Pannonia

Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now western Hungary, western Slovakia, eastern Austria, northern Croatia, north-western Serbia, northern Slovenia, and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Background

In the Early Iron Age, Transdanubia was inhabited by the Pannonians or Pannonii, a collection of tribes subtype to the Illyrians, while the Great Hungarian Plain by peoples of Scythic culture. The Celts invaded in the Late Iron Age. Gallo-Roman historian Pompeius Trogus tells us that the Celts met with heavy resistance from the locals and weren't able to overrun the southern part of Transdanubia. Some tribes advanced as far as Delphi, with the Scordisci settling in Syrmia (279 BC) upon forced to withdraw. The arrival of the Celts in Transdanubia disrupted the flow of amber from the Baltic Sea region, through the Amber Road, to the Illyrians. They founded many villages. Those that held prominent economic significance developed into ''oppida.'' Independent tribes minted their own coins with the faces of their leaders. These were at first modeled on Macedonian, and later, Roman currency.

Upon the Scordisci's withdrawal and settlement, they and the Dardani (in Dardania) both became strong powers opposing each other. The Dardani consistently raided Macedon and developed close ties to Rome. Philip V, who was a vehement enemy of the Dardani, allied with the Scordisci and in 179 BC persuaded the Bastarnae (at the Danube Delta) to break into Italy and subdue them on the way. Despite Philip's defeat at the hands of the Romans in 197 BC and the failure of the Bastarnae, in this time the Dardani's power crumbled. This was caused by the two-front pressing of the Macedonians and Scordisci. Finally, Perseus annihilated them, giving way to hundred years of Scordisci hegemony in the Balkans. During this time, the tribe started raiding the new province of Macedonia, and—Strabo says—expanded as far as Paeonia, Illyria and Thrace.

Aquileia's foundation in 181 BC was the first step towards the Roman takeover of Pannonia. The town functioned as the starting station of the Amber Road and the starting point of attacks in that direction. The Scordisci, in alliance with the Dalmatae were in armed conflict with the Romans as early as 156 BC and 119 BC. In both wars, the Romans failed to take Siscia (now Sisak, Croatia), which laid in a key position. After these setbacks, Rome instead turned towards Noricum which had both iron and silver mines.

As part of a new Celtic migration wave at the end of the 2nd century BC, the Boii left Northern Italy and established themselves as an important power at the Danube. According to the Posidonius's record of the Cimbri migration (preserved by Strabo), they were first repulsed by the Boii, then by the Scordisci, and then by the Taurisci towards the Helvetii. This describes the balance of power in the region. In the early 1st century BC, the Dacians emerged as a new dominant power. While their hold on the area between the Danube and the Tisza was loose, they had considerable influence in the territories beyond. In 88 BC, Scipio Asiaticus (consul 83 BC) defeated the Scordisci so badly that they retreated to the eastern part of Syrmia. Taking advantage of this situation, the Dacian king Burebista vanquished them sometime between 65 and 50 BC, and subsequently the Boii and the Taurisci too. Thanks to the ebb of these entities, several local tribes regained their independence and influence. In context of Mithridates VI Eupator's unfulfilled plan to invade Italy from the north (64 BC), the territory he was to cross is noted to have belonged to the Pannonians. Immediately after Burebista's death (), Dacia's kingdom dissolved too, leaving no entity in the region that Rome would make allowances for.

Roman conquest

The Pannonians were driven into conflict due to their support of the Dalmatae in their strife against Rome, but weren't long-term and known enemies. The tribes north of the Drava didn't participate in nor this, nor the subsequent fights. In 35 BC, Octavian led a campaign against the Iapydes and the Pannonians, in which he captured Siscia in a month-long siege and occupied a large part of the Sava valley. This was in accordance with Caesar's plan of creating a base for an invasion of Dacia, not realized due to his assassination. However, Octavian only used the hoax of the "Dacian threat" as a pretense to gain control over a large amount of land in the Second Triumvirate.

In 15 BC, the future-emperor Tiberius defeated the Scordisci, forcing them to become allies. This was in response to Pannonian and Scordisci incursions the previous year. The following events were part of the Roman Empire's efforts to reach the Danube and are sometimes known thematically as '' Bellum Pannonicum''.

