Marcomannic Wars

Marcomannic Wars
Part of the Roman–Germanic Wars

Detail of a relief scene on the Column of Marcus

Aurelius (in Rome, Italy), depicting a battle of the
Marcomannic Wars, late 2nd century AD

Date AD 166–180 (14 years)

Location Course of the Danube, the northeastern
European border of the Roman Empire
Result Roman victory
Territorial Status quo ante bellum
changes
Roman plans to annex Sarmatia
(Hungarian Plain) and Marcomannia
(Moravia, Slovakia, and Bavaria north
of Danube) abandoned

Belligerents
Roman Empire Principal Belligerents:

Marcomanni
Quadi
Iazyges
Naristi
Chatti
Chauci
Langobardi
Hermunduri
Suebi
 Buri
Cotini
Vandals (Astingi,
Lacringi, and Victohali)
Roxolani
Bastarnae
Costoboci

Commanders and leaders

Imperial family: Marcomanni:
Marcus Aurelius Ballomar
Lucius Verus #
Tiberius Claudius Quadi:
Commodus Ariogaesus

Praetorian prefects: Iazyges:

Titus Furius Banadaspus
Marcus Rufus Zanticus
Marcus Macrinius †
Naristi:
Publius Paternus
Valao
Field marshals (legati):
Publius Helvius Pertinax
Marcus Claudius Fronto †
Marcus Didius Julianus
Gaius Pescennius Niger
Decimus Clodius Albinus
M. Valerius Maximianus
Lucius Gallus Julianus
Gaius Vettius Sabinianus
Titus Vitrasius Pollio
Units involved
Full list of participating Unknown
military units
Strength
13 legions 977,000[a]
2 vexillationes
Danubian fleet
58 auxiliary cohorts

Casualties and losses

Moderate Heavy

The Marcomannic Wars (Latin: bellum Germanicum et Sarmaticum[b] German and Sarmatian war)
were a series of wars lasting from about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against
principally the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; there were related conflicts
with several other Germanic, Sarmatian, and Gothic peoples along both sides of the whole length of the
Roman Empire's northeastern European border, the river Danube.

The struggle against the Germans and Sarmatians occupied the major part of the reign of Roman emperor
Marcus Aurelius, and it was during his campaigns against them that he started writing his philosophical
work Meditations.[c]

Background
Secure for many years following his ascension to power, the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius never left
Italy; neither did he embark on substantial conquests, all the while allowing his provincial legates to
command his legions entirely.[3] Historian Adrian Goldsworthy posits that Pius's reluctance to take
aggressive military action throughout his reign may have contributed to Parthian territorial ambitions.[4]
The resulting war between Parthia and Rome lasted from 161 to 166 AD (under the joint rule of Marcus
Aurelius and Lucius Verus) and, although it ended successfully, its unforeseen consequences for the
Empire were great. The returning troops brought with them a plague (the so-called Antonine Plague),
which would eventually kill an estimated 7 to 8 million people, severely weakening the Empire.[5]
Despite the consequences of the plague, historian Kyle Harper contends that the event should not be
treated as a fatal blow to the Empire.[5] Instead, Rome's resilience was demonstrated since the Empire
remained intact and Roman birth rates in the decade following the plague subsequently increased.[6]

At the same time, in Central Europe during the second-century AD, the first movements of the Great
Migrations were occurring, as the Goths began moving south-east from their ancestral lands at the mouth
of River Vistula (see Wielbark culture), putting pressure on the Germanic tribes from the north and east.
As a result, Germanic tribes and other nomadic peoples launched raids south and west across Rome's
northern border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube.[7] Whether this sudden influx of peoples
with which Marcus Aurelius had to contend was the result of climate change or overpopulation remains
unknown.[8] Theories exist that the various Germanic tribes along the periphery of the Empire may have
conspired to test Roman resolve as part of an attempt to bring to possible fruition Arminius's dream of a
future united Germanic empire.[9] Up until these subsequent wars, the Marcomanni and Quadi generally
enjoyed amicable relations and access to the Empire's wares—archaeological evidence of Roman
household goods and practices illustrate such contact.[10] As with almost all areas within the Empire's
reach, the Romans aimed for a combination of military-territorial dominance, while at the same time,
engaging in mutually beneficial commerce.[11]

