Battle of Carnuntum | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Marcomannic Wars | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Quadi | Roman Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ballomar | Marcus Aurelius | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | about 20,000 killed [2] |
The Battle of Carnuntum took place in 170 AD during the Marcomannic Wars. In the spring of 170 AD swarms of Germanic warrior bands attacked Roman provinces along the Danube River. In furtherance of this endeavor, and for mutual protection, the king of the Marcomanni, Ballomar, had allied with the Quadi tribe. Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius with his son-in-law and chief military adviser Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus crossed the Danube River to drive back the raiders. The Romans and Germans met outside Carnuntum in Upper Pannonia, [3] which was the headquarters for the Legio XIV Gemina. The Roman army was inexperienced and outmatched, and the ensuing battle was a disaster for the Romans. Although the legions fought hard and bravely, they were no match for the Germanic warriors. 20,000 Romans were killed. Following this victory the Germans besieged Aquileia and sacked Opitergium. [1]
There is only one ancient source for the battle and that is Lucian [4] [ full citation needed ] in his book Alexander [5] which is either a polemic or a witty satire aimed at Alexander of Abonoteichus, depending on the point of view. The description of 20,000 Roman dead might have been dismissed by historians, were it not for the fact that other historical information in that work is supported by independent ancient authors and by epigraphical and numismatic evidence. [2]
The chronology of events of the Marcomannic Wars has a number of problems, [2] [6] but scholars now agree that these events took place in the Spring of 170 A.D. [1]
The Marcomanni were a Germanic people who lived close to the border of the Roman empire, north of the River Danube. They were one of the most important members of the powerful cluster of related Suebian peoples in this region, which also included the Hermunduri, Varisti, and Quadi along the Danube, and the Semnones and Langobardi to their north, and they were particularly important to the Romans. They appear in Roman records from approximately 60 BC until about 400 AD.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD. He served as Roman consul in 140, 145, and 161.
The 160s decade ran from January 1, 160, to December 31, 169.
The 170s decade ran from January 1, 170, to December 31, 179.
Year 170 (CLXX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Clarus and Cornelius. The denomination 170 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballia'. It included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Albania, northern parts of North Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobruja and small parts of Southern Ukraine.
The Quadi were a Germanic people during the Roman era, who were prominent in Greek and Roman records from about 20 AD to about 400 AD. By about 20 AD they had a kingdom centred in the area of present-day western Slovakia, north of the Roman border on the Danube river. After probably first settling near the Morava river the Quadi expanded their settlements eastwards over time until they also stretched into present day Hungary. This was part of the bigger region which had been partly vacated a generation earlier by the Celtic Boii. They were the easternmost of a series of four related Suebian kingdoms that established themselves near the river frontier after 9 BC, during a period of major Roman invasions into both western Germania to the northwest of it, and Pannonia to the south of it. The other three were the Hermunduri, Naristi, and the Quadi's powerful western neighbours the Marcomanni. Despite frequent difficulties with the Romans, the Quadi survived to become an important cultural bridge between the peoples of Germania to the north, the Roman Empire to the south, and the Sarmatian peoples who settled in the same period to their east in present day Hungary.
Carnuntum was a Roman legionary fortress and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet from 50 AD. After the 1st century, it was capital of the Pannonia Superior province. It also became a large city of approximately 50,000 inhabitants.
The Iazyges were an ancient Sarmatian tribe that traveled westward in c. 200 BC from Central Asia to the steppes of modern Ukraine. In c. 44 BC, they moved into modern-day Hungary and Serbia near the Dacian steppe between the Danube and Tisza rivers, where they adopted a semi-sedentary lifestyle.
Despite the large variations in spellings of their name the Varisci, Varisti, Naristi, or Narisci were a single Germanic people, known from several historical records from the Roman era. They lived near the Roman frontier on the Danube river, east of the Hermunduri, and west of the Marcomanni and Quadi. Ptolemy adds that the Ouaristoi were south of the Sudeten Mountains and west of Gabreta Forest. The sources thus agree on their location.
The Marcomannic Wars were a series of wars lasting from about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against principally the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; there were related conflicts with several other Germanic, Sarmatian, and Gothic peoples along both sides of the whole length of the Roman Empire's northeastern European border, the river Danube.
The Column of Marcus Aurelius is a Roman victory column in Piazza Colonna, Rome, Italy. It is a Doric column featuring a spiral relief: it was built in honour of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and modeled on Trajan's Column. The Imperial Monument is dedicated to the former emperor of Rome and his war effort in the Barbarian Wars during his reign as Caesar of Rome from 161-180 AD. Standing as a testament to Aurelius' military achievements, it offers a visual narrative of his campaigns against Germanic tribes along the Danube River. Although there aren’t many direct sources from the time of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, many of the emperor's deeds are depicted among the scenes of the monument itself. Based on common understanding of Roman views on public service, the status of Marcus Aurelius was such that this monument was erected in dedication to his memory and designed with grandeur to represent his accomplishments. The monument contains a frieze depicting the Northern Germanic campaigns of Marcus Aurelius. The Romans called these wars North of the Danube, Bellum Germanicum or bellum Marcomannicum. Though the monument's purpose was likely meant to commemorate his military achievement, it is also considered a funerary monument, since the planning and erection of the monument happened around the same time as his death. The construction of the column is said to have begun at either the end of the wars in 176AD and at the time of his death in 180AD; ultimately the construction of the monument was completed in 193AD.
Vindobona was a Roman military camp in the province of Pannonia, located on the site of the modern city of Vienna in Austria. The settlement area took on a new name in the 13th century, being changed to Berghof, or now simply known as Alter Berghof.
Marcus Valerius Maximianus was an important Roman general of the period of the Marcomannic Wars during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. He was born in the Roman colony of Poetovio, where his father, also called Marcus Valerius Maximianus, was a local censor and priest. He was decorated for services in the Parthian war of Lucius Verus and was appointed by Marcus Aurelius to ensure the armies in Pannonia were supplied by boats on the Danube.
The Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 was fought between the Roman and Parthian Empires over Armenia and Upper Mesopotamia. It concluded in 166 after the Romans made successful campaigns into Lower Mesopotamia and Media and sacked Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital.
The reign of Marcus Aurelius began with his accession on 7 March 161 following the death of his adoptive father, Antoninus Pius, and ended with his own death on 17 March 180. Marcus first ruled jointly with his adoptive brother, Lucius Verus. They shared the throne until Lucius' death in 169. Marcus was succeeded by his son Commodus, who had been made co-emperor in 177.
Slovakia was partly occupied by Roman legions for a short period of time. Marcomannia was a proposed province of the Roman Empire that Emperor Marcus Aurelius planned to establish in this territory. It was inhabited by the Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi, and lay in the western parts of the modern states and Slovakia and the Czech Republic (Moravia). Part of the area was occupied by the Romans under Marcus Aurelius between 174 AD and 180 AD. His successors abandoned the project, but the people of the area became steadily Romanized during the next two centuries. The Roman influence was disrupted with the invasions of Attila starting around 434 AD and as Slavic people later began to move into the area.
Marcus Claudius Fronto was a Roman senator and Consul, and a general in the Imperial Roman army during the reigns of emperors Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, and Lucius Verus.
Ballomar or Ballomarios was a leader of the Marcomanni during the Marcomannic Wars.
The Roman fort is an archaeological site located in Mušov, Czech Republic, of a Roman army camp on the Dyje-Svratka-Jihlava confluence. It was intended to become the capital of the proposed Marcomannia province (Moravia).