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TheBastarnae,Bastarni orBasternae, also known as thePeuci orPeucini, were an ancient people who are known from Greek and Roman records to have inhabited areas north and east of theCarpathian Mountains between about 300 BC and about 300 AD, stretching in an arc from the sources of theVistula in present-day Poland and Slovakia, to the Lower Danube, and including all or most of present-day Moldava. The Peucini were sometimes described as a subtribe, who settled thePeuke Island in theDanube Delta, but apparently due to their importance their name was sometimes used for the Bastarnae as a whole. Near the sources of the Vistula another part of the Bastarnae were the Sidones, while the Atmoni, another tribe of the Bastarnae are only mentioned in one listing byStrabo.
The earliest Graeco-Roman historians to refer to the Bastarnae imply that they were culturallyCeltic. Also consistent with connections to the cultures to their west, later Roman-era sources state directly that they spokeGermanic languages, and could be consideredGermanic peoples. In contrast, like other peoples who lived in this geographical region, Graeco-Roman writers also sometimes referred to the Bastarnae as a "Scythian" or "Sarmatian" people, but this was a reference to their location, and customs, rather than a linguistic category. Although largely sedentary, at least one Roman writer,Tacitus, stated that the Bastarnae had adopted some Sarmatian customs. So far, no archaeological sites have been conclusively attributed to the Bastarnae. The archaeological horizon most often associated by scholars with the Bastarnae is thePoieneşti-Lucașeuca culture.
From the first records which mention them, the Bastarnae were active in the region of the Danube estuary on theBlack Sea coast. The Bastarnae first came into conflict with the Romans during the first century BC when, in alliance withDacians and Sarmatians, they unsuccessfully resisted Roman expansion intoMoesia andPannonia, south of the Danube. Later, they appear to have maintained friendly relations with theRoman Empire during the first two centuries AD. This changed around 180 AD, when the Bastarnae are recorded as participants in an invasion of Roman territory, once again in alliance with Sarmatians and Dacians. In the mid-3rd century AD, the Bastarnae were part of aGothic-led grand coalition of lower Danube tribes that repeatedly invaded the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire.
Many Bastarnae were resettled within the Roman Empire in the late third century.
The origin of the tribal name is uncertain. It is not even clear whether it was an exonym (a name ascribed to them by outsiders) or an endonym (a name by which the Bastarnae described themselves). A related question is whether the groups denoted "Bastarnae" by the Romans considered themselves a distinct ethnic group at all (endonym) or whether it was a generic exonym used by the Greco-Romans to denote a disparate group of tribes of the Carpathian region that could not be classified as Dacians or Sarmatians.
One possible derivation is from theproto-Germanic word*bastjan (fromProto-Indo-European root *bʰas-), meaning "binding" or "tie".[1] In this case,Bastarnae may have had the original meaning of a coalition orbund of tribes.
It is possible that the Roman termbasterna, denoting a type of wagon or litter, is derived from the name of this people (or, if it is an exonym, that the name of the people is derived from it) who were known, like many Germanic tribes, to travel with a wagon train for their families.[2][improper synthesis?]
It has also been suggested that the name is linked with the Germanic wordbastard, meaning illegitimate or mongrel, and this name is sometimes contrasted to proposed Germanic etymologies for the name of theSciri who lived in the same general region. However,Roger Batty considers this Germanic derivation unlikely.[3] If the name is an endonym, then this derivation is unlikely, as most endonyms have flattering meanings (e.g. "brave", "strong", "noble").
Trubačev[4] proposes a derivation fromOld Persian,Avestanbast- "bound, tied; slave" (cf.Ossetic bættən "bind", bast "bound") andIranian*arna- "offspring", equating it with theδουλόσποροι "slave Sporoi" mentioned byNonnus andCosmas, where theSporoi are the peopleProcopius mentions as the ancestors of theSlavs.[5]
The earliest classical mentions of the Bastarnae locate them north of the Lower Danube, although they apparently made frequent crossings impacting upon the peoples living south of the Danube.
