The Empire and Barbarians in South-Eastern Europe in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages. Vol. 1

164 Pages·2016·2.91 MB·English

by  Vitlyanov S.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHUMEN
THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY
STUDIA ACADEMICA SUMENENSIA
THE EMPIRE AND BARBARIANS IN SOUTH-EASTERN
EUROPE IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND
EARLY MIDDLE AGES
edited by
Stoyan Vitlyanov and Ivo Topalilov
Vol. 1,
2014
The University of Shumen Press
STUDIA ACADEMICA SUMENENSIA
THE UNIVERSITY OF SHUMEN
THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY
edited by
Stoyan Vitlyanov and Ivo Topalilov
ISSN 2367-5446
THE UNIVERSITY OF SHUMEN PRESS
Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................5
The portrait of Flavius Aetius (390-454) from Durostorum (Silistra) inscribed
on a consular diptych from Monza..........................................................................7
Georgi Atanasov
And now, what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?.........................22
Monika Milosavljevic
German discoveries at Sucidava-Celei in the 6th century................................39
Dorel Bondoc
Mirela Cojoc
The beginnings of the Vandals settlement in the Danube area.......................51
Artur Blazejewski
Observations on the Barbarian presence in the province of Moesia Secunda in
Late Antiquity............................................................................................................65
Alexander Stanev
Two bronze late antique buckles with Christian inscriptions in Greek from
Northeast Bulgaria.....................................................................................................87
Totyu Totev
Barbarians and Philippopolis, Thrace, in the second half of the 6th century
(on archaeological data)...........................................................................................94
Ivo Topalilov
Barbarian raids and Late Antique production tradition in the Low Danube
area in 6th - 7th century........................................................................................114
Stoyan Vitlyanov
The rise and fall of the Dalmatian ‘Big-men’: Social structures in Late Antique,
Post-Roman and Early Medieval Dalmatia (ca. 500-850)................................127
Danijel Dzino
The establishment of the Bulgarian state under
Gostun-Gast-Organs ................................................ 153
Nedelcho Nedelchev
Introduction
by Stoyan Vitlyanov and Ivo Topalilov
This is the first volume of a new annual periodical that the Department of
History and Archaeology of the University of Shumen has started entitled
Studia academica Sumenensia (SAS). The main purpose of this periodical is to
allow various topics of the history and archaeology of the Balkans and South­
Eastern Europe which are quite often highly controversial to be discussed by
the broader scholarly of the region. This is why the periodical will be focused
on topics of general interest throughout the region and scholars from various
countries will be invited to contribute to discussion. This is why the SAS will
be published entirely in international languages - English, German, French,
Italian, Russian and Spanish. In order to broaden the range of the discussion,
an interdisciplinary approach will be employed and historians, archaeologists,
classicists, epigraphists etc. will be invited and most welcomed.
In this first volume of SAS the reader will find contributions on some
aspects of the huge topic of uneasy imperial-barbarian relations in Late Antiq­
uity and Early Middle Ages in South-Eastern Europe. The papers contained in
this volume are focused on four themes, which cover the vast Danube region
south of ancient Pannonia dealing with the impact on both directions - of the
Empire and of the barbarians respectively upon lands within the Empire or
that once belonged to it. The first theme is presented by the paper of Georgi
Atanasov dedicated to one of the most prominent personalities and statesmen
born in the region during Antiquity - Flavius Aetius. The second theme is
concentrated on some aspects of the material culture of the barbarians within
the limits of the Empire and on the Danube limes. This section is opened by
the paper of Monika Milosavljevic dealing with the question of how the bar­
barian presence in the past can be identified based on material culture, and
the practice of associating the processes of barbarization, disintegration and
destruction with particular ethnicities based on the archaeological record.
In the next article of Dorel Bondoc and Mirela Cojoc are treated two large
brooches of the first half of the 6th century made of silver and gold, found
recently in Sucidava-Celei and assigned to German foederati. In the third pa­
per Artur Blazejewski is dealing with the archaeological evidence for Vandal
settlements in the Danube area which existed until the beginning of the 5th
century emphasizing the intercultural links with some local tribes. The fourth
5
paper in this theme belongs to Alexander Stanev and it focuses on certain el­
ements of costume which - once correlated with the historical data - reveal
that throughout Late Antiquity in Moesia Secunda there existed certain areas
of persistent Germanic presence with a predominant Gothic element.
The third theme focuses on the intercultural links between the empire
and the barbarians, and the impact in both directions. The paper of Totyu
Totev presents what may well be the penetration of Christianity in a possible
barbarian enclave, located near Abritus, or among the local inhabitants.
More clearly identified is the impact of the barbarians on the topography
and urbanization of Philippopolis, the capital of the province of Thrace in
the second half of 6th century as revealed in the paper of Ivo Topalilov. The
barbarian threat eventually would lead to the end of the Early Byzantine city.
This theme is closed by the paper of Stoyan Vitlyanov dealing with the process
of adoption of some separate elements of the already settled old culture by the
new-comers and the new state, viz. the Bulgarians.
The fourth theme is connected with the newly established states on
the former territory of the empire. The paper of Danijel Dzino treats social
structures in Dalmatia from the 6th to mid-9th century which were modified
in the 7th century after changes in the Dalmatian elite starting in the 5th and
6th century, rather than, as has been assumed, by massive migration and
settlement of the Slavs. The next paper in this theme of Nedelcho Nedelchev
is advancing the idea that in fact the Bulgarian state was established under
Gostun-Organas, the predecessor of Kurt-Kubrat, and that the state system
was preserved after the breakup of Old Great Bulgaria.
We would like to acknowledge the work of Dr. Katie Low and Dr.
James Hargrave who with patience and good nature contributed to the English
proofs of the texts, but also made valuable comments on the draft. The present
volume would never have been published in this way without their assistance.
We also owe thanks to the advisers Ivan Karayotov and Angel Nikolov.
Shumen, March 2014
STUDIA ACADEMICA SUMENENSIA 1, 7-21
© 2014 by the University of Shumen Press
The portrait of Flavius Aetius (390-454) from
Durostorum (Silistra) inscribed on
a consular diptych from Monza
Georgi Atanasov
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Abstract: Born in Durostorum (modern Silistra) around 390 the Roman commander
(magister militum), consular and patrician Flavius Aetius could be related to the consular
diptych from the treasure house in Monza cathedral (Italy) (figs. 1, 2). I personally deny its
one-sided identification as a record with the image of Stilicho as I have come to that conclusion
studying the images on the medallion of the warrior shield (figs. 5, 6). On the upper surface
of the medallion two images are engraved with the names of an empress with a crown with
propenduls and a young emperor who I associate with Galla Placidia and the juvenile emperor
Valentinian III. During their mutual reign of the empire in 432 Flavius Aetius for the first time
was promoted a consular, which was an event coinciding with the date of the diptych. Aetius’s
wife and his son Karpilio (fig. 4) as a young tribunus et notaries are engraved on the reverse
side.
Key words: consular, diptych, Durostorum, late antiquity, medallion
One of the most universally famous figures in the nineteen hundred years
Durostorum-Drustar-Silistra’s history is Flavius Aetius. He was born in 390
in Durostorum, to a noble family descended from the aristocratic general
Gaudentius, who started his military career in the XIth Claudian legion.1 We
have already had the opportunity to be acquainted with the intriguing life of
Aetius, although it is rather surprising that there is no biography of one of
the most outstanding and divisive personalities of late antique history.2 The
fact that for a period of thirty years Aetius was a chief commander (magister
militum) of the Roman army, a prime patrician, three times a councillor and
practically a prime minister in Rome, has made it necessary for his image to
1 Seeck 1894, 701-703; Mommsen 1901, 516-547; Lippold 1979, 105-106.
2 Atanasov & Ivanov 2006, 399-407.
7
Georgi Atanasov
be thoroughly examined. Additionally, during that epoch it was common
practice, after a person had been elected as a councillor in the Roman
senate, for them to be depicted in formal costume and then for this image to
distributed on councillor diptychs, made mainly of ivory.3 Moreover, it was
typical for members of the supreme aristocracy, as well as the emperors elected
as councillors, to be depicted in councillor costumes and the insignia that
displayed their councillor authority. Historians and art critics have discussed
about 50 similar councillor diptychs, among which the most famous are those
of Rufius Probianus (380), Probus (406), Felix (428), Sividius (488), Austurius
(449), Boethius (477), Aerobindus (506), Clementinus (513), Magnus (518),
Philoxenius (525), Basilicus (480, 541), Orestius (530) and even the emperors
Anastasius (517), Iustinianus Magnum (521, 540) and Constantine III (640).4
Among these councillor diptychs there is one of a special character, which
is particularly impressive for the quality of its fabrication and unique
iconographic scheme - the diptych preserved in the treasury of Monza
cathedral (Italy) with a reference number 63 Monza (figs. 1-4). For more than
a century this monumental image has attracted the attention of prominent
European scholars - historians and art critics, specialists in Roman and
Byzantine history and late antique art - such as W. Wallbach, R. Delbruck,5
А. Rumpf,6 А. Alfoldi,7 А. Merati,8 D. Dalbot Rice,9 R. Konti,10 I. Bona,11 R.
Petrovich,12 М. Shtukin,13 and many others. Consequently there is not a single
literary or research work on late antique history, or on late antique pictorial
and applied art, in which the Monza diptych is not mentioned and images of it
displayed. It is well known and referred to in specialist and academic journals,
lexicons, encyclopedias and so on, and to a certain extent it serves as a symbol
of the brief and eventful epoch in Late Antiquity that was marked by the great
migration of the peoples.
The councillor diptych from Monza cathedral, numbered 63, has been
illustrated and described numerous times in detail, and so in the paper I shall
present it briefly. It consists of two parts 32,2x16,2 см in size (figs. 1-4). On
the front upper surface a full-length image of a councillor of approximately
3 Delbruck 1929, 4-10.
4 Volbach 1916, 11-16; Delbruck 1929, 84, 93, 99, 100, 103, 1211, № 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 17.
5 Delbruck 1929, 248-248, Abb. 1-3.
6 Rumpf 1957, 28-29.
7 Alfoldi 1932, 136, Abb. 1.
8 Merati 1963, 4, Fig. 1-2.
9 Talbot Rice 1966, 7, Fig. 1-3.
10 Konti 1983, 14-16, № 6.
11 Bona 1991, 237-238.
12 Petrovic 1999, 113-119.
13 Shtukin 2005, 328-330.
8
The portrait of Flavius Aetius (390-454) from Durostorum (Silistra) ...
40-50 years of age is engraved, dressed in a distinguished manner in a tunic,
with a richly decorated long chlamys with an onion-shaped fibula, long tight
trousers and shoes (campagii). The face is oval, gracefully depicted with
pleasant features, covered by a neatly-cut beard and average-length hair. The
waist is fastened by a belt (cingulum) decorated with ornaments, from which
a sheath containing a sword is dangling free, covered with precious stones
(figs. 1, 2). In his right hand he is holding a spear and in his left a large round
shield, on the upper half of which a round medallion is depicted circling the
busts of the two figures - relatively young persons (figs. 2, 5, 6). The left figure
is better preserved and probably illustrates the features of a young emperor
or empress with a headdress from which barely visible pendants (propenduls)
are hanging loose, and branching in three pearl offshoots. There are also some
visible forms probably representing a necklace with pearls. The right figure is
of a younger person, almost a child, whose image is badly preserved, and for
this reason it is difficult to determine the gender as well as the costume and
the exact age of the person.
On the bottom surface of the diptych a noble woman is depicted in a
dalmatica with her hair strongly pulled up backwards, earrings, a necklace and
a richly decorated belt (figs. 1, 4). Her right hand is facing upright, holding a
rose, and the left hand is dangling loose holding a piece of cloth. A figure of a
boy is standing next to the female one - or, it is probably better to say, a figure
of a youth in noble aristocratic costume similar to that of the commander on
the front surface. The youth is dressed in a chiton covered with a long chlamys
buttoned with an onion-shaped fibula. The right hand is placed in front of the
breast, the left hand is holding a codicil.
The lack of accompanying texts means there have been a number of
different views about the identies of the figures on diptych Number 63 from
Monza, and from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day the
issue has periodically been discussed. At first W. Wallbach’s idea, that the
main persons were Flavius Aetius and the empress Galla Placidia (425-450),
was adopted, from which it would be obvious that the boy is the young
emperor Valentinian (425-455).14 The weak points of this identification are
rather evident. The orne and the insignia of the late Roman emperors and
empresses are well known and in no way correspond to those of the mother
and the young boy on the diptych of Monza. The portraits of Galla Placidia
and Valentinian III were also circulated numerous times, and they do not bear
any visual similarity to the couple on the reverse surface of the diptych.
In his fundamental research work of 1929 dedicated to the councillor
diptychs, R. Delbruck identified the commander on the front surface of the
Monza diptych with Stilicho, and on the other surface he was able to identify
14 Volbach 1916, 26, № 17.
9
Georgi Atanasov
the images of the latter’s son Euherius and his wife Serena - an opinion which,
with various modifications, has been current until now.15 On the other hand,
at the beginning of the 5th century Stilicho was in almost same position as
Flavius Aetius in the middle of that century. Stilicho was a brilliant commander
(commander-in-chief magister militum) of German (Vandal) origin.16 After
the Roman army split into two after the death of Theodosius I (379-395), he
became a guardian of the young emperor Honorius of the Western Empire
(395-423). In effect Stilicho ruled and protected the Roman Empire at the
beginning of the 5th century as a councillor and commander-in-chief. He was
married to Serena, recognized as a daughter-niece of the emperor Theodosius
I, by whom he had a son and a daughter. In 408 Stilicho was killed by the weak-
willed Honorius, which undoubtedly led to a catastrophe - the invasion of
Rome by the Goths in the following year. In fact, a man such as the councillor
Stilicho at first sight seems to have been worthy of the intricate councillor
diptychs from Monza. Furthermore, on the other part of the diptych a noble
woman is engraved, wearing lavish aristocratic garments and jewels, and next
to her is placed her son - an adolescent dressed in the clothing of a supreme
magistrate. The lady resembles Serena, a descendant of the charismatic
Theodosius I the Great, and arguably deserves attention accordingly.
At first sight, the images of Stilicho, Euherius and Serena on the Monza
Diptych correlate completely with the historical situation at the end of the
4th century. The clothing and age of the individual on the front surface of the
diptych match the title and position of Stilicho. R. Delbruck considers that
the similarity of the portrait and insignia of the child on the right part of the
diptych to the position of Stilicho’s son, Euherius, is worth mentioning. The
latter actually received the title tribunus et notarius, which was accompanied
by the presentation of a diptych-codicil, which the figure on the diptych holds
in his hand, and the aristocratic chalmys with a fibula, which he wears.
Moreover, according to R. Delbruck the Monza diptych (n. 63) was made
to commemorate Euherius’s investiture as a tribunus et notarius rather than
the investiture of his father Stilicho as councilor that is depicted on the front
surface. If this is correct, the diptych dates to 395 or slightly later (Euherius
was born in 389); according to the author this is proven by the bust images
of the two emperors on Stilicho’s shield. The author states that these are the
young rulers Arcadius (395-408) and Honorius (395-423), who were active
emperors during the Stilicho’s conciliate (393-423).
R. Delbruck’s idea was developed by W. Wallbach. He abandoned his
previous ideas about Aetius and Galla Placidia and, in several publications
including his fundamental research work Elfenbeinarbeiten der Spatantike und
15 Delbruck 1929, 248-248, Abb. 1-3.
16 Mommsen 1903, 101-115.
10