In 14 BC, the Pannonians rose up. Vipsanius Agrippa was sent to the region after another rebellion in 13 BC. After his death the following year, the campaign was taken over by Tiberius, who celebrated his triumph in 11 BC. The province of Illyricum was established between the Sava and the Adriatic Sea. In 10 BC, Tiberius returned to quell a new uprising of the Pannonians and Dalmatae. After winning in 9 BC, he sold the youth of the Breuci and Amantini as slaves in Italy and held an ovation. His operations between 12 and 9 BC included constant expeditions into territories north of the Drava and almost certainly brought the whole Transdanubia under Roman control even though there's no direct evidence to that.

Pannonia was invaded by the Dacians in 10 BC. The Romans launched campaigns through the Danube in order to secure it as the imperial border and defend the threatened new land. Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus's (consul 16 BC) operation in 1 AD extended as far as the Elbe. In 10 AD, Cornelius Lentulus Augur was able to debar not just the Dacians, but also the Sarmatians "from access to the Danube", says Florus. Locally more important was the offensive of Marcus Vinicius against the tribes east of the Danube Bend, showing an intent of "monopolizing" the Northern Transdanubian region politically. The last decade of the century saw the Marcomanni (under King Maroboduus) settling north of Pannonia. Augustus planned a two-sided attack on them, with one army approaching their territory from the Rhine and another one under Tiberius crossing the Danube at Carnuntum.

Before witnessing any result, Tiberius had to rush back in 6 AD and face a new uprising. The unfolding '' Bellum Batonianum'' lasted for three years. The Breuci (under Bato the Breucian) and Daesitiates (under Bato the Daesitiate and Pinnes) took the leading role, while the tribes north of the Drava stayed out again. The insurgents attempted to invade Italy and Macedonia, but due to their lack of success they united to besiege Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia). There, Caecina Severus defeated the insurgents, who retreated into the Fruška gora Mountains. He annihilated them the following year when they tried to intercept him on his way to join Tiberius at Siscia. Tiberius competently initiated a scorched-earth policy which was unsatisfactory for Augustus, who sent more generals, including Germanicus and Plautius Silvanus (consul 2 BC) to the war theatre. A capitulation was forced out in 8 AD, and Bato the Breucian delivered Pinnes to the Romans, becoming a vassal king of his tribe. However, the revolt flared up once again as the Daesitiates captured and executed Bato the Breucian, and persuaded his people to continue the resistance. Silvanus reconquered them and ousted Bato the Daesitiate into the Dinaric Alps, where he laid down arms in 9 AD.

Roman rule

Consolidation and establishment of administration

Illyricum was divided into Dalmatia (initially called Illyricum Superius) and Pannonia (initially Illyricum Inferius) in 8 or 9 AD.

According to Suetonius, with the ''Bellum Batonianum'', Tiberius finally defeated all peoples between the Danube and the Adriatic Sea. No Illyrian resistance is known after this, not due to the natives' compliance with the new ''status quo'', but due to their extreme exhaustion. The eligible Pannonian youth were conscripted and commanded to other provinces. The communities taking part in the uprising were afterward relocated and organized into ''civitates'' under military supervision.

The military occupation of Pannonia may have been carried out in gradual steps. The Romans felt it necessary to resettle certain tribes to the territory of the peoples north of the Drava, which—for them—had no economic, but strategic significance. Augustus formed a kind of alliance where they would act as supervisors, and it was not until his death (14 BC) that legions would be moved over from South Pannonia.

The second emperor founded multiple ''coloniae'' in the province in order to develop its road network. However, due to these land's unsuitability for cultivation, it was a hard task to persuade the veterans to comply with settling there, so Tiberius had to silence a mutiny right when assuming power.

The foremost regional goal continued to be the conclusion of the barbarian conflicts. Diplomacy was established with the Germanic peoples. Rome began to actively interfere in the politics of the Marcomanni to make their sympathizers kings. Plautius Silvanus (praetor 24 AD) moved as many as 100,000 barbarians from Pannonia to Moesia. During the significant governorship of Tampius Flavianus, Roman currency began to circle in the Barbaricum and the first stage of the consolidation of the Central Danubian ''limes'' took place. Also, 50,000 barbarians may have been settled inside and the province's administration may have been organized.