Strabo (about 20 AD) made several remarks about the location of the Bastarnae. In one place he described the lands beyond the Rhine and Danube as the home of the Galatian (Celtic) and the Germanic peoples, and beyond these (to the east) were the Bastarnae and their neighbours the Tyregetans "and the River Borysthenes" (Dnieper).[6] However, in another similar passage he says only that "most writers suspect" the Bastarnae to be next beyond the Germanic Peoples, but he indicates that it is also possible that "others lie in between, either the Iazyges, or the Roxolani, or certain other of the wagon-dwellers — it is not easy to say".[7] In yet another similar passage he describes the Bastarnae as the most inland (northerly) of the peoples living between the Borysthenes (Dnieper) and the Ister (Lower Danube), and indicates that their neighbours the Tyregetans are closer to the Black Sea.[8]
Strabo also mentioned their interactions with other peoples near the Danube, specifying that in his time, "wagon-dwelling" Scythians and Sarmatians, "as well as the Bastarnian tribes, are mingled with the Thracians (more indeed with those outside the Ister [North of the Danube], but also with those inside). And mingled with them are also the Celtic tribes — the Boii, the Scordisci, and the Taurisci". He confirmed that historically "the Scythians and Bastarnians and Sauromatians on the far side of the river [the Lower Danube] often prevail to the extent that they actually cross over to attack those whom they have already driven out, and some of them remain there, either in the islands or in Thrace". In particular, Near the outlets of the Ister River [Lower Danube] is a great island called Peuce; and when the Bastarnians took possession of it they received the appellation of Peucini."[8]
In one passage Pliny the Elder located the Bastarnae "and other Germanic peoples" in the lands beyond the Iazyges and Dacians (aversa Basternae tenent aliique inde Germani).[9] In another he describes "the Peucini, the Basternae", as neighbours of theDacians.[10]
In the second century AD, the texts attached to Ptolemy'sGeography say that "above Dacia are the Peucini and the Basternae"; "between the Peucini and the Basternae are theCarpiani"; "between the Basternae and the Rhoxolani" who he places on the Black Sea coast, "are the Chuni" (otherwise unknown); and "below the Basternae near Dacia are the Tigri and below these are the Tyrangitae" whose names are linked to theTyras or Dniester river. Possibly relevant, he also mentioned a mountainous region called the "Peuca" mountains south of theCostoboci andTransmontani.[11] The Sidones, named as one part of the Bastarnae by Strabo, are described by Ptolemy as one of the peoples east of the Vistula, although the location is not clear. It thus appears that the Bastarnae were settled in a vast arc stretching around the northern and eastern flanks of the Carpathians from western Ukraine to the Danube Delta.[12]
ThePeutinger Map (produced ca. 400 AD, but including material from as early as the first century) shows the Bastarnae (mis-speltBlastarni) north of the Carpathian mountains and appears to name the Galician Carpathians as theAlpes Bastarnicae.[13]
Because of their apparent cultural and linguistic connections to the west, the Bastarnae are generally believed to have moved originally from that direction, but this remains uncertain. Babeş and Shchukin argue in favour ofan origin in easternPomerania on theBaltic coast of today's north-west Poland, on the grounds of correspondences in archaeological material, e.g. a Pomeranian-stylefibula found in a Poieneşti site inMoldavia,[14] although Batty considers the evidence insufficient.[15] Babeş identifies the Sidoni, a branch of the Bastarnae whichStrabo mentioned[16] with theSidini located by Ptolemy in Pomerania.[17]
Batty argues that Greco-Roman sources of the first century AD locate the Bastarnae homeland on the northern side of theNorthern Carpathian mountain range, encompassing south-east Poland and south-west Ukraine (i.e. the region traditionally known asGalicia).[13]
