Moesia Superior (Roman province)

The Dacian king Duras again orders his troops to attack Roman Moesia in 86.

After this attack, the Roman emperor Domitian personally arrives in Moesia and in August 86 and reorganizes it into two provinces, divided by the river Cebrus (Ciabrus): to the west Moesia Superior—Upper Moesia, (meaning up river) and …

…to the east Moesia Inferior—Lower Moesia (also called Ripa Thracia), (from the Danube river's mouth and then upstream).

Each is governed by an imperial consular legate and a procurator.

Domitian transfers three additional legions to the Danube and plans an attack into Dacia for the next campaign season.

It does not turn out well.

The Romans are compelled to pay large sums in tribute to the Dacians for maintaining peace, as German revolts along the Rhine are requiring augmented military force in Moesia.

This humiliating situation lasts until Trajan becomes Emperor in 98.

Immediately, he begins preparations for wars that will result in the expansion of the Roman Empire to its maximum extent.

Latin culture permeates southeastern Europe over the next five hundred years.

The Romans divide their western Balkan territories into separate provinces.

New roads link fortresses, mines, and trading towns.

The Romans introduce viticulture in Dalmatia, institute slavery, and dig new mines.

Agriculture thrives in the Danube Basin, and towns throughout the country blossom into urban areas with forums, temples, water systems, coliseums, and public baths.

In addition to gods of the Greco-Roman pantheon, Roman legionnaires bring the mystic cult of Mithras from Persia.

The Roman army also recruits natives of the conquered regions, and five sons of Illyrian peasants will rise through the ranks to become emperor.

The Illyrian, Celtic, and Thracian languages will all eventually die out, but the centuries of Roman domination will fail to create cultural uniformity.

Hadrian has grown so frustrated with the continual problems in the territories north of the Danube that the new emperor contemplates withdrawing from Dacia.

As an emergency measure, Hadrian dismantles the wooden superstructure of Apollodorus’s bridge across the Danube, concerned about the threat posed by barbarian incursions across the Olt River and a southward push between a number of Trajan’s colonia and the castrum at Bersobis.

By 118, Hadrian himself has taken to the field against the Roxolani and the Iazyges, and although he defeats them, he agrees to reinstate the subsidies to the Roxolani Hadrian then decides to abandon certain portions of Trajan's Dacian conquests.

The territories added to Moesia Inferior (Southern Moldova, the southeastern edge of the Carpathian Mountains, and the plains of Muntenia and Oltenia) are returned to the Roxolani.

As a result, Moesia Inferior reverts once again to the original boundaries it had possessed prior to the acquisition of Dacia.

The portions of Moesia Inferior to the north of the Danube are split off and refashioned into a new province called Dacia Inferior, corresponding to the region of present Wallachia.

Trajan’s original province of Dacia is relabeled Dacia Superior, corresponding roughly to Transylvania.

It is at this time that Hadrian moves the Legio IV Flavia Felix from its base at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, and orders it stationed in Moesia Superior.

The Jewish-Roman war becomes so serious in the summer of 134 that Hadrian himself comes from Rome to visit the battlefield and summons the governor of Britain, Sextus Juylius Severus, to his aid with thirty-five thousand men of the Xth Legion, and troops are brought from as far as the Danube.

The size of the Roman army amassed against the rebels is much larger than that commanded by Titus sixty years earlier.

Roman losses are very heavy—XXII Deiotariana is disbanded after serious losses.

In addition, some argue that Legio IX Hispana’s disbandment in the mid-second century could also have been a result of this war.

Jerusalem is retaken despite the protracted and heroic defense mounted by the Jewish rebels.

The Marcomannic Wars, a series of wars lasting over a dozen years beginning about 166, pit the Roman Empire against, principally, the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; related conflicts occur with several other barbarian peoples along both sides of the whole length of the River Danube, the Roman empire's northeastern European border.

The Early Movements of the Great Migrations and Germanic Pressure on Rome (3rd Century CE)

During the 3rd century CE, the first major movements of the Great Migrations began, as the Goths migrated westward, displacing and pressuring Germanic tribes in Central and Eastern Europe. This triggered a chain reaction, forcing various tribes and nomadic groups to move toward the Roman Empire, launching raids along Rome’s northern borders.

