Istvánovits Eszter: International Connections... (Jósa András Múzeum Kiadványai 47. Aszód-Nyíregyháza, 2001)

Andrea Vaday: Military system of the Sarmatians

name several waves fused and created a unified barbarian kingdom. The subreguli alongside the king must have been the leaders of these tribal fragments supported by the tribal aristocracy, the bt xparoi optimales. The great variety of burial rites reflects the tribal mixture in the Hungarian Plain, which was last summarised by V. Kulcsár (KULCSÁR 1998). The same is implied indirectly by the Roman literary sources, since the distinctive name of the Jazyges was no longer used, but simply replaced by the Sarmatian ethnic designation. Only a few cemeteries from this period contain graves with weapons, and its seems that, apart from the northern border zone, graves with weapons did not play any special role. With the surrender of Dacia a mass immigration of the Roxolani began, first of all to the southeastern part of the Hungarian Plain. The growing population of the Hungarian Plain, however, was more and more in need of Roman defence. The Romans provided it in a series of treaties (in addition to the permanent alliance with the Quadi) pledging that the Sarmatian territory would function as an advanced limes. This manifested itself in the construction of a stretch of the Csörsz Ditch at the beginning of the 4

th c. Our knowledge of this comes from the events of the war in 322. Literary sources state that the barbarians crossed the Danube under King Rausimodus and besieged Campona, but Constantine attacked them from the rear, expelled the invaders from the province and chased them through the barbarian territories; then, having defeated them in a battle in Moesia, he returned to the Empire at Margum and distributed the plunder at Bononia (Zosim. 2, 21; Publius Optatianus Porphyrius Carm. VT, 14-20). King Rausimodus himself fell in the battle. The interpretation of the name of the king is the source of debate among specialists. It was based on the German King of the same name and Zosimus's misunderstanding when he merged the attack against ripa Sarmatica and the attack by the Goths in the same year.

12 Later data from Antique authors suggest that the Romans were attacked by one of the Sarmatian tribes, in strong confederation with the Quadi and also partly commanded by them

13

; hence it is possible that also their king came from a German tribe.

14 Ammianus Marcellinus reported on events in the time of Constantine that may offer some insight into the internal organisation and socio-military order of the Sarmatians. The Gothi and Taifali forced out of the limes region on the Lower Danube withdrew westwards and then attacked the Vandali living in the Körös/Cris region (Anon. Vales. 6, 31) at the beginning of 332. The Sarmatians found themselves in a desperate situation, so much that they were forced to ask the Romans for help and even to arm their servants. (Otherwise, the "servants", or Servi - Limigantes - were forbidden to possess weapons.) The Sarmatian servants rebelled and chased away the Sarmatae Liberi (Anon. Vales. 6, 32; Chron. Min. I, 234; Euseb. Chron. 2331/Не1т/). 12 The debate about Rausimodus's person caused by Zosimus's misunderstanding must be mentioned here. The question was first raised by ALFÖLDI 1942, 676, where he mentioned in note 68 that B. Rappaport, A. Stein, E. Stein and C. Patsch assigned the attack to the Sarmatians contrary to F. Dahl and his followers, who, on the basis of Rausimodus's German name, connected it to the Gothic war of the same year, SCHMIDT 1941, 225 also declared Rausimodus a Goth. NAGY 1973, 108 interpreted the events as a Sarmatian—Roxolanian attack. MÓCSY 1990, 298, note 10 also mentioned the problem of Rausimodus's identification and, referring to T. Nagy's earlier reasoning, agreed that Zosimus must have been wrong. 13 See the later relationship between Araharius and Usafer. 14 It is also possible that this was only a similarity caused by the long neighbourship often mentioned by the Antique authors.