Scholars hold divergent theories about the ethnicity of the Bastarnae. One view, implied by some of the earliest reports, is that they spoke aCeltic language.[18] The only explicit description of their language, was a much later remark by Tacitus, who said they spoke a language like the Germanic peoples. However others hold that they were Scythian/Germanic,[7] or mixed Germanic/Sarmatian.[19] A fringe theory is that they wereProto-Slavic.[4] Shchukin argues that the ethnicity of the Bastarnae was unique and rather than trying to label them as Celtic, Germanic or Sarmatian, it should be accepted that the "Basternae were the Basternae".[20] Batty argues that assigning an "ethnicity" to the Bastarnae is meaningless; as in the context of theIron Age Pontic-Danubian region, with its multiple overlapping peoples and languages, ethnicity was a very fluid concept, which changed rapidly and frequently, according to socio-political vicissitudes. That was especially true of the Bastarnae, who are attested over a relatively-vast area.[21] The Bastarnae maintained a separate name until ca. 300 AD, probably implying retention of their distinctive ethno-linguistic heritage up to that time.[22]
Polybius (200–118 BC) writing about the time ofPerseus of Macedon (d. 166 BCE) explained how theDardanians sought help from the Romans against the Bastarnae, who were allied with the Macedonian and Celtic (Galatian) enemies of Rome, which can be taken as implying that they were not Galatian. He described them as numerous, physically large, and valorous warriors.[23]
On the other hand, a much later report of these events byLivy (64 BC – 17 AD), writing about 10 AD, is sometimes understood to imply that the Bastarnae spoke a Celtic language (or a related language) because when comparing them to theScordisci, a major Galatian tribe ofPannonia, it specifies that the Bastarnae were "neither in speech nor habits were they dissimilar".[18] The Scordisci are described as Celtic byStrabo, although he adds that they had mingled with Illyrians and Thracians).[24]
Much later still, the Greek historianPlutarch (about 46-120 AD), also talking the time of Perseus of Macedon, went further, writing that the Roman consul Hostilius "secretly stirred up the Gauls settled along the Danube, who are called Basternae".[25]
Another reason to consider the Bastarnae as Celtic is that the regions they are documented to have occupied (the northern and eastern slopes of the Carpathians) overlapped to a great extent with the locations of Celtic tribes attested in the northern Carpathians. (The modern name of this region,Galicia, is generally regarded as having a later origin, in either a Slavic or Turkic language. However, some scholars have instead suggested that the name Galicia may derive from its former Celtic inhabitants theTaurisci,Osi,Cotini andAnartes of Slovakia and northern Romania and theBritogalli of the Danube Delta region.[26]) In addition, archaeological cultures which some scholars have linked to the Bastarnae (Poieneşti-Lukashevka and Zarubintsy) display pronounced Celtic affinities. Finally, the arrival of the Bastarnae in the Pontic-Danubian region, which can be dated to 233–216 BC according to two ancient sources,[27] coincides with the latter phase ofCeltic migration into the region (400–200 BC).
In addition, inscription AE (1905) 14, recording a campaign on theHungarian Plain by the Augustan-era generalMarcus Vinucius (10 BC[28] or 8 BC[29]), also appears to distinguish the Bastarnae from neighbouring Celtic tribes: "Marcus Vinucius... governor of Illyricum, the first [Roman general] to advance across the river Danube, defeated in battle and routed an army of Dacians and Basternae, and subjugated the Cotini, Osi,...[missing tribal name] and Anartii to the power of the emperor Augustus and of the people of Rome."[30]
The three names of Bastarnae leaders found in ancient sources are of Celtic origin: Cotto,[31] Clondicus[32] and Teutagonus.[33][34]
Three Greco-Roman geographers of the first century AD associated the Bastarnae and Peucini with theGermanic peoples, and one source, Tacitus, specifies that they spoke a language like the Germanic peoples. The Greek geographerStrabo (64 BC – 24 AD) writing c. 5–20 AD, made several remarks about the location of the Bastarnae in his own time. In one passage he says that their country borders on that of the Tyregetans towards the Black Sea and Danube, and Germanic peoples to the west, and that they "one might say", were of "Germanic stock".
The Roman geographerPliny the Elder (c. 77 AD), classified the Bastarnae or Peucini as being one of the five main subdivisions of Germanic peoples, the other subdivisions as the threeWest Germanic groups, theInguaeones,Istuaeones andHermiones, and theEast GermanicVandili.[35]
Notably, the Roman historianTacitus (56–120 AD), writing about 100 AD, described the Bastarnae as probably being a Germanic people, but with substantial Sarmatian cultural influence and intermarriage:[36]
Strabo includes theRoxolani, generally considered by scholars to have been aSarmatian tribe, in a list of Bastarnae subgroups.[16] However, this may simply be an error due to the close proximity of the two peoples north of the Danube Delta.
