Description
- Abstract:
- This dissertation comparatively examines the acquisition, military organization, and historical development of the last provinces fully incorporated into the Roman Empire – Dacia and Arabia – from 106 to 275 CE. More specifically, this study focuses on the Roman army, the sine qua non of Roman imperial expansion, in order to explore several interrelated questions: Why and how were the Dacian and Nabataean kingdoms transformed into Roman provinces? What was the nature and role of the Roman army in the conquest of these kingdoms, in their physical and administrative organization as frontier provinces, and in their historical development over the second and third centuries? What was the nature of the provincial garrison and military organization of each province, and what changes can be observed in the army’s activities and distribution over time? What was the primary role of the army, and what was the nature of the Roman frontier in each province? What kind of empire wide policies and trends vs. ad hoc local adaptations and developments are evident? This study argues that in both provinces the Roman army was as much concerned with matters of internal security, administration, and control as it was with defending against external threats. Legionary and auxiliary soldiers built and maintained infrastructure, they regulated traffic, secured roads, collected taxes, and served as provincial administrators and customs officers. The army functioned as a military police force, and its primary goal was the protection of Roman economic interests in both territories. The Dacian and Arabian frontiers constituted porous, controlled buffer zones broadly marking the furthest extent of direct Roman control, which both channeled and blocked people and products. They differed markedly from each other and from other Roman frontiers due to unique geographical challenges and Roman interests in each place. Several temporal horizons marked important contemporaneous changes in both provinces: the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius, the Severan period, and the reign of Aurelian. This dissertation demonstrates that the Roman army was a defining characteristic of Roman rule and provincial society in both Dacia and Arabia during the second and third centuries CE.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2016)
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Citation
Bocancea, Emanuela,
"Ad Fines Imperii: The Roman Army in Dacia and Arabia (106-275 CE)"
(2016).
Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z037774R
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Graduate Research Theses and Dissertations
Theses and Dissertations for the Graduate Research department....