Romanian History and Culture

An analysis of East Roman army in 350-476 shows that the lower Danubian regions provided 54% of the total units. It is for this reason that Galerius "avowed himself the enemy of the Roman name and proposed that the empire should be called, not the Roman, but the Dacian empire".

Photo at:

http://www.imperiumromanum.com/personen/kaiser/galerius_01.jpg

The modern scholars have brought the Balkans Peninsula’s  (Lower Danube Area) political and military importance in the 3^rd-4^th centuries into the light. Almost all the emperors in this period, from Maximine the Thracian (235-238) to Phokas (602-610), originate in the Balkan Dacian-Thracian Romanity. It would be only the dynasty of Thedosius the Great to interrupt their series for three generations, between 379 and 450. Among these emperors originating in the Balkans, there are famous names in the Roman and Byzantine history, such as Aurelian and Diocletian, Galerius and Constantine the Great, Marcian and Justinian. It was V. Beševliev who considered the state of the Caesars in this period as “a Roman Empire of Thracian race”[5]. These emperors’ hand of force saved the Empire in front of the migratory peoples in the 3^rd-4^th centuries. Meanwhile, their reformatting work assured another two existing centuries to the Empire in the West and brought the vitality to the Roman East becoming gradually the Empire of the New Rome-Byzantium. The Southern Danube Romanity did not give only the most numerous and important emperors to the Empire. Commanders originating in the Balkan Romanity also dominate the military scene. Their military acts represent the raw material for the Roman annals in the 3^rd-7^th centuries. There are also famous names, including the last brilliant commanders of the Empire, such as Aetius, coming from Durostolon on the Danube, then the hero at the Campus Mauriacus, and Belisarius, who is to be connected to the entire work of Reconquista enterprised by Justinian[6]. Finally, the Roman army fighting on  all fronts for the Empire surveillance has the military units recruited among the Balkan shepherds and villagers as its spinal column. Emperors, generals and soldiers originating in the Balkan Peninsula’s  populations followed the imperial Rome’s destiny. How could one explain their devotion to the Roman world’s .

Text :The Lower Danube Frontier During the 4^th-7^th Centuries.A Notion’s Ambiguity by Stelian Brezeanu,University of Bucharest

Text at: http://www.geocities.com/marin_serban/brezeanu2003.html

  The tradition of Roman Emperors of Thracian origin dates back as early as the 3rd century. The first one was Regalianus, kinsman of the Dacian king Decebalus. By the third century, the Thracians became an important part of the Roman army. The army used Latin as its operating language. This continued to be the case well after the 6th century, despite the fact that Greek was the common language of the Eastern empire.^[16] This was not simply due to tradition, but also to the fact that about half the Eastern army continued to be recruited in the Latin-speaking Danubian regions of the Eastern empire. An analysis of known origins of comitatenses in the period 350-476 shows that in the Eastern army, the Danubian regions provided 54% of the total sample, despite constituting just 2 of the 7 eastern dioceses: Dacia and Thracia.^[17] These regions continued to be the prime recruiting grounds for the East Roman army, e.g. the emperor Justin I (r. 518-27), father of Justinian I, a Latin-speaking Thracian^{[18][19][20][21][22]} peasant from Bederiana (an unlocalized village in an area to this day inhabited by the Vlachs of Serbia), who bore, like his companions and members of his family (Zimarchus, Dityvistus, Boraides, Bigleniza, Sabatius, etc.) a Thracian name,^[18][23] and who never learned to speak more than rudimentary Greek.

A number of Roman/East Roman emperors were Daco-Thraco-Romans: Regalianus, Galerius, Maximian, Maximinus Daia, Leo I, Aurelius Valerius Valens, Licinius, Constantine I the Great, Constantius III, Marcianus, Justin I, Justinian I, Justin II, Phocas.

org/wiki/Thraco-Roman 

Decius (249-251)
Regalianus (260) was a Dacian, falsely pretended to be a descendant of Decebal
Aureolus (268), a Dacian, born North of Danube
Claudius II (268-270)
Quintillus (270)
Aurelian (270-275)
Probus (276-282)
Maximian (250-310)
Constantius Chlorus (305-306)
Galerius (305-311), son of a Dacian woman. He wished put the population of Rome and Italy to taxes for revenging the humiliation of Dacians by Trajan who subdued them to tribute. He wished to change the name of the Roman empire in Dacian empire
Constantine the Great (307-337) who considered himself a Dacian, as we see in the statues of Dacian warriors on his arch:
Licinius (308-324), Dacian from Moesia
Maximinus Daia (310-313)

.Regalianus Dacian King in the Roman Empire (260)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Antoninianus-Dryantilla-RIC_0002.jpg

