Republican era Second half of the 3rd century BC The ongoing conflict that had seen
Massalia and the
Carthaginians vying for the best markets in the western Mediterranean since the 6th century BC, put the Greek colony in the position of asking
Rome for help (
venire in fidem), around 236 BC, a decade before the Treaty of Ebro, concluded between Rome and Carthage. This would be the first example of "
popolus cliens" of the Romans, outside
Roman Italy. A few years later (in 230 BC), some
Greek colonies in the eastern
Adriatic Sea (from
Apollonia, to
Kerkyra,
Epidamnos and
Issa), being attacked by the
Illyrian pirates of Queen
Teuta, also decided to come
in fidem of Rome, asking for its direct military intervention. The Senate, after learning that one of the ambassadors sent to negotiate with the Illyrian queen had been killed under unclear circumstances (a certain Lucius Cornucanius), voted in favor of war (in 229 BC). The clashes were short-lived, for as early as 228 BC Queen Teuta was forced to sign the peace and leave present-day
Albania, while Rome became to all intents and purposes the patron state of the cities of
Apollonia, in
Kerkyra,
Epidamnos and
Issa, as well as
Oricus,
Dimale and the "client" king
Demetrius of Pharos. The subsequent Roman ambassadorship of
Postumius to
Aetolia,
Achaea and
Corinth allowed Rome to take part in the
Isthmian Games of 228 BC, thus opening the doors of
Hellenic civilization to the Romans. During the
Second Punic War, in the summer of 210 BC, the
king of Numidia Syphax sent ambassadors to Rome to report the favorable outcome of the battles the king had fought against the Carthaginians. They assured the assembled Senate that their king was totally adverse toward Carthage, while in Rome he acknowledged his friendship. They recalled that in the past Syphax had sent ambassadors to Spain to the Roman generals
Gnaeus and
Publius Cornelius, and that now more than ever he wished to win the friendship of the Roman people by addressing the Senate itself. The Senate not only agreed to the request of the Numidian king, but sent to him as ambassadors Lucius Genucius, Publius Petelius, and Publius Popilius so that they could bring him gifts, including a purple
toga and tunic, a
curule seat of ivory, and a five-pound golden cup. The senate ambassadors were also instructed to go, soon after, to the other African kings, bringing them as gifts praetorian togas and golden cups weighing three pounds each. Marcus Atilius Regulus and Manius Acilius were sent as ambassadors, also in 210 B.C, to
Alexandria, Egypt, to rulers
Ptolemy IV and
Cleopatra, to renew friendship with the Roman people. Gifts were also brought to them: to the king a toga, a purple tunic and an ivory curule seat; to the queen a rich embroidered robe together with a purple cloak.
2nd century BC The
kingdom of Pergamon entered the Roman sphere of its allied states, especially following the
Treaty of Apamea in 188 BC, after which it obtained numerous possessions and territorial expansions. Its increasing dependence on Rome resulted, following the death of its ruler,
Attalus III (in 133 BC), in being bequeathed to the
Roman Republic and consequently in the transformation of its territories into a
Roman province. At the end of the
Third Macedonian War, with the
Roman victory at Pydna, the
kingdom of Macedon was divided into four districts (in 167 BC), resulting in all respects in a Roman protectorate, which a two decades later was transformed into the
Roman province of Macedonia (in 146 BC). A few years later, this time in the West, when the allied and "client" people of the Romans, the
Taurisci, asked for help against a Germanic invasion of
Cimbri and
Teutons, nomadic peoples originally from
Jutland and
Scania, the Romans, under the command of
Consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, were unable to stop the enemy advance, resulting in a defeat near
Noreia (in 113 BC). The Germans continued to terrorize Rome for another decade, until
Gaius Marius finally defeated them at
Aquae Sextiae (in 102 BC) and the
Campi Raudii (in 101 BC).
First quarter of the first century BC In 96 BC.
