The Battle of Naissus took place in 268 or 269 AD between the armies of the a Gothic coalition and forces of the Roman Empire, led by Emperor Gallienus or (more likely) Claudius II, near the Roman town of Naissus (Niš in present-day Serbia), in the province of Upper Moesia. The Germanic Wars is a name given to a series of Wars between the Romans and various Germanic tribes between 113 BC and 439 A Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial The Goths ( Gothic: Gothic usvg|14px|u]]Gothic asvg|14px|a]]Gothic s The Goths ( Gothic: Gothic usvg|14px|u]]Gothic asvg|14px|a]]Gothic s The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (218-268 ruled the Roman Empire as co-emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and then as the sole Roman Emperor Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country Moesia (Μοισία Moisía; Мизия Miziya; Moesia Мезија Mezija) was an ancient region and Roman province situated in the The events around the invasion and the battle are an important part of the history of the Crisis of the Third Century. Crisis of the Third Century (or "Military Anarchy" or "Imperial Crisis" was the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235

The result was a great Roman victory which, combined with the effective pursuit of the invaders in the aftermath of the battle and the energetic efforts of the Emperor Aurelian, largely removed the threat from Germanic tribes in the Balkan frontier for the following decades. Lucius Domitius Aurelianus ( September 9, 214 or 215 &ndashSeptember or October 275 known in English as Aurelian, Roman Emperor (270&ndash275

Sources

As is often the case in the history of the Roman Empire in the troubled 3rd century, it is very difficult to reconstruct the course of events around the battle of Naissus. The 3rd century is the period from 201 to 300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. Surviving accounts of the period, including Zosimus' New History, Zonaras' Epitome of the Histories, George Syncellus' Selection of Chronography, and the Augustan History, rely principally on the lost history of the Athenian Dexippus. Zosimus ( ''fl'' 490s-510s was a Byzantine historian who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius Joannes (John Zonaras ( Greek:; ''fl'' 12th century was a Byzantine chronicler and theologian, who lived at Constantinople. George Syncellus (died after 810 was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic The Augustan History ( Lat Historia Augusta) is a late Roman collection of biographies in Latin of the Roman Emperors their junior Dexippus is also a genus of Jumping spiders. Not to be confused with Dexippus of the fourth century A The text of Dexippus has survived only indirectly, through quotations in the fourth-century Augustan History and extracts in ninth-century Byzantine compilations. ^[2] Despite his importance for the period, Dexippus has been declared a "poor" source by the modern historian David S. Potter. ^[3] To make matters worse, the works making use of Dexippus (and likely another unknown contemporary source) provide an almost radically different interpretation of events. ^[4] The imperial propaganda in the age of Constantine's dynasty added more confusion by attributing all the calamities to the reign of Gallienus to avoid blemishing the memory of Claudius (supposed ancestor of the dynasty). Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (27 February ca. 272 &ndash 22 May 337 commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine ^[5]

As a consequence, controversy still exists on the number of invasions and the order of events and on which reign those events must be attributed. ^[6] Therefore, there is a dispute over who was the Emperor and head of the army at the time of the battle. In 1939, Andreas Alföldi, preferring the single invasion theory, suggested that Gallienus was the only one responsible for defeating the barbarian invasions, including the victory at Naissus. ^[7] His view had been broadly accepted since then, but modern scholarship usually attributes the final victory to Claudius II. ^[8] The single invasion theory has been also rejected in favour of the two separate invasions. The narrative below follows the latter view but the reader must be warned that the evidence is too confused for an entirely safe reconstruction. ^[9]

