ZUR ALTHISTORISCHEN ERFORSCHUNG DER MARKOMANNENKRIEGE. EINE ANNÄHERUNG MIT AKTUALISIERTER CHRONIK DER JAHRE 166 BIS 180 N. CHR.

• Authors: Kehne Peter

Title variants

EN

On the ancient-history research on the Marcomannic wars. A first try and updated chronology of the years 166–180 A. D.

• Languages of publication: DE

Abstracts

EN

Until now, no survey of the voluminous ancient history research on the Marcomannic wars has ever been published. This attempt starts with ancient terms for the small and major wars the Roman Empire had to wage against almost every German, Sarmatian or Dacian tribe beyond the Danube between 166 and 180 A. D. The common expression was ‘German or Marcomannic war’ (bellum Germanicum sive Marcomannicum); in official documents these wars were called expeditions, too (i. e. expeditio Germanica etc.). Next points of modern interest are listed, before the study notes dating-problems and few absolute or relative dates. The Section III deals with the most important descriptions and studies in order of their appearance from 1690 until 2010. The Section IV–V goes more into details with the few existing monographs and the relevant chapters in useful biographies of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. The Section VI–VIII is concerned with certain presentations of the wars in books about Germanic peoples, military history and Roman provinces. The Section IX names recent and major works on Roman foreign policy, where those instruments of ancient international law are analysed, which Rome applied during the Marcomannic wars. The Section X focuses firstly on analyses and differentiated interpretations of the scenes depicted on the column of Marcus - which are far away from being a pictured history; and secondly on the discussion which periods of time they cover. The Section XII gives brief accounts of the research specialized in problems still unsolved, i. e. the time of invasion of the 6000 Langobardi and Obii (probably 166 or 167 A. D.), the dating of the great Germanic invasion into northern Italy leading to the destruction of Opitergium (170 A. D. according to the current communis opinio), the lightning miracle (sc. XI on the colum) and the rain miracle (sc. XVI) which definitely do not coincide. The Section XIII summarizes results of the latest research by bringing up to date the table of events.

Keywords

EN

MARCOMANNIC WARS; MIGRATION; BARBARIC INVASIONS

• Publisher: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Archaeological Institute
• Journal: Slovenská archeológia (Slovak Archaeology)
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 64
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 193 – 260

Contributors

author

Kehne Peter

• Leibniz Universität Hannover, Historisches Seminar, Im Moore 21, DE –30167 Hannover, Germany