Pannonia

Pannonia province of the Roman Empire 9 BC–107 AD →   → Province of Pannonia highlighted Capital Carnuntum,[1] Sirmium,[2] Savaria,[3] Aquincum,[4] Poetovio[5] or Vindobona[6] History  - Established 9 BC  - Incorporation into Illyricum Trajan divided the province into Pannonia Superior (western part with the capital Carnuntum), and Pannonia Inferior (eastern part with the capitals in Aquincum and Sirmium) Today part of Hungary, Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Slovakia

The Roman empire in the time of Hadrian (ruled 117-138 AD), showing, on the middle Danube river, the imperial provinces of Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior and the 2 legions deployed in each in 125

Map showing Constantine I's conquests of areas of present-day eastern Hungary, western Romania and northern Serbia, in the first decades of the fourth century (pink color).

Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located over the territory of the present-day western Hungary, eastern Austria, northern Croatia, north-western Serbia, Slovenia, western Slovakia and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Name

Julius Pokorny derived the name Pannonia from Illyrian, from the Proto-Indo-European root *pen-, "swamp, water, wet" (cf. English fen, "marsh"; Hindi pani, "water").^[7]

History

The first inhabitants of this area known to history were the Pannonii (Pannonians), a group of Indo-European tribes akin to Illyrians. From the 4th century BC it was invaded by various Celtic tribes. Little is heard of Pannonia until 35 BC, when its inhabitants, allies of the Dalmatians, were attacked by Augustus, who conquered and occupied Siscia (Sisak). The country was not, however, definitely subdued by the Romans until 9 BC, when it was incorporated into Illyricum, the frontier of which was thus extended as far as the Danube.

In AD 6, the Pannonians, with the Dalmatians and other Illyrian tribes, engaged in the so-called Great Illyrian Revolt, and were overcome by Tiberius and Germanicus, after a hard-fought campaign which lasted for three years. After the rebellion was crushed in AD 9, the province of Illyricum was dissolved, and its lands were divided between the new provinces of Pannonia in the north and Dalmatia in the south. The date of the division is unknown, most certainly after AD 20 but before AD 50. The proximity of dangerous barbarian tribes (Quadi, Marcomanni) necessitated the presence of a large number of troops (seven legions in later times), and numerous fortresses were built on the bank of the Danube.

Some time between the years 102 and 107, between the first and second Dacian war, Trajan divided the province into Pannonia Superior (western part with the capital Carnuntum), and Pannonia Inferior (eastern part with the capitals in Aquincum and Sirmium^[8]). According to Ptolemy, these divisions were separated by a line drawn from Arrabona in the north to Servitium in the south; later, the boundary was placed further east. The whole country was sometimes called the Pannonias (Pannoniae).

Pannonia Superior was under the consular legate, who had formerly administered the single province, and had three legions under his control; Pannonia Inferior at first under a praetorian legate with a single legion as garrison, after Marcus Aurelius under a consular legate, still with only one legion. The frontier on the Danube was protected by the establishment of the two colonies Aelia Mursia and Aelia Aquincum by Hadrian.

Under Diocletian a fourfold division of the country was made:

• Pannonia Prima in the northwest, with capital in Savaria / Sabaria,
• Pannonia Valeria in the northeast, with capital in Sopianae,
• Pannonia Savia in the southwest, with capital in Siscia,
• Pannonia Secunda in the southeast, with capital in Sirmium

Diocletian also moved parts of today's Slovenia out of Pannonia and incorporated them in Noricum. Constantine I enlarged in 324 AD the borders of Roman Pannonia to the east, annexing the plains of what is now eastern Hungary, northern Serbia and western Romania up to the limes that he created: the Devil's Dykes.

In the 4th-5th century, one of the dioceses of the Roman Empire was known as the Diocese of Pannonia. It had capital in Sirmium and included all four provinces that were formed from historical Pannonia, as well as provinces of Dalmatia, Noricum Mediterraneum and Noricum Ripensis.

