The Costoboci (; lat, Costoboci, Costobocae, Castabocae, Coisstoboci, grc, Κοστωβῶκοι, Κοστουβῶκοι or Κοιστοβῶκοι) were a Dacian tribe located, during the Roman imperial era, between the
Carpathian Mountains and the river
Dniester
The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...
. During the
Marcomannic Wars the Costoboci invaded the
Roman empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
in AD 170 or 171, pillaging its Balkan provinces as far as
Central Greece, until they were driven out by the Romans. Shortly afterwards, the Costoboci's territory was invaded and occupied by
Vandal
The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century.
The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...
Hasdingi The Hasdingi were one of the Vandal peoples of the Roman era. The Vandals were Germanic peoples, who are believed to have spoken an East Germanic language, and were first reported during the first centuries of the Roman empire in the area which is ...
and the Costoboci disappeared from surviving historical sources, except for a mention by the late Roman
Ammianus Marcellinus
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 ...
, writing around AD 400.
Name etymology
The name of the tribe is attested in a variety of spellings in lat, Costoboci, Costobocae, Castaboci, Castabocae, Coisstoboci and in grc, Κοστωβῶκοι, Κοστουβῶκοι, Κοιστοβῶκοι.
According to Ion I. Russu, this is a Thracian
compound
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...
name meaning "the shining ones". The first element is the
perfect passive participle ''Cos-to-'', derived from the
Proto-Indo-European root
The roots of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) are basic parts of words that carry a lexical meaning, so-called morphemes. PIE roots usually have verbal meaning like "to eat" or "to run". Roots never occurred alone in the lan ...
''kʷek̂-'', ''kʷōk̂-'' "to seem, see, show", and the second element is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root ''bhā-, bhō-'' "to shine", extended by the suffix ''-k-''. Ivan Duridanov considered it a Dacian name with unclear etymology.
Some scholars argue that "Costoboci" has a
Celtic etymology.
N.B. Georgiev considers all etymologies based on
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
root-words (so-called ''Wurzeletymologien'') to be "devoid of scientific value": the root-words themselves are reconstructions, are necessarily incomplete and can have multiple descendants in several IE languages. In this case, the name Costoboci could mean "the shining ones" in languages other than Thracian (e.g. in
Iranic
The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of Indo-European peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities.
The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separate ...
or
Celtic languages) or it could have a different root(s) than the ones surmised by Russu. For example, as pronounced ‘Costoboci‘ reads as “people that stab bones” in Serbian (or Croatian) language.
Territory
Mainstream modern scholarship locates this tribe to the north or north-east of
Roman Dacia. Some scholars considered that the earliest known mention of this tribe is in the ''
Natural History'' of
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
, published c. AD 77, as a
Sarmatian
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cen ...
tribe named the ''Cotobacchi'' living in the lower
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
valley. Other scholars have challenged this identification and have recognised the "Cotobacchi" as a distinct tribe.
Ammianus Marcellinus
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 ...
, writing c. 400, locates the Costoboci between the
Dniester
The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...
and
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
rivers, probably to the north-east of the former Roman province of Dacia. In his ''
Geographia
The ''Geography'' ( grc-gre, Γεωγραφικὴ Ὑφήγησις, ''Geōgraphikḕ Hyphḗgēsis'', "Geographical Guidance"), also known by its Latin names as the ' and the ', is a gazetteer, an atlas, and a treatise on cartography, com ...
'' (published between 135 and 143 AD), the Greek geographer
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
seems to indicate that the Costoboci inhabited north-western or north-eastern Dacia. In addition, some scholars identify the people called ''Transmontanoi'' (literally: "people beyond the mountains") by Ptolemy, located to the north of the Carpathians, as
Dacian Costoboci.
Material culture
Some scholars associate the Costoboci with the
Lipiţa culture. However Roger Batty, reluctant to correlate material culture with group identity, argues that Lipiţa culture belonged either to a subgroup of the Costoboci or to some population they ruled over. This culture developed on the northern side of the
Carpathians
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
in the Upper
Dniester
The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...
and
Prut basins in the Late
La Tène period.
