You are a #Roman soldier born in province of Dalmatia (modern-day #Croatia). Most of your life you've spent on the Adriatic coast, in the warm Mediterranean climate. It is a paradise on Earth. And it is the heartland of the mighty #RomanEmpire.
Your life is about to change... /1
Then, your emperor, great #Hadrian, commands you and your unit to move. Not to the East, where you could still enjoy all benefits of civilization. Or to Africa, also a place to be.
No, Hadrian dispatches you to the ends of the known world. To the cold and hostile Brittania /2
Precisely, you and your unit are sent to man the furthermost part of the northern frontier. To the Hadrian wall, which is nearing its completion. In the following decade, you will guard this remote outpost against the barbarian threat. /3
This is more than a story. It is exactly what happened to the detachment of the Cohors IV Delmatarum from the #Dalmatian coast. Their destination was fort Mediobogdum, located on the western side of the Hardknott Pass in the county of Cumbria. /4
Built between 120 and 138 AD, the fort was briefly abandoned during the Antonine advance into Scotland during the mid-2nd century. It was reoccupied around 200 and continued in use until the last years of the 4th century. /5
One of the most remote and dramatically sited Roman forts in #Britain, the small, three-acre fort at Hardknott enjoyed command of the Eskdale Valley and the Roman road to Ravenglass. /6
And how do we know the story? Well, the Dalmatian soldiers left an inscription in the fort, which survived (in fragments) to the present day, a witness of a fascinating journey from ancient #history. /7
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Rome didn’t fall in 476.
It moved east—to Constantinople.
Fifty years later, it came back.
In the north, it became the Exarchate of Ravenna, and it endured till 751 AD.
In the south, it held on for three more centuries...
This is the story of the exarchs.
A thread 🧵
In 568, the Lombards invaded Italy. They took Milan in 569, and then Pavia. The imperial navy could protect coastal cities but do little while the Lombards pushed south
The Gothic War had ended barely a decade earlier.
Italy was shattered. The Empire had no legions to spare.../1
By 584, emperor Maurice created a new frontier structure - the Exarchate of Ravenna.
The exarch was no mere governor - he was a general, judge, and imperial representative
It was a last-ditch fusion of civil and military power. A fire measure to keep imperial rule in Italy. /2
In 394 AD, a Roman rhetor was branded a “barbarian.” Not for his birth—but for backing the wrong emperor.
His name was Eugenius. He spoke Latin, dressed Roman, worshipped like any citizen.
But he lost.
So—what did it mean to be Roman?
A thread 🧵
So — Was there a Roman national identity?
Not in the modern ethnic or racial sense. But over 1,000+ years, the Romans forged a powerful and complex identity rooted in law, behavior, and loyalty—not blood. /1
In the Republic and early Empire, “Roman” meant citizen—participating in Roman law, institutions, and military service. Obeying the authorities.
Citizenship was an ultimate prize, most easily obtainable through military service, through a coveted diploma /2
#OTD, in 451 AD, in the vicinity of a town nowadays known as Troyes, the Battle of Catalaunian plains took place. The Roman-led coalition, under Aetius, defeated Attila and his army.
Aetius won the battle, but he could not save the Western Roman Empire; nor himself
A thread🧵
Flavius Aetius was born around 390 AD in the Roman frontier town of Durostorum, now Silistra, on the Bulgarian side of the Danube.
Aetius’ father, Gaudentius, was a high-ranking officer under emperor Honorius. Almost nothing is known of Aetius’ youth... /1
Except that the young man followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming an officer in the Roman army.
This was usual for the period, as military service in the Late Roman Empire was hereditary duty, and it was the easiest way for an ambitious man to climb to the very top /2
In 48 BC, Julius Caesar arrived in Alexandria. Standing before the sarcophagus, deeply moved Caesar paid his respects to the great conqueror.
Here lay a man who had conquered the world by thirty. Caesar wept - and began dreaming.
Of a grand Parthian campaign.
A thread 🧵
The Parthians were no mere kingdom. Only few years before Caesar visit to the Alexander's tomb, the Parthians humbled Rome at Carrhae, annihilated legions, and captured revered eagles.
For Caesar, the wound was political and personal. He wanted justice - and glory eternal. /1
Caesar would have to wait. Ironically, it was at Carrhae the Parthians had killed Crassus - his fellow triumvir and (uneasy) ally
Crassus’ death shattered the fragile balance of power. Leaving a dangerous power vacuum. Caesar and Pompey, once comrades, plunged Rome into war /2