Background

Map of the Gothic invasions of 267–269 AD. Click on the image for a larger view

The battle of Naissus came about as a result of two massive invasions of "Scythian" tribes (as our sources anachronistically call them) into Roman territory between 267 and 269. The Scythians or Scyths (Σκύθες Σκύθοι were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding Nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic The first wave came under Gallienus' reign (267) and started when the Heruli, raiding on 500 ships,^[10] ravaged the southern Black Sea coast and unsuccessfully attacked Byzantium and Cyzicus. The Heruli (spelled variously in Latin and Greek) were a nomadic Germanic people, who were subjugated by the Ostrogoths Huns and This article is about the city See also Byzantine Empire. Byzantium ( Greek: Βυζάντιον Latin: la BYZANTIVM Cyzicus ( Κύζικος) was an ancient town of Mysia in Anatolia, situated on the shoreward side of the present peninsula of Kapu-Dagh (Arctonnesus which They were defeated by the Roman navy but managed to escape into Aegean Sea where they ravaged the islands of Lemnos and Scyros and sacked cities of the southern Greece (province of Achaea) including Athens, Corinth, Argos and Sparta. Etymology In ancient times there were various explanations for the name Aegean. Lemnos (Λήμνος is an island in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. Skyros (Σκύρος is the southernmost Island of the Sporades, a Greek archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Achaea was a province of the Roman Empire, consisting of the modern-day Peloponnese in southern Greece and bordered on the north by Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Corinth, or Korinth ( Greek Κόρινθος ( is a city in Greece. Argos ( Greek: Ἄργος, Árgos ˈaɾɣos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplio, which was its historic harbor The city of Sparta ( Doric Σπάρτα Attic Σπάρτη Then an Athenian militia, led by the historian Dexippus, pushed the invaders to the north where they were intercepted by the Roman army under Gallienus. ^[11] He won an important victory near the Nessos (Nestos) river, on the boundary between Macedonia and Thrace, with the aid of the Dalmatian cavalry. The Mesta (Места or Nestos (Νέστος is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. The Roman province of Macedonia was officially established in 146 BC, after the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus defeated Andriscus of Macedon Thrace (Тракия Trakiya or "Trakija" or Trakia, Θράκη Thráki, Trakya is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe Reported barbarian casualties were 3,000 men. ^[1] Heruli leader Naulobatus came in terms with the Romans. ^[10]

In the past, the battle on the Nessos was identified as the Battle of Naissus, but modern scholarship has rejected this view. On the contrary, there is a theory that the victory at Nessos was so decisive that Claudius' efforts against Goths (including battle of Naissus) were no more than a mopping-up operation. ^[12] After his victory, Gallienus left Marcianus in place and hastily left for Italy, intending to suppress the revolt of his cavalry officer Aureolus. For the Frankish ruler of Aragon see Aureolus of Aragon. Aureolus (died 268 was a Roman military commander and would-be Usurper ^[13] Gallienus was assassinated outside Milan in the summer of 268, in a plot led by high officers in his army. Milan (Milano Milan (listen) is one of the largest cities in Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. Claudius was proclaimed emperor and headed to Rome to establish his rule. Claudius immediate concerns were with the Alamanni, who had invaded Raetia and Italy. The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Main river ( Germany Raetia (so always in inscriptions classical manuscripts usually use the form Rhaetia) was a province of the Roman Empire, bounded on the west by the country After he defeated them in the Battle of Lake Benacus, he was finally able to take care of the invasions in the Balkan provinces. The Battle of Lake Benacus was one of the decisive battles that marked the beginning of the Roman Empire 's emergence from the Crisis of the Third Century. ^[14]

A 19th century imaginary depiction of Gothic warriors from Charlotte Mary Yonge, Young Folks' History of Rome, 1880