Ptolemy Apion, belonging to the
Ptolemaic dynasty, was the last Hellenic ruler of
Cyrenaica, a longtime ally of the Romans. Upon his death he decided to bequeath his kingdom to Rome. However, the new territories were not organized into a province until 74 BC with the arrival of the first
legate of praetorian rank (
legatus pro praetore), joined by a
quaestor (
quaestor pro praetore). It consisted of five cities, all of Greek origin, constituting the so-called Cyrenaic Pentapolis, namely: the capital
Cyrene with its port of
Apollonia (today
Marsa Susa),
Teuchira-Arsinoe,
Euesperides-
Berenice (
Benghazi) and
Barce-
Ptolemais (
Al Marj).
In the time of Pompey and Caesar (70 - 44 BC) 's
Mithridatic Wars. During its heyday, from 95 BC to 66 BC, the
kingdom of Armenia had control over parts of the
Caucasus, present-day eastern
Turkey,
Lebanon and
Syria. It came under the sphere of influence of the Romans in 66 BC, with the campaigns of
Lucullus and
Pompey. Because of this, the kingdom of Armenia was the
scene of contention between Rome and the
Parthian Empire. The Parthians forced the kingdom of Armenia into submission from 47 BC to 37 BC, when Rome lost control of the kingdom only briefly. In 63 BC with the end of the
Third Mithridatic War,
Pompey reorganized the entire Roman East and the alliances that gravitated around it. To
Tigranes II he left
Armenia; to Pharnaces the Bosporus; to
Ariobarzanes Cappadocia and some neighboring territories; to
Antiochus of Commagene he added
Seleucia and parts of
Mesopotamia that he had conquered; to
Deiotarus, tetrarch of
Galatia, he added the territories of
Armenia Minor bordering Cappadocia; he made Attalus the prince of
Paphlagonia and Aristarchus that of
Colchis; he appointed Archelaus priest of the goddess worshipped at
Comana; and finally he made Castor of
Phanagoria a faithful ally and friend of the Roman people. The
Nabataean Kingdom of
Arabia Petraea in 62 BC was forced to ask for peace from
Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, who in order to lift the siege of the capital,
Petra, accepted a payment of 300
talents. Having obtained peace, the Nabataean king Aretas retained his domains in full, including
Damascus, but became a vassal of Rome. On the western front, during 58 BC, the Gallic people of the
Aedui (
amicus populi romani) had sent ambassadors to Rome to ask for help against their inconvenient Germanic neighbor. The
Senate decided to intervene and persuaded
Ariovistus to suspend his conquests in Gaul; in return it offered him, at the suggestion of
Caesar (who was consul in 59 BC), the title of
rex atque amicus populi Romani ("king and friend of the Roman people"). Ariovistus, however, continued to harass the neighboring Gauls with increasing cruelty and haughtiness, so much so that they asked Caesar for military aid, who was the only one who could prevent Ariovistus from having an even greater amount of Germans cross the Rhine, and above all could defend all of Gaul from the Germanic king's bullying. Caesar believed that it would be dangerous in the future to continue to allow the Germans to cross the Rhine and enter Gaul in large numbers. He feared that once all of Gaul was occupied, the Germans might invade the
Narbonese province and then
Italy itself, as had happened in the past with the invasion of
Cimbri and
Teutons. For these reasons, after an initial period of negotiations, he was forced to
face them in battle and beat them, expelling them permanently from the territories of
Gaul. This was not the only episode of "patronage" in Gaul at the time of its
conquest (58-50 BC). The beginnings of the
Roman "patronage" system in Britain occurred with
Caesar, who,
having first landed on the island in 55 BC, put
Mandubracius back on the throne of the
Trinovantes after he had been ousted by
Cassivellaunus. This gesture earned the proconsul help during the second Caesarian invasion of the island the following year (54 BC). This system was developed over the next hundred years, starting with
Augustus, but especially following the
Roman conquest of Britain, desired in 43 AD by Emperor
Claudius.
