scholarly journals Arrian’s Ektaxis in the Roman Empire

Mnemosyne ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Daniel Chiritoiu
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Second Sophistic ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
Military Manual

Abstract This paper proposes to discuss one of Arrian’s so-called ‘minor texts’—the Acies contra Alanos which I prefer to call Ektaxis kata Alanōn—and show how it is not only a military manual, but also allows Arrian to discuss identity, fitting into broader patterns and discourses of the Second Sophistic. In the Ektaxis Arrian, much like a sophist, creates different personas and layers of identity not just for himself but also for his troops, and takes the opportunity to present the Roman army in a diverse way, which differs from portrayals in other authors.

Keeping Military Discipline

2013 ◽  
pp. 311-329
Author(s):  
Stefan G. Chrissanthos
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Major Step ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
Modern System ◽  
History Of ◽  
Military Discipline

This chapter offers a brief history of military discipline in ancient armies, and also investigates how and to what degree societies inflicted discipline on their soldiers, and how, in various ways, soldiers imposed discipline on themselves. Then, it addresses the evolution of military discipline from Greece until eventually something similar to a modern system developed in the early Roman Empire. The death of Alexander had precipitated almost fifty years of continuous warfare that ultimately resulted in the development of the Hellenistic monarchies. The Roman army represented something completely new in ancient Mediterranean warfare. It is observed that the Principate represented a major step in the evolution of ancient military discipline.

Pilgrimage

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian C. Rutherford
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Second Sophistic ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Intellectual Elite ◽  
Roman Egypt ◽  
Greek Novel

This chapter looks at pilgrimage and sacred travel in the Second Sophistic. The principal topics covered are: the survival of traditional Greek forms of pilgrimage (e.g., involving healing, oracles, and initiation); pilgrimage and the festival culture of the Roman Empire, the sacred tourism practiced by members of the intellectual elite to places of religious and cultural significance; visits made by Roman emperors to sacred destinations; pilgrimage and sacred tourism to and within Roman Egypt; and pilgrimage destinations in the East, including Jewish and early Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It takes account of both literary accounts (Pausanias, Lucian, the Greek novel, Philostratus) and epigraphic sources.

No Patriotic Fervor for Pella: Aelius Aristides and the Presentation of the Macedonians in the Second Sophistic

Mnemosyne ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sulochana Ruth Asirvatham
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
The Other ◽  
Second Sophistic ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World

AbstractThis paper examines four speeches by Aelius Aristides that contrast the image of Macedonian history negatively with Greek past and Roman present. Aristides' literary milieu of the 'Second Sophistic' is characterized by Greek self-consciousness and nostalgia in the Roman Empire. While writers like Plutarch and Arrian mythologize the figure of Alexander as a second Achilles and a philosopher-of-war as a means of offering subtle proof of 'Hellenic' primacy over the Romans, Aristides chooses to focus on the more negative aspects of the Macedonian legacy. To the Thebans I and II elaborately update the 'barbaric' image of Philip II found in Demosthenes, making him parallel not only, perhaps, to the Persian enemy of old but also to Rome's contemporary Parthian enemy. The Panathenaic Oration and To Rome, on the other hand, idealize the world of the present, where Athens reigns supreme in culture, Rome in conquest. Aristides' stance suggests that, despite the attractions of the 'Hellenic' Alexander, pride in Greece does not necessarily have to include Macedonian history. What is more important is that writers have some means of Hellenizing Rome, whether by idealizing a 'Greco-Roman' Alexander, or by seeing Rome as the ultimate polis.

V. The Second Sophistic and Imperial Greek Literature

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 74-89
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Literary Culture ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Self ◽  
Greek Literature ◽  
Second Sophistic ◽  
Roman Greece ◽  
Fourth Century Bce

This book has focused so far upon the extraordinary popularity of epideictic oratory in the first three centuries of the Roman empire, the ‘Second Sophistic’ in Philostratus’ sense (notwithstanding its distant roots in the fourth century BCE). We have seen that these declamations were performance pieces, and that issues of identity were explored through the observation of the sophist’s body; that language and style were heavily theorized, but also highly experimental; and that the interpretation of these ingenious, mobile texts demands considerable resourcefulness and attentiveness. What I want to explore in this final chapter is the points of intersection between these aspects of sophistic literature and the wider literary culture of Roman Greece. I shall focus particularly on two areas, which are central to both oratorical declamation and wider literary culture: ‘the self and exotic narrative.

