Common errors about Antiquity

[sonic]

'On the last day of December, 406, the Vandals, Sueves and Alans crossed the frozen Rhine'.

Hey, I did not know that that was a fake! Please, tell me more. This one's too good to leave out!

The date may be open to dispute. Kulikowski claims that the year should be 405. The date is given in Prosper as 406, but Kulikowski claims that as Prosper is a chronicle, the date was moved to 406 as otherwise 406 would have been a 'blank' year. Instead, he thinks we should rely on the account given in Zosimus (Book 6 - I think 6.3.1) where the rebellion in Britain, securely dated to (mid) 406, is caused by the invasion. I must admit I'm not really convinced by his claims.

However, the other part is much clearer. The idea that the Rhine was frozen is not in any of the primary sources and the earliest mention of which I am aware is in Gibbon: ‘The victorious confederates pursued their march, and on the last day of the year, in a season when the waters of the Rhine were most probably frozen, they entered, without opposition, the defenceless provinces of Gaul’. (Gibbon, 1861, II, 250) Prior to this, there is no mention anywhere of the Rhine being frozen.