Antoninianus issued by Regilianus' wife, Sulpicia Dryantilla, who is shown here as Augusta.[1]
P. C(assius?) Regalianus (died 260) was a Roman usurper against Gallienus.
The main source of information is the unreliable Historia Augusta. Other sources are Eutropius, who calls him Trebellianus, and Aurelius Victor and the Epitome, which call him Regillianus. About his origin, the Tyranni Triginta says he was a Dacian, a kinsman of Decebalus. He probably was of senatorial rank.After the defeat and capture of Emperor Valerian in the east (260), the border populations felt insecure, and elected their own emperors to guarantee they would have leaders against the threat of foreigners. The population and the army of the province of Pannonia had chosen Ingenuus, and elected him emperor, but the lawful emperor, Gallienus, had defeated the usurper.
Gallienus had moved to Italia, however, to deal with an invasion of the Alamanni. The local population, facing the threat of the Sarmatians, elected Regalianus emperor, who raised his wife Sulpicia Dryantilla to the rank of Augusta to strengthen his position. Regalianus bravely fought against the Sarmatians. After his victory, he was killed by a coalition of his own people and of the Roxolani.
A few anecdotes survive about this man, in the brief biographical sketch of him given in the Book on Thirty Tyrants in the Historia Augusta: it is stated for example that he was raised to the throne because of his name (Regalianus, "of a king" or "kingly"); when his soldiers heard this jest they greeted Regalianus as their emperor.
References
1.^ All the coinage of Regalianus and Dryantilla is composed of antoniniani struck over other coins, mostly from the reign of Septimius Severus, Alexander Severus and Maximian. The only mint to issue coins for Regalianus was the mint of Carnuntum in Pannonia (modern Austria); most of the coins have been found in a small zone around the same city, testifying for a little spread of the rebellion.
William Leadbetter, "Regalianus (260 A.D.)", DIR (1998).
 External links
 Media related to Regalianus at Wikimedia Commons
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regalianus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCUPULMUMMA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1O7MO6WhRM&feature=related

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSq_XZDHCkM&feature=related

Aurelius Victor, in his summary account of the years of Valerian and Gallienus, notes in passing that the survivors of Ingenuus' rebellion were gathered by Regalian, who renewed the revolt in Pannonia. Victor thus brackets the suppression of both revolts together, crediting them to Gallienus.[[1]] Historical reality is likely to be a little more complex. Unlike Ingenuus, Regalian did mint coins, both in his own name and that of his wife Sulpicia Dryantilla, at a hastily established mint at Carnuntum.

The brief biography of Regalian in the Historia Augusta claims that Regalian was a Dacian by birth, and a descendant of Decebalus.[[2]] While such a detail is delectable, it is unlikely to be true. What is probable, however, is that Regalian was of senatorial rank. This detail is implied by his marriage to Sulpicia Dryantilla, a lady of high lineage.[[3]] It is uncertain how far Regalian was involved in the revolt of Ingenuus. Victor's account would seem to indicate that he was deeply implicated and, in a sense, continued it. This perspective has been rejected by most recent scholars who perceive a hiatus between the two revolts.

What is clear is that, if the spurious certainties of the HA are set aside, then very little was known about Regalian within the literary tradition. The major narrative sources (themselves only summaries) cannot even get Regalian's name right: Eutropius calls him Trebellianus; Aurelius Victor and the Epitome both call him Regillianus.[[4]] The coinage discloses a little more detail, although even here, Regalian's full name cannot be clearly discerned, and so he remains P. C. Regalianus. Three facts about the coins do, however, assist. Firstly, they are all overstruck issues. Regalian's mint used coins of earlier third-century-emperors (including Septimius Severus, Severus Alexander and Maximinus).[[5]] Secondly, they all derive from a mint at Carnuntum ; thirdly, the find-spots of these coins are largely concentrated around Carnuntum and Vindobona on the Upper Danube.[[6]] These facts make it clear that the urban centre of Regalian's revolt was Carnuntum itself, and that the revolt cannot have had either broad geographical compass or long duration.

Moreover, the location of Carnuntum, a garrison town on the Upper Danube, makes it most probable that the revolt of Regalian responded to a local threat to security rather than dynastic pique. 260 was a year both of calamity in the east, and of multiple threats to imperial security in Europe. Ingenuus' revolt had offered some hope in Pannonia of a strong local imperial presence. His failure and death, followed by Gallienus' swift departure to deal with an Alemannic invasion of Italy, left a power vacuum in the Danubian provinces at a critical time. It was this which Regalian moved to fill so as to provide strong local leadership against immediate threats from across the Danube. In order to bolster his position, his wife was raised to the rank of Augusta, and coins were struck at Carnuntum to mark and promote this partnership.[[7]]