At the time of Antony and Octavian (44-31 BC) Mark Antony's campaigns in
Parthia were unsuccessful. Not only had Rome's honor not been vindicated following the defeat suffered by Consul
Marcus Licinius Crassus at
Carrhae in 53 BC, but also the Roman armies had been beaten back into enemy territory, and Armenia had entered the Roman sphere of influence only briefly. What remained was a whole series of client kingdoms loyal to Rome, among them that of
Archelaus of Cappadocia (since 36 BC), who, once appointed
king of Cappadocia by
Mark Antony, in order to replace
Ariarathes X of Cappadocia, the last representative of the royal family, as a token of his gratitude, provided troops to Antony for his expeditions against the
Parthians. In 38 BC the
Ubii people, allied with the Romans since the time of
Gaius Julius Caesar's
conquest of Gaul, were in this case transferred by
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa to Roman territory and incorporated within the Gallic provinces. It was intended to protect them from the neighboring Germanic peoples
across the Rhine, hostile to them as
amicus populi romani,
Usipetes and
Tencteri.
Early Roman Empire Augustus (30 BC-AD 14) (14), the "client" kingdoms (in yellow), outside the imperial borders, are shown, while in red are the territories under imperial sovereignty. Among the many client kingdoms are the eastern one of
Cappadocia, the
kingdom of Mauretania, up to those along the
European borders of
Thrace and northern
Noricum, or even across the
Danube, of
Maroboduus (
Quadi and
Marcomanni). The
Roman Emperor Augustus continued on the path that his republican predecessors had laid out, leaving under the command of certain client kings specific regions that were not yet considered ready for annexation as provinces. The Romans, already in the past, had realized that the task of directly governing and civilizing certain populations would prove very difficult, and certainly easier if entrusted to local princes. Augustus, after seizing by right of war (
belli iure) many kingdoms, almost always returned them to the same rulers from whom he had taken them or assigned them to foreign princes. He also succeeded in uniting allied kings to the empire through kinship ties. He cared for these kingdoms as if they were part of the imperial provincial system, going so far as to assign an adviser to princes who were too young or inexperienced, waiting for them to grow and mature; raising and educating the sons of many kings so that many of them would return to their territories to rule as allies of the Roman people. Such a political design was applied in the West to the
Cottian Alps (entrusted to
Cottius, an indigenous prince, and his son, Cottius II, until 63 when they became part of the Roman Empire) to the
Maroboduus kingdom of the
Quadi and
Marcomanni (as early as 6), of
Noricum,
Thrace (where continued Roman interventions were essential to save the weak
Odrysian dynasty) and Mauretania (entrusted by the Romans to the king,
Juba II, and his wife,
Cleopatra Selene II); in the East to the Kingdom of Armenia,
Judaea (which retained a degree of autonomy as a client kingdom between 63 BC and 6 AD and again under
Herod Agrippa), Cappadocia, and the
Cimmerian Bosporus. These client kings were allowed full freedom in their internal administration, and were probably required to pay regular tribute, or they had to provide allied troops as needed (which was imposed on barbarian clients, as in the case of the
Batavi), as well as agreeing in advance on their foreign policy with the emperor. West of the
Euphrates, Augustus attempted to
reorganize the Roman East by directly increasing the territories administered by Rome. He incorporated some vassal states, turning them into provinces, such as
Amyntas'
Galatia in 25 BC, or
Herod Archelaus' Judaea in 6 (after there had been some initial unrest in 4 BC upon the death of
Herod the Great); he strengthened old alliances with
Herod's descendants, with local kings who had become "client kings of Rome," as happened to
Archelaus, king of Cappadocia,
Asander, king of the Bosporan Kingdom, and
Polemon I, king of
Pontus, in addition to the rulers of Hemisa,
Iturea,
Commagene,
Cilicia,
Chalcis,
Nabataea,
Iberia,
Colchis, and
Albania. In contrast, east of the Euphrates, Augustus' goal was to achieve the greatest political interference without intervening with costly military action. The crux of the matter was the kingdom of Armenia, which, because of its geographical location, had been an object of contention between Rome and Parthia for the past 50 years. He aimed to make it a Roman "
buffer-client state," with the installation of a king agreeable to Rome, and if necessary imposed by force of arms. In this case, in the winter of 21-20 BC, Augustus ordered the 21-year-old Tiberius to move east, toward
Armenia. It was a region of fundamental importance for the political balance of the entire eastern area: it played a buffer role between the Roman empire in the west and that of the
Parthians in the east, and both wanted to make it their own vassal state, which would ensure the protection of their borders from their enemies. The Parthians, frightened by the advance of the
