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Roxolani and Iaziges
#89
to you, Holly...

I'm certainly not opposed to continuing this thread on the Iazyges. That's why I'm still here. However, please remember I'm a curmudgeon and often critical of ambiguous "scholarly" writing as well as 90% written by Roman authors. (I trust Tacitus. I trust Ammianus when he speaks for himself, but become leery when he uses older material. Also, I will never forgive him for not explaining Fritigern as a Christian leader. He knew better.) 

Whether or not the Hungarian Plain witnessed hobnobbing between the Iaz and Roxolani during the Marcomannic Wars is still open to debate, probably due to the dearth of info. Cassius Dio mentions them in connection with trade as a consession from Marcus Aurelius just prior to his death. Later authors, including Ammianus, are no help at all when it comes to defining when the Roxolani moved up to Hungary.

Interestingly, we are left with the Historiae Augustae, just about the worst "historical" tract ever penned. Here we find 16 tribes from Gaul to Pannonia, all plotting against poor old Marcus. In his critical work Sources on the Alans, Alemany says, "The presence of Alans and Rhoxolani in the Marcomannic Wars (166-72; 177-80) under Marcus Auerelius, and the fabulous triumph of Aurelian is doubtful, bearing in mind the unreliability of the endless lists of barbarians."

Alemany also gives a geographical reference circa AD117-138, "In the time of Hadrian, they (Roxolani) were located North of the Danube and in both Dacia Inferior and Moesia Inferior under the authority of a rex." According to Dio, they were still there after the Marcomanni Wars when Marcus Aurelius gave trading concessions to the Iaz. Therefore, the Roxolani never intermixed with the Iaz until possibly (not probably) the last decade of the 2nd century. 

Maybe I missed all the good parts. For more really ambiguous writing, we can turn to The Barbaricum in the Roman Period. Here we can't find one date for any of the various graves discussed. Evidently, the Hungarians are too poor to mail samples to a radiologist for Carbon-14 dating. No sense to check cranial structure, either. A Mongoliod might show up! We also don't know who the "late arrivals" were, perhaps Roxolani, perhaps Germans, or maybe someone had trouble setting his Rolex. Likewise, the authors (Istvanovits and Kulcsar) simply won't give us the time. Dodgy

When scanning this document, we only know who was who when a ethno-typical sword stares us in the face.
Lets check out the illustrations for ambiguity at its best. On p.265, we have, "Fig.1 Coffin burial of a warrior from Mexoszemere." How informative. Was he perhaps the mayor's son? Probably not, a little too early. So who was he? Maybe he was a Roxolanus, just a wild guess after noticing his sword measures out to 1.5 meters. That's one long sword, but it fits the description of Tacitus to a tee. Then we move to p. 272 and have this handy caption, "Fig.9 Sword with ringed hilt from Ujszilvas." Wow! I'll bet everybody from Ujszilvas is proud of that! A real short ring-pommeled sword, just like the ones the Iazyges carried, but this one in tribeless, perhaps even cultureless.

Pardon my sick humor and criticism of a poorly done paper, or possibly the authors avoided ethnicity to be politically correct. Let's not offend a Roxolanus and get skewered by a 1.5 meter sword! I'll finish with something neat for you, Holly, because it can be positively dated and it's within your interests. This one is, "A ring pommel sword found at Pevensey, Britain, along with coins of Commodus." Big Grin

   
   
Alan J. Campbell

member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians

Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)