1. The Gothic Migrations and Their Impact

• The Goths, originally from Scandinavia and the Baltic region, began moving westward and southward into the Pontic Steppe and Central Europe.
• This displaced other Germanic tribes, pushing them toward Roman frontiers in search of new lands and resources.
• The Gothic advance weakened Roman border defenses, forcing Rome to increase military expenditures and fortify key regions.

2. Raids into Gaul and Across the Danube

• Germanic tribes, particularly the Franks, Alamanni, and Vandals, intensified raids into Gaul, exploiting Rome’s internal instability during the Crisis of the Third Century (235–284 CE).
• The Goths, Gepids, and other steppe tribes crossed the Danube, raiding deep into Moesia, Thrace, and even Greece.
• These incursions strained Rome’s resources, forcing emperors to mobilize defensive campaigns and recruit more Germanic auxiliaries into the Roman army.

3. The Broader Impact on the Roman Empire

• The increased pressure on Rome’s frontiers exposed the empire’s vulnerability, requiring more permanent military garrisons along the Rhine and Danube.
• The instability of the Roman economy made it harder to fund border defenses, leading to occasional provincial collapses.
• The pattern of Germanic and steppe incursions foreshadowed the larger-scale invasions of the 4th and 5th centuries, culminating in the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Conclusion: The Prelude to the Great Migration Period

The early movements of Germanic tribes and Gothic incursions in the 3rd century CE set the stage for the full-scale Great Migrations of the 4th and 5th centuries. These pressures on Rome’s northern borders contributed to the empire’s long-term decline, demonstrating the shifting balance of power between Rome and the Germanic world.

The Parthians, under Vologases IV, have invaded Armenia, deposed its Roman client king in favor of a son of Vologases, and destroyed the Roman legion sent to redress the situation.

There is threat of war on Rome’s other frontiers as well—in Britain, and in Raetia and Upper Germany, where the Chatti of the Taunus mountains have recently crossed over the limes.

Marcus Aurelius is unprepared.

Pius seems to have given him no military experience; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Pius' twenty-three-year reign at the emperor's side—and not in the provinces, where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.

Marcus makes the necessary appointments: Marcus Statius Priscus, the governor of Britain, is sent to replace the late Severianus as governor of Cappadocia, and is in turn replaced by Sextus Calpurnius Agricola.

More bad news arrives: Attidius Cornelianus' army had been defeated in battle against the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.

Reinforcements are dispatched for the Parthian frontier.

P. Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding X Gemina at Vindobona (Vienna), leaves for Cappadocia with vexillations from the Danubian legions.

Three full legions are also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany, II Adiutrix from Aquincum, and V Macedonica from Troesmis.

The northern frontiers are strategically weakened; frontier governors are told to avoid conflict wherever possible.

Attidius Cornelianus himself is replaced by M. Annius Libo, Marcus' first cousin.

He is young—his first consulship is in 161, so he is probably in his early thirties—and, as a mere patrician, lacks military experience.

Marcus has chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.

Germanic tribes and other nomadic people have begun in the 160s to launch raids along the northern border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube.

This new impetus westwards is probably due to attacks from tribes farther east.

A first invasion of the Chatti in the province of Germania Superior had been repulsed in 162.

Far more dangerous is the invasion of 166, when the Marcomanni of Bohemia, clients of the Roman Empire since 19, cross the Danube together with the Lombards and other German tribes.

Fronto's son-in-law Aufidius Victorinus had been stationed during the early 160s as a legate in Germany, there with his wife and children (another child had stayed with Fronto and his wife in Rome).

The condition on the northern frontier looks grave.

A frontier post has been destroyed, and it appears as though all the peoples of central and northern Europe are in turmoil.

There is corruption among the officers: Victorinus has to ask for the resignation of a legionary legate who is taking bribes.

Experienced governors have been replaced by friends and relatives of the imperial family.

L. Dasumius Tullius Tuscus, a distant relative of Hadrian, is in Upper Pannonia, succeeding the experienced M. Nonius Macrinus.

Lower Pannonia is under the obscure Ti. Haterius Saturnius.

M. Servilius Fabianus Maximus is shuffled from Lower Moesia to Upper Moesia when Iallius Bassus joins Lucius in Antioch.

Lower Moesia is filled by Pontius Laelianus' son.

The Dacias are still divided in three, governed by a praetorian senator and two procurators.

The peace cannot long hold; Lower Pannonia does not even have a legion.