07-18-2014, 07:19 AM
Back to Everyone,
My library is in storage, and I have few references at hand. Don't know where I got the "30,000" Alans from, but believe this figure came from the 380 recruitment by Gratian. Yes, he had a bodyguard of Alans, but they were just a fragment of the total. I would imagine this Alanic group was the one Christianized by Bishop Amantius in Pannonia. Roman sources are vague, even calling obvious Alans "Goths" in some cases. Likely, these were part of the "Three Peoples" led by the "Two Duces," Alatheus and Safrax. They were described as living anywhere from the Balkans to Pannonia, and I would think they might have lived within the entire area that became noted for instability right up to the Rhine crossing.
Were they pushed onto the Danubian Plain by Rua's Huns? And in fact, some of them were Huns and Greutungi. Gratian encountered them on his way to aid Valens in 378; and after the recruitment, they supposedly fought for Theodosius at Frigidus. Part of this group formed the Comites Alani under Stilicho, their leader being Saul.
The amazing instability during 380-406 could not be followed by contemporary historians, the entire Alanic/Gothic population in flux. Robert made a good point-- was it "nomadic" or a "migration." Here is Peter Heather's view, "By the time the various Alanic subgroups involved in the Rhine crossing had reached the Middle Danube... they had recently made one long trek from east of the River Don, so that a proper migratory--- rather than merely nomadic--- habit had already gathered momentum amongst them." (Empires and Barbarians, p. 185) Perhaps Heather simplifies it a bit, and frankly I don't believe he took the entire Pannonian population into account. And it would also seem that the socalled "Goths" that swung over to Alaric after Stilicho's murder were not all Goths, but likely included the Comites Alani and Stilicho's Huns as well. This falls perfectly into the "Three Peoples" definition formerly under Safrax and Alatheus. Unfortunately, the entire period is plagued by contemporary records of over-simplification as to ethnogenre.
My library is in storage, and I have few references at hand. Don't know where I got the "30,000" Alans from, but believe this figure came from the 380 recruitment by Gratian. Yes, he had a bodyguard of Alans, but they were just a fragment of the total. I would imagine this Alanic group was the one Christianized by Bishop Amantius in Pannonia. Roman sources are vague, even calling obvious Alans "Goths" in some cases. Likely, these were part of the "Three Peoples" led by the "Two Duces," Alatheus and Safrax. They were described as living anywhere from the Balkans to Pannonia, and I would think they might have lived within the entire area that became noted for instability right up to the Rhine crossing.
Were they pushed onto the Danubian Plain by Rua's Huns? And in fact, some of them were Huns and Greutungi. Gratian encountered them on his way to aid Valens in 378; and after the recruitment, they supposedly fought for Theodosius at Frigidus. Part of this group formed the Comites Alani under Stilicho, their leader being Saul.
The amazing instability during 380-406 could not be followed by contemporary historians, the entire Alanic/Gothic population in flux. Robert made a good point-- was it "nomadic" or a "migration." Here is Peter Heather's view, "By the time the various Alanic subgroups involved in the Rhine crossing had reached the Middle Danube... they had recently made one long trek from east of the River Don, so that a proper migratory--- rather than merely nomadic--- habit had already gathered momentum amongst them." (Empires and Barbarians, p. 185) Perhaps Heather simplifies it a bit, and frankly I don't believe he took the entire Pannonian population into account. And it would also seem that the socalled "Goths" that swung over to Alaric after Stilicho's murder were not all Goths, but likely included the Comites Alani and Stilicho's Huns as well. This falls perfectly into the "Three Peoples" definition formerly under Safrax and Alatheus. Unfortunately, the entire period is plagued by contemporary records of over-simplification as to ethnogenre.
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
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