History

First Marcomannic War

First invasions
By the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 161 AD, the pressures along the Roman frontier had reached
a critical point as the Germanic tribes along its borders at the Rhine and Danube came to the conclusion
that their survival meant breaking into Rome's territories.[12] Beginning in 162 and continuing until 165,
an invasion of Chatti and Chauci in the provinces of Raetia and Germania Superior was repulsed. In late
166 or early 167, a force of 6,000 Langobardi and Lacringi invaded Pannonia. This invasion was defeated
by local forces (vexillations of the Legio I Adiutrix commanded by a certain Candidus and the Ala Ulpia
contariorum commanded by Vindex) with relative ease, but they marked the beginning of what was to
come. In their aftermath, the military governor of Pannonia, Marcus Iallius Bassus, initiated negotiations
with 11 tribes.[d] In these negotiations, the Marcomannic king Ballomar, a Roman client, acted as a
mediator. In the event, a truce was agreed upon and the tribes withdrew from Roman territory, but no
permanent agreement was reached. In the same year, Vandals (Astingi and Lacringi) and the Sarmatian
Iazyges invaded Dacia, and succeeded in killing its governor, Calpurnius Proculus. To counter them,
Legio V Macedonica, a veteran unit of the Parthian campaign, was moved from Troesmis in Moesia
Inferior to Potaissa in Dacia Superior, closer to the enemy.

First Roman expedition in Pannonia (168)

During that time, as the Antonine plague was ravaging the empire, Marcus Aurelius was unable to do
more, and the punitive expedition he was planning to lead in person was postponed until 168. In the
spring of that year, Marcus Aurelius, together with Lucius Verus, set forth from Rome, and established
their headquarters at Aquileia. The two emperors supervised a reorganization of the defences of Italy and
the Illyricum, raised two new legions, Legio II Italica and Legio III Italica, and crossed the Alps into
Pannonia. The Marcomanni and the Victuali had crossed the Danube into the province, but, at least
according to the Historia Augusta, the approach of the imperial army to Carnuntum was apparently
sufficient to persuade them to withdraw and offer assurances of good conduct. The two emperors returned
to Aquileia for the winter, but on the way, in January 169, Lucius Verus died.[13] Marcus returned to
Rome to oversee his co-emperor's funeral.

Roman expedition against the Iazyges and the Germanic invasion of Italy
In the autumn of 169, Marcus set out from Rome, together with his son-in-law Claudius Pompeianus,
who would become his closest aide during the war. The Romans had gathered their forces and intended to
subdue the independent tribes (especially the Iazyges), who lived between the Danube and the Roman
province of Dacia. The Iazyges defeated and killed Marcus Claudius Fronto, Roman governor of Lower
Moesia. However, while the Roman army was entangled in this campaign, making little headway, several
tribes used the opportunity to cross the frontier and raid Roman territory.

To the east, the Costoboci crossed the Danube, ravaged Thrace and descended into the Balkans, reaching
Eleusis, near Athens, where they destroyed the temple of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