The bearers of this culture had a sedentary lifestyle and practiced agriculture, cattle-breeding, iron-working and pottery. The settlements were not fortified and contained
sunken floored buildings, surface buildings, storage pits, hearths, ovens and kilns. There are numerous pottery finds of various types, both
wheel and hand-made, with similarities in shape and decoration to the pottery of the pre-Roman Dacia. The pottery finds of the northern Lipiţa sites in the upper
Zolota Lypa basin are similar to that of the
Zarubintsy culture.The cemeteries were found close to settlements. The predominant funeral rite was
cremation
Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning.
Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre is ...
, with
urns
An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...
containing ashes buried in plain graves, but several
inhumation graves were also excavated.
Onomastics
A
Latin-language
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
funerary inscription found in Rome, believed to date from the 2nd century AD, was dedicated to Zia or Ziais the Dacian, the daughter of Tiatus and the wife of
Pieporus, a king of the Costoboci. The monument was set up by Natoporus and Drigisa, Zia's grandsons. The inscription was first published by the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
scholar
Mariangelus Accursius in the 16th century, but it is now lost.
Inscription
D(is) M(anibus)
ZIAI
TIATI FIL(iae)
DACAE. UXORI
PIEPORI. REGIS
COISSTOBOCENSIS
NATOPORUS ET
DRIGISA AVIAE
CARISS(imae) B(ene) M(erenti) FECER(unt)
Translation
"To the Spirits of the Dead. (Dedicated) to ZIA(IS) the Dacian, Daughter of TIATUS, Wife of PIEPORUS, Costobocan king. NATOPORUS and DRIGISA made (this memorial) for their most dear, well-deserving grandmother."
Name analysis
* Drigisa: a Thracian or Dacian name. It is considered a variant with the
infix ''-l-'' of the name ''Drigis(s)a'', the name of the Roman
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that h ...
''Aurelius Drigisa'' from
Moesia Inferior and of the
legionary ''Titus Aurelius Drigissa'' from
Moesia Superior. The final element ''-gis(s)a'' is frequent in Dacian onomastics.
* Natoporus: a Thracian or Dacian name. A soldier ''Natopor'' is known from several
ostraca
An ostracon ( Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeological or epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer to sherds or even small pieces of ...
found at
Mons Claudianus
Mons Claudianus was a Roman quarry in the eastern desert of Egypt. It consisted of a garrison, a quarrying site, and civilian and workers' quarters. Granodiorite was mined for the Roman Empire where it was used as a building material. Mons Claud ...
in eastern
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
. A
Roman military diploma
A Roman military diploma was a document inscribed in bronze certifying that the holder was honourably discharged from the Roman armed forces and/or had received the grant of Roman citizenship from the emperor as reward for service.
The diploma ...
was issued in 127 in
Mauretania Caesariensis for a Dacian soldier and his two children, a son ''Nattoporis'' and a daughter ''Duccidava''. It is a name ending in ''-por'', a frequent Thracian and Dacian onomastic element. On a military diploma issued in 127 in
Germania Inferior
Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed Germania Secunda in the fourth century, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Agripp ...
, a Dacian soldier's father is named ''Natusis'', a name formed with the same first element ''nat-'' and a suffix ''-zi-''/''-si-''.
* Pieporus: a Thracian or Dacian name. It is a name ending in ''-por'', a frequent Thracian and Dacian onomastic element.
* Tiatus: a Thracian or Dacian name. ''Tiatus'' is maybe a name starting in ''thia-'', typical for Dacians. A name ''Tiato'' is attested on a fragmentary
dipinto found at Maximianon, a Roman fort in eastern Egypt.
* Zia or Ziais: a Thracian or Dacian name. ''Zia'' is a female name attested in Moesia Inferior.