In the third century, the Greek historianDio Cassius (155–235 AD) stated that the "Bastarnae are properly classed as Scythians" and "members of the Scythian race".[37]
Likewise, the sixth-century historianZosismus (490s–510 AD), reporting events around 280 AD, refers to "the Bastarnae, a Scythian people".[39][40]
However, late Greco-Roman chroniclers used the term "Scythian" without regard to language. The earliestScythians were steppe nomads associated with Iranic languages, as were their successors the Sarmatians, who were also called Scythians, while classical authors such as Zosimus also routinely refers to theGoths, who were undoubtedly Germanic-speakers, as "Scythians". On the other hand, it is likely that Bastarnae were influenced the surrounding Sarmatians, as reflected in Tacitus' comment that "mixed marriages" debasing them to appear more like the Sarmatians.[36]
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According toMalcolm Todd, traditional archaeology has not been able to construct a typology of Bastarnae material culture, and thus to ascribe particular archaeological sites to the Bastarnae.[41] A complicating factor is that the regions where Bastarnae are attested contained a patchwork of peoples and cultures (Sarmatians, Scythians, Dacians, Thracians, Celts, Germans and others), somesedentary, somenomadic. In any event, post-1960s archaeological theory has questioned the validity of equating material "cultures", as defined by archaeologists, with distinct ethnic groups. In this view, it is impossible to attribute a "culture" to a particular ethnic group: it is likely that the material cultures discerned in the region belonged to several, if not all, of the groups inhabiting it. These cultures probably represent relatively large-scale socio-economic interactions between disparate communities of the broad region, possibly including mutually antagonistic groups.[41]
It is not even certain whether the Bastarnae were sedentary, nomadic or semi-nomadic. Tacitus' statement that they were "German in their way of life and types of dwelling" implies a sedentary bias, but their close relations with the Sarmatians, who were nomadic, may indicate a more nomadic lifestyle for some Bastarnae, as does their attested wide geographical range.[42] If the Bastarnae were nomadic, then the sedentary "cultures" identified by archaeologists in theirlebensraum would not represent them. Nomadic peoples generally leave scant traces, due to the impermanent materials and foundations used in the construction of their dwellings.
Scholars have identified two closely related sedentary "cultures" as possible candidates to represent the Bastarnae (among other peoples) as their locations broadly correspond to where ancient sources placed the Basternae: theZarubintsy culture lying in the forest-steppe zone in northern Ukraine and southern Belarus, and thePoieneşti-Lukashevka culture (Lucăşeuca) in northern Moldavia.[27][43] These cultures were characterised by agriculture, documented by numerous finds of sickles. Dwellings were either of surface or semi-subterranean types, with posts supporting the walls, a hearth in the middle and large conical pits located nearby. Some sites were defended by ditches and banks, structures thought to have been built to defend against nomadic tribes from the steppe.[44] Inhabitants practiced cremation. Cremated remains were either placed in large, hand-made ceramic urns, or were placed in a large pit and surrounded by food and ornaments such as spiral bracelets and Middle to LateLa Tène-typefibulae (attesting the continuing strength of Celtic influence in this region).
A major problem with associating the Poieneşti-Lukashevka and Zarubintsy cultures with the Bastarnae is that both cultures had disappeared by the early first century AD, while the Bastarnae continue to be attested in those regions throughout the RomanPrincipate.[45] Another issue is that the Poieneşti-Lukashevka culture has also been attributed to theCostoboci, a people considered ethnicallyDacian by mainstream scholarship, who inhabited northern Moldavia, according to Ptolemy (ca. 140 AD). Indeed,Mircea Babeş andSilvia Theodor, the twoRomanian archaeologists who identified Lukashevka as Bastarnic, nevertheless insisted that the majority of the population in the Lukashevka sphere (in northern Moldavia) was "Geto-Dacian".[13] A further problem is that neither of these cultures were present in the Danube Delta region, where a major concentration of Bastarnae are attested by the ancient sources.[27]
