Bastarnae: Difference between revisions
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[[Polybius]] (200–118 BC) writing about the time of [[Perseus of Macedon]] (d. 166 BCE) explained how the [[Dardani]]ans sought help from the Romans against the Bastarnae, who were allied with the Macedonian and Celtic (Galatian) enemies of Rome, which can be taken as implying that they were not Galatian. He described them as numerous, physically large, and valorous warriors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/25*.html|title=Polybius • Histories — Book 25|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-08-12}}</ref> | [[Polybius]] (200–118 BC) writing about the time of [[Perseus of Macedon]] (d. 166 BCE) explained how the [[Dardani]]ans sought help from the Romans against the Bastarnae, who were allied with the Macedonian and Celtic (Galatian) enemies of Rome, which can be taken as implying that they were not Galatian. He described them as numerous, physically large, and valorous warriors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/25*.html|title=Polybius • Histories — Book 25|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-08-12}}</ref> | ||
On the other hand, a much later report of these events by [[Livy]] (64 BC – 17 AD), writing about 10 AD, is sometimes understood to imply that the Bastarnae spoke a Celtic language (or a related language) because when comparing them to the [[Scordisci]], a major Galatian tribe of [[Pannonia]], it | On the other hand, a much later report of these events by [[Livy]] (64 BC – 17 AD), writing about 10 AD, is sometimes understood to imply that the Bastarnae spoke a Celtic language (or a related language) because when comparing them to the [[Scordisci]], a major Galatian tribe of [[Pannonia]], it says about the Bastarnae that "neither in speech nor habits were they dissimilar".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Liv.+40+57&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0144|title=Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 40, chapter 57|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=2018-08-12}}</ref> The Scordisci are described as Celtic by [[Strabo]], although he adds that they had mingled with Illyrians and Thracians).<ref>Strabo VII.5.2</ref> | ||
Much later still, the Greek historian [[Plutarch]] (about 46-120 AD), also talking the time of Perseus of Macedon, went further, writing that the Roman consul Hostilius "secretly stirred up the Gauls settled along the Danube, who are called Basternae".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Aemilius*.html|title=Plutarch • Life of Aemilius|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-08-12}}</ref> | Much later still, the Greek historian [[Plutarch]] (about 46-120 AD), also talking the time of Perseus of Macedon, went further, writing that the Roman consul Hostilius "secretly stirred up the Gauls settled along the Danube, who are called Basternae".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Aemilius*.html|title=Plutarch • Life of Aemilius|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-08-12}}</ref> | ||
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=== Germanic === | === Germanic === | ||
Three Greco-Roman geographers of the first century AD associated the Bastarnae and Peucini with the [[Germanic peoples]], and one source, Tacitus, specifies that they spoke a language like the Germanic peoples. The Greek geographer [[Strabo]] (64 BC – 24 AD) writing c. 5–20 AD, made several remarks about the location of the Bastarnae in his own time. In one passage he says that their country borders | Three Greco-Roman geographers of the first century AD associated the Bastarnae and Peucini with the [[Germanic peoples]], and one source, Tacitus, specifies that they spoke a language like the Germanic peoples. The Greek geographer [[Strabo]] (64 BC – 24 AD) writing c. 5–20 AD, made several remarks about the location of the Bastarnae in his own time. In one passage he says that their country borders upon the Tyregetans, who lived near the Black Sea between the Danube and Dnieper, and Germanic peoples to the west, and that they "one might say", were of "Germanic stock". On the other hand he also describes the Roxolani, normally considered Sarmatians, to be the most northerly part of the Bastarnae, roaming the plains between Dnieper and Don. | ||