The Historia Augusta notes that Regalian was not defeated by Gallienus, but by a combination of his own people and the Roxolani, after he had bravely contended with the Sarmatians[[8]]. This account has been substantially accepted by Fitz and others.[[9]] It seems to be a likely reconstruction of events. Fitz is right to point to the considerable devastation which Pannonian cities suffered at this time. It is in this destruction that both the inspiration of the revolt of Regalian lies, and also its more obscure end. Whether deliberately or unwittingly, Regalian had performed a valuable service for Gallienus in providing a focus of opposition to the invading tribes in 260. It bought Gallienus valuable time to deal with the more immediate threat of an Alemannic invasion of Italy. Nevertheless, it did not endear Gallienus to the locals, who (correctly) perceived him to be putting their security aside in order to concentrate upon the safety of Italy. In the following year, when another pair of usurpers (the Macriani) arrived from the east, they found many in the Pannonian provinces eager to help another endeavour to overthrow Gallienus.[[10]]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andreas Alföldi (1929) "The Numbering of the Victories of the Emperor Gallienus and the Loyalty of his Legions", Numismatic Chronicle, 9 (ser.5), 218 - 279.

John Bray (1997) Gallienus: a study in reformist and sexual politics, Adelaide.

Lukas de Blois (1976) The Policy of the Emperor Gallienus, Leiden.

E. Demougeot (1969) La formation de l'Europe. Les invasions barbares des origines germaniques à l'avènement de Dioclétien, Paris.

John Drinkwater (1987) The Gallic Empire: separatism and continuity in the north-western provinces of the Roman Empire A.D. 260 - 274, Historia Einzelschriften 52.

Jeno Fitz (1966) Ingenuus et Régalien, Coll. Lat. 81.

________. (1976) La Pannonie sous Gallien, Coll. Lat. 148.

David S. Potter (1990) Prophecy and History in the Crisis of the Roman Empire, A Historical Commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle, Oxford.

Sir Ronald Syme (1971) Emperors and Biography, Oxford.

Percy Webb (1933) The Roman Imperial Coinage V (ii), London.

Notes

[[1]]Aur. Vict. de Caes. 33.2.

[[2]]SHA Tr. Tyr. 9.1.

[[3]]Fitz (1966) 45; Syme (1971) 198 f.; Bray (1997) 68.

[[4]]Eutr. 9. 8; Aur. Vict. de Caes. 33.2; Ep. de Caes. 32.3.

[[5]]Webb (1933) 576 f.

[[6]]Alföldi (1929) 257; Webb (1933) 576 f; Fitz (1966) 46.

[[7]]Webb (1933) 586 - 588.

[[8]]SHA, Tr. Tyr. 10.2.

[[9]]Fitz (1966) 58 - 63; Drinkwater (1987) 105; Bray (1997) 83.

[[10]]Zonaras 12.24; de Blois (1976) 5.

Copyright (C) 1998, William Leadbetter. This file may be copied on the condition that the entire contents, including the header and this copyright notice, remain intact.

Comments to: William Leadbetter.

Updated: 24 September 1998

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 Maximianus Trax

 Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus (c. 173 – 238), commonly known as Maximinus Thrax[2] or Maximinus I, was Roman Emperor from 235 to 238.

Maximinus is described by several ancient sources, though none are contemporary except Herodian's Roman History. Maximinus was the first emperor to never set foot in Rome.[3] He was the first of the so-called barracks emperors of the 3rd century; his rule is often considered to mark the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century. He died at Aquileia whilst attempting to put down a Senatorial revolt.

Rise to power

According to the notoriously unreliable Augustan History (Historia Augusta), Maximinus was born in Thrace or Moesia to a Gothic father and an Alanic mother,^[4] an Iranian people of the Scythian-Sarmatian branch; however, the supposed parentage is highly unlikely, as the presence of the Goths in the Danubian area is first attested after the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century. Sir Ronald Syme, writing that "the word 'Gothia' should have sufficed for condemnation" of the passage in the Augustan History, felt that the burden of evidence from Herodian, Syncellus and elsewhere pointed to Maximinus having been born in Moesia.^[5] Most likely he was of Thraco-Roman origin (believed so by Herodian in his writings),^[6] and the references to his "Gothic" ancestry might refer to a Thracian Getae origin (the two populations were often confused by later writers, most notably by Jordanes in his Getica), as suggested by the paragraphs describing how "he was singularly beloved by the Getae, moreover, as if he were one of themselves" and how he spoke "almost pure Thracian".^[7]