Under the Antonines

Due to the proximity of hostile barbarian tribes, many fortifications were built on the border and large number of legionaries and auxiliaries were stationed in the region.Pannonia
— United Nations of Roma Victrix

Some time between the years 102 and 107, between the first and second Dacian wars, Trajan divided the province into Pannonia Superior (western part with the capital Carnuntum), and Pannonia Inferior (eastern part with the capitals in Aquincum and Sirmium). According to Ptolemy, these divisions were separated by a line drawn from Arrabona in the north to Servitium in the south; later, the boundary was placed further east. The whole country was sometimes called the Pannonias (''Pannoniae'').

The Sarmatians

The province of Pannonia was threatened from the east by the Scythic Sarmatians. During the conquest of Transdanubia, Sarmatian peoples, most notably the Iazyges occupied the Danube–Tisza Interfluve, vassallizing the Dacian-Celtic elements in the area and trading with both the Romans and other Celts. This was beneficial for the Roman Empire because the Sarmatians counterbalanced Dacia. Nonetheless, their looting campaigns through the frozen Danube resulted in large amounts of soldiers being drawn to that segment of the border in the 180s. In the 190s, guard posts, bridgeheads, earth forts and later stone forts were constructed at Aquincum, Albertfalva, Nagytétény, Adony, Százhalombatta, Dunaújváros and other settlements.

Marcomannic Wars

The one and a half century of relative peacefulness in the province was ended by an invasion of the Marcomanni, Quadi and Iazyges during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The struggle was made even more difficult by the ravaging Antonine Plague, in which the emperor himself died at Vindobona, Pannonia Superior. Marcus Aurelius constructed the '' limes''.

Crisis and stabilisation

After Marcus Aurelius, Commodus continued to fight along the ''limes'', but governed the empire negligently. External attacks made possible Septimius Severus's ascension to the throne, who was governor of Pannonia Superior. Thanks to this soldier-emperor, peace returned for half a century. After the fall of the Severan dynasty, internal and external conflict restarted. The ambient barbarian peoples were able to penetrate in multiple parts of the border. In 260 Roxolani invaded the province.

Administration

Pannonia Superior was under the consular legate, who had formerly administered the single province, and had three legions under his control. Pannonia Inferior was at first under a praetorian legate with a single legion as the garrison; after Marcus Aurelius, it was under a consular legate, but still with only one legion. The frontier on the Danube was protected by the establishment of the two colonies Aelia Mursia and Aelia Aquincum by Hadrian.

Under Diocletian, a fourfold division of the country was made:
* Pannonia Prima in the northwest, with its capital in Savaria, it included Pannonia Superior and the major part of Central Pannonia between the Raba and Drava,
* Pannonia Valeria in the northeast, with its capital in Sopianae, it comprised the remainder of Central Pannonia between the Raba, Drava and Danube,
* Pannonia Savia in the southwest, with its capital in Siscia,
* Pannonia Secunda in the southeast, with its capital in Sirmium

Diocletian also moved parts of today's Slovenia out of Pannonia and incorporated them in Noricum. In 324 AD, Constantine I enlarged the borders of Roman Pannonia to the east, annexing the plains of what is now eastern Hungary, northern Serbia and western Romania up to the limes that he created: the Devil's Dykes.

In the 4th-5th century, one of the dioceses of the Roman Empire was known as the Diocese of Pannonia. It had its capital in Sirmium and included all four provinces that were formed from historical Pannonia, as well as the provinces of Dalmatia, Noricum Mediterraneum and Noricum Ripense.

