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

Andrea Vaday: Military system of the Sarmatians

king had stood above them. Besides, both of them were agminum gentilium dux. The name agmen refers to a smaller group, and the description of their peoples {pars Quadorum, pars Sarmatarum) also implies smaller populations.

35 Taken together, these data imply that there were two smaller neighbouring groups, with the leadership of the confederation assigned to the Quadian Araharius although both of them stood on the same level in rank among their own people. Araharius's statement that Usafer, although subordinated to him, was still his companion, indicates a limited degree of subordination. The two regales stood above the tribal optimales from whose rank they had come.

36 It should also be added that the only reference to military rank is made in connection with them: "agminum gentilium dux"?

1 It could be hypothesised that since both populational groups were smaller than the others and also described in a different way, they should be treated separately. It is indeed curious that two smaller tribes could have existed between the peoples of Viduarius and Zizais and been ethnically related to both. They were evidently allied with each other but independent of the Quadians and the Sarmatians. If, however, we think of Constantine's military reorganisations within the context of his establishment of the exercitus comitatensis and the introduction of the legionary system in Illyricum alongside the exercitus ripensis responsible for border defence, then we can understand how the military security of the left bank fit into his broader policy of establishing a more effective defence. The territories of Araharius and Usafer facing Pannónia were very important from the Roman point of view, if for no other reason than Aquincum. The "ethnic armies" could defend the area beyond the limes under their commanders assigned to these difficult tracts. If true, this would explain why the two very small tribes, otherwise insignificant in comparison with the other barbarian tribes, were dealt with separately at the negotiations.

38 Accordingly, the agmen gentilium could designate a detachment that was the barbarian counterpart of the exercitus ripensis. Its commander, the dux, and not the rex, was the regalis chosen and perhaps assigned to the rank from the aristocracy.

39 Regalis Zizais, whose case was the first the Emperor dealt with, was an "ordo Sarmatarum". This is not the only point in which he differed from Usafer: similarly to Viduarius's order of ranks, a subregulus came after the regalis The fact that three subreguli are mentioned, and all three discuss people and territories under their control, reveals that in the case of larger territories, the subregulus is positioned between the regalis and the optimates who acts as the rulers of the different regions. Neither the agminum gentilium nor the "inter optimates excellens" is added to the ranks of the three subreguli as in the case of Agilimundus. Furthermore, Ammianus mentioned that they had come to resemble each other during their long coexistence as neighbours. The sources often mentioned both the Sarmatians and the Quadi, but this is the only reference to the Transiugitani. The name might come from the name of a smaller region and contain the word iugum. Perhaps it refers to the population of the Nógrád basin in the northern part of the Börzsöny Mountains, which was truly beyond the mountains from the Roman point of view. Ammianus does not mention the magistrates, who could be found among Vidarius's Quadi, along with the optimates under subregulus Agilimundus. Not agminum dentis dux. If they had really been assigned the task of defending the border, it would not have been advantageous for the Romans to have them to establish any kind of alliance, even less so if centralisation had emerged along this stretch. The recent rescue excavations of the road at Vác (KULCSÁR 1997) confirm that there were significant differences between this region and the centre of the Barbaricum. Hopefully, the forthcoming publication will help to clarify the problem.