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Ammianus
Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). His work, known as the ''Res Gestae'', chronicled in Latin 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, although only the sections covering the period 353 to 378 survive. Biography Ammianus was born in the East Mediterranean, possibly in Syria or Phoenicia, around 330. His native language is unknown but he likely knew Greek as well as Latin. The surviving books of his history cover the years 353 to 378. Ammianus 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 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantius II
Constantius II (Latin: ''Flavius Julius Constantius''; grc-gre, Κωνστάντιος; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civil wars, court intrigues, and usurpations. His religious policies inflamed domestic conflicts that would continue after his death. Constantius was a son of Constantine the Great, who elevated him to the imperial rank of '' Caesar'' on 8 November 324 and after whose death Constantius became ''Augustus'' together with his brothers, Constantine II and Constans on 9 September 337. He promptly oversaw the massacre of his father-in-law, an uncle, and several cousins, consolidating his hold on power. The brothers divided the empire among themselves, with Constantius receiving Greece, Thrace, the Asian provinces, and Egypt in the east. For the following decade a costly and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian (emperor)
Julian ( la, Flavius Claudius Julianus; grc-gre, Ἰουλιανός ; 331 – 26 June 363) was Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism in its place, caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate in Christian tradition. A nephew of Constantine, Julian was one of few in the imperial family to survive the purges and civil wars during the reign of Constantius II, his cousin. Julian became an orphan as a child after his father was executed in 337, and spent much of his life under Constantius's close supervision.''Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity'', "Julian the Apostate", p. 839 However, the emperor allowed Julian to freely pursue an education in the Greek-speaking east, with the result that Julian became unusually cultured for an emperor of his time. In 355, Constantius II summoned Julian to court and appointed him to rule Gaul. Despite his inexperienc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Adrianople
The Battle of Adrianople (9 August 378), sometimes known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis, was fought between an Eastern Roman army led by the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens and Gothic rebels (largely Thervings as well as Greutungs, non-Gothic Alans, and various local rebels) led by Fritigern. The battle took place in the vicinity of Adrianople, in the Roman province of Thracia (modern Edirne in European Turkey). It ended with an overwhelming victory for the Goths and the death of Emperor Valens.Zosimus, ''Historia Nova'', book 4. As part of the Gothic War (376–382), the battle is often considered the start of the events which led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. A detailed contemporary account of the lead-up to the battle from the Roman perspective was written by Ammianus Marcellinus and forms the culminating point at the end of his history. Background In 376, the Goths, led by Alavivus and Fritigern, asked to be allowed to settle in the Eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ursicinus (magister Equitum)
Ursicinus was a Roman senior military officer, holding the rank of ''Magister Equitum per Orientem'' (Master of Horse of the East) and even ''Magister Peditum Praesentalis'' in the later Roman Empire ''c.'' 349–359. He was a citizen of Antioch and was well connected in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. Career From AD 349 to 359 he served as Magister Equitum in the East. In AD 351 or 352 he was entrusted with the suppression of the Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus led by Patricius and Isaac of Diocesarea. Tiberias and Diospolis, two of the cities conquered by the rebels, were almost completely destroyed, while Diocaesarea was razed to the ground. Ursicinus also was ordered to kill several thousand rebels, even young ones.Jerome, ''Chronica'', 15-21; Theophanes, AM 5843. Service with Ammianus Marcellinus In 353, historian Ammianus Marcellinus was attached to the command of Ursicinus at his headquarters in Nisibis, where he remained until recalled in 354 by Ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valens
Valens ( grc-gre, Ουάλης, Ouálēs; 328 – 9 August 378) was Roman emperor from 364 to 378. Following a largely unremarkable military career, he was named co-emperor by his elder brother Valentinian I, who gave him the eastern half of the Roman Empire to rule. In 378, Valens was defeated and killed at the Battle of Adrianople against the invading Goths, which astonished contemporaries and marked the beginning of barbarian encroachment into Roman territory. As emperor, Valens continually faced threats both internal and external. He defeated, after some dithering, the usurper Procopius in 366, and campaigned against the Goths across the Danube in 367 and 369. In the following years, Valens focused on the eastern frontier, where he faced the perennial threat of Persia, particularly in Armenia, as well as additional conflicts with the Saracens and Isaurians. Domestically, he inaugurated the Aqueduct of Valens in Constantinople, which was longer than all the aqueducts of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silvanus (magister Peditum)