Starting in about 200 AD, theChernyakhov culture became established in the modern-day western Ukraine and Moldova region inhabited by the Bastarnae. The culture is characterised by a high degree of sophistication in the production of metal and ceramic artefacts, as well as of uniformity over a vast area. Although this culture has conventionally been identified with the migration of theGothicethnos into the region from the northwest, Todd argues that its most important origin is Scytho-Sarmatian. Although the Goths certainly contributed to it, so probably did other peoples of the region such as the Dacians,proto-Slavs,Carpi and possibly the Bastarnae.[46]
The Bastarnae first appear in the historical record in 179 BC, when they crossed the Danube in a massive force. They did so at the invitation of their long-time ally, KingPhilip V of Macedon, a direct descendant ofAntigonus, one of theDiadochi, the generals ofAlexander the Great who had shared his empire after his death in 323 BC. The Macedonian king had suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Romans in theSecond Macedonian War (200–197 BC), which had reduced him from a powerfulHellenistic monarch to the status of a petty client-king with a much-reduced territory and a tiny army.[Note 1] After nearly 20 years of slavish adherence to the Roman Senate's dictats, Philip had been goaded by the incessant and devastating raiding of theDardani, a warlike Illyrian[48] tribe on his northern border, which his treaty-limited army was too small to counter effectively. Counting on the Bastarnae, with whom he had forged friendly relations, he plotted a strategy to deal with the Dardani and then to regain his lost territories in Greece and his political independence. First, he wouldunleash the Bastarnae against the Dardani. After the latter had been crushed, Philip planned to settle Bastarnae families in Dardania (southernKosovo/Skopje region) to ensure that the region was permanently subdued. In a second phase, Philip aimed to launch the Bastarnae on an invasion of Italy via the Adriatic coast. Although he was aware that the Bastarnae were likely to be defeated, Philip hoped that the Romans would be distracted long enough to allow him to reoccupy his former possessions in Greece.[31]
However, Philip, now 60 years of age, died before the Bastarnae could arrive. The Bastarnae host was stillen route through Thrace, where it became embroiled in hostilities with the locals, who had not provided them with sufficient food at affordable prices as they marched through. Probably in the vicinity ofPhilippopolis (modern Plovdiv, Bulgaria), the Bastarnae broke out of their marching columns and pillaged the land far and wide. The terrified local Thracians took refuge with their families and animal herds on the slopes ofMons Donuca (Mount Musala), the highest mountain in Thrace. A large force of Bastarnae chased them up the mountain, but were driven back and scattered by a massive hailstorm. Then the Thracians ambushed them, turning their descent into a panic-stricken rout. Back at theirwagon fort in the plain, around half of the demoralised Bastarnae decided to return home, leaving c. 30,000 to press on to Macedonia.[32]
Philip's son and successorPerseus, while protesting his loyalty to Rome, deployed his Bastarnae guests in winter quarters in a valley in Dardania, presumably as a prelude to a campaign against the Dardani the following summer. However, in the depths of winter their camp was attacked by the Dardani. The Bastarnae easily beat off the attackers, chased them back to their chief town and besieged them, but they were surprised in the rear by a second force of Dardani, which had approached their camp stealthily by mountain paths, and proceeded to storm and ransack it. Having lost their entire baggage and supplies, the Bastarnae were obliged to withdraw from Dardania and to return home. Most perished as they crossed the frozen Danube on foot, only for the ice to give way.[49] Despite the failure of Philip's Bastarnae strategy, the suspicion aroused by these events in the Roman Senate, which had been warned by the Dardani of the Bastarnae invasion, ensured the demise of Macedonia as an independent state.[50] Rome declared war on Perseus in 171 BC and after the Macedonian army was crushed at theBattle of Pydna (168 BC), Macedonia was split up into four Roman puppet-cantons (167 BC).[51] Twenty-one years later, these were in turn abolished and annexed to theRoman Republic as theprovince of Macedonia (146 BC).