The Roman geographer [[Pliny the Elder]] (c. 77 AD), classified the Bastarnae or Peucini as being one of the five main subdivisions of Germanic peoples, the other subdivisions as the three [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] groups, the ''Inguaeones'', ''Istuaeones'' and ''Hermiones'', and the [[East Germanic]] ''[[Vandals|Vandili]]''.<ref>Pliny NH IV.14</ref> | The Roman geographer [[Pliny the Elder]] (c. 77 AD), classified the Bastarnae or Peucini as being one of the five main subdivisions of Germanic peoples, the other subdivisions as the three [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] groups, the ''Inguaeones'', ''Istuaeones'' and ''Hermiones'', and the [[East Germanic]] ''[[Vandals|Vandili]]''.<ref>Pliny NH IV.14</ref> | ||
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=== Scytho-Sarmatian === | === Scytho-Sarmatian === | ||
Strabo includes the [[Roxolani]], generally considered by scholars to have been a [[Sarmatian]] tribe, in a list of Bastarnae subgroups.<ref name="Strabo VII.3.17"/> | Strabo includes the [[Roxolani]], generally considered by scholars and other classical sources to have been a [[Sarmatian]] tribe, in a list of Bastarnae subgroups, along with the Atmoni, Sidoni and Peucini, saying that they were the most northerly of them, roaming the plains between the [[Dnieper]] and [[Don (river)|Don]].<ref name="Strabo VII.3.17"/> | ||
In the third century, the Greek historian [[Dio Cassius]] (155–235 AD) stated that the "Bastarnae are properly classed as Scythians" and "members of the Scythian race".<ref>Dio LI.23.3, 24.2</ref> | In the third century, the Greek historian [[Dio Cassius]] (155–235 AD) stated that the "Bastarnae are properly classed as Scythians" and "members of the Scythian race".<ref>Dio LI.23.3, 24.2</ref> | ||
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[[File:Rome and the Barbarians in Eastern and Central Europe around 100 AD by Shchukin.png|thumb|right|275px|Archaeological cultures in the early Roman period, c. 100 AD]] | [[File:Rome and the Barbarians in Eastern and Central Europe around 100 AD by Shchukin.png|thumb|right|275px|Archaeological cultures in the early Roman period, c. 100 AD]] | ||
According to [[Malcolm Todd]], traditional archaeology has not been able to construct a typology of Bastarnae material culture, and thus to ascribe particular archaeological sites to the Bastarnae.<ref name="Todd 2004 23-4">Todd (2004) 23-4</ref> A complicating factor is that the regions where Bastarnae are attested contained a patchwork of peoples and cultures (Sarmatians, Scythians, Dacians, Thracians, Celts, Germans and others), some [[sedentism|sedentary]], some [[nomad]]ic. In any event, post-1960s archaeological theory has questioned the validity of equating material "cultures", as defined by archaeologists, with distinct ethnic groups. In this view, it is impossible to attribute a "culture" to a particular ethnic group: it is likely that the material cultures discerned in the region belonged to several, if not all, of the groups inhabiting it. These cultures probably represent relatively large-scale socio-economic interactions between disparate communities of the broad region, possibly including mutually antagonistic groups.<ref name="Todd 2004 23-4"/> | According to [[Malcolm Todd (archaeologist)|Malcolm Todd]], traditional archaeology has not been able to construct a typology of Bastarnae material culture, and thus to ascribe particular archaeological sites to the Bastarnae.<ref name="Todd 2004 23-4">Todd (2004) 23-4</ref> A complicating factor is that the regions where Bastarnae are attested contained a patchwork of peoples and cultures (Sarmatians, Scythians, Dacians, Thracians, Celts, Germans and others), some [[sedentism|sedentary]], some [[nomad]]ic. In any event, post-1960s archaeological theory has questioned the validity of equating material "cultures", as defined by archaeologists, with distinct ethnic groups. In this view, it is impossible to attribute a "culture" to a particular ethnic group: it is likely that the material cultures discerned in the region belonged to several, if not all, of the groups inhabiting it. These cultures probably represent relatively large-scale socio-economic interactions between disparate communities of the broad region, possibly including mutually antagonistic groups.<ref name="Todd 2004 23-4"/> | ||
