Marcus Aurelius\' function on the Danube

[Casmin]

The Marcomanni invaders put the Empire in dire straights. Perhaps MA felt the need to be at the front during the Empire's most critical hour. I'm sure the truth is a mix of several reasons.

[Praefectus Urbi]

I apologise if some of this has already been rehashed. I think some of it was the sense of an emperor with no military experience going there to show he was a good leader. I think B. Campbell discusses this in his 'The Emperor and the Roman Army' in the section on the emperor as a military leader. Combined with the hard fighting it might be a good morale boost to see their emperor on the front with them as a fellow-soldier/comrade rather than a distant monarch.

Also, it may simply have just represented the serious nature of the campaign.

Michael

[Praefectusclassis]

Another option:
Yesterday, I heard a very interesting lecture about the spread of Roman wares in the Germanic 'barbaricum'. One of the conclusions: it is quite possible that due to the seriousness of the attacks all along the Rhine & Danube - of which the Marcomanni & Quadi were the pinnacle of horribleness - Rome set up diplomatic contacts with other tribes, further north, either to keep them quiet or even get them to attack the warring tribes in the back. Estimates, btw, of losses due to these wars & the plague which ran amock in the empire at the same time, go up as high as at least 1/3rd of the entire army. A pretty serious situation in which the emperor's presence might be important in many ways.

[Iosephus]

Avete,

I agree with the previous posts, plus I think there is one more thing to consider: the personality of MA.

If his own memorials are true then there are two more factors:

1. MA was a stoic philosopher who disliked the intrigues and servility of his own court in Rome, thus he could see the war as a possibility to "flee" from his decadent and turncoat courtiers
2. MA had a very strong idea of duty and honour. He could think that if his Empire is in need, then he, as the Emperor, had the duty to be there where the situation is the most dire (on the frontline).

Just my two cents!

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

Welcome to RAT Janák!

[Iosephus]

Thanks for the Welcome, Jeroen!
I have been reading RAT since it become v2.0. I just get to the point of having the courage (and I hope the experience) to get involved.

BTW I see I made a mistake. I have to "correct" my signature:
Janák is my family name and József is my first name. In Hungarian we write our names this way. Oops!
I will swap it.