The most important and dangerous invasion, however, was that of the Marcomanni in the west. Their
leader, Ballomar, had formed a coalition of Germanic tribes. They crossed the Danube and won a decisive
victory over a force of 20,000 Roman soldiers near Carnuntum, in what is sometimes known the Battle of
Carnuntum. Ballomar then led the larger part of his host southwards towards Italy, while the remainder
ravaged Noricum. The Marcomanni razed Opitergium (Oderzo) and besieged Aquileia. This was the first
time that hostile forces had entered Italy since 101 BC, when Gaius Marius defeated the Cimbri. The
army of praetorian prefect Titus Furius Victorinus tried to relieve the city, but was defeated and possibly
killed during the battle (other sources have him die of the plague).
There is no consensus amongst scholars as to the
year that the great Germanic invasion towards
Aquileia took place. Several authors, like Marcus
Aurelius' biographer Frank McLynn, accepting the
date of defeat near Carnuntum as 170, place the
great Germanic invasion itself three years earlier.
They maintain it happened in 167 because by the
year 170 the Germans would have been checked by
the Praetentura Italiae et Alpium—the fortifications
which were erected in 168–169 to block a
breakthrough of the Alps to Northern Italy—
whereas all sources confirm it to be a military The Germanic tribes of Central Europe in the mid-
1st century. The Marcomanni and the Quadi are in
walkover. A further argument is that the panic which
the area of modern Bohemia.
gripped Rome in 167–168 would make no sense if
the Germanic tribes were still on the opposite side of
the Danube. Also, no source mentions the emperor being near the front when the disaster occurred,
whereas by 170 Marcus Aurelius had settled there. McLynn maintains that Marcus Aurelius and Lucius
Verus went to Aquileia in 168 to restore morale after the disaster as Aquileia makes no geographical,
logistical or military sense as a base of operations for launching a campaign on the Danube in Pannonia.
The reason McLynn maintains that 170 is proposed by other authors is that too much weight is given to
Lucian's testimony regarding the influence of Alexander of Abonoteichos as a scapegoat for the disaster
whereas it is uncertain whether Alexander was still alive by 170 and Lucian's chronology is at certain
points suspect.[14]

Deviating from the above discussion in English literature, researchers in Slovenia, one of the regions
affected by the Germanic invasion, accept the year 168 as the proper date, based, among other arguments,
on a portrait of Lucius Verus found in Ptuj.[15]

Roman counter-offensive and defeat of the Marcomanni

This disaster forced Marcus to re-evaluate his priorities. Forces
from the various frontiers were dispatched against Ballomar. They
came under the command of Claudius Pompeianus, with the future
emperor Pertinax as one of his lieutenants. A new military
command, the praetentura Italiae et Alpium was established to
safeguard the roads into Italy, and the Danubian fleet was The "Miracle of the Rain", from the
strengthened. Aquileia was relieved, and by the end of 171, the Aurelian column. An unidentified
invaders had been evicted from Roman territory. Intense "rain god" (top right) saves the
diplomatic activity followed, as the Romans tried to win over Roman army.
various barbarian tribes in preparation for a crossing of the
Danube. A peace treaty was signed with the Quadi and the
Iazyges, while the tribes of the Hasdingi Vandals and the Lacringi became Roman allies.

In 172, the Romans crossed the Danube into Marcomannic territory. Although few details are known, the
Romans achieved success, subjugating the Marcomanni and their allies, the Varistae or Naristi and the
Cotini. This fact is evident from the adoption of the title "Germanicus" by Marcus Aurelius, and the
minting of coins with the inscription "Germania capta" ("subjugated Germania"). During this campaign,
Valao, the chief of the Naristi was killed by the Roman General Marcus Valerius Maximianus.

In 173, the Romans campaigned against the Quadi, who had broken their treaty and assisted their kin, and
defeated and subdued them. During this campaign, a famous incident, the so-called "miracle of the rain",
occurred, which was later depicted on the column of Marcus Aurelius and on coins. According to Cassius
Dio, the legio XII Fulminata was hemmed in by a superior Quadi force and almost forced to surrender
because of the heat and thirst. They were saved, however, by a sudden shower, which refreshed the
Romans, while lightning struck the Quadi.[e] Contemporaries and historians attributed it to divine
intervention: Dio stated that it was called by an Egyptian magician praying to Mercury, while Christian
writers such as Tertullian attributed it to a prayer by Christians.

Bas-relief scenes depicting events of the Marcomannic Wars

Marcus Aurelius receiving the Marcus Aurelius celebrating his triumph

submission of the vanquished, over Rome's enemies in 176 AD, riding
with raised vexillum standards in a quadriga chariot
Reliefs come from the (now destroyed) Arch of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, 176–180 AD, Capitoline Museums

In the same year, Didius Iulianus, the commander of the Rhine frontier, repelled another invasion of the
Chatti and the Hermunduri, while the Chauci raided the shoreline of Gallia Belgica.