"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
             Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
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Messages In This Thread
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 01-09-2013, 10:02 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 01-10-2013, 04:35 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Robert Vermaat - 01-10-2013, 06:21 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 01-12-2013, 01:08 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Robert Vermaat - 01-16-2013, 04:03 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 01-18-2013, 02:36 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Robert Vermaat - 01-18-2013, 02:58 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Michael Kerr - 01-24-2013, 10:30 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Robert Vermaat - 01-25-2013, 07:00 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Flavivs Aetivs - 01-25-2013, 07:05 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Robert Vermaat - 01-25-2013, 07:48 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Flavivs Aetivs - 01-25-2013, 09:50 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 01-26-2013, 02:06 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 01-26-2013, 02:12 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Michael Kerr - 01-26-2013, 08:16 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Iosephus - 01-27-2013, 05:05 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 01-30-2013, 01:47 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Michael Kerr - 01-30-2013, 08:26 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 01-31-2013, 02:27 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Robert Vermaat - 01-31-2013, 04:45 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 01-31-2013, 11:53 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Sutoris - 02-01-2013, 01:22 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Michael Kerr - 02-01-2013, 12:18 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Robert Vermaat - 02-01-2013, 04:46 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 02-05-2013, 10:53 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Renatus - 02-06-2013, 12:14 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 02-22-2013, 06:56 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 02-23-2013, 02:58 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 02-23-2013, 07:02 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Michael Kerr - 02-23-2013, 11:19 PM
Roxolani and Iazages - by Alanus - 02-26-2013, 01:18 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Sutoris - 02-27-2013, 02:50 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 02-27-2013, 03:09 AM
Roxolani and Iazages - by eduard - 02-28-2013, 12:45 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 02-28-2013, 08:16 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by eduard - 02-28-2013, 05:36 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 02-28-2013, 08:22 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Nadeem - 02-28-2013, 08:24 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-01-2013, 01:34 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by eduard - 03-01-2013, 02:23 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 03-01-2013, 11:53 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-01-2013, 11:25 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 03-04-2013, 10:04 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-04-2013, 10:39 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 03-04-2013, 11:54 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-05-2013, 11:17 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-05-2013, 11:26 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 03-11-2013, 08:32 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Folkert van Wijk - 03-11-2013, 10:32 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Sutoris - 03-11-2013, 11:01 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-12-2013, 12:28 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 03-24-2013, 10:00 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by eduard - 03-25-2013, 01:18 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 03-25-2013, 05:01 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-27-2013, 09:49 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 03-27-2013, 10:04 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-27-2013, 10:17 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Flavivs Aetivs - 03-27-2013, 10:18 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-27-2013, 10:40 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Flavivs Aetivs - 03-27-2013, 10:43 PM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-28-2013, 12:20 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 03-28-2013, 04:46 AM
Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 03-28-2013, 08:56 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Folkert van Wijk - 12-01-2015, 05:22 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 12-02-2015, 12:57 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 12-03-2015, 04:54 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Folkert van Wijk - 12-03-2015, 07:52 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by childeric - 12-03-2015, 02:14 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 12-03-2015, 06:49 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by childeric - 12-03-2015, 07:24 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 12-03-2015, 08:23 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by childeric - 12-03-2015, 08:30 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 12-03-2015, 08:43 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 12-04-2015, 11:47 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by childeric - 12-04-2015, 12:55 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 12-04-2015, 01:40 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by childeric - 12-04-2015, 02:00 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 12-04-2015, 03:08 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Holly Herda - 12-28-2015, 11:41 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 12-29-2015, 03:20 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Nathan Ross - 12-29-2015, 03:15 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 12-29-2015, 04:26 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by childeric - 12-29-2015, 05:47 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 12-29-2015, 07:16 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 12-30-2015, 01:12 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Holly Herda - 12-30-2015, 03:11 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 12-30-2015, 10:14 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Holly Herda - 12-31-2015, 03:40 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 12-31-2015, 06:22 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 01-01-2016, 05:17 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 01-02-2016, 02:32 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Michael Kerr - 01-02-2016, 04:47 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 01-02-2016, 06:38 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Holly Herda - 01-11-2016, 12:49 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by Alanus - 01-11-2016, 02:24 AM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by BoBoOlson - 11-20-2020, 09:33 PM
RE: Roxolani and Iaziges - by BoBoOlson - 11-22-2020, 11:29 AM

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