His background was, in any case, that of a provincial of low birth, and inevitably was seen by the Senate as a barbarian, not even a true Roman, despite Caracalla’s edict granting citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire.^[8] In many ways Maximinus was similar to the later Thraco-Roman Roman emperors of the 3rd-5th century (Licinius, Galerius, Aureolus, Leo the Thracian, etc.), elevating themselves, via a military career, from the condition of a common soldier in one of the Roman legions to the foremost positions of political power. He joined the army during the reign of Septimius Severus,^[9] but did not rise to a powerful position until promoted by Alexander Severus.^[10] Maximinus was in command of the recruits from Pannonia,^[11] who were angered by Alexander's payments to the Alemanni and his avoidance of war.^[12] The troops, among whom included the Legio XXII Primigenia, elected the stern Maximinus, killing young Alexander and his mother at Moguntiacum (modern Mainz),^[13] also a site where many Christians were martyred in 235. The Praetorian Guard acclaimed him emperor, and their choice was grudgingly confirmed by the Senate,^[8] who were displeased to have a peasant as emperor. His son Maximus became caesar.^[8]

According to British historian Edward Gibbon:

[H]e was conscious that his mean and barbarian origin, his savage appearance, and his total ignorance of the arts and institutions of civil life, formed a very unfavorable contrast with the amiable manners of the unhappy Alexander. He remembered that, in his humbler fortune, he had often waited before the doors of the haughty nobles of Rome, and had been denied admittance by the insolence of their slaves. He recollected too the friendship of a few who had relieved his poverty, and assisted his rising hopes. But those who had spurned, and those who had protected, the Thracian, were guilty of the same crime, the knowledge of his original obscurity. For this crime many were put to death; and by the execution of several of his benefactors Maximin published, in characters of blood, the indelible history of his baseness and ingratitude.^[14]

[edit] Rule

[edit] Consolidation of power

Maximinus hated the nobility and was ruthless towards those he suspected of plotting against him.^[15] He began by eliminating the close advisors of Alexander.^[3] His suspicions may have been justified; two plots against Maximinus were foiled.^[16] The first was during a campaign across the Rhine, during which a group of officers, supported by influential senators, plotted the destruction of a bridge across the river, then leave Maximinus stranded on the other side.^[17] Afterwards they planned to elect senator Magnus emperor; however the plot was discovered and the conspirators executed.^[15] The second plot involved Mesopotamian archers who were loyal to Alexander.^[18] They planned to elevate Quartinus, but their leader Macedo changed sides and murdered Quartinus instead, although this was not enough to save his own life.^[15]

[edit] Defence of frontiers

The accession of Maximinus is commonly seen as the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century (also known as the "Military Anarchy" or the "Imperial Crisis"), the commonly applied name for the crumbling and near collapse of the Roman Empire between 235 and 284 caused by three simultaneous crises: external invasion, internal civil war, and economic collapse.^[10]

Maximinus' first campaign was against the Alamanni, whom Maximinus defeated despite heavy Roman casualties in a swamp near what is today Baden-Württemberg.^[19] After the victory, Maximinus took the title Germanicus Maximus,^[8] raised his son Maximus to the rank of Caesar and Prince of Youths, and deified his late wife Paulina.^[3] During this time Maximinus probably campaigned deep into Germania, defeating a Germanic tribe in the Battle at the Harzhorn.^[20] Securing the German frontier, at least for a while, Maximinus then set up a winter encampment at Sirmium in Pannonia,^[8] and from that supply base fought the Dacians and the Sarmatians during the winter of 235–236.^[3]

Symmachus scrie pe la anul 500 lucrarea Vita Maximini, unde, în cartea a V a despre Maximin Tracul, găsim informaţii privitoare la limba strămoşească a geţilor: ,,Se relatează că Maximinus… provenea dintr-un sat trac… născut din părinţi barbari dintre care tatăl era din Gothia/Dacia şi mama era născută din neamul alanilor… A fost foarte iubit de geţi ca şi cum ar fi fost cetăţean de-al lor… Şi chiar din fragedă copilărie a fost păstor… în ziua de naştere a fiului mai mic a unui get, împăratul Severus oferea jocuri militare propunînd ca răsplată arginţi… acesta deşi tînăr, cu puf pe barbă şi pe atunci neştiutor de latină, i-a cerut împăratului în mod public aproape în grai tracic să-i dea permisiunea de a se măsura cu aceia care deja se luptau la nivel mai avansat”.   