In the meantime, the second and larger sea-borne invasion had started. An enormous coalition of 'Scythians', actually consisted of Goths (Greuthungi and Tervingi), Gepids and Peucini, led again by Heruli, assembled at the mouth of river Tyras (Dniester). The Greuthungs, Greuthungi, or Greutungi were a Gothic people of the Black Sea Steppes in the third and fourth centuries The Thervingi, Tervingi, or Teruingi (sometimes pluralised "Tervings" or "Thervings" were a Gothic people of the Danubian plains west The Gepids (Gepidae Gifðas ( Beowulf, Widsith) - possibly from * Gibiðos, "givers" or gepanta, see below were Peuce in ancient geography was an island located near one of the mouths of the Danube, in the Danube Delta in the Romanian portion of Dobrudja. The Heruli (spelled variously in Latin and Greek) were a nomadic Germanic people, who were subjugated by the Ostrogoths Huns and The Dniester (Дністер translit Dnister; Nistru is a river in Eastern Europe. ^[15] The Augustan History and Zosimus claim a total number of 2,000–6,000 ships and 325,000 men. ^[16] This is probably a gross exaggeration but remains indicative of the scale of the invasion. After failing to storm some towns on the coasts of West Black Sea and the Danube (Tommi, Marcianopolis), the invaders attacked Byzantium and Chrysopolis. The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey The Danube (In Donau from earlier Danuvius, Celtic *dānu, meaning "to flow run" Slovak and Polish Dunaj Constanţa (pronunciation in Romanian: /kon'stanʦa/ historical names Tomis, Κωνστάντια or Constantia, Köstence Marcianopolis, or Marcianople ( Devnya in modern Bulgaria) is a Roman Catholic Titular see in the former Roman province of Lower This article is about the city See also Byzantine Empire. Byzantium ( Greek: Βυζάντιον Latin: la BYZANTIVM Üsküdar is a large and densely populated suburb of Istanbul, on the Anatolian shore of the Bosphorus right opposite the heart of the great city next Part of their fleet was wrecked either because of the Gothic inexperience in sailing through the violent currents of Propontis^[17] or because it was defeated by the Roman navy. The Sea of Marmara ( Turkish: Marmara Denizi, Greek: Θάλασσα του Μαρμαρά or Προποντίς, Bulgarian Then they entered Aegean Sea and a detachment ravaged the Aegean islands as far as Crete and Rhodes. Etymology In ancient times there were various explanations for the name Aegean. Crete ( Greek: Κρήτη transliteration: Krētē, modern transliteration Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the Rhodes (Ρόδος Ródos, ˈɾo̞ðo̞s Rodi ردوس Rodos; Ladino: Rodi or Rodes) is a Greek island While their main force was close to take the cities of Salonika and Cassandreia using siege machinery, it retreated to Balkan interior at the news that emperor was advancing. Thessaloniki (Θεσσαλονίκη), Thessalonica, or Salonica is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of Macedonia Cassandra (Greek Κασσάνδρα Kassandra, modern transliteration Kassandra) was one of the most important cities in Ancient Macedonia founded by On their way, they plundered Doberus (Paionia ?) and Pelagonia. For the flower genus see Peony. Paionia or Paeonia (Παιονία was in ancient geography the land of the Paeonians Pelagonia ( Greek: Πελαγονíα Pelagonía, Macedonian: Пелагонија Pelagonija, Albanian: Pellgania, or

The Battle

The Goths were engaged near Naissus by a Roman army advancing from the north. The battle most likely took place in 269. The battle was fierce. Large numbers of both sides were killed but, at the critical point, the Romans, by a pretended flight, tricked the Goths into an ambuscade. Allegedly, 50,000 Goths were killed. ^[1] It seems that Aurelian was in charge of all Roman cavalry during Claudius reign, making it possible that he participated in the battle.

Aftermath

A large number of Goths managed to escape towards Macedonia, initially defending themselves behind their laager. Soon, many of them and their pack animals, distressed as they were by the harassment of the Roman cavalry and the lack of provisions, died of hunger. The Roman army methodically pursued and surrounded the survivors at Mount Haemus where an epidemic affected the entrapped Goths. The Balkan Mountain range ( Bulgarian and Стара планина Stara planina, "Old Mountain" ^[18] After an inconclusive but bloody battle, they escaped but were pursued again until they surrendered. Prisoners were admitted to the army or given land to cultivate and become coloni. A colonus was a type of Roman peasant farmer a serf This designation was carried into the Medieval period for much of Europe The members of the pirate fleet, after the failed attacks on Crete and Rhodes, retreated and many of them suffered a similar end. ^[19] But the disease also affected the pursuing Romans and the emperor as well, who died from it in 270. ^[20]

The psychological impact of this victory was so strong that Claudius became known to history afterwards as Claudius II Gothicus ("conqueror of the Goths"). However devastating the defeat, the battle did not entirely break the Gothic tribes' military strength. ^[21] Besides, the troubles with Zenobia in the East and the breakaway Gallic Empire in the West were so urgent that the victory at Naissus could only serve as a temporary relief for the troubled Empire. Zenobia (زنوبيا 240-after 274 was a Syrian queen who lived in the 3rd century The Gallic Empire (in Latin Imperium Galliarum) is the modern name for the independent realm that existed from 260 to 273, during the In 271, after Aurelian repelled another Gothic invasion, he abandoned the province of Dacia north of Danube forever, in order to rationalize the defense of the Empire. Dacia, in ancient geography was the land of the Dacians. It was named by the ancient Hellenes ( Greeks) " Getae " ^[22]

Citations

References

Primary sources

Secondary sources