In the middle of the 5th century, Pannonia was ceded to the Huns by Theodosius II, and after the death of Attila successively passed (entirely or partially) into the hands of the Ostrogoths (456–6th century), Lombards (530–68), Gepids (6th century), Byzantine Empire (6th century and 11th-12th century), Avars (560s – c.800), various Slavic states (Slavs living there since c. 480s; independent since 7th century), Franks (8th-9th century), Magyars (since 900/901), Holy Roman Empire (since 10th century), Habsburgs (since 14th century), Ottomans (since 1512; the Ottoman administration ended in 1878) and Serbia (since 19th century). After the First World War, the region was divided between Austria, Hungary the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929) and Czechoslovakia.

During the first period of Byzantine administration in the 6th century, province named Pannonia (with capital in Sirmium) was temporarily restored, but it included only small south-eastern part of historical Pannonia. In the second period of Byzantine administration (11th century) a province named Theme of Sirmium (also with capital in Sirmium) was established in this same area. An Frankish frontier march named March of Pannonia was established in the end of the 8th century, while terms Lower and Upper Pannonia were also used in the 9th century as a designations for an Slavic principality and an Frankish province.

Furthermore, between the 5th and the 10th century the romanized population of Pannonia developed the Romance Pannonian Language, mainly around the lake Balaton in present-day western Hungary, where there was the keszthely culture. This language and the related culture were extinct with the arrival of the Magyars.

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  Pannonia in the 1st century

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  Pannonia in the 2nd century

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  Pannonia in the 4th century

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  Pannonia with Constantine I "limes" in 330 AD

Cities and auxiliary forts

Aerial photography: Gorsium - Tác - Hungary

Aquincum

Ruins of Imperial Palace in Sirmium

The native settlements consisted of pagi (cantons) containing a number of vici (villages), the majority of the large towns being of Roman origin. The cities and towns in Pannonia were:

• Acumincum (Stari Slankamen, in present-day Serbia)
• Ad Flexum (Mosonmagyaróvár, in present-day Hungary)
• Ad Herculae (Čortanovci, in present-day Serbia)
• Ad Mures (Ács, in present-day Hungary)
• Ad Novas (Zmajevac, in present-day Croatia)
• Ad Statuas (Vaspuszta, in present-day Hungary)
• Ad Statuas (Várdomb, in present-day Hungary)
• Alisca (Szekszárd, in present-day Hungary)
• Alta Ripa (Tolna, in present-day Hungary)
• Andautonia (Ščitarjevo, in present-day Croatia)
• Aqua Viva (Varaždin, in present-day Croatia)
• Aquae Balisae (Daruvar, in present-day Croatia)
• Aquincum (Óbuda, Budapest, in present-day Hungary)
• Arrabona (Győr, in present-day Hungary)
• Bassianae (Donji Petrovci, in present-day Serbia)
• Bononia (Banoštor, in present-day Serbia)
• Brigetio (Szőny, in present-day Hungary)
• Burgenae (Novi Banovci, in present-day Serbia)
• Caesariana (Baláca, in present-day Hungary)
• Campona (Nagytétény, in present-day Hungary)
• Carnuntum (Petronell, Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, in present-day Austria)
• Celeia (Celje, in present-day Slovenia)
• Certissa (Đakovo, in present-day Croatia)
• Cibalae (Vinkovci, in present-day Croatia)
• Cirpi (Dunabogdány, in present-day Hungary)
• Contra-Aquincum (Budapest, in present-day Hungary)
• Contra Constantiam (Dunakeszi, in present-day Hungary)
• Lugio (Dunaszekcsõ, in present-day Hungary)
• Cornacum (Sotin, in present-day Croatia)
• Cuccium (Ilok, in present-day Croatia)
• Cusum (Petrovaradin, in present-day Serbia)
• Gerulata (Rusovce, in present-day Slovakia)
• Gorsium-Herculia (Tác, in present-day Hungary)
• Graio (Sremska Rača, in present-day Serbia)
• Intercisa (Dunaújváros, in present-day Hungary)
• Iovia or Iovia Botivo (Ludbreg, in present-day Croatia)
• Lugio (Dunaszekcső, in present-day Hungary)
• Lussonium (Dunakömlőd, in present-day Hungary)
• Marsonia (Slavonski Brod, in present-day Croatia)
• Matrica (Százhalombatta, in present-day Hungary)
• Morgentianae (Tüskevár (?), in present-day Hungary)
• Mursa (Osijek, in present-day Croatia)
• Mursella (Mórichida, in present-day Hungary)
• Neviodunum (Drnovo, in present-day Slovenia)
• Onagrinum (Begeč, in present-day Serbia)
• Poetovio (Ptuj, in present-day Slovenia)
• Quadrata (Lébény, in present-day Hungary)
• Rittium (Surduk, in present-day Serbia)
• Sala^{[disambiguation needed ]} (Zalalövő, in present-day Hungary)
• Saldae (Brčko, in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Savaria or Sabaria (Szombathely, in present-day Hungary)
• Scarbantia (Sopron, in present-day Hungary)
• Serbinum or Servitium (Gradiška, in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica, in present-day Serbia)
• Siscia (Sisak, in present-day Croatia)
• Solva (Esztergom, in present-day Hungary)
• Sopianae (Pécs, in present-day Hungary)
• Taurunum (Zemun, in present-day Serbia)
• Teutoburgium (Dalj, in present-day Croatia)
• Ulcisia Castra (Szentendre, in present-day Hungary)
• Valcum (Fenékpuszta, in present-day Hungary)
• Vindobona (Vienna, in present-day Austria)