 Galerius (293-305)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerius

Emperor of the Roman Empire 

Photo at: http://www.livius.org/ei-er/emperors/emperors04.html
 

Reign March 1 or May 21, 293[1] – May 1, 305 (as Caesar, under Diocletian)[2]
May 1, 305 – late April or early May 311 (as Augustus alongside Constantius (until July 25, 306) then Severus (until spring 307) then Constantine (from ca. September 307; unrecognized by Galerius' coinage from ca. September 307 to November 308) then Licinius (from November 11, 308))[3]
Full name Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus[2]
Born ca. 260[4]
Birthplace Felix Romuliana (Gamzigrad, Serbia)[5]
Died Late April or early May 311[6]
Place of death near Serdica
Buried at Felix Romuliana (Gamzigrad, Serbia)[5]
Consort to Valeria[8]
Mother Romula (alleged)[9]
Galerius Maximianus (ca. 260–late April or early May 311), formally Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus was Roman Emperor from 305 to 311.Germanicus maximus (293), Gothicus maximus (293), Aegyptiacus maximus (294), Thebaicus maximus (294), Sarmaticus maximus (294), Persicus maximus (295?), Britannicus maximus (296?), Carpicus maximus (297), Medicus maximus (298), Adiabenicus maximus (298.) Co-emperor of Constantius I Chlorus; ruled in the east.  Died May 311: natural death 

 Picture at: http://www.mapsoft.co.yu/dev/news/slike/gamzigrad.jpg

and at: http://www.serbia-visit.com/uploads/pics/c_10_4626_2.jpg

  Early life
Galerius was born near the present day City of Zaječar in Serbia,[10] in the place where he later built his palace, Felix Romuliana (today Gamzigrad, Serbia).[11]  (on the road to Calafat- Romania).

His father was a Thracian and his mother Romula was a Dacian woman, who left Dacia because of the Carpians' attacks. He originally followed his father's occupation, that of a herdsman, where he got his surname of Armentarius (Latin: armentum, herd). He served with distinction as a soldier under Emperors Aurelian and Probus, and in 293 at the establishment of the Tetrarchy, was designated Caesar along with Constantius Chlorus, receiving in marriage Diocletian's daughter Valeria (later known as Galeria Valeria), and at the same time being entrusted with the care of the Illyrian provinces. Soon after his appointment, Galerius would be dispatched to Egypt to fight the rebellious cities Busiris and Coptos.[12]

 War with Persia
See also: Roman relations with the Parthians and Sassanids and Roman-Persian Wars

Invasion, counterinvasion
In 294, Narseh, a son of Shapur who had been passed over for the Sassanid succession, came into power in Persia. Narseh probably moved to eliminate Bahram III, a young man installed by a noble named Vahunam in the wake of Bahram II's death in 293.[13] In early 294, Narseh sent Diocletian the customary package of gifts, but within Persia he was destroying every trace of his immediate predecessors, erasing their names from public monuments. He sought to identify himself with the warlike reigns of Ardashir (r. 226–41) and Shapur (r. 241–72), the same Shapur who had sacked Roman Antioch, skinned the Emperor Valerian (r. 253–260) to decorate his war temple.[14]

In 295 or 296, Narseh declared war on Rome. He appears to have first invaded western Armenia, retaking the lands delivered to Tiridates in the peace of 287. He would occupy the lands there until the following year.[15] Narseh then moved south into Roman Mesopotamia, where he inflicted a severe defeat on Galerius, then commander of the Eastern forces, in the region between Carrhae (Harran, Turkey) and Callinicum (Ar-Raqqah, Syria).[16] Diocletian may or may not have been present at the battle,[17] but would present himself soon afterwards at Antioch, where the official version of events was made clear: Galerius was to take all the blame for the affair. In Antioch, Diocletian forced Galerius to walk a mile in advance of his imperial cart while still clad in the purple robes of an emperor.[18] The message conveyed was clear: the loss at Carrhae was not due to the failings of the empire's soldiers, but due to the failings of their commander, and Galerius' failures would not be accepted.[19] (It is also possible that Galerius' position at the head of the caravan was merely the conventional organization of an imperial progression, designed to show a Caesar's deference to his Augustus.)[20]

 http://www.mlahanas.de/Greece/Cities/ThessalonikiArchOfGalerius.html

Detail of Galerius attacking Narseh on the Arch of Galerius at Thessaloniki, Greece, the city where Galerius carried out most of his administrative actions.[21]Galerius had been reinforced, probably in the spring of 298, by a new contingent collected from the empire's Danubian holdings.[22] Narseh did not advance from Armenia and Mesopotamia, leaving Galerius to lead the offensive in 298 with an attack on northern Mesopotamia via Armenia.[19] Diocletian may or may not have been present to assist the campaign.[23] Narseh retreated to Armenia to fight Galerius' force, to Narseh's disadvantage: the rugged Armenian terrain was favorable to Roman infantry, but unfavorable to Sassanid cavalry. Local aid gave Galerius the advantage of surprise over the Persian forces, and, in two successive battles, Galerius secured victories over Narseh.[24].During the second encounter, Roman forces seized Narseh's camp, his treasury, his harem, and his wife along with it.[25] Narseh's wife would live out the remainder of the war in Daphne, a suburb of Antioch, serving to the Persians as a constant reminder of Roman victory.[19] Galerius advanced into Media and Adiabene, winning continuous victories, most prominently near Erzurum,[26] and securing Nisibis (Nusaybin, Turkey) before October 1, 298. He moved down the Tigris, taking Ctesiphon, and gazing onwards to the ruins of Babylon before returning to Roman territory via the Euphrates.[27].