Roman legions, compromised and signed a peace with Augustus, who had meanwhile arrived in the east from
Samos, returning the insignia and prisoners they had taken possession of after their victory over
Marcus Licinius Crassus at the
Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. Upon his arrival, therefore, Tiberius had merely proceeded to crown Tigranes, who took the name Tigranes III, as client king in a peaceful and solemn ceremony held before the eyes of the Roman legions, while Augustus was proclaimed
imperator for the ninth time, and announced in the
senate the vassalage of Armenia without, however, decreeing its annexation, so much so that he wrote in his
Res gestae divi Augusti:
Tiberius (14-37) (in 37), where outside the imperial borders (in red), those "vassal" to Rome (in yellow) are indicated. These were, for example, the
kingdom of Mauretania,
Thrace and
Noricum, and beyond the
Danube of
Maroboduus (
Quadi and
Marcomanni).In the West, at the end of three years of military campaigns in
Germania Magna (14 to 16),
Germanicus had succeeded in gaining the alliance of numerous Germanic peoples north of the
Danube and east of the
Rhine, who had now become "clients" (such as the
Angrivarii), after the campaign of 16, or the
Batavi,
Frisii and
Chauci along the
North Sea coast, at least until the time of
Claudius. Finally,
Tiberius decided to suspend all military activity across the Rhine, leaving it to the Germanic peoples themselves to cope, fighting each other. He only made alliances with some peoples against others (ex. the
Quadi and
Marcomanni of
Maroboduus, against the
Cherusci of
Arminius); the
Iazigi Sarmatians (to whom he gave permission to interpose themselves in the
Tisza plain, between the borders of the new province of
Pannonia and the fearsome
Dacians, around 20), so as to keep them always at war with each other; avoiding having to intervene directly, with great risk of incurring new
disasters such as that of
Varus; but above all, without having to employ huge military and economic resources, to keep the peace within the "possible and new"
imperial borders. In the
East, on the other hand, the political situation, after a period of relative tranquility following the agreements between Augustus and the Parthian rulers, became contentious again. The new ruler, alien to local traditions, turned out to be hated by the Parthians. Defeated and driven out by
Artabanus II, he was forced to take refuge in
Armenia. There the kings imposed on the throne by Rome were dead, and Vonon was thus chosen as the new ruler; however, soon Artabanus pressured Rome to dismiss the new Armenian king, and the emperor, to avoid having to wage a new war against the Parthians, had the Roman governor of
Syria arrest Vonones. Also disturbing the eastern situation were the deaths of the Cappadocian king
Archelaus, who had come to Rome to pay homage to Tiberius, of
Antiochus III, king of
Commagene, and of Philopator, king of
Cilicia: the three states, which were "vassals" of Rome, were in a situation of political instability, and the contrasts between the pro-Roman party and the advocates of autonomy were sharpening. The difficult situation in the East necessitated Roman intervention, and in 18 Tiberius sent his adopted son,
Germanicus, who was appointed
consul and awarded the
imperium proconsolaris maius over all the eastern provinces, accompanied by the new governor of
Syria,
Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. Arriving in the East, Germanicus, with the consent of the Parthians, crowned a new ruler of Armenia at
Artashat: the kingdom had been left without a leader after the deposition of Vonon, and Germanicus conferred the office of king upon the young
Zeno, son of Rome's "client" ruler of
Pontus Polemon I. He also stipulated that Commagene should fall under the jurisdiction of a
praetor while retaining its formal autonomy, that Cappadocia should be established as a province in its own right, and that Cilicia should instead become part of the province of Syria. Finally, Germanicus renewed his friendship with the
Parthians. The arrangement of the East prepared by Germanicus ensured peace until 34: in that year King
Artabanus II of Parthia, convinced that Tiberius, now an old man, would not resist from Capri, placed his son
Arshak on the throne of Armenia after Artaxias' death. However, Tiberius decided to send
Tiridates, a descendant of the Arsacid dynasty held as a hostage in Rome, to contest the Parthian throne with Artabanus, and supported the installation of Mithridates, brother of the king of
Iberia, on the throne of Armenia. Mithridates, with the help of his brother
Pharasmanes, succeeded in seizing the throne of Armenia, defeating the Parthians of Orodes, son of Artabanus. The latter, fearing a new massive intervention by the Romans, refused to send any more troops against Mithridates, and abandoned his claims to the kingdom of Armenia. However, a short time later, when Tiridates had been on the throne for about a year, Artabanus, gathering a large army, marched against him. The frightened Arsacid sent from Rome was forced to retreat, and Tiberius had to accept that the Parthian state would continue to be ruled by a ruler hostile to the Romans.