The Bastarnae first came into direct conflict with Rome as a result of expansion into the lower Danube region by theproconsuls (governors) of Macedonia in 75–72 BC.Gaius Scribonius Curio (proconsul 75–73 BC) campaigned successfully against the Dardani and theMoesi, becoming the first Roman general to reach the Danube with his army.[52] His successor,Marcus Licinius Lucullus (brother of the famousLucius Lucullus), campaigned against the ThracianBessi tribe and the Moesi, ravaging the whole ofMoesia, the region between the Haemus (Balkan) mountain range and the Danube. In 72 BC, his troops occupied the Greek coastal cities ofScythia Minor (modernDobruja region, Romania/Bulgaria),[Note 2] which had sided with Rome'sHellenistic arch-enemy, KingMithridates VI ofPontus, in theThird Mithridatic War (73–63 BC).[54]
The presence of Roman forces in the Danube Delta was seen as a major threat by all the neighbouring transdanubian peoples: the Peucini Bastarnae, the Sarmatians and, most importantly, byBurebista (ruled 82–44 BC), king of theGetae. The Getae occupied the region today calledWallachia as well as Scythia Minor and were either aDacian- orThracian- speaking people.[Note 3] Burebista had unified the Getae tribes into a single kingdom, for which the Greek cities were vital trade outlets. In addition, he had established his hegemony over neighbouring Sarmatian and Bastarnae tribes. At its peak, the Getae kingdom reportedly was able to muster 200,000 warriors. Burebista led his transdanubian coalition in a struggle against Roman encroachment, conducting many raids against Roman allies inMoesia and Thrace, penetrating as far as Macedonia andIllyria.[59]
The coalition's main chance came in 62 BC, when the Greek cities rebelled against Roman rule. In 61 BC, the notoriously oppressive and militarily incompetent proconsul of Macedonia,Gaius Antonius, nicknamedHybrida ("The Monster"), an uncle of the famousMark Antony, led an army against the Greek cities. As his army approachedHistria, Antonius detached his entire mounted force from the marching column and led it away on a lengthy excursion, leaving his infantry without cavalry cover, a tactic he had already used with disastrous results against the Dardani.[60] Dio implies that he did so out of cowardice, in order to avoid the imminent clash with the opposition, but it is more likely that he was pursuing a large enemy cavalry force, probablySarmatians. A Bastarnae host, which had crossed the Danube to assist the Histrians, promptly attacked, surrounded and massacred the Roman infantry, capturing several of theirvexilla (military standards).[61] This battle resulted in the collapse of the Roman position on the lower Danube. Burebista apparently annexed the Greek cities (55–48 BC).[62] At the same time, the subjugated "allied" tribes of Moesia and Thrace evidently repudiated their treaties with Rome, as they had to be reconquered byAugustus in 29–8 BC (see below).
In 44 BC, Romandictator-for-lifeJulius Caesar planned to lead a major campaign to crush Burebista and his allies once and for all, but he was assassinated before it could start.[63] However, the campaign was made redundant by Burebista's overthrow and death in the same year, after which his Getae empire fragmented into four, later five, independent petty kingdoms. These were militarily far weaker, as Strabo assessed their combined military potential at just 40,000 armed men, and were often involved in internecine warfare.[64][65] TheGeto-Dacians did not again become a threat to Roman hegemony in the lower Danube until the rise ofDecebal 130 years later (86 AD).
Once he had established himself as sole ruler of the Roman state in 30 BC, Caesar's grand-nephew and adopted sonAugustus inaugurated a strategy of advancing the empire's south-eastern European border to the line of the Danube from theAlps, theDinaric Alps and Macedonia. The primary objective was to increase strategic depth between the border and Italy and also to provide a major fluvial supply route between the Roman armies in the region.[66]
On the lower Danube, which was given priority over the upper Danube, this required the annexation of Moesia. The Romans' target was thus the tribes which inhabited Moesia, namely (from west to east) theTriballi, Moesi and those Getae who dwelt south of the Danube. The Bastarnae were also a target because they had recently subjugated the Triballi, whose territory lay on the southern bank of the Danube between the tributary riversUtus (Vit) andCiabrus (Tsibritsa), with their chief town atOescus (Gigen, Bulgaria).[67] In addition, Augustus wanted to avenge the defeat ofGaius Antonius at Histria 32 years before and to recover the lost military standards. These were held in a powerful fortress calledGenucla (Isaccea, near modern Tulcea, Romania, in the Danube Delta region), controlled byZyraxes, the local Getan king.[68] The man selected for the task wasMarcus Licinius Crassus, grandson ofCrassus thetriumvir and an experienced general at 33 years of age, who was appointed proconsul of Macedonia in 29 BC.[69]