In the next year, the Romans marched against the Quadi, whereupon the Quadi deposed their pro-Roman
king, Furtius, and installed his rival, Ariogaesus, in his place. Marcus Aurelius refused to recognize him,
and turning back, deposed and exiled him to Alexandria.[f] Thus, by late 174, the subjugation of the
Quadi was complete. In typical Roman fashion, they were forced to surrender hostages and provide
auxiliary contingents for the Roman army, while garrisons were installed throughout their territory.

After this, the Romans focused their attention on the Iazyges living in the plain of the river Tisza
(expeditio sarmatica). After a few victories, in 175, a treaty was signed. According to its terms, the
Iazyges King Zanticus delivered 100,000 Roman prisoners and, in addition, provided 8,000 auxiliary
cavalrymen, most of whom (5,500) were sent to Britain.[g] Upon this, Marcus assumed the victory title
"Sarmaticus".
Marcus Aurelius may have intended to campaign against the remaining tribes, and together with his
recent conquests establish two new Roman provinces, Marcomannia and Sarmatia, but whatever his
plans, they were cut short by the rebellion of Avidius Cassius in the East.[16]

Marcus Aurelius marched eastwards with his army, accompanied by auxiliary detachments of
Marcomanni, Quadi and Naristi under the command of Marcus Valerius Maximianus. After the successful
suppression of Cassius' revolt, the emperor returned to Rome for the first time in nearly 8 years. On 23
December 176, together with his son Commodus, he celebrated a joint triumph for his German victories
("de Germanis" and "de Sarmatis"). In commemoration of this, the Aurelian Column was erected, in
imitation of Trajan's Column.

Second Marcomannic War

The victory celebrations of the previous year were but a brief
respite for in 177 A.D. the Quadi rebelled, followed soon by their
neighbours, the Marcomanni. Marcus Aurelius once again headed
north to begin his second Germanic campaign (secunda expeditio
germanica). He arrived at Carnuntum in August 178 and set out to
quell the rebellion in a repeat of his first campaign, moving first
against the Marcomanni and against the Quadi between 179 and
180 A.D. Under the command of Marcus Valerius Maximianus,
the Romans fought and prevailed against the Quadi in a decisive Celemantia, a Roman castellum on
battle at Laugaricio (near modern Trenčín, Slovakia). The Quadi the left bank of Danube in Slovakia
were chased deeper into Greater Germania westwards, where the
praetorian prefect Publius Tarrutenius Paternus later achieved
another decisive victory against them, but on 17 March 180, Marcus Aurelius died at Vindobona (modern
Vienna).

His son and successor, Commodus, had little interest in pursuing the war after his father's death. Against
the advice of his senior generals, Commodus negotiated a peace treaty with the Marcomanni and the
Quadi. He then left for Rome in early autumn 180 A.D., where he celebrated a triumph on October 22.

Third Marcomannic War

Operations continued against the Iazyges, the Buri and the so-called "free Dacians" living between the
Danube and Roman Dacia. Not much is known about this war, except that the Roman generals included
Marcus Valerius Maximianus, Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. At any rate, the victories they
achieved were deemed sufficient for Emperor Commodus to claim the victory title "Germanicus
Maximus" in mid-182. An inscription (CIL III 5937) describes a campaign against the Germanic tribe of
the Lugii or Burii (Expeditio Burica).

Aftermath
The wars had exposed the weakness of Rome's northern frontier, and henceforth, half of the Roman
legions (16 out of 33) would be stationed along the Danube and the Rhine. Numerous Germans settled in
frontier regions like Dacia, Pannonia, Germany and Italy itself. This was not a new occurrence, but this
time the numbers of settlers required the creation of two new frontier provinces on the left shore of the
Danube, Sarmatia and Marcomannia, including today's Czech Republic and Slovakia. Some Germans
who settled in Ravenna revolted and managed to seize possession of the city. For this reason, Marcus
Aurelius decided not to bring more barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously
been brought there.[h] The Germanic tribes were temporarily checked, but the Marcomannic Wars were
only the prelude of the invasions that would eventually disassemble and end the Western Roman Empire
in the 4th and 5th centuries.