Claudius (41-54) Emperor
Caligula, following the death of
Juba II's son
Ptolemy (in 40) arranged for the "client" kingdom of Mauretania to come under the direct control of Rome. His successor was left with the task of pacifying the area.
Claudius, in 42, after quelling a revolt of the local
Berber tribes, created two new provinces:
Mauretania Caesariensis (with capital
Iol-Caesarea, today
Cherchell) and
Mauretania Tingitana (with capital first, probably
Volubilis and then
Tingis, today
Tangier), although some indigenous principalities still retained de facto independence in the mountainous interior regions. Meanwhile in the East
Judaea was given independence again in 41 by Caligula and then taken away by Claudius in 44. Upon the death of
Rhoemetalces III, the kingdom of
Thrace again became divided. Concerned by the continuing conflict, after
Tiberius had already been forced to intervene in the past to quell continuing unrest among the
Thracian peoples (17-19), allies and "clients" of Rome at least since the time of
Augustus,
Claudius decided to annex the region and established the new
province of Thrace (46). Following the first phase of the
conquest of Britain, the
Iceni people (starting in 47), obtained semi-independence from Rome, knowing the latter that upon the death of their king,
Prasutagus, these territories would be incorporated into those of the neighboring
Roman province. However, the king arranged things differently. He resolved that at least part of his domains should remain with his daughters and his wife
Boudica, who led a revolt against the Romans shortly thereafter, which was suppressed by the
Roman legions, at the end of which her territories came under Roman rule.
Nero (54-68) 's
military campaigns of 61-63 against Armenians and Parthians. Under
Nero, between 58 and 63, the Romans waged a
new campaign against the
Parthian Empire, which had once again invaded
Armenia. After retaking the kingdom in 60 and losing it again in 62, the Romans sent
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo in 63 to the territories of
Vologases I of Parthia, who succeeded in restoring Armenia to client status, which remained there until the following century, when Trajan undertook
a new series of military campaigns against the Parthians (in 114). At the same time in the West, in Britain, with the death of the "client" king of the
Iceni,
Prasutagus, Rome aspired to encompass his kingdom, but the king, dying, left his domains to his family members, appointing the Roman emperor, Nero, as co-heir. It was customary for Rome to grant independence to allied kingdoms, only as long as their rulers or male children were alive. Thus, when Prasutagus died, the kingdom was annexed by the Romans, as if it had been conquered. Queen
Boudica protested strongly, but the Romans humiliated her by exposing her naked in public, whipping her, while her young daughters were raped. The reaction of the Iceni people was not long in coming, and in 60 or 61, while the Roman
proconsul Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was waging a campaign against the
Druids of the Isle of
Anglesey,
Iceni and
Trinovantes rebelled under the leadership of Boudica. It took a long year of hard and bloody fighting before the former Prasutagus' kingdom was finally annexed.
Vespasian (69-79) In the years around 72-74 he reorganized the eastern part of the Roman Empire, reducing
Achaia,
Lycia,
Rhodes,
Byzantium, and
Samos to provinces, taking away their freedom; he did the same with
Cilicia Trachea and
Commagene (in 72), which until then had been ruled by kings.