Peace negotiations
Narseh had previously sent an ambassador to Galerius to plead for the return of his wives and children, but Galerius had dismissed this ambassador, reminding him of how Shapur had treated Valerian.[22] The Romans, in any case, treated Narseh's captured family with tact, perhaps seeking to evoke comparisons to Alexander and his beneficent conduct towards the family of Darius III.[19] Peace negotiations began in the spring of 299, with both Diocletian and Galerius presiding. Their magister memoriae (secretary) Sicorius Probus was sent to Narseh to present terms.[22]

The conditions of the peace were heavy:[19] Persia would give up territory to Rome, making the Tigris the boundary between the two empires. Further terms specified that Armenia was returned to Roman domination, with the fort of Ziatha as its border; Caucasian Iberia would pay allegiance to Rome under a Roman appointee; Nisibis, now under Roman rule, would become the sole conduit for trade between Persia and Rome; and Rome would exercise control over the five satrapies between the Tigris and Armenia: Ingilene, Sophanene (Sophene), Arzanene (Aghdznik), Corduene, and Zabdicene (near modern Hakkâri, Turkey). These regions included the passage of the Tigris through the Anti-Taurus range; the Bitlis pass, the quickest southerly route into Persian Armenia; and access to the Tur Abdin plateau. With these territories, Rome would have an advance station north of Ctesiphon, and would be able to slow any future advance of Persian forces through the region.[28] Under the terms of the peace Tiridates would regain both his throne and the entirety of his ancestral claim, and Rome would secure a wide zone of cultural influence in the region.[22] The fact that the empire was able to sustain such constant warfare on so many fronts has been taken as a sign of the essential efficacy of the Diocletianic system and the goodwill of the army towards the tetrarchic enterprise.[29] .

Persecution of Christians
Main article: Diocletian Persecution
Christians had lived in peace during most of the rule of Diocletian. The persecutions that began with an edict of February 24, 303, were credited by Christians to Galerius' work, as he was a fierce advocate of the old ways and old gods. Christian houses of assembly were destroyed, for fear of sedition in secret gatherings.

Diocletian was not anti-Christian during the first part of his reign, and historians have claimed that Galerius decided to prod him into persecuting them by secretly burning the Imperial Palace and blaming it on Christian saboteurs. Regardless of who was at fault for the fire, Diocletian's rage was aroused and he began one of the last and greatest Christian persecutions in the history of the Roman Empire.

It was at the insistence of Galerius that the last edicts of persecution against the Christians were published, beginning on February 24, 303, and this policy of repression was maintained by him until the appearance of the general edict of toleration, issued from Nicomedia in April 311, apparently during his last bout of illness, in his own name and in those of Licinius and Constantine (see Edict of Toleration by Galerius). Lactantius gives the text of the edict in his moralized chronicle of the bad ends to which all the persecutors came, De Mortibus Persecutorum ("On the Deaths of the Persecutors", chapters 34, 35). This marked the end of official persecution of Christians.
Death
Galerius died on 5 May 311 from a horribly gruesome disease described by Eusebius, possibly some form of bowel cancer, gangrene or Fournier gangrene.Galerius is remembered in Serbian mythology as herdsman emperor (Latin: armentarius; Serbian: car govedar)[30]

Gamzigrad-Romuliana, Palace of Galerius near Zaječar in Serbia he had constructed in his birthplace, was inscribed into the World Heritage List in June 2007.

 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thesaloniki-Tomb_of_Galerius_%28right_side%29.jpg

  Gaius Valerius Galerius Maximinus- Daia (307-313)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

20 November, c. 270 - July/August, 313) Roman emperor from 308 to 313, was originally named Daia or Daza. ( http://www.roman-emperors.org/daia.htm).   He was born of peasant stock to the half sister of the Roman emperor Galerius near their family lands around Felix Romuliana; a rural area now in the Danubian region of Serbia, then the newly reorganised Roman province of Dacia Aureliana subordinated to the later Prefecture of Illyricum.

He rose to high distinction after he had joined the army, and in 305 he was adopted by his maternal uncle, Galerius, and raised to the rank of caesar, with the government of Syria and Aegyptus.