Economy and country features

Ancient peoples in Pannonia

The country was fairly productive, especially after the great forests had been cleared by Probus and Galerius. Before that time timber had been one of its most important exports. Its chief agricultural products were oats and barley, from which the inhabitants brewed a kind of beer named sabaea. Vines and olive trees were little cultivated. Pannonia was also famous for its breed of hunting dogs. Although no mention is made of its mineral wealth by the ancients, it is probable that it contained iron and silver mines. Its chief rivers were the Dravus, Savus, and Arrabo, in addition to the Danuvius (less correctly, Danubius), into which the first three rivers flow.

Legacy

The ancient name Pannonia is retained in the modern term Pannonian plain.

See also

• Pannonian plain
• Roman Empire
• Roman provinces

References

1. ^ Vienna, Anthony Haywood, Caroline (CON) Sieg, Lonely Planet Vienna, 2010, page 21.
2. ^ The third book of history: containing ancient history in connection with ancient geography, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, Jenks, Palmer, 1835, page 111.
3. ^ The Archaeology of Roman Pannonia, Alfonz Lengyel, George T. Radan, University Press of Kentucky, 1980, page 247.
4. ^ People and nature in historical perspective, Péter Szabó, Central European University Press, 2003, page 144.
5. ^ Historical outlook: a journal for readers, students and teachers of history, Том 9, American Historical Association, National Board for Historical Service, National Council for the Social Studies, McKinley Publishing Company, 1918, page 194.
6. ^ THE COTTAGE CYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, ED.M.PIERCE, 1869, page 915.
7. ^ J. Pokorny, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, No. 1481
8. ^ The Routledge Handbook of Archaeological Human Remains and Legislation, Taylor & Francis, page 381.

Sources

• Radomir Popović, Rano hrišćanstvo u Panoniji, Vojvođanski godišnjak, sveska I, Novi Sad, 1995.
• Petar Milošević, Arheologija i istorija Sirmijuma, Novi Sad, 2001.

External links

• Pannonia
• Pannonia
• Pannonia
• Pannonia map
• Pannonia map
• Aerial photography: Gorsium - Tác - Hungary
• Aerial photography: Aquincum - Budapest - Hungary

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