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Herodian Book VII [Maximinus the Thrax] 7.2

Book VII 2.1 wV d' aphggelh tauta tw

Book VII. 2.1 After the settling the business mentioned above, Maximinus crossed the bridge1 confidently with his whole army, determined to fight the Germans. It was an enormous host that he was leading, practically the entire Roman fighting strength. Added to them was a very large number of Mauretanian spearmen and Osrhoenian and Armenian archers, some of whom were there as subjects and others under the terms of a friendly alliance; also some Parthians, either serving for pay or deserters and captured prisoners of war, now slaves of the Romans. 2.2 This large body of troops had been assembled earlier by Alexander, but then augmented and trained up to war fitness by Maximinus. The most effective troops against German tactics seem to be the spearmen and archers who make their surprise, light- armed raids and then retire without difficulty. 2.3 Once he had reached hostile territory, Maximinus advanced deep into the country,2 not meeting any resistance because the barbarians had fallen back in front of him. He devastated all the countryside, particularly the ripening corn,3 and set fire to the villages, which he allowed his army to plunder. Fire spreads very easily through such cities4 and through all the houses as the Germans have, because they are short of stone and baked bricks. 2.4 However, there are thick forests, and from them there is a plentiful supply of wooden beams that are built up into a frame and jointed together to make a house.5 Maximinus advanced a long way, acting as described, carrying off plunder and giving the flocks they came across to his soldiers. 2.5 The Germans retreated from the plains and any unwooded areas, but hid in the forests and waited in the marshes, so as to launch their attack and fight in this area. Here the thick foliage formed a barrage against the arrows and missiles of the enemy, and the deep marshes were dangerous for the Romans because they were unfamiliar with the locality. For the Germans, with their experience of the country and the knowledge of which places were unfordable and which provided firm standing, it was easy to cross by wading up to their knees in water. 2.6 They were also adept swimmers, since the rivers were the only places they used for washing. It was mostly in these regions that the skirmishes took place, and here that the emperor took charge of the battle in person with great bravery.6 At a very large swamp, to which the Germans were retreating in flight and the Romans were hesitating to follow them, Maximinus took the lead by plunging into the marsh on horse-back (even though the level of the water came over the horse's belly), and killed many of the barbarians that resisted. 2.7 The effect of his action was that the rest of the army grew ashamed to betray an emperor who was fighting for them, and they gained the courage to wade into the swamp. both sides lost a lot of men, many Romans but practically the whole existing army of the barbarians, as a result of Maximinus' distinguished action. The shallow water was filled with bodies and, as the swamp became stained with blood, it looked like a naval battle7 to the infantry fighting there. 2.8 The emperor made a report on the battle and his own distinguished part in a dispatch to the senate and the people. But he went further, and ordered huge pictures8 of it to be painted and set up in front of the senate house, so that Romans would be able to see as well as hear about his exploits. Later the picture was destroyed by the senate along with the rest of his honorary dedications. There were other engagements, too, in which Maximinus personally took a leading part in the battle and was always commended for bravery. 2.9 After capturing many prisoners and loads of plunder, he returned to Pannonia because winter had set in.9 At Sirmium,10 which is considered to be the biggest town, he spent his time making preparations for his spring offensive. He intended (and would have achieved) the total defeat and subjection of all the German barbarian tribes as far as the ocean.

¹ Presumably in the vicinity of Mainz, where Alexander had been murdered; the repair of the forts of Zugmantel and Saalburg (6.7.2n) in the Taunus salient were the work of Maximinus. The troops with Maximinus are discussed by Ritterling, RE (legio) 1333ff.^