Inconsistency and Lassitude: the Shield Emblems of the Notitia Dignitatum

1983 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 132-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Grigg
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
Conventional View ◽  
Original Manuscript ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Late Roman

It has usually been held that the shield emblems in the Notitia Dignitatum (Not. Dig.) were based upon an official pictorial register or pattern book, containing the unit emblems of the late Roman army. Thought to have been based upon an official source, as the text was, the shield emblems of the Not. Dig. are imagined to have been accurate in the original manuscript. It was only later, according to this view, that errors crept in during the transmission of the text and illustrations, so that the emblems now appear to be somewhat debased. For example, it is held that some of them no longer accompany the titles for which they were apparently intended.Shifts in the relationship between the emblems and titles have long been noted. But there are other, more fundamental, inconsistencies that have escaped the attention of scholars. These previously led me to raise doubts about the truth of the conventional view above and to entertain the possibility ‘that the artist's sources were so impoverished that he was reduced to relying upon his own powers of invention’. I should now like to explain in greater detail my reasons for rejecting the conventional view and advancing the alternative explanation that the shield emblems of the Not. Dig. were largely ad hoc fabrications. The consequences for our understanding of the Not. Dig. and of the art of the later Roman Empire are obviously considerable.

scholarly journals The Defeat of Marc Macrinius Vindex. To the History of the Marcomannic Wars in the Middle Danube

2021 ◽  
pp. 60-65
Author(s):  
S.M. Rubtsov
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
Marcus Aurelius ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Roman Province ◽  
The Military

The article is devoted to the military action of the Roman Empire in the Middle-Danube valley in the early spring 170 year 2-nd centuries A.D. The main aim of this article consists in reconstruction one of the important events in Roman wars against the Germans tribe marcomanni, who lived on the territory of modern-day Czechia (ancient Boygemia). The author uses the analytical and comparative methods, analyzing the historical works of Roman authors and epigraphic facts. One of the main new aspects of article consists in chronology of events. The author tries to prove that defeat of Roman army and death of praefectus Marc Macrinius Vindex took place at the same time in early spring 170 year 2-nd centuries A.D.. This defeat had the important influence on the other military operations in the next time. Marcomanni and his allies seriously threatened the Roman province of Pannonia situated on the right bank of the Danube. The emperor Marcus Aurelius (161 — 180 A.D) waged several wars against the marcomanni and their allies quadi in 167 — 180 A.D. In winter 169 A.D. Marcus Aurelius became the sole emperor. He came back in Carnuntum in Upper Pannonia and began to complete the army for the offensive against marcomanni. The legatus Augusti Marc Macrinius Avitus Catonius Vindex with vexillationes of five Pannonia's legions and a few auxiliums forced a crossing the Danube in the early spring 170 A.D. Marcomanni defeated the Roman army and killed the legatus Augusti. The Germans captivated many soldiers from legions and auxiliums, burned several war-camps in Upper and Lower Pannonias. They reached the borders of the North Italy and besieged the Aquileja again. The author comes to the conclusion, that in result of the defeat of Marc Macrinius Vindex the Roman troops in the Middle and Lower Danube stood on the defensive.

scholarly journals The structure and organization of mobile army of the Emperor Gallienus in 260 – 268

2021 ◽  
pp. 16-26
Author(s):  
Dmitrii Georgievich Volynkin
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
The Third ◽  
Effective Instrument ◽  
The Military

In the middle of the III century, the Roman Empire marked the advent of a prolonged crisis. In order to confront the barbarian invasions and usurpers revolt, military transformations, the Roman Empire was in needed for military transformations and revision of the military machine that has formed in the previous periods. In the late 250s – early 260s, the Emperor Gallienus created a mobile army corps, which in the ancient sources received a name of the “Dalmatian horsemen”. The following questions arise on the structure and size of this mobile corps. Relying on numismatic, narrative, and epigraphic sources, this article examines the changes in organizational and staffing structure of the Roman army in the middle of the III century; assesses the size and composition, and tasks of the Gallienus’ mobile corps. The author analyzes the opinions that have accumulated in the Russian and foreign historiography throughout 200 years, and develops a relevant perspective on the problem of creating a field army during the third century crisis.  The conclusion is made that the Emperor Gallienus had formed a strong mobile army. It was not just a cavalry, but was based on the vexilationes of the border legions of infantry and horsemen. Gallienus did not seek to create a permanent mobile army, being guided by the prevailing military and political circumstances. He used the mobile corps for retaining the controlled territories, repelled the barbarian invasions and suppressed the usurpers. Gallienus’ mobile army has proven to be an effective instrument in hands of the central government. Aurelian reinforced the army with additional detachments, and later on successfully used it against Palmyrene and Gallic separatists, having restored the unity of the empire.

The Roman Army

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Alexander Speidel
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Roman Army ◽  
Roman Society ◽  
Local Tradition ◽  
Roman Culture ◽  
Military Community ◽  
The Military

The Roman imperial army was the largest state-run organization of the Roman Empire with well over 400,000 soldiers and officers serving in Rome, Italy, the provinces, and some even beyond. Men from all levels of Roman society and from all parts of the empire joined this army. The widespread use of inscriptions, even in areas where there was previously no comparable local tradition, reveals the extent to which the military community was rooted in Roman culture. This chapter analyzes this phenomenon, allowing for and explaining the differences in culture due to regional influences and developments.

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