Domitian (81-96) The "client" peoples of
Marcomanni and
Quadi (allies of Rome since the time of
Maroboduus and
Tiberius in 6), having failed to send the military aid required by
Domitian for the
Roman armies to fight the
war against the Dacians of Decebalus, provoked the wrath of the ruler, who unleashed a war that lasted almost a decade (from 89 to 97), at the end of which the ancient
amicitia populi romani and Germanic subservience to Rome was renewed, as the
triumphal arch of Benevento testifies. The expedition against the
Suebian peoples was a strategic mistake, since Domitian had to abandon the Dacian front, in a very favorable situation after his recent victory at
Tapae over
Decebalus (of 88), and settle for a peace unfavorable to Rome, which forced the Roman Empire to
postpone its conquest to a future date. The Roman armies were, therefore, withdrawn from
Dacia, and the stipulation of a peace treaty led Decebalus to become a "client king," albeit only nominally, earning Roman gratitude and aid by sending expert carpenters, engineers, and an annual subsidy. His brother Degis was sent to Rome to receive from the hands of
Domitian the crown to be given to the Dacian king as a sign of alliance and submission. The Suebo-Sarmatian war could also be interpreted as a preemptive attack by the emperor against these peoples, who were preparing for an invasion of the territories of the neighboring and wealthy Roman province of
Pannonia. In the course of these Suebo-Sarmatian wars, in an attempt to isolate the enemy tribes north of the
Danubian limes, he also sought alliances in the northern neighbors of the
Lugii and
Semnones.
Trajan (98-117) (in 116), where outside the imperial borders (in red), those "vassals" of Rome (in pink) are indicated. These were, for example, the kingdoms of the Sarmatian
Iazyges and
Roxolani, to the west and east of the
Roman province of Dacia. In the course of
Trajan's conquest of Dacia in 101-106, the Roman emperor succeeded in obtaining military aid from the ancient
Sarmatian ally, the
Iazyges (who had just been brought back to obedience after a decade of new wars waged against them and their allies, the
Suebi) against the Dacian king,
Decebalus, who had disregarded the covenants of
amicitia and "clientele" toward Rome made during the time of Domitian (in 89). The latter, after two bloody wars, was finally defeated and Dacia was annexed and made a
Roman province. As allies of the Romans, the
Nabataeans also played the role of bulwark between Rome and the
Bedouin peoples, who were disinclined to bow to the empire, nevertheless forwarding their wares to the northern emporiums and often supplying them with goods that came from those areas. They continued to prosper throughout the first and early second centuries, when
Trajan incorporated their territories in 105/106, abolishing their cultural and national identity, into the new Roman province of
Arabia Petraea. Their power had now extended well into Arabia, along the Red Sea to Yemen, and
Petra remained a cosmopolitan emporium, despite the fact that its trade declined as the eastern trade routes, from
Myos Hormos to
Qift along the
Nile, became established. A few years later it was the turn of the
kingdom of Armenia ("client" of Rome or
Parthia in alternating stages), to be incorporated and made a
Roman province in 114. It is known that Trajan, having reached
Antioch in January of this year, gathered his legions and his best generals, including
Lusius Quietus and
Quintus Marcius Turbo (then
praefectus classis Misenis), marched on Armenia and conquered its capital
Artaxata. Deposing his king, a certain
Parthamasiris, he annexed its territories to the Roman Empire. His armies continued from the north to Media in the east, and into northern
Mesopotamia the following year. In 116 Trajan, aware of the growing difficulties of the conquest, thought he had to give up the southern territories of Mesopotamia, making them his "client" kingdom, while placing on the throne a king loyal to him: the young
Parthamaspates, crowned by the Roman emperor himself at
Ctesiphon. He also eventually distributed to other rulers territories to the north and east of the new
province of Armenia.
Hadrian (117-138) Hadrian, newly installed on the throne, was forced to fight a new
Sarmatian war in the years 117-119, first against the
Roxolani of Moldova and
Wallachia, and then against the
Iazyges of the
Tisza River valley (which was followed by the Roman abandonment of western
Banat). At the end of these wars both populations entered the ranks of Rome's "client" populations. The Suebian peoples of
Quadi and
Marcomanni, who had returned to the old Roman alliance since 97 (from the time of the last phase of
Domitian's Suebo-Sarmatian war), awakened around 135, so much so that Emperor
Hadrian was forced to send along the Pannonian front his designated heir,
Aelius Caesar, to fight them in the course of two campaigns (of the years 136-137), in which it is known from the
Historia Augusta that he achieved good successes against them, as the coinage of that period would also show, forcing them back to their former status as "client" populations.