File:Pannonia01.png, Pannonia in the 1st century
File:Pannonia02.png, Pannonia in the 2nd century
File:Pannonia03 en.png, Pannonia in the 4th century
File:Limes4-en.png, Pannonia with Constantine I "limes" in 330 AD

Loss

In the 4th century, the Romans (especially under Valentinian I) fortified the villas and relocated barbarians to the border regions. In 358 they won a great victory over the Sarmatians, but raids didn't stop. In 401 the Visigoths fled to the province from the Huns, and the border guarding peoples fled to Italia from them, but were beaten by Uldin in exchange for the transferring of Eastern Pannonia. In 433 Rome completely handed over the territory to Attila for the subjugation of the Burgundians attacking Gaul.

After Roman rule

During the Migration Period in the 5th century, some parts of Pannonia were ceded to the Huns in 433 by Flavius Aetius, the magister militum of the Western Roman Empire. After the collapse of the Hunnic empire in 454, large numbers of Ostrogoths were settled by Emperor Marcian in the province as foederati. The Eastern Roman Empire controlled southern parts of Pannonia in the 6th century, during the reign of Justinian I. The Byzantine province of Pannonia with its capital at Sirmium was temporarily restored, but it included only a small southeastern part of historical Pannonia.

Afterwards, it was again invaded by the Avars in the 560s, and the Slavs, who first may settled c. 480s but became independent only from the 7th century. In 790s, it was invaded by the Franks, who used the name "Pannonia" to designate the newly formed frontier province, the March of Pannonia. The term Pannonia was also used for Slavic polity like Lower Pannonia that was vassal to the Frankish Empire.

Cities and auxiliary forts

The native settlements consisted of (cantons) containing a number of (villages), the majority of the large towns being of Roman origin. The cities and towns in Pannonia were:

Now in Austria:
* Carnuntum ( Petronell, Bad Deutsch-Altenburg)
* Vindobona (Vienna)

Now in Bosnia and Herzegovina:
* Saldae (Brčko)
* Serbinum or Servitium ( Gradiška)
* Castrum and Canabea (Doboj)

Now in Croatia:
* Ad Novas (Zmajevac)
* Andautonia ( Ščitarjevo)
* Aqua Viva (Petrijanec)
* Aquae Balisae ( Daruvar)
* Certissa (Đakovo)
* Cibalae (Vinkovci)
* Cornacum (Sotin)
* Cuccium ( Ilok)
* Halicanum (Sveti Martin na Muri)
* Iovia or Iovia Botivo (Ludbreg)
* Marsonia (Slavonski Brod)
* Mursa (Osijek)
* Siscia (Sisak)
* Teutoburgium ( Dalj)

Now in Hungary:
* Ad Flexum (Mosonmagyaróvár)
* Ad Mures (Ács)
* Ad Statuas ( Vaspuszta)
* Ad Statuas ( Várdomb)
* Alisca ( Szekszárd)
* Alta Ripa ( Tolna)
* Aquincum (Óbuda, Budapest)
* Arrabona ( Győr)
* Brigetio (Szőny)
* Caesariana ( Baláca)
* Campona ( Nagytétény)
* Cirpi (Dunabogdány)
* Contra-Aquincum (Budapest)
* Contra Constantiam (Dunakeszi)
* Gorsium-Herculia (Tác)
* Intercisa ( Dunaújváros)
* Iovia (Szakcs)
* Lugio (Dunaszekcső)
* Lussonium ( Dunakömlőd)
* Matrica ( Százhalombatta)
* Morgentianae (Tüskevár (?))
* Mursella (Mórichida)
* Quadrata (Lébény)
* Sala (Zalalövő)
* Savaria ( Szombathely)
* Scarbantia ( Sopron)
* Solva (Esztergom)
* Sopianae ( Pécs)
* Ulcisia Castra (Szentendre)
* Valcum ( Fenékpuszta)

Now in Serbia:
* Acumincum (Stari Slankamen)
* Ad Herculae (Čortanovci)
* Bassianae ( Donji Petrovci)
* Bononia ( Banoštor)
* Burgenae ( Novi Banovci)
* Cusum (Petrovaradin)
* Graio (Sremska Rača)
* Onagrinum ( Begeč)
* Rittium (Surduk)
* Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica)
* Taurunum (Zemun)

Now in Slovakia:
* Gerulata (Rusovce)

Now in Slovenia:
* Celeia (Celje)
* Neviodunum (Drnovo

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