Ethnolinguistic affiliation
The ethnic and linguistic affiliation of the Costoboci is uncertain due to lack of evidence. The mainstream view is that they were a Dacian tribe, among the so-called "
Free Dacians" not subjected to Roman rule. However some scholars suggested they were Thracian, Sarmatian, Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, or Dacian with a Celtic superstratum.
The evidence adduced in support of the main ethnic hypotheses may be summarised as follows:
Dacian
# Onomastics: The family of a Costobocan king called Pieporus (2nd century) had names considered by some scholars to be of Dacian origin .
#The rubric ''Dacpetoporiani'' on the
Tabula Peutingeriana
' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire.
The map is a 13th-ce ...
has been interpreted by some scholars as an elision of "Daci Petoporiani" meaning the "Dacians of King Petoporus". Schütte argued Petoporus is one and the same as Pieporus, the king of the Costoboci.
# Archaeology: The Costoboci have been linked, on the basis of their geographical location, with the Lipitsa culture. This culture's features, especially its pottery styles and burial customs, have been identified as Dacian by some scholars, leading to the conclusion that the Costoboci were an ethnic-Dacian tribe.
# Name etymology: According to Schütte, the Dacian element ''-bokoi'' is also occurring in the name of another Dacian tribe, the Sabokoi. However,
Roger Batty argues that the Lipitsa culture is a poor fit for the Costoboci, not least because it appears to have disappeared during the 1st century BC, long before the period AD 100–200 when they are attested in and around Dacia by surviving historical documents.
Thracian
# Onomastics: Some scholars consider the names of Pieporus and of his grandsons to be Thracian (see
Onomastics, above).
# Archaeology: According to Jazdewski, in the early Roman period, on the Upper Dniestr, the features of the Lipitsa culture indicate ethnic Thracians under strong Celtic cultural influence, or who had simply absorbed Celtic ethnic components.
# The fact that queen Zia is specifically characterised as "Dacian" may indicate that Pieporus and the Costoboci were not themselves Dacians.
Celtic
# The name ''Costoboci'' is considered by some scholars to be of Celtic etymology. In particular, they see the first element of their name as a corruption of ''coto-'', a Celtic root meaning "old" or "crooked" (cf.
Cotini, an eastern Celtic tribe in the same Carpathian region;
Cottius, a king of the Celtic
Taurini
The Taurini were a Celto-Ligurian tribe dwelling in the upper valley of the river Po, around present-day Turin, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Taurĩnoí'' (Ταυρῖνοί) by Polybius (2nd c. BC), ' ...
in the western Alps. One Pliny manuscript variant of the name ''Costoboci'' is ''Cotoboci''). However, Faliyeyev argues that while possible, a Celtic derivation is less likely than an "autochthonous" one.
# During the period 400–200 BC,
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
and Bessarabia saw intensive Celtic settlement, as evidenced by heavy concentrations of
La Tène-type cemeteries. Central Transylvania appears to have become a Celtic enclave or unitary kingdom, according to Batty. Ptolemy lists 3 tribes as present in Transylvania: (west to east): the
Taurisci,
Anartes
The Anartes (or Anarti, Anartii or Anartoi)Jan Czarnecki (1975) 120 were Celtic tribes, or, in the case of those sub-groups of Anartes which penetrated the ancient region of Dacia (roughly modern Romania), Celts culturally assimilated by the Dacian ...
and Costoboci. The first two are generally considered by scholars to be of Celtic origin.
# The Lipitsa culture displays numerous Celtic features.
Scytho-Sarmatian
According to some scholars, the Costoboci were not a sedentary group at all, but a semi-nomadic steppe horse-based culture of
Scytho-Sarmatian
The Scythian languages are a group of Eastern Iranian languages of the classical and late antique period (the Middle Iranian period), spoken in a vast region of Eurasia by the populations belonging to the Scythian cultures and their descend ...
character. This hypothesis was originally proposed by the eminent 19th-century German classical scholar
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centu ...
.
