The Danubian provinces of the Roman Empire were the provinces of the Lower Danube, within a geographical area encompassing the middle and lower Danube basins, the Eastern Alps, the Dinarides, and the Balkans. [2] They include Noricum, Dacia ( Trajana and Aureliana), the northern part of Dalmatia, Moesia (Inferior and Superior), Scythia Minor, and Pannonia ( Superior and Inferior). The Danube defined the region to the north, with the Carpathian Mountains to the north and east. [3] These provinces were important to the Imperial economy as mining regions, [4] and their general significance in the Empire of the 3rd century is indicated by the emperors who came from the region. [5]
The Roman presence in the region can be described as having four phases from Augustus to Hadrian: military conquest under Augustus, and consequent military actions; the establishment of military bases along roads and river crossings under Claudius; the establishment of camps along the river for stationing legions and auxiliaries carried out by the Flavian dynasty and Trajan; and further expansion into Dacia north of the Danube. Hadrian's approach was to defend and maintain, a policy that remained more or less in effect until the latter 4th century, when Roman control disintegrated. [6] The pattern of Roman settlement after the time of Hadrian became standard: a fort ( castra), a military town ( canabae) associated with it, and a town ( municipium) developing two or three miles away. [7]
The Danubian population has been estimated as at least 2 million during the reign of Augustus, and 3 million in the 2nd century, but these figures are not based on hard data, and later archaeological investigations indicate a greater degree of development than had been recognized. [8] In the time of the Antonines, there were perhaps 3 to 6 million inhabitants. [9]
References
- ^ N.J.G. Pounds, An Historical Geography of Europe 450 B.C.-A.D. (Cambridge University Press, 1973), p. 160.
- ^ J.J. Wilkes, "The Roman Danube: An Archaeological Survey," Journal of Roman Studies 95 (2005), p. 124.
- ^ Wilkes, "The Roman Danube," p. 124.
- ^ Alfred Michael Hirt, Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World: Organizational Aspects 27 BC–AD 235 (Oxford University Press, 2010), passim.
- ^ Barbara Levick, Vespasian (Routledge, 1999, 2005), p. 153.
- ^ Wilkes, "The Roman Danube," p. 149.
- ^ Wilkes, "The Roman Danube," p. 159.
- ^ Pounds, An Historical Geography, p. 114.
- ^ Pounds, An Historical Geography, p. 116.
 | This Ancient Rome–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |