The Roman Empire and Southern Scandinavia - a Northern Connection!

322 Pages·2007·10.06 MB·English

by  Thomas Grane

The Roman Empire and
Southern Scandinavia -
a Northern Connection!
by
Thomas Grane

The Roman Empire and
Southern Scandinavia -
a Northern Connection!
- A re-evaluation of military-political relations between the
Roman Empire and the Barbaricum in the fi rst three centu-
ries AD with a special emphasis on southern Scandinavia
Submi(cid:308) ed as Ph.D.-dissertation
at the SAXO-Institute, University of Copenhagen
by Thomas Grane, MA.
Supervised by: Ulla Lund Hansen & Anne(cid:308) e Rathje
January 2007
_________________
Frontispiece: Ptolemaios’ map of Germania with Roman cups from Hoby and
Varpelev, the Hedegård pugio and Roman denarii. A(cid:286) er (Biblioteca Nazionale
“Vi(cid:308) orio Emanuele III” Napoli, ms. V.F.32 (Claudius Ptolemaeus, Cosmograph-
ia: membr, sec.XV (1460-66), mm 440x295) “su concessione del Ministero per i
Beni e le A(cid:308) ività Culturali” and photos: National Museum/L. Larsen, Museum
Sønderjylland, Arkæologi Haderslev/S. Hendriksen and P. Dehlholm.