Silvanus (died 7 September 355) was a Roman general of Frankish descent, usurper in Gaul against Emperor Constantius II for 28 days in AD 355. Origin and career Silvanus was born in Gaul, the son of Bonitus, a Laetic Frankish general who had supported Constantine I in the civil war against Licinius. Like so many other Franks of his times, and like his father before him, he was a loyal and thoroughly romanized "barbarian" in the military service of the Empire. By AD 351, he held the rank of tribune and was one of the senior officers who defected to Emperor Constantius II at the Battle of Mursa Major, after initially supporting the usurper Magnentius. An able soldier, Silvanus was eventually promoted to the rank of ''magister peditum per Gallias'', a crucial post, then in AD 352–353, Constantius personally entrusted him with the difficult task of driving the Alamanni tribesmen raiding and looting in Gaul back beyond the Rhine, and restoring the fast eroding Roman authority in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Δάφνῃ "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; la, Antiochia ad Orontem; hy, Անտիոք ''Antiokʽ''; syr, ܐܢܛܝܘܟܝܐ ''Anṭiokya''; he, אנטיוכיה, ''Anṭiyokhya''; ar, أنطاكية, ''Anṭākiya''; fa, انطاکیه; tr, Antakya. was a Hellenistic, and later, a Biblical Christian city, founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. This city served as the capital of the Seleucid Empire and later as regional capital to both the Roman and Byzantine Empire. During the Crusades, Antioch served as the capital of the Principality of Antioch, one of four Crusader states that were founded in the Levant. Its inhabitants were known as ''Antiochenes''; the city's ruin lies on the Orontes River, near Antaky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nisibis
Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is predominantly Kurdish. Nusaybin is separated from the larger Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli by the Syria–Turkey border. The city is at the foot of the Mount Izla escarpment at the southern edge of the Tur Abdin hills, standing on the banks of the Jaghjagh River (), the ancient Mygdonius ( grc, Μυγδόνιος). The city existed in the Assyrian Empire and is recorded in Akkadian inscriptions as ''Naṣibīna''. Having been part of the Achaemenid Empire, in the Hellenistic period the settlement was re-founded as a ''polis'' named "Antioch on the Mygdonius" by the Seleucid dynasty after the conquests of Alexander the Great. A part of first the Roman Republic and then the Roman Empire, the city (; ) was mainly Syriac-speaking, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shapur II
Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned for the entirety of his 70-year life, from 309 to 379. He was the son of Hormizd II (r. 302–309). His reign saw the military resurgence of the country, and the expansion of its territory, which marked the start of the first Sasanian golden era. He is thus along with Shapur I, Kavad I and Khosrow I, regarded as one of the most illustrious Sasanian kings. His three direct successors, on the other hand, were less successful. At the age of 16, he launched enormously successful military campaigns against Arab insurrections and tribes who knew him as 'Dhū'l-Aktāf'' ("he who pierces shoulders"). Shapur II pursued a harsh religious policy. Under his reign, the collection of the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, was completed, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Domesticus (Roman Empire)
The origins of the word ''domesticus'' can be traced to the late 3rd century of the Late Roman army. They often held high ranks in various fields, whether it was the servants of a noble house on the civilian side, or a high-ranking military position. After serving under the emperor for a certain duration, the Domestici would be able to become leaders themselves and potentially command their own regiment of legionaries in the military. Relatively, the most important offices were the “Comes Domesticorum” also known as, “Commander of the Protectores Domestici,” and “Comes rei Militaris” or General. Origin The domestici rose to prominence during the Crisis of the 3rd Century, the myriad of societal catastrophes nearly led to the collapse of the Roman Empire. The accession of Diocletian and his subsequent reforms ended the continual strife and unstable leadership Ancient Rome had faced during this period. The title of “Domesticus” was developed to advocate for bett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limitanei
The ''līmitāneī'' (Latin, also called ''rīpēnsēs''), meaning respectively "the soldiers in frontier districts" (from the Latin phrase līmēs, meaning a military district of a frontier province) or "the soldiers on the riverbank" (from the Rhine and Danube), were an important part of the late Roman and early Byzantine army after the reorganizations of the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. The limitanei, unlike the comitātēnsēs, palātīnī, and scholæ, garrisoned fortifications along the borders of the Roman Empire and were not normally expected to fight far from their fortifications. The līmitāneī were lower-status and lower-paid than the comitātēnsēs and palātīnī,Treadgold 1995, pp. 149–157. and the distinction in role and status between scolae, 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesopotamia (Roman Province)
Mesopotamia was the name of a Roman province, initially a short-lived creation of the Roman emperor Trajan in 116–117 and then re-established by Emperor Septimius Severus in c. 198. Control of the province was subsequently fought over between the Roman and the Sassanid empires until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. Trajan's province In 113, the Roman emperor Trajan (r. 98–117) launched a war against Rome's long-time eastern rival, the Parthian Empire. In 114, he conquered Armenia, which was made into a province, and by the end of 115, he had conquered northern Mesopotamia. This too was organized as a province in early 116, when coins were minted to celebrate the fact. Later in the same year, Trajan marched into central and southern Mesopotamia (enlarging and completing the province of Mesopotamia) and across the river Tigris to Adiabene, which he annexed into another Roman province, Assyria. But he did not stop there. In the last months of 116, he captured the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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