It is not even certain whether the Bastarnae were sedentary, nomadic or semi-nomadic. Tacitus' statement that they were "German in their way of life and types of dwelling" implies a sedentary bias, but their close relations with the Sarmatians, who were nomadic, may indicate a more nomadic lifestyle for some Bastarnae, as does their attested wide geographical range.<ref name="Todd 2004 23">Todd (2004) 23</ref> If the Bastarnae were nomadic, then the sedentary "cultures" identified by archaeologists in their ''lebensraum'' would not represent them. Nomadic peoples generally leave scant traces, due to the impermanent materials and foundations used in the construction of their dwellings. | It is not even certain whether the Bastarnae were sedentary, nomadic or semi-nomadic. Tacitus' statement that they were "German in their way of life and types of dwelling" implies a sedentary bias, but their close relations with the Sarmatians, who were nomadic, may indicate a more nomadic lifestyle for some Bastarnae, as does their attested wide geographical range.<ref name="Todd 2004 23">Todd (2004) 23</ref> If the Bastarnae were nomadic, then the sedentary "cultures" identified by archaeologists in their ''lebensraum'' would not represent them. Nomadic peoples generally leave scant traces, due to the impermanent materials and foundations used in the construction of their dwellings. | ||
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==== Third century ==== | ==== Third century ==== | ||
During the late second century, the main ethnic change in the northern Black Sea region was the immigration, from the Vistula valley in the North, of the [[Goths]] and accompanying Germanic tribes such as the [[Taifali]] and the [[Hasdingi]], a branch of the [[Vandal]] people. This migration was part of a series of major population movements in the European ''barbaricum'' (the Roman term for regions outside their empire). The Goths appear to have established a loose political hegemony over the existing tribes in the region. | During the late second century, the main ethnic change in the northern Black Sea region was the immigration, from the Vistula valley in the North, of the [[Goths]] and accompanying Germanic tribes such as the [[Taifali]] and the [[Hasdingi]], a branch of the [[Vandals|Vandal]] people. This migration was part of a series of major population movements in the European ''barbaricum'' (the Roman term for regions outside their empire). The Goths appear to have established a loose political hegemony over the existing tribes in the region. | ||
Under the leadership of the Goths, a series of major invasions of the Roman empire were launched by a grand coalition of lower Danubian tribes from c. 238 onwards. The participation of the Bastarnae in these is likely but largely unspecified, due to Zosimus' and other chroniclers' tendency to lump all these tribes under the general term "Scythians" – meaning all the inhabitants of Scythia, rather than the specific [[Iranic languages|Iranic]]-speaking people called the [[Scythians]].<ref>Wolfram (1988) 45</ref> Thus, in 250–251, the Bastarnae were probably involved in the Gothic and Sarmatian invasions which culminated in the Roman defeat at the [[Battle of Abrittus]] and the slaying of Emperor [[Decius]] (251).<ref>Wolfram (1988) 45–46</ref> This disaster was the start of the [[Third Century Crisis]] of the Roman Empire, a period of military and economic chaos. At this critical moment, the Roman army was crippled by the outbreak of a second [[smallpox]] pandemic, the [[plague of Cyprian]] (251–70). The effects are described by Zosimus as even worse than the earlier [[Antonine Plague|Antonine plague]] (166–180), which probably killed 15–30% of the empire's inhabitants.<ref>Zosimus I.16, 21</ref> | Under the leadership of the Goths, a series of major invasions of the Roman empire were launched by a grand coalition of lower Danubian tribes from c. 238 onwards. The participation of the Bastarnae in these is likely but largely unspecified, due to Zosimus' and other chroniclers' tendency to lump all these tribes under the general term "Scythians" – meaning all the inhabitants of Scythia, rather than the specific [[Iranic languages|Iranic]]-speaking people called the [[Scythians]].<ref>Wolfram (1988) 45</ref> Thus, in 250–251, the Bastarnae were probably involved in the Gothic and Sarmatian invasions which culminated in the Roman defeat at the [[Battle of Abrittus]] and the slaying of Emperor [[Decius]] (251).<ref>Wolfram (1988) 45–46</ref> This disaster was the start of the [[Third Century Crisis]] of the Roman Empire, a period of military and economic chaos. At this critical moment, the Roman army was crippled by the outbreak of a second [[smallpox]] pandemic, the [[plague of Cyprian]] (251–70). The effects are described by Zosimus as even worse than the earlier [[Antonine Plague|Antonine plague]] (166–180), which probably killed 15–30% of the empire's inhabitants.<ref>Zosimus I.16, 21</ref> | ||