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TheDevil's Dykes (Hungarian:Ördög árok), also known as theCsörsz árka ("Csörsz Ditch") or theLimes Sarmatiae (Latin for "Sarmatian border"), are several lines of Roman fortifications built mostly during the reign ofConstantine the Great (306–337), stretching between today'sHungary,Romania andSerbia.
The fortifications consisted of a series of defensive earthen ramparts-and-ditches surrounding the plain of theTisia (Tisza) river. They stretched fromAquincum (within modernBudapest) eastwards along the line of the northernCarpathian mountains to the vicinity ofDebrecen, and then southwards toViminacium (near modernStari Kostolac).[1]
They were probably intended to protect the territory of theIazyges, aSarmatian tribe inhabiting the Tisza plain that had been admitted to the Empire and reduced to tributary status by Constantine, from incursions by the surroundingGoths andGepids.[2]
Some elements of the fortifications, however, date from the 2nd century AD, and probably constituted an earlier defensive line constructed under emperorMarcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) at the time of theMarcomannic Wars, the previous occasion that the Tisza plain was occupied by the Romans.
TheLimes Sarmatiae was intended to expand theRoman Limes, and was built at the same time as theConstantine Wall inWallachia (connected to theLimes Moesiae). It was, however, destroyed after a few years, at the end of the 4th century.
Indeed, in 374 AD, theQuadi, a Germanic tribe in what is nowMoravia andSlovakia, resenting the erection ofRoman forts of the "Limes Sarmatiae" to the north and east of the Danube in what they considered to be their territory, and further exasperated by the treacherous murder of their king, Gabinius, crossed the river and laid waste to the province ofPannonia.
In 375, emperorValentinian I retook Pannonia with several legions. After a short campaign that quickly defeated the Quadi, the fortifications of the "Limes Sarmatiae" were repaired. However, during an audience with an embassy from the Quadi atBrigetio on theRiver Danube (now Szőny inHungary), the attitude of the envoys so enraged Valentinian that he suffered astroke while angrily yelling at them, which led to his death 17 November.[3]
Following his death, political infighting and a lack of good leadership in theRoman Empire led to the "Limes Sarmatiae" being overrun and destroyed.