In popular culture
Two films, The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and Gladiator (2000), open with a
fictionalized portrayal of a final battle of the Marcomannic Wars.

Maps
Key: Red arrows: Romans. Green arrows: Marcomanns. Italy and Adriatic Sea at bottom left corner.

First Marcomannic War

Roman expedition against the Iazyges in the eastern
Pannonian Plain and the great Marcomannic invasion
(either 167 or 170)

Roman counter-offensive across the Danube, 171–175

Second Marcomannic War

 Roman operations, 180–182

References

Notes
a. Justin Martyr, The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, : [1] (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20171208070717/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.viii.ii.lxxi.html#)
b. Historian Péter Kovács spells out the various Latin derivatives for each of the Marcomannic
Wars.[1]
c. Marcus Aurelius mentions these peoples in Book 1, annotating them with the note "Among
the Quadi at the Granua".[2]
d. Cassius Dio, LXXII, p. 12.
e. Cassius Dio, LXXII.8–10.
f. Cassius Dio, LXXII.13–14.
g. A branch of the Sarmatians, the Iazyges were much prized as heavy, or "cataphract",
cavalry. Cassius Dio, LXXII.16.
h. Cassius Dio, LXXII, p. 11.

Citations
1. Kovács 2009, pp. 202–203.
2. Marcus Aurelius 2007.
3. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 183.
4. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 341.
5. Harper 2017, p. 115.
6. Harper 2017, p. 116.
7. Wolfram 1988, pp. 40–43.
8. McLynn 2009, pp. 328–329.
9. McLynn 2009, pp. 329–330.
10. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 393.
11. Goldsworthy 2016, p. 394.
12. Bunson 1995, p. 260.
13. Historia Augusta, Lucius Verus, 9.7–11
14. McLynn 2009, p. 628.
15. Curk, I., Arma virumque, DZS, 1999, ISBN 86-341-2168-2
16. Historia Augusta, Marcus Aurelius, 24.5 (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Te
xts/Historia_Augusta/Marcus_Aurelius/2*.html#24)

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xts/Cassius_Dio/72*.html) & LXXIII (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/C
assius_Dio/73*.html)
Goldsworthy, Adrian (2016). Pax Romana. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
ISBN 978-0-30017-882-1.
Harper, Kyle (2017). The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire. Princeton
and Oxford: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-69116-683-4.
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Kovács, Péter (2009). Marcus Aurelius' Rain Miracle and the Marcomannic Wars. Leiden and
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Herodian, History of the Roman Empire since the Death of Marcus Aurelius (https://www.livius.o
rg/he-hg/herodian/hre000.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150504215548/htt
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Marcus Aurelius (2007). "Meditations" (http://classics.mit.edu//Antoninus/meditations.1.one.htm
l). Internet Classics Archive. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20071013052015/http://cl
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Robertson, Donald. How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus
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Wolfram, Herwig (1988). History of the Goths. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
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External links
Marco Aurelio y la frontera del Danubio (https://web.archive.org/web/20060903003556/htt
p://www.satrapa1.com/articulos/antiguedad/Marco_Aurelio/marco_Aurelio.htm) (in Spanish)
Marcus Aurelius and Barbarian Immigration in the Second Century Roman Empire (http://w
ww.worldhistoryblog.com/2006/04/marcus-aurelius-and-barbarian.html) (Archived (https://we
 b.archive.org/web/20110519170029/http://www.worldhistoryblog.com/2006/04/marcus-aureli
us-and-barbarian.html) 2011-05-19 at the Wayback Machine)
The Marcomannic Wars (https://web.archive.org/web/20010601145315/http://www.acuteco
mics.uklinux.net/gladius/germania/wars.html)

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