellinus writes of Christianity as being a "plain and simple" religion that demands only what

2950-588: The west, the collapse of the empire cut off regular pay. Peter Heather notes an incident in the Life of St. Severinus , in Noricum in the 460s, where raiders had intercepted and cut down limitanei who were bringing their pay to the rest of their unit. The limitanei represented the largest part of the late Roman Army. The eastern portion of the Notitia Dignitatum , from about 395, may count some 195,500 personnel in

3009-514: Was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius ). Written in Latin and known as the Res gestae , his work chronicled the history of Rome from the accession of the Emperor Nerva in 96 to the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Only the sections covering the period 353 to 378 survive. Ammianus

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3068-526: Was born in the East Mediterranean, possibly in Syria or Phoenicia , around 330, into a noble family of Greek origin. Since he calls himself Graecus ( lit. Greek), he was most likely born in a Greek-speaking area of the empire. His native language was Greek but he also knew Latin. The surviving books of his history cover the years 353 to 378. Ammianus began his career as a military officer in

3127-414: Was copied from M. As L. D. Reynolds summarizes, "M is thus a fragment of the archetype; symptoms of an insular pre-archetype are evident." His handling from his earliest printers was little better. The editio princeps was printed in 1474 in Rome by Georg Sachsel and Bartholomaeus Golsch, which broke off at the end of Book 26. The next edition (Bologna, 1517) suffered from its editor's conjectures upon

3186-517: Was in 325 and the first to limitanei was not until 363. Historians disagree on whether the emperor Diocletian , or one of his successors, such as Constantine I , split the Roman military into frontier armies and field armies. Theodor Mommsen , H.M.D. Parker , and more recently, Warren Treadgold and David S. Potter attribute the reorganization to Diocletian. E.C. Nischer , D. van Berchem , and more recently, M.C. Bishop and J.C.N. Coulston attribute mainly an expansion to Diocletian, and

3245-399: Was in fact not impartial, although he expresses an intention to be so, and had strong moral and religious prejudices. Although criticised as lacking literary merit by his early biographers, he was in fact quite skilled in rhetoric, which significantly has brought the veracity of some of the Res gestae into question. His work has suffered substantially from manuscript transmission. Aside from

3304-459: Was of middle class or higher birth. Consensus is that Ammianus probably came from a curial family , but it is also possible that he was the son of a comes Orientis of the same family name. He entered the army at an early age, when Constantius II was emperor of the East, and was sent to serve under Ursicinus , governor of Nisibis in Mesopotamia , and magister militum . Ammianus campaigned in

3363-406: Was originally composed of thirty-one books, but the first thirteen have been lost. The surviving eighteen books, covering the period from 353 to 378, constitute the foundation of modern understanding of the history of the fourth century Roman Empire. They are lauded as a clear, comprehensive, and generally impartial account of events by a contemporary; like many ancient historians, however, Ammianus

3422-466: Was taken apart to provide covers for account-books during the fifteenth century. Only six leaves of M survive; however, before this manuscript was dismantled the Abbot of Hersfeld lent the manuscript to Sigismund Gelenius , who used it in preparing the text of the second Froben edition ( G ). The dates and relationship of V and M were long disputed until 1936 when R. P. Robinson demonstrated persuasively that V

3481-624: Was usually assumed that over time the limitanei settled down more permanently in their posts and became farmers and land owners as well as soldiers; raising families and earning a living from agricultural means rather than purely military service. It is now more generally assumed that there is no good evidence for this. The current consensus seems to be that the limitanei were organized as units of professional soldiers, but they gradually became part-time soldiers and eventually an unpaid militia , relying on other professions including farming for income. Why this new class of soldiers developed

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