The Bastarnae provided thecasus belli by crossing the Haemus and attacking theDentheletae, a Thracian tribe who were Roman allies. Crassus marched to the Dentheletae's assistance, but the Bastarnae host hastily withdrew over the Haemus at his approach. Crassus followed them closely into Moesia but they would not be drawn into battle, withdrawing beyond the Tsibritsa.[70] Crassus now turned his attention to the Moesi, his prime target. After a successful campaign which resulted in the submission of a substantial section of the Moesi, Crassus again sought out the Bastarnae. Discovering their location from some peace envoys they had sent to him, he lured them into battle near the Tsibritsa by a stratagem. Hiding his main body of troops in a wood, he stationed as bait a smaller vanguard in open ground before the wood. As expected, the Bastarnae attacked the vanguard in force, only to find themselves entangled in the full-scale pitched battle with the Romans that they had tried to avoid. The Bastarnae tried to retreat into the forest but were hampered by the wagon train carrying their women and children, as these could not move through the trees. Trapped into fighting to save their families, the Bastarnae were routed. Crassus personally killed their king,Deldo, in combat, a feat which qualified him for Rome's highest military honour,spolia opima, but Augustus refused to award it on a technicality.[Note 4] Thousands of fleeing Bastarnae perished, many asphyxiated in nearby woods by encircling fires set by the Romans, others drowned trying to swim across the Danube. Nevertheless, a substantial force dug themselves into a powerful hillfort. Crassus laid siege to fort, but had to enlist the assistance ofRholes, a Getan petty king, to dislodge them, for which service Rholes was granted the title ofsocius et amicus populi Romani ("ally and friend of the Roman people").[74]
The following year (28 BC), Crassus marched on Genucla. Zyraxes escaped with his treasure and fled over the Danube into Scythia to seek aid from the Bastarnae.[75] Before he was able to bring reinforcements, Genucla fell to a combined land and fluvial assault by the Romans.[68] The strategic result of Crassus' campaigns was the permanent annexation of Moesia by Rome.
About a decade later, in 10 BC,[28] the Bastarnae again clashed with Rome during Augustus' conquest ofPannonia (thebellum Pannonicum 14–9 BC). Inscription AE (1905) 14 records a campaign on theHungarian Plain by the Augustan-era generalMarcus Vinucius:
Marcus Vinucius...[patronymic], Consul [in 19 BC]...[various official titles], governor of Illyricum, the first [Roman general] to advance across the river Danube, defeated in battle and routed an army of Dacians and Basternae, and subjugated theCotini, Osi,...[missing tribal name] andAnartii to the power of the emperor Augustus and of the people of Rome.
Most likely, the Bastarnae, in alliance with Dacians, were attempting to assist the hard-pressed Illyrian/Celtic tribes of Pannonia in their resistance to Rome.
It appears that in the final years of Augustus' rule, the Bastarnae made their peace with Rome. TheRes Gestae Divi Augusti ("Acts of the divine Augustus", 14 AD), an inscription commissioned by Augustus to list his achievements, states that he received an embassy from the Bastarnae seeking a treaty of friendship.[76] It appears that a treaty was concluded and apparently proved remarkably effective, as no hostilities with the Bastarnae are recorded in surviving ancient sources until c. 175, some 160 years after Augustus' inscription was carved. But surviving evidence for the history of this period is so thin that it cannot be excluded that the Bastarnae clashed with Rome during it.[Note 5] The Bastarnae participated in theDacian Wars ofDomitian (86–88) andTrajan (101–102 and 105–106), fighting on both wars on the Dacian side[77]
In the late second century, theHistoria Augusta mentions that in the rule ofMarcus Aurelius (161–180), an alliance of lower Danube tribes including the Bastarnae, the Sarmatian Roxolani and theCostoboci took advantage of the emperor's difficulties on the upper Danube (theMarcomannic Wars) to invade Roman territory.[78]
During the late second century, the main ethnic change in the northern Black Sea region was the immigration, from the Vistula valley in the North, of theGoths and accompanying Germanic tribes such as theTaifali and theHasdingi, a branch of theVandal people. This migration was part of a series of major population movements in the Europeanbarbaricum (the Roman term for regions outside their empire). The Goths appear to have established a loose political hegemony over the existing tribes in the region.
