Some Observations about the Ancient Sources on the Praetentura Italiae et Alpium

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/clotho.5.1.47-64

Keywords:

Praetentura Italiae et Alpium, wars with German and Sarmatian tribes, Marcomanni, Quadi, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, Cassius Dio, Historia Augusta, ancient sources

Abstract

The Marcomannic Wars were the largest and most extensive armed conflict between the Roman army and the barbarian tribes of the central Danube region – the Marcomanni, the Quadi and the Sarmatians, along with other tribes. The wars with the Germanic tribes had their first signs in the time of Antoninus Pius, the peace-loving predecessor of Marcus Aurelius, who carefully tempered the aspirations of the usurpers with a consistent pacifism. In Pannonia, missions from the Germanic kingdoms across the Danube came to disturb Pannonia with news of the movements of barbarian peoples from the north. The trade of barbarian peoples with Roman citizens on the borders of the Roman state and the migration of the Germanic tribes in the Germanic basin of the tribes in the limes belt represented their aspirations for an additional habitat within the empire. Apian writes that missions of these tribes even came to Rome to the Emperor An­toninus Pius and asked to be admitted into the empire. The relentless and continuous pressure escalated probably in AD 166, when a large part of the Roman garrison was stationed on the eastern border to fight the Parthians. Limes was poorly defended during this period as legions stationed from the Rhine to the Danube were sent to the front with the Parthians. Despite the efforts of the imperial viceroys in both Pannoniae to prevent the outbreak of war on the fortified Danube border, the barbarians succeeded in breaking through the limes and consequently spilling across the country as far as Aquileia and Opitergium. The painful awareness of Italy’s vulnerability, lulled for generations by the Peace of Augustus (Pax Romana), meant a sudden turn in defence. The present text examines the two main pri­mary sources for the events of the German-Sarmatian War and raises questions about the absence of references to an important defence system, the so-called Praetentura Italiae et Alpium.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bigliardi, Giulio. »La praetentura Italiae et Alpium alla luce di nuove ricerche archeologiche«. Aquileia Nostra 78 (2007): 297–314.

Birley, Anthony R. »The Wars and Revolts«. V: A Companion to Marcus Aurelius, ur. Marcel van Ackeren, 217–33. Malden: Wiley–Blackwell, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118219836.ch13

Bratož, Rajko. Rimska zgodovina 1: Od začetkov do nastopa cesarja Dioklecijana. Ljubljana: Zveza zgodovinskih društev Slovenije, 2007.

Fitz, Jeno. »Zu der Geschichte der Praetentura Italiae et Alpium im Laufe der Markomannenkriege«. Arheološki vestnik 19 (1968): 43–51.

Grošelj, Nada. »Pisci cesarske zgodovine«. V: Zgodovina historične misli 1: Od Homerja do začetka 21. stoletja, ur. Oto Luthar, Gregor Pobežin, Marjeta Šašel Kos in Nada Grošelj, 323–7. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2016.

Harper, Kyle. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv9b2txr

Heinrichs, Johannes, Werner Eck, Edmund Groag, Matthäus Heil, Arthur Stein, Marietta Horster, Leiva Petersen, Klaus-Peter Johne, Andreas Krieckhaus, Anika Strobach, Ladislav Vidman in Klaus Wachtel. Prosopographia Imperii Romani Saec. I. II. III. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1933.

Jarrat, C. Susan. »An Imperial Anti-Sublime: Aristides’ Roman Oration (or. 26)«. V: Aelius Aristide écrivain, ur. Laurent Pernot, Giancarlo Abbamonte, Mario Lamagna, Maria Consiglia Alvino, 213–229. Turnhout: Brepols, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1484/M.RRR-EB.5.110771

Kerr, William George. »The Praetentura Italiae et Alpium: New Numismatic Perspectives«. V: Roman Frontier Studies 1995, ur. W. Groenman-van Waateringe, B. L. van Beek, W. J. H. Willems, S. L. Wynia, 405–9. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 1997.

Kos, Peter. »Claustra Alpium Iuliarum – Protecting Late Roman Italy.« Studia Europaea Gnesnensia 7 (2013): 233–61.

———. »Izgradnja zapornega sistema Claustra Alpium Iuliarum: Zgodovinski, arheološki in numizmatični viri«. V: Claustra Alpium Iuliarum – med raziskovanjem in upravljanjem, ur. Jure Kusetič, 112–132. Ljubljana: Inštitut Ivan Michler, 2014.