Tab(cid:1113)e of contents
Table of Contents Recovery .......................................................104
Alamanni and Franci .................................112
Introduction The appearance and meaning of the
Approach ................................................................6 names ......................................................113
The literary sources ..............................................8 The origin of the Alamanni .........................115
Defi nitions ..............................................................9 The Erlbach – Skovgårde disc fi bula enigma
Appendices .............................................................9 .......................................................................118
Acknowledgements ............................................10 Ethelberg and the Skovgårde model ..118
The Research History ..........................................11 Continental rejection .............................120
Germany ..........................................................11 Deconstructing the arguments ............121
The Limes and the Reichs- The Skovgårde disc fi bula enigma .......123
Limeskommission ....................................11 Germanic foederati or auxiliarii? ............125
Roman Rheinland ....................................12 Part 2: Sources to Roman – Scandinavian
Post-war Research ....................................13 Contacts
The Netherlands.............................................15
Roman diplomacy and the use of foreign
Post-war Research ....................................17
military resources .............................................133
International Research ..................................18
“Römischer Import” .........................................137
The Clades Variana ad 9 and the end of the
General investigations ................................137
Germania campaigns ............................................19
Ulla Lund Hansen vs. Michael Erdrich ...140
The background .............................................20
The discussion .......................................142
Military presence ......................................20
Erdrich on Lund Hansen ................142
Civil presence ...........................................21
Lund Hansen on Erdrich ................145
The clades Variana ...........................................22
Roman vessels in Scandinavia ........................152
The ba(cid:308) lefi eld ...........................................23
Chronological and geographical
The a(cid:286) ermath .................................................28
distribution ..................................................152
Conclusion ......................................................30
Denmark .................................................152
The Batavian Revolt ad 69-70 ............................35
Norway and Sweden ............................153
The background .............................................35
ad 1-40 (B1a)...........................................154
The revolt ........................................................36
ad 40-70 (B1b) ........................................156
The a(cid:286) ermath .................................................39
ad 70-150/60 (B2) ...................................156
The archaeological record .............................40
ad 150/60 – 210/20 (B2/C1a & C1a) .....158
The forts .....................................................40
ad 210/20 – 250/60 (C1b) .......................160
The men .....................................................40
ad 250/60 – 310/20 (C2) .........................162
The ba(cid:308) les .................................................41
Conclusion ...................................................163
The Germanic allies .......................................42
Roman coins ......................................................164
The Marcomannic wars of Marcus Aurelius
Southern Scandinavian foederati and
ad 166 – 175 and 177 – 180 .................................45
auxiliarii? ..........................................................167
The background - Roman-Marcomannic/
Foederati .....................................................167
Quadic relations .............................................45
The princely grave from Hoby on
The archaeological record .......................45
Lolland ....................................................168
The literary record ...................................49
Hedegård grave A 4103 from eastern
The fi rst years of Marcus Aurelius’ reign
Jutland .....................................................170
.....................................................................51
Juellinge grave 4 on Lolland ................171
The Marcomannic wars .................................54
Brokær grave 1878 .................................171
The off ensive of the Germanic tribes
The Himlingøje Cemetery ....................173
ad 166-171 ..................................................54
Grave 1875-10 (Baghøjene sb. 15) ..173
The Roman off ensive ad 172-175 ...........58
Grave 1980-25 ...................................174
The second War ad 177-180 ....................61
Grave 1828 ........................................176
The Mušov grave ...........................................62
Grave 1978-1 (1978-35) ....................177
The grave and its content ........................62
Hågerup ..................................................178
Interpretations ..........................................70
Varpelev Grave a ...................................181
From Gallienus to Probus - Three decades of
Auxiliarii .......................................................183
turmoil and recovery ..........................................81
Conclusion ...................................................188
The Empire in peril ........................................82
The literary sources ..........................................192
Stabilisation ....................................................85
The Augustan naval expedition ................193
The Augsburg victory altar .....................87
The fi rst descriptions of the ‘Northern
The loss of the Agri Decumates .....................90
Ocean’ ..........................................................195
An overview of the theories .................100
Pomponius Mela ...................................195
1
T(cid:1109)e Roman Empire and southern Scandinavia
Plinius the Elder .....................................196 Diplomacy ..............................................262
Solinus .....................................................200 The clades Variana ...................................263
Comprehensive ethnographical and Response .................................................264
geographic studies .......................................201 From Vespasian to Marcus Aurelius ........264
Tacitus ......................................................201 New Germania policies .........................265
Ptolemaios ...............................................202 The dawn of over-regional powers in
Markianos ................................................204 southern Scandinavia ...........................266
Conclusion ....................................................204 From Marcus Aurelius to Gallienus .........266
Aeningia ....................................................205 Mušov and the conquest of the
Mons Saevo ...............................................205 Marcomannic Kingdom .......................267
Scatinavia/Skandia ...................................206 The northwestern provinces ................269
Part 3 – T(cid:1109)e southern Scandinavian features A renewal of northern contacts ...........269
The nature of the contacts ....................271
The war booty sacrifi ces ...................................215
The war booty sacrifi ces .......................272
Conrad Engelhardt ......................................215
From Gallienus to Probus ..........................274
Modern research ..........................................217
The loss of the Agri Decumates .............274
The fi nd material ..........................................218
The Alamanni ..........................................275
The sites .........................................................220
The Dutch limes .....................................275
Thorsberg ................................................220
Germanic friends and foes ...................276
Nydam .....................................................221
The war booty sacrifi ces .......................277
Kragehul ..................................................222