Under the leadership of the Goths, a series of major invasions of the Roman empire were launched by a grand coalition of lower Danubian tribes from c. 238 onwards. The participation of the Bastarnae in these is likely but largely unspecified, due to Zosimus' and other chroniclers' tendency to lump all these tribes under the general term "Scythians" – meaning all the inhabitants of Scythia, rather than the specificIranic-speaking people called theScythians.[79] Thus, in 250–251, the Bastarnae were probably involved in the Gothic and Sarmatian invasions which culminated in the Roman defeat at theBattle of Abrittus and the slaying of EmperorDecius (251).[80] This disaster was the start of theThird Century Crisis of the Roman Empire, a period of military and economic chaos. At this critical moment, the Roman army was crippled by the outbreak of a secondsmallpox pandemic, theplague of Cyprian (251–70). The effects are described by Zosimus as even worse than the earlierAntonine plague (166–180), which probably killed 15–30% of the empire's inhabitants.[81]
Taking advantage of Roman military disarray, a vast number of barbarian peoples overran much of the empire. The Sarmato-Gothic alliance of the lower Danube carried out major invasions of the Balkans region in 252, and in the periods 253–258 and 260–268.[82] The Peucini Bastarnae are specifically mentioned in the 267/268 invasion, when the coalition built a fleet in the estuary of the riverTyras (Dniester). The Peucini Bastarnae would have been critical to this venture since, as coastal and delta dwellers, they would have had seafaring experience that the nomadic Sarmatians and Goths lacked. The barbarians sailed along the Black Sea coast to Tomis in Moesia Inferior, which they tried to take by assault without success. They then attacked the provincial capitalMarcianopolis (Devnya, Bulgaria), also in vain. Sailing on through theBosporus, the expedition laid siege toThessalonica in Macedonia. Driven off by Roman forces, the coalition host moved overland into Thracia, where finally it was crushed by EmperorClaudius II (r. 268–270) atNaissus (269).[83]
Claudius II was the first of a sequence of military emperors (the so-called "Illyrian emperors" from their main ethnic origin) who restored order in the empire in the late third century. These emperors followed a policy of large-scale resettlement within the empire of defeated barbarian tribes, granting them land in return for an obligation of military service much heavier than the usual conscription quota. The policy had the triple benefit, from the Roman point of view, of weakening the hostile tribe, repopulating the plague-ravaged frontier provinces (bringing their abandoned fields back into cultivation) and providing a pool of first-rate recruits for the army. It could also be popular with the barbarian prisoners, who were often delighted by the prospect of a land grant within the empire. In the fourth century, such communities were known aslaeti.[84]
The emperorProbus (r. 276–282) is recorded as resettling 100,000 Bastarnae in Moesia, in addition to other peoples, including Goths, Gepids and Vandals. The Bastarnae are reported to have honoured their oath of allegiance to the emperor, while the other resettled peoples mutinied while Probus was distracted by usurpation attempts and ravaged the Danubian provinces far and wide.[39][85] A further massive transfer of Bastarnae was carried out by EmperorDiocletian (ruled 284–305) after he and his colleagueGalerius defeated a coalition of Bastarnae andCarpi in 299.[86]
The remaining transdanubian Bastarnae disappear into historical obscurity in the late empire. Neither of the main ancient sources for this period,Ammianus Marcellinus andZosimus, mention the Bastarnae in their accounts of the fourth century, possibly implying the loss of their separate identity, presumably assimilated by the regional hegemons, the Goths. Such assimilation would have been facilitated if, as is possible, the Bastarnae spoke anEast Germanic language closely related toGothic. If the Bastarnae remained an identifiable group, it is highly likely that they participated in the vast Gothic-led migration, driven byHunnic pressure, that was admitted into Moesia by EmperorValens in 376 and eventually defeated and killed Valens atAdrianople in 378. Although Ammianus refers to the migrants collectively as "Goths", he states that, in addition, "Taifali and other tribes" were involved.[87]
However, after a gap of 150 years, there is a final mention of Bastarnae in the mid-5th century. In 451, the Hunnic leaderAttila invaded Gaul with a large army which was ultimately routed at theBattle of Châlons by a Roman-led coalition under the generalAetius.[88] Attila's host, according toJordanes, included contingents from the "innumerable tribes that had been brought under his sway".[89] This included the Bastarnae, according to the Gallic noblemanSidonius Apollinaris.[90] However, E.A. Thompson argues that Sidonius' mention of Bastarnae at Chalons is probably false: his purpose was to write apanegyric and not a history, and Sidonius added some spurious names to the list of real participants (e.g.Burgundians,Sciri andFranks) for dramatic effect.[91]