# The tribe called ''Cotobacchi'' (or ''Cotoboci'' or other manuscript variants) in a list of Sarmatian tribes in
Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
's ''
Naturalis Historia
The ''Natural History'' ( la, Naturalis historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. ...
'' is considered by some scholars to refer to the Costoboci. However, Russu and other scholars consider the ''Cotobacchi'' to be a distinct group, unconnected to the Costoboci.
# The statement by
Ammianus Marcellinus
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 ...
(ca, AD 400), that a region of the north Pontic steppes was inhabited by "the European Alans, the Costobocae and innumerable Scythian tribes".
[Ammianus Marcellinus. XXII.8.42] According to some scholars, the region referred to is the entire steppe between the Danube and the river
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
and the passage identifies the Costobocae as an
Iranic
The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of Indo-European peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities.
The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separate ...
steppe-nomadic people. However, other scholars argue that the region referred to is much smaller, that between the Danube and Dniester.
# The presence, throughout the region identified by ancient geographers as inhabited by the Costoboci (SW
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, northern
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...
and
Bessarabia), interspersed among the sites of sedentary cremation cultures such as Lipitsa, of distinct Sarmatian-style inhumation cemeteries dating from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.
# An inscription found in the
Sanctuary of the Mysteries at
Eleusis in Greece, which is believed to have been carved by priests after this temple was sacked by the Costoboci during their invasion of 170/1. The inscription refers to the "crimes of the Sarmatians". Some scholars argue that this proves the Costoboci were Sarmatians. However, other scholars suggest that the name of the Sarmatians was used as an
umbrella term
In linguistics, semantics, general semantics, and ontologies, hyponymy () is a semantic relation between a hyponym denoting a subtype and a hypernym or hyperonym (sometimes called umbrella term or blanket term) denoting a supertype. In other wor ...
for raiders crossing the lower Danube, or that it attests a joint invasion by Costoboci and Sarmatians.
Conflict with Rome
During the rule of
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
, the Roman Empire fought the
Marcomannic Wars, a vast and protracted struggle against
Marcomanni
The Marcomanni were a Germanic people
*
*
*
that established a powerful kingdom north of the Danube, somewhere near modern Bohemia, during the peak of power of the nearby Roman Empire. According to Tacitus and Strabo, they were Suebian.
Or ...
,
Quadi, and other tribes along the middle Danube. The Costoboci also joined the anti-Roman coalition at some stage.
The invasion of 170/1
In AD 167 the Roman legion
V Macedonica
''Legio V Macedonica'' (the Fifth Macedonian Legion) was a Roman legion. It was probably originally levied in 43 BC by consul Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus and Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus (later known as the Emperor Augustus). It was ba ...
, returning from the
Parthian War, moved its headquarters from
Troesmis in Moesia Inferior to
Potaissa in
Dacia Porolissensis, to defend the Dacian provinces against the Marcomannic attacks. Other auxiliary units from Moesia Inferior participated in the middle Danube campaigns, leaving the lower Danube frontier defenses weakened. Taking the opportunity, in 170 or 171, the Costoboci invaded Roman territory. Meeting little opposition, they swept through and raided the provinces of
Moesia Inferior,
Moesia Superior,
Thracia
Thracia or Thrace ( ''Thrakē'') is the ancient name given to the southeastern Balkan region, the land inhabited by the Thracians. Thrace was ruled by the Odrysian kingdom during the Classical and Hellenistic eras, and briefly by the Greek D ...
,
Macedonia and
Achaea.