Photo at:http://www.livius.org/a/2/emperors/daia_coin.jpg  http://www.livius.org/

 In 308, after the elevation of Licinius to Augustus, Maximinus and Constantine were declared filii Augustorum ("sons of the Augusti"), but Maximinus probably started styling himself after Augustus during a campaign against the Sassanids in 310.

On the death of Galerius, in 311, Maximinus divided the Eastern Empire between Licinius and himself. When Licinius and Constantine began to make common cause with one another, Maximinus entered into a secret alliance with the usurper Caesar Maxentius, who controlled Italy. He came to an open rupture with Licinius in 313, he summoned an army of 70,000 men, but still sustained a crushing defeat at the Battle of Tzirallum, in the neighbourhood of Heraclea Pontica, on the April 30, and fled, first to Nicomedia and afterwards to Tarsus, where he died the following August. His death was variously ascribed "to despair, to poison, and to the divine justice".^{[citations needed]}

Maximinus has a bad name in Christian annals, as having renewed persecution after the publication of the toleration edict of Galerius (see Edict of Toleration by Galerius). Eusebius of Caesarea^[1], for example, writes that Maximinus conceived an "insane passion" for a Christian girl of Alexandria, who was of noble birth noted for her wealth, education, and virginity. When the girl refused his advances, he exiled her and seized all of her wealth and assets.^[2]

 References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

• Media related to Maximinus II at Wikimedia Commons
• DiMaio, Michael, "Maximinus Daia (305-313 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis
• Catholic Encyclopedia article

 Aurelius Valerius Valens (316-317)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerius_Valens

Tombstone of Gaius Valerius Valens, Corinth.

In the first civil war between Licinius and Constantine I, the latter won an overwhelming victory at the battle of Cibalae on October 8, 316.^[2] (some historians date it in 314),^[3] Licinius fled to Adrianople where, with the help of Valens, gathered a second army. There, early in December 316, he elevated Valens to the rank of Augustus, presumably in order to secure his loyalty^[4]. Much later, Licinius would use the same trick (with just as little success) in the second civil war with Constantine, by appointing Martinianus co-emperor.

Despite the literary sources referring to Valens as a junior emperor (Caesar), the numismatic evidence indicates his Augustan rank.^[5]

After Licinius's indecisive defeat at Campus Ardiensis in later 316 / early 317, Constantine was still in the dominant position from which he was able to force Licinius to recognize him as the senior emperor, depose Valens and appoint their sons as Caesars. According to Petrus Patricius, he explicitly expressed his anger from the elevation of Valens by saying the following to the envoy of Mestrianus:^[6]

The emperor made clear the extent of his rage by his facial expression and by the contortion of his body. Almost unable to speak, he said, "We have not come to this present state of affairs, nor have we fought and triumphed from the ocean till where we have now arrived, just so that we should refuse to have our own brother-in-law as joint ruler because of his abominable behaviour, and so that we should deny his close kinship, but accept that vile slave ^[7] [ie Valens] with him into imperial college".

The peace treaty was finalized at Serdica on 1 March, 317^[8] Whether it was part of the agreement is unknown, but Licinius also had Valens executed.

 Citations

• DiMaio, Michael, "Valens (316 A.D.)", DIR (1996).

  Licinius

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licinius

Aureus of Licinius, celebrating his tenth year of reign and the fifth year of his son Licinius (on the obverse).

For other Romans of this name, see Licinius (gens).

Valerius Licinianus Licinius (c. 250 - 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324.

Of Dacian peasant origin, born in Moesia Superior, Licinius accompanied his close childhood friend, the Emperor Galerius, on the Persian expedition in 297. After the death of Flavius Valerius Severus, Galerius elevated Licinius to the rank of Augustus in the West on November 11, 308. He received as his immediate command the provinces of Illyricum, Thrace and Pannonia.

On the death of Galerius, in May 311, Licinius shared the eastern empire with Maximinus Daia, the Hellespont and the Bosporus being the dividing line.

In March 313 he married Flavia Julia Constantia, half-sister of Constantine, at Mediolanum (now Milan); they had a son, Licinius the Younger, in 315. Their marriage was the occasion for the jointly-issued "Edict of Milan" that restored confiscated properties to Christian congregations and allowed Christianity to be professed in the empire.

In the following month, on April 30, Licinius inflicted a decisive defeat on Maximinus at the Battle of Tzirallum, after Maximinus had tried attacking him. Then, Licinius established himself master of the East, while his brother-in-law, Constantine, was supreme in the West.

In 314, a civil war erupted between Licinius and Constantine, in which Constantine prevailed at the Battle of Cibalae in Pannonia (October 8, 314) and again two years later, when Licinius named Valerius Valens co-emperor, in the plain of Mardia (also known as Campus Ardiensis) in Thrace. The emperors were reconciled after these two battles and Licinius had his co-emperor Valens killed.