²Scriptores Historiae Augusti, Maximinus 12.1 says that Maximinus advanced a distance about thirty or forty miles into hostile territory; but he seems to have moved south along the frontier from the Taunus Mountains to the area of Wurttemberg; there are signs of the graves of men from an oriental ala kataphractaria at both Rodelheim bei Frankfurt and Cannstatt (cf. ILS 9148, Goessler, Germania 15 (1931) 10 ff.; Persian cataphracts were said by SHA, Alexander 56.5; to be part of Alexander Severus' force). Maximinus' presence is also supported by inscriptions from near Tubingen, CIL XIII. 6375, 9083. From here the forts near Regensburg were repaired (cf. 6.7.2n for references). The whole Rhine-Danube limes was repaired, CIL XIII. 6547, 9121.^
³ In 7.1.6 Herodian says that Maximinus planned to set out on his expedition as soon as possible after Alexander's assassination; i.e. about April; there may have been a delay after the conspiracy of Magnus, so that it was not until mid-summer that Maximinus invaded Germany, as is suggested here. This would be consistent with a major battle late in 235 (as suggested in 7.2.6n); there is nothing to suggest Maximinus postponed the invasion of Germany until 236, as stated by Schmidt, Gesch. d. deutsch. Stamme II. 1.24 ff.^
⁴ After mentioning villages, Herodian suddenly changes to cities; Tacitus, Germ. 16 denies there were cities in Germany in his day; also he states that the houses in Germany were not built contiguously in order to prevent fires spreading. It is probable that Herodian was influenced in his description by the account of the sack of Sardis in Herodotus 5.101.^
⁵ A description of daub-and-wattle houses, either round or rectangular, which have been found in excavations in the middle west and south-west of Germany; cf. Anderson, Tacitus, Germania 102-3.^
⁶ There is no specific geographic feature that identifies the site of this major battle, which could equally well be in Germany or in the Bohemian plain. It is usually assumed that Herodian is describing the climax to his campaign in the Wurtemberg are, where there are signs of his presence (7.2.3n). If so, the date of the battle was probably late 235, though the first evidence of Maximinus' imperator II salutation and the title of Germanicus Maximus do not appear until 236 (7.2.8n). This does not prove that the German expedition was waged in 236 and is consistent with a victory late in the year 235. If Maximinus was to go on and fight a campaign on the Danube in 236, it would seem best to assume he left the Germanies after 235.^
⁷ A classical locus communis with a difference; cf. Thucydides 1.49 (a land battle by sea), Diod. Sic. 13.16 (the same). Since this is so characteristic of Herodian, I do not agree with Mendelssohn's suggestion that the passage is an interpolation.^
⁸ This naturally poses the question of how much of Herodian's own description derived from seeing these pictures; his description falls roughly into four scenes: 1) crossing the bridge; 2) burning the villages; 3) barbarians hiding in the forest and marshes; 4) Maximinus and the battle of the marshes. None of the scenes are described with the kind of detail to suggest Herodian had been present himself or had a first hand informant.^
⁹ The title Germanicus was officially recognized in Rome. It is recorded on CIL VI. 2001 (see 7.1.3n) when Maximinus' son was elected to the sacerdotal colleges in 236; although it is conceivable that the title was only given to the heir to start with, it seems likely that the senate officially voted the honor to Maximinus as well. It was probably at the same time that Maximinus' son (8.4.9n) was formally recognized as Caesar. The abolitio of these honors took place in 238 (7.7.2n).^
¹⁰ Herodian has characteristically compressed two or three years' campaign into a few words (cf. 4.7.2n); the chronology of the German and Dacian-Sarmatian wars of Maximinus are perhaps as follows: at Moguntiacum spring 235; in the Wetterau mid=summer 235 (7.2.3n); in the Wurttemberg area late 235, where he probably spent the winter 235/6 (Regensburg?); move to the lower Danube and a major campaign in 236, after wich he assumed the titles Dacicus Maximus and Sarmaticus Maximus with the imperator III salutation (all appear on CIL III 10649 with Maximinus' trib. pot. II; cf. V. 8076, XI. 1176), and possibly also the imperator IV salutation; therefore winter at Sirmium 236/7; more fighting against the Sarmatians and Dacians in 237 and addition of imperator V and perhaps imperator VI salutations; after which Maximinus "returned" to Sirmium (where he had been praefectus tironum before 235) and fought against the Dacians and Sarmatians for two full years. Against this view is the fact that not a single coin or inscription shows the Germanicus title or imperator II in 235, indicating that the battle occurred too late in the year for inclusion in the titles, or that it was not fought until spring 236, but in neither case making it plausible that Maximinus would winter at Sirmium 235/6.^

Herodian Book VII [Maximinus the Thrax] 7.2