This fully illustrated volume describes and illustrates the soldiers who garrisoned the Roman Empire’s eastern provinces in the 4th and 5th centuries.
After the 50-year chaos of the mid-3rd century AD, Emperor Diocletian (r. AD 284–305) and his successor, Constantine I (r. AD 306–37), the first Christian emperor, undertook major administrative reforms to reflect new realities and improve defensive strategy. These changes saw the Roman Army completely reorganized, with its old structure of legions and auxiliary units giving way to central mobile field armies and various classes of garrison troops. In addition, the Army also began recruiting ‘allied barbarians’ in ever-increasing numbers, some of whom rose to positions of supreme command.
In this book, Doctor Raffaele D’Amato draws on the latest archaeological and extensive material from the unique Notitia Dignitatum to explore the armies associated with the Roman Empire’s eastern provinces in the two centuries before the demise of Emperor Romulus Augustus in 476. Illustrated with photographs and drawings of surviving artefacts and imagery, this latest entry in a series charting the Roman Army’s evolution also features eight newly commissioned colour plates.
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION
SELECT CHRONOLOGY (AD)
MILITARY ORGANIZATION
COMPOSITION
UNIT DISTRIBUTION
WEAPONS, EQUIPMENT AND CLOTHING
Barbaricum
The diocese of Dacia – Iconography – Helmets and armour – Shields – Weapons – Brooches, buckles, etc.
The diocese of Macedonia – Iconography –Helmets and armour – Shields – Weapons – Brooches, buckles, etc.
The diocese of Thracia – Iconography – Helmets and armour – Shields – Weapons – Brooches, buckles, etc.
The diocese of Pontus – Iconography –Helmets and armour – Shields – Weapons – Brooches, buckles, etc.
The diocese of Asia – Iconography – Helmets and armour – Shields – Weapons – Brooches, buckles, etc.
The diocese of Oriens – Iconography – Helmets and armour – Shields – Weapons – Brooches, buckles, etc.
The diocese of Aegyptus – Iconography – Helmets and armour – Shields – Weapons – Brooches, buckles, etc.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
PLATE COMMENTARIES
INDEX
About the Author :
Raffaele D'Amato, PhD, is the author numerous books and articles on the Roman Empire, Byzantium and Medieval Europe. He taught at the University of Ferrara, and was a visiting professor at Fatih University, Istanbul. He currently works as an archaeological consultant and lawyer for Timeline Auctions Ltd of Harwich, and also as an external researcher for the Laboratory of the Danubian Provinces at the University of Ferrara.
Raffaele Ruggeri produced the artwork plates for this volume.