Perspectives .......................................................277
Vimose .....................................................222
The role of the Scandinavian material .....278
Illerup Ådal .............................................223
Auxiliarii and foederati ...........................278
Ejsbøl ........................................................223
Continental one-sidedness .................279
Skedemosse .............................................224
Contacts – a naïve fantasy or a lack of
Hassle Bösarp .........................................225
imagination ............................................280
Finnestorp ...............................................225
Chronology problems ................................281
Smaller Sacrifi ces ....................................225
C1b – What happened? ..............................281
Context and chronology .............................226
The southern Scandinavian features ........282
The 1st and 2nd century ad .....................228
The literary sources ....................................283
The fi rst half of the 3rd century ad .......229
Final summation .........................................283
The second half of the 3rd century ad ..230
The 4th and 5th century ad ......................231 A(cid:1117)pendices 284
The Roman material ....................................232 1. Roman Emperors ..........................................284
Thorsberg ................................................232 2. Chronology key ............................................284
Vimose .....................................................235 3. Latin descriptions .........................................285
Illerup Ådal .............................................238 4. Plinius the Elder Naturalis Historia 4.94-7. 286
Interpretations ..............................................240
Illustrations 287
A(cid:308) acking or defending armies? ...........242
Roman ex-auxiliaries? ...........................246
Biblio(cid:1108)raph(cid:1126) 291
The thesaurus theory .............................247
Regional defence structures ............................250 Maps 314
Ramparts .......................................................250
Olgerdiget ...............................................251 Summar(cid:1126) 316
Æ Vold .....................................................252
Resum(cid:1148) 317
Trældiget .................................................252
Priorsløkke ..............................................252
Chronology ...................................................253
Interpretations ..............................................254
Sea barrages ..................................................256
Gudsø Vig ................................................257
The 4th century ad ...................................258
Interpretations .............................................259
Part 4: Conclusions
Chronological analysis .....................................261
From Augustus to Vespasian .....................261
Germania – A province under
construction ............................................261
2
The Roman Empire and southern Scandinavia
3
The Roman Empire and southern Scandinavia
”For if the city of the Lacedaemonians should be
deserted, and nothing should be le(cid:286) of it but its
temples and the foundations of its other buildings,
posterity would, I think, a(cid:286) er a long lapse of time,
be very loath to believe that their power was as great
as their renown. (And yet they occupy two fi (cid:286) hs of
the Peloponnesus and have hegemony of the whole,
as well as of their many allies outside; but still, as
Sparta is not compactly built as a city and has
not provided itself with costly temples and other
edifi ces, but is inhabited village-fashion in the old
Hellenic style, its power would appear less than it
is.) Whereas, if Athens should suff er the same fate,
its power would, I think, from what appeared of
the city’s ruins, be conjectured double what it is.”
Thucydides
History of the Peloponnesian War I.10.2
5th century BC
(LOEB edition, transl. by C.F. Smith)
4
Introduction
Introduction
The aim of this work is to enhance the knowledge of Roman
relations to the northern Barbaricum, i.e. southern Scandinavia.
The nature and extent of the northern parts of the Roman Empire has
for long been thoroughly examined within a multitude of scholarly
disciplines. Likewise, the parts of Europe outside the Roman Empire
have undergone thorough scholarly examination. However, whereas
the Roman Empire has a(cid:308) racted the a(cid:308) ention of both historians,
philologists and archaeologists, northern Europe has mainly been
subjected to the scrutiny of prehistorical archaeologists. But the fact
that one area was seen to have infl uenced the other is quite apparent
as the period of interest in prehistorical chronology is labelled ‘The
Roman Iron Age’. That the two parts of Europe were not completely
isolated is of course well known and for one thing illustrated by
the numerous fi nds of Roman origin in northern Europe. However,
within provincial Roman research, represented by both classical and
prehistorical archaeologists as well as historians, Roman-‘Barbarian’
contacts has generated an interest in the immediate vicinity of the
Roman borders. The parts of Europe more distantly situated from
the Roman Empire have primarily been of interest to prehistorical
archaeologists alone, who have looked southwards with a base in the
local context.
As is apparent from the title, this work strives to reveal military-political
connections between the Roman Empire on one hand and on the other
an area situated at quite a distance from this Empire. The motivation
for choosing this part of Barbaricum is based on a number of reasons.
Various aspects of the Roman Iron Age in Scandinavia indicate that
relations could have been present. This is seen through fi nds from,
for instance, the princely graves at Himlingøje or from the war booty
sacrifi ces. Within each of these fi elds of study, it has been suggested
that there might be some sort of connection to the Roman Empire or
occurrences related to the Roman Empire. It is therefore the purpose
here to examine all these vague indications from another point of view
for once, in order to establish an overview of these relations.
5
The Roman Empire and southern Scandinavia
Approach
The modus operandi will be to accumulate a working material based
on several fi elds of research. In order to gain the fullest picture,
archaeological remains from both the prehistorical and classical fi elds
are needed, as well as the literary sources. With a background in
Classical Archaeology and previous projects on both the development
of the Rhine limes through my MA-thesis and the war booty sacrifi ces
of southern Scandinavia through involvement in the exhibition ‘The
Spoils of Victory’, I found myself well prepared for such an inter-
disciplinary endeavour.
The dissertation is divided in three parts, which deal with the limes,
possible Roman-Scandinavian contacts and southern Scandinavian
features of relevance.
Chronological frame
The starting point is the Germania campaigns of Augustus. The
beginning of the principate also marked an increase in contacts
between the Romans and the Germanic world. A natural chronological
end point would have been the end of the Western part of the Roman
Empire in ad 476. However, as that would be too far reaching, I
have limited the investigation to cover the fi rst three centuries ad
from Augustus to Probus, who managed for a short while to secure
the Empire. A few years later, Diocletian initiated a thorough re-
organisation of the Empire and formed the tetrachy. At this time,
large groups of Barbari were alowed to se(cid:308) le in the provinces. These
occurences created fundamentally diff erent circumstances in the north-
western Empire, and therefore constitute a natural break point.
Part one
The starting point is an investigation of the north-western limes.
Focus is on four episodes from the fi rst three centuries ad, which
are important for the understanding of Roman-Germanic relations.
Each of these episodes was dominated by large scale war between
Romans and Germani. This had a great impact on the subsequent
behaviour of the Romans towards Barbaricum.
The fi rst episode is the clades Variana, the defeat of Varus, and the end
of the Augustan Germania campaigns. During these encounters the
fi rst substantial indications of contact appear.
The second episode is the Batavian revolt following in the wake of
the civil war in ad 69 – 70. Although the revolt proved not to be fatal
for the Roman Empire, it forced the Romans to re-think their policy
6