Northern Balkans
Crossing the Danube, the Costoboci burnt down a district of
Histria which was thus abandoned. Their attacks also affected
Callatis and the walls of the city required repairs. Two funerary inscriptions discovered at
Tropaeum Traiani
The Tropaeum Traiani or Trajanic Trophy is a monument in Roman Civitas Tropaensium (site of modern Adamclisi, Romania), built in AD 109 in then Moesia Inferior, to commemorate Roman Emperor Trajan's victory over the Dacians, in the winter of 1 ...
in Moesia Inferior commemorate Romans killed during the attacks: Lucius Fufidius Iulianus, a
decurion and
duumvir
Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally misspelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate (from Latin ', "the office of ...
of the city and a man named Daizus, son of Comozous. A
vexillatio
A ''vexillatio'' (plural ''vexillationes'') was a detachment of a Roman legion formed as a temporary task force created by the Roman army of the Principate. It was named from the standard carried by legionary detachments, the ''vexillum'' (plural ...
made of detachments of the legions
I Italica and V Macedonica was deployed at Tropaeum in this period, perhaps to defend against these attacks. The raiders then moved west reaching
Dardania. A tombstone found at
Scupi in Moesia Superior was dedicated to Timonius Dassus, a
decurion from the Roman
auxiliary
cohort II Aurelia Dardanorum, who fell in combat against the Costoboci. Their offensive continued southwards, through Macedonia into Greece.
Greece
In his description of the city of
Elateia
Elateia ( el, Ελάτεια; grc, Ἐλάτεια) was an ancient Greek city of Phthiotis, and the most important place in that region after Delphi. It is also a modern-day town that is a former municipality in the southeastern part of Phthiotis ...
in central Greece, the contemporaneous travel-writer
Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to:
*Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium''
*Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC
* Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...
mentioned an incident involving the local resistance against the Costoboci:
Thereafter, the barbarians reached
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
where they sacked the famous
shrine of the Mysteries at
Eleusis. In May or June 171, the orator
Aelius Aristides
Publius Aelius Aristides Theodorus ( grc-gre, Πόπλιος Αἴλιος Ἀριστείδης Θεόδωρος; 117–181 AD) was a Greek orator and author considered to be a prime example as a member of the Second Sophistic, a group of celebr ...
delivered a public speech in
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
, lamenting the limited damage recently inflicted to the sacred site. Three local inscriptions praise an Eleusinian priest for saving the
ritual's secrets.
Even though much of the invasion force was spent, the local resistance was insufficient and the procurator
Lucius Julius Vehilius Gratus Julianus
Lucius Julius Vehilius Gratus Julianus was a soldier and an eques who held a number of military and civilian appointments during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus. Julianus received honors two separate times for his military ser ...
was sent to Greece with a vexillatio to clear out the remnants of the invaders. The Costoboci were thus defeated.
Dacia
In the same period the Costoboci may have attacked Dacia. A bronze hand dedicated to
Jupiter Dolichenus
Jupiter Dolichenus was a Roman god whose mystery cult was widespread in the Roman Empire from the early-2nd to mid-3rd centuries AD. Like several other figures of the mystery cults, Jupiter Dolichenus was one of the so-called 'oriental' gods; tha ...
by a soldier from a cohort stationed in Dacia was found at
Myszków in Western Ukraine. It has been suggested that this may have been loot from a Costobocan raid. Some scholars suggest that it was during this turbulent period that members of King Pieporus' family were sent to Rome as hostages.
The coming of the Vandals
Soon after AD 170, the Vandal
Astingi, under their kings,
Raus and
Raptus, reached the northern borders of Roman Dacia and offered the Romans their alliance in return for subsidies and land.
Sextus Cornelius Clemens, the governor of the province, refused their demands, but he encouraged them to attack the troublesome Costoboci while offering protection for their women and children. The Astingi occupied the territory of the Costoboci but they were soon attacked by another Vandal tribe, the
Lacringi. Both Astingi and Lacringi eventually became Roman allies, allowing the Romans to focus on the middle Danube in the Marcomannic wars. Scholars variously suggest that the remnants of this tribe were subdued by the Vandals or fled and sought refuge in the neighbouring territories of the
Carpi or in the Roman province of Dacia.
See also
*
Dacia (Roman province)
*
Free Dacians
*
Marcomannic Wars
Citations
Bibliography
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{{refend
Ancient tribes in Dacia
Dacian tribes