The Limigantes is a name applied to a population that lived by the

Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders. The Tisza be ...

river, in

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

, in the 4th century. They are attested by Roman historian

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally Anglicisation, anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Ancient history, antiquity (preceding Procopius). His w ...

( 390) in connection to

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...

. Roman historian

( 390) described the Limigantes as ''Sarmatae servi'' ("Sarmatian slaves/serfs"), as opposed to the

Arcaragantes The Argaragantes were a Sarmatian tribe that lived by the Tisza river, in Banat, in the 4th century. Etymology The only source in which the name of the ruling class of the Sarmatians is preserved in its original form is the Chronicle of Jerome. ...

, ''Sarmatae liberi'' ("free Sarmatians").Ammianus XVII.13.1 It is unclear whether the Limigantes were simply an under-class of ethnic Sarmatians or a non-Sarmatian subject people.

History

330s

In 332, the Sarmatians in Banat asked

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

for aid against the

Thervingi The Thervingi, Tervingi, or Teruingi (sometimes pluralised Tervings or Thervings) were a Goths, Gothic people of the plains north of the Lower Danube and west of the Dniester River in the 3rd and the 4th centuries. They had close contacts with ...

. These Sarmatians had armed their "slaves" in order to cope with the situation; according to contemporary sources there were two categories of Sarmatians: the "masters" – the

Agaragantes The Argaragantes were a Sarmatian tribe that lived by the Tisza river, in Banat, in the 4th century. Etymology The only source in which the name of the ruling class of the Sarmatians is preserved in its original form is the Chronicle of Jerome. ...

, and the "slaves" – Limigantes. In 334, there was an internal conflict between the Agaragantes and the Limigantes. The Limagantes had, after the conflict with the Goths, turned and expelled the Arcaragantes who then settled in the area of the

Victohali The Victohali were a people of Late Antiquity who lived north of the Lower Danube. In Greek their name is ''Biktoa'' or ''Biktoloi''. They were possibly a Germanic people, and it has been suggested that they were one of the tribes of the Vandals. T ...

, to the south of the

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 , pa ...

, and became their vassals.

Conflict with Rome

In AD 357, the Roman emperor

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 Germani ...

(ruled 337-361) faced a large force of Limigantes, who had successfully rebelled against their

Iazyges The Iazyges (), singular Ἰάζυξ. were an ancient Sarmatian tribe that traveled westward in BC from Central Asia to the steppes of modern Ukraine. In BC, they moved into modern-day Hungary and Serbia near the Dacian steppe between th ...

overlords and then launched an invasion of Roman territory on the South bank of the Danube. The barbarians entered the empire near the confluence of the rivers Danube and

, invading the province of

Moesia Superior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

(roughly mod.

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

). In a hard-fought battle, the Romans routed the Limigantes, slaughtering a large number. After this, the remaining Limigantes surrendered and were assigned lands to settle in beyond the imperial border, but which were apparently under Roman control (possibly seized from the "free Sarmatians" separately defeated earlier in the same year). In 358, the Limigantes broke the terms of their treaty with Constantius and raided outside the territory assigned to them the previous year.Ammianus XIX.11.1

Studies

George Vernadsky George Vernadsky ( Russian: Гео́ргий Влади́мирович Верна́дский; August 20, 1887 – June 12, 1973) was a Russian Empire-born American historian and an author of numerous books on Russian history. European years ...

believed that the

were Sarmatians and the Limigantes were Slavs.

References

Sources

;Primary *Chronicle of

Hieronymus of Milano Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...

(or Jerome) *

;Secondary *{{cite book, author=George Vernadsky, title=The Origins of Russia, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPHTAAAAMAAJ, year=1959, publisher=Clarendon Press Sarmatian tribes History of Banat Ancient history of Vojvodina