Licinius' fleet of 350 ships was defeated by Constantine I's fleet in 323. In 324, Constantine, tempted by the "advanced age and unpopular vices" of his colleague, again declared war against him, and, having defeated his army of 170,000 men at the Battle of Adrianople (July 3, 324), succeeded in shutting him up within the walls of Byzantium. The defeat of the superior fleet of Licinius in the Battle of the Hellespont by Crispus, Constantine’s eldest son and Caesar, compelled his withdrawal to Bithynia, where a last stand was made; the Battle of Chrysopolis, near Chalcedon (September 18), resulted in Licinius' final submission. While Licinius' co-emperor Sextus Martinianus was killed, Licinius himself was spared due to the pleas of his wife, Constantine's sister, and interned at Thessalonica. The next year, Constantine had him killed, accusing him of conspiring to raise troops among the barbarians.

Serbian tradition

For unknown reasons, Licinius was traditionally for centuries throughout the entire Serbian historiography considered as a Serb and as a forefather of the House of Nemanjić. This only changed with historical accounts of Slavic migrations by 19th century historians.

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Pears, Edwin. “The Campaign against Paganism A.D. 324.” The English Historical Review, Vol. 24, No. 93 (January 1909) : 1-17.

External links

• Media related to Licinius at Wikimedia Commons
• De Imperatoribus Romanis website: Licinius
• Socrates Scholasticus account of Licinius' end

Time goes by, history changes, only for the Messapian people from the east of the Apennine Peninsula, as well as for the Venetics on the lower flow of the River Padus, to be considered today of Thracian origin (according to some, Thraco-Illyrian). Some Romanian villages still bear names such as Upper Venice, Lower Venice, or Rome. Long before the legendary name Rome was used, the name ROMULA had been fairly common with the Geto-Dacians. Not long ago, I was writing about "the Biggest Dacian Empire of our era", recalling the names of three Roman emperors - Geto-Dacians - who ruled over Rome and over the entire ancient world. The first, Galerius the Elder, was the child, born out of wedlock, of Romula, a Dacian woman from the walled town Recidava, who worshipped Zalmoxes. Galerius the Elder abolished the Roman Empire in 305 AD, changing its name into Great Dacia. Galerius (293 - 311), Diocletianus's son-in-law, had a bad reputation among the Christians as he executed the orders of his father-in-law, himself considered one of the biggest persecutors of Christianity. It seems he was also a gifted general and even likened to Alexander the Great (also of Thracian origin) by Niels Hannestad, especially after his victories in Asia Minor. The statue that was erected for him showed him holding a big brass sphere, representing the sun (according to Ioannes Lydas, 6th century AD, Fontes, II, 495). Consequently, in the 4th century AD, the Empire of Great Dacia was re-founded, the Dacians becoming once more the masters of the world. Folk songs and carols still speak of Galerius (Ler Imparat, in Romanian), the Dacians' Emperor.
Eusebius of Caesarea, writes that after Galerius changed the name of the Roman Empire into the Dacian Empire, he handed his armies the old Dacian flag - the Gnostic Snake (made of brass, leather or even cloth) - fastened horizontally to a cornel stick (according to professor Dumitru Balasa, in The History of Daco-Romania). Galerius declared himself the worst enemy to the name "Roman" (Fontis, II, 6-7) and moved the capital to Thessalonike. Lactantius, a Roman chronicler, was writing in 325 AD that Galerius the Elder was "a beast, foreign to the Roman blood" (Fontis, II, 7). Indeed, the entire army had only Dacian officers, commanders and soldiers. Their belief in Zalmoxes and in immortality made them almost unvanquished. After their victory against the Persians, the Salonic Arch of Triumph was erected. The monument was made of white marble, decked with bas-relief carvings, and was considered by the same Niels Hannestad "the most important of the tetrarchic monuments preserved", as it recorded the triumph of the Dacians over the whole ancient world, both Oriental and Occidental. In 313, before dying, Galerius decreed FREE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANITY. His two nephews were to ascend the throne after him: Galerius the Younger and Constantine the Great. The latter would rebuild the bridge over the Danube (built for the first time by his ancestor, Burebista).
He moves the capital to Constantinople and legally sanctions Christian worship by the Milan Edict in 313 AD. This pleased Helena, the new emperor's mother. He erects an arch of triumph in Rome on which the Daco-Ramantes are present in 8 over 3 meter high statues, representing Dacian commanders-in-chief. The two arches of triumph, as well as the three above-mentioned Dacian emperors glorify the Dacians' victories. "The Romans descended from the old Ramantes people, whose ancestors were the old Dacian tribes. Consequently, the wars between the Dacians and the Romans were nothing else than fratricidal." (Prof. Dumitru Balasa)