Istvánovits Eszter: International Connections... (Jósa András Múzeum Kiadványai 47. Aszód-Nyíregyháza, 2001)
Andrea Vaday: Military system of the Sarmatians
Aquincum, which means that the territory designated for their new home must have been in the northern zone of the Sarmatian territory, far from the provincial borders. 31 Thus although several smaller tribal units can be differentiated within the Sarmatian territory, a centralised power structure was created on Roman intervention that was to remain loyal to the Romans for a relatively long time. We find references to the inner structures of several smaller tribes in the above-cited description of the peace negotiations. These data must be seen in the light of the fact that no king, viceroy or chief was mentioned by the sources for either the Amicensis or the Picensis Sarmatians, but we do hear about a "coetus seniorum" as an arbitration body (Ammian. XVII. 13. 21). This old tribal rank formation had not been mentioned earlier in the sources with relation to the Sarmatians of the Hungarian Plain. It is impossible to determine if it existed at all, bereft of its original purpose, among the other Sarmatian tribes, or if the archaic custom was revived only by the Sarmatians who had liberated themselves from their masters in order to demonstrate their separation from other tribes led by the king, or indeed if it is not mentioned merely because of the superficial character of the sources. There is yet another possibility, namely that the "coetus seniorum" was present in each tribe, but only within smaller tribal units or perhaps within the settlements; as regards the Limigantes, we cannot expect to find either an acknowledged tribal chief or an armed military aristocracy due to their subdued position, even if they were more populous. There are no data about the social rank order of tht Arcaragantes. It is striking, however, that no reference had been made in the earlier centuries to the existence of slavery among the Sarmatians 32 ; it appeared suddenly in the first third of the 4 th c, although not in the entire Sarmatian territory, only in certain parts of it. Furthermore, the names of these units are known only from the description of these events. 33 Accordingly, the following picture can be drawn from the time of Constantine the Great and Constantine II regarding the populations of the Arcaragantes and the Limigantes: This table reveals that with the exception of Quadian King Viduarius, who was mentioned in connection with the Brigetio campaign, no king was mentioned at Rex (nomen?) Ф Sarmatae Liberi (Arcaragantes) Ф Sarmatae Servi (Limigantes) 5 Amicenses Coetus seniorum Picenses 31 According to T. Nagy the Limigantes "were settled far away from the Roman provincial borders between the Tisza, the Maros and the Körös" (NAGY 1973, 103). It is, however, more probable that the designated territory was more to the north, since they attacked the Romans at Aquincum and it is highly improbable that they could have marched through the Danube-Tisza Interfluve, the centre of the territory of Zizais, who ruled over the Arcaragantes and the Limigantes as well. The northern border zone, the area beyond the entrenchment, seems more probable as the route of the advance, which was also used by the Vandali when they attacked Pannónia. 32 Some researchers supposed that the Sarmatians could have sold slaves to the Romans, but this is not supported by reliable data. The Sarmatian names in Roman territories belonged to people who were taken to the provinces as war captives or became inhabitants of the Empire in the cause of redemption. It was stressed even in the case of the Alans that they were born free. 33 The two names can conceal populations that arrived relatively late from the east and turned the subdued population or the defeated enemy into slaves.