Antoninus Pius (138-161) The
Historia Augusta relates what the relations
Antoninus Pius had with the many "client" kingdoms of the period were like: He finally placed a new pro-Roman king on the throne of the neighboring "client" people of the
Quadi, north of
Upper and
Lower Pannonia, after a new series of military campaigns led by a certain Titus Haterius Nepos, who was awarded
ornamenta triumphalia for these new successes, so much so that around 142, a new coin was issued celebrating "
Rex Quadi datus."
Marcus Aurelius (161-180) and
Sarmatia during the period of the
wars of 170-180. Between 162 and 166,
Lucius Verus was thus forced by his brother,
Marcus Aurelius, to lead a
new campaign in the East against the
Parthians, who had attacked the Roman territories of
Cappadocia and
Syria the previous year and occupied the
"client" kingdom of Armenia. The new emperor let his own generals take charge, including
Avidius Cassius. The Roman armies, just as had
Trajan's fifty years earlier, again succeeded in occupying
Armenian and
Mesopotamian territories as far as the Parthian capital,
Ctesiphon. However, the plague that broke out during the last year of the campaign, in 166, forced the Romans to withdraw from the newly conquered territories, bringing the disease within their own borders, and scourging their population for more than two decades. In 166/167, the first clash along the
Pannonian frontiers occurred, by a few bands of
Lombard and
Osii marauders, which, thanks to the prompt intervention of the border troops, were promptly repelled. The peace stipulated with the neighboring Germanic peoples north of the
Danube was handled directly by the emperors themselves,
Marcus Aurelius and
Lucius Verus, who were now wary of the barbarian aggressors and traveled for these reasons as far as distant
Carnuntum (in 168). The untimely death of his brother Lucius (in 169 not far from
Aquileia), and the breaking of pacts by the barbarians (many of whom had been "clients" since the time of
Tiberius), led a never-before-seen mass of them to swarm devastatingly across northern Italy as far as under the walls of Aquileia, the heart of
Venetia. The impression caused was enormous: not since the time of
Marius had a barbarian population laid siege to centers in northern Italy. It is said that Marcus Aurelius fought a long and exhausting war against the barbarian populations, first repelling them and "cleaning up" the territories of
Cisalpine Gaul,
Noricum, and
Rhaetia (170-171), then counterattacking with a massive offensive in
Germanic territory, which took several years of fighting, until 175. The
Historia Augusta recounts that Marcus Aurelius would have wished to make the territories of the former "client" peoples of the
Quadi and
Marcomanni the province of
Marcomannia and of the
Iazyges, that of
Sarmatia, and would have succeeded if
Avidius Cassius had not rebelled. These events forced the emperor himself to reside for numerous years along the Pannonian front, never returning to Rome. However, the truce signed with these peoples, particularly the
Marcomanni,
Quadi, and
Iazyges, lasted only a couple of years. At the end of 178 the emperor Marcus Aurelius was forced to return to the
castrum of
Brigetio from where, in the following spring of 179, the last campaign was conducted. The death of the Roman emperor in 180 soon put an end to Roman expansionist plans and resulted in the abandonment of the occupied territories of Marcomannia and the making of new treaties with the "client" populations northeast of the
middle Danube.
Military anarchy (235-286) During the period of
military anarchy, the Roman-allied "client" kingdom of
Hatra fell under the blows of the
Sasanian armies of
Ardashir I. Its fall initiated a new Sasanian invasion that led to the occupation of much of
Roman Mesopotamia (including the
legionary fortresses of
Rhesaina and
Singara, as well as the
auxiliary fort of Zagurae, today's Ain Sinu), even going so far as to
besiege and occupy Antioch of Syria, as seems to be suggested by the fact that its mint stopped minting coinage for the years 240 and 241. is inferred from an inscription found at Naqs-i-Rustam commemorating the victory against the Romans. Gordian had thus resorted to a conspicuous number of
gentiles (mercenary volunteers or
foederati),
Goths and
Germans from the
Danubian limes.
Philip the Arab, on the other hand, dismissed many of these mercenaries, preferring to pay 500,000
denarii to the Sasanians rather than continue the campaign against them, and generating widespread discontent among the federates over the suspension of the customary payment of tribute. == See also ==