Kusetič, Jure. »Claustra Alpium Iuliarum«. V: Claustra patefacta sunt Alpium Iuliarum, ur. Josip Višnjić in Katharina Zanier, 12–37. Zagreb: Hrvatski restauratorski zavod, 2020.

Lazar, Irena. »Roman Tile Workshop at Vransko – Archaeology, Ager of Celeia and Roman History – Rimska opekarna na Vranskem – arheologija, celejski ager in rimska zgodovina«. V: Evidence of the Roman Army in Slovenia – Sledovi rimske vojske na Slovenskem, ur. Janka Istenič, Boštjan Laharnar in Jana Horvat, 269–83. Ljubljana: Narodni muzej Slovenije, 2015.

MacMullen, Ramsay. »Barbarian Enclaves in the Northern Roman Empire.« L’antiquité classique 32, št. 2 (1963): 552–61. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/antiq.1963.1384

Millar, Fergus. A Study of Cassius Dio. Oxford: Clarendon, 1964.

Osmuk, Nada. »Ajdovščina – Castra: Stanje arheoloških raziskav (1994)«. Arheološki vestnik 48 (1997): 119–30.

Pernot, Laurent. »Aelius Aristides and Rome«. V: Aelius Aristides Between Greece, Rome, and the Gods, ur. William V. Harris, 173–201. Leiden: Brill, 2008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004172043.i-326.37

Pobežin, Gregor. »In quodam libro Graeco: Raba in navajanje grških virov pri ‘piscih’ Cesarske zgodovine«. Keria 12, št. 1 (2010): 85–101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4312/keria.12.1.85-101

Schlude, Jason M. Rome, Parthia, and the Politics of Peace: The Origins of War in the Ancient Middle East. London: Routledge, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351135719

Schulz, Verena. »Historiography and Panegyric: The Deconstruction of Imperial Representation in Cassius Dio’s Roman History«. V: Cassius Dio: Greek Intellectual and Roman Politician, ur. Carsten Hjort Lange in Jesper Majbom Madsen, 276–96. Leiden: Brill, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004335318_016

Šašel, Jaroslav. »Über Umfang und Dauer der Militärzone Praetentura Italiae et Alpium zur Zeit Mark Aurels«. Museum Helveticum 31, št. 6 (1974): 225–33.

Šašel Kos, Marjeta. V srcu rimskega imperija: Zgodovina slovenskega prostora v antiki do vlade Maksimina Tračana. Zbirka Zgodovinskega časopisa 51. Ljubljana: Zveza zgodovinskih društev Slovenije, 2020.

———. Zgodovinska podoba prostora med Akvilejo, Jadranom in Sirmijem pri Kasiju Dionu in Herodijanu. Ljubljana: Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, 1986.

Šašel Kos, Marjeta. »Kasij Dion«. V: Zgodovina historične misli 1: Od Homerja do začetka 21. stoletja,, ur. Oto Luthar, Gregor Pobežin, Marjeta Šašel Kos, Nada Grošelj, 191–9. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2016.

Vannesse, Michael, »I Claustra Alpium Iuliarum: Un riesame della questione circa la difesa del confine nord-orientale dell’Italia in epoca tardoromana«. Aquileia nostra 78 (2007): 313–40.

Zaccaria, Mario. »Claustra Alpium Iuliarum: A Research Plan«. Haemus Journal 1 (2012): 135–67.

Published

27.09.2023

How to Cite

Kovačič, Blanka, and Gregor Pobežin. 2023. “Some Observations about the Ancient Sources on the Praetentura Italiae Et Alpium”. Clotho 5 (1):47-64. https://doi.org/10.4312/clotho.5.1.47-64.

Issue

Section

Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)

  • David Movrin, Kozma Ahačič, Katarina Batagelj, Goran Dekleva, Nada Grošelj, Nina Gruden, Nataša Homar, Andreja Inkret, Iva Jevtić, Miklavž Komelj, Vanja Kovač Petersson, Lucija Krošelj Košec, Maja Lihtenvalner, Boštjan Narat, Niko Okorn, Gregor Pobežin, Primož Ponikvar, Simona Sašek, Brane Senegačnik, Mladen Uhlik, Nadja Vidmar Rukavina, Sonja Weiss, Janja Žmavc, Aleš Novak, Katja Pavlič Škerjanc septuagenaria , Clotho: Vol. 5 No. 1 (2023)