In this work H. aims to summarise Marcomannic-Roman relations from the beginnings to the end of late antiquity. H.'s bibliography is impressive, although U.-B. Dittrich's thesis is missing (Die Beziehungen Roms zu den Sarmaten und Quaden im vierten Jahrhundert n. Chr. [1984]).
H. begins with an introduction to the history of research and the main written sources from Caesar to the Historia Augusta. It is not clear why he goes as far as this problematic collection of biographies of the emperors, which deals only with the rulers of the Principate, when an important part of the work covers the fourth and fifth centuries. The omission of Ammianus Marcellinus, for instance, is questionable. It is to H.'s credit that he makes use of archaeological sources, with varying degrees of success. H. finds it problematic that the ancient written evidence on the history of the German peoples is limited primarily to the history of events. However, the same is also true for the most part of the textual sources for the Roman provinces.
Chapter 2 deals with the early relationship between the Marcomanni and the Romans, from the time of Caesar to the period before the conquests of Drusus. The Marcomanni appear first as allies of Ariovistus in Caesar's work, and it is right that the Großromstedter Kultur should be associated with the tribe in connection with the appearance of the Elba Germans in Thuringia. The most important part, however, deals with the etymology of the Sueb-Marcomann ethnonyms and the problems of their precise definition, since in Ariovistus’ army the Marcomanni and the Suebi are mentioned separately (B.G. 1.51.2). The latter is particularly important as the Marcomanni and the Quadi fleeing from the Huns to Hispania in the fifth century took again the collective name ‘Sueb’. One of the major unclear points of the work is that even in the later chapters the Marcomanni and Quadi, who are to be understood under the ethnonym Sueb, and the other tribes (see Tac. Germ. 38–43) are not sufficiently separated from each other, although the ancient sources clearly distinguish them as two separate peoples.
Chapters 4 and 5 deal with the Roman conquests in Germania under Augustus and the birth of Maroboduus’ kingdom after his defeat by Drusus. In the latter H. supposes the resettlement was the result of a conscious Roman settlement policy. However, this hypothesis contradicts Tacitus’ remark: pulsis olim Boiis (Germ. 42.1; cf. fugax: Ann. 2.45.3; Vell. Pat. 2.108.1) The problem is still debated. The same is true of the appearance of the Quadi in Western Slovakia, which indeed intensified in the events following Maroboduus’ fall (cf. the appearance of the Dobřichov group). This is also linked to the fact that the oppida of the Celtic Boii north of the Danube, including those at Devín/Theben and Bratislava, were abandoned decades before the arrival of the first Germans.
Chapter 6 discusses with the regnum Vannianum, which for three decades stabilised Barbaricum, bordering Pannonia from the north (20–50 ce). H. also deals with the history of the Flavian and part of the Antonine period. Determining the exact location (East or West of the river Marus/Morava/March) of the regnum Vannianum based on Pliny's description (Nat. Hist. 4.80–1) is hardly possible, because the identification of the river Duria is too uncertain as opposed to that of the Marus. According to the successful reconstruction by A. Mócsy (‘Die Einwanderung der Iazygen’, ActaAnt 25 [1977], 439–46, not noted by H.), the mention of Duria is probably a later insertion.
In Chapter 7, besides the history of the second century, H. examines the legal framework for Roman-Marcomannic trade, imports and treaties with barbarians. It should be noted that this clientela system worked well for several decades (between Trajan's reign and the outbreak of the Marcomannic wars in 166 ce); there were not several successful incursions in this period, as H. states. Despite the high number of imported finds and coins, H.'s suggestion that we should assume money circulation in the case of Marcomanni and Quadi is not convincing, and there is no evidence of the use of writing in Barbaricum. Roman-style stone buildings did appear in Western Slovakia from the second century, but we can hardly use the term villa rustica for them, as H. does (see also pp. 511–15), and the exact purpose of the buildings is not sufficiently clear.
Chapter 8 deals with the Marcomannic Wars during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (166–180 ce). H. summarises the history of the wars and their ancient names. H. is probably right that the wars were triggered by a combination of causes. One of the main demands of the barbarians was receptio, i.e. into the territory of the Roman Empire. The role of the plague is exaggerated in H.'s view, but according to Galenus (De libris propriis 19.17; cf. HA, vita Marci 14.5) a large part of the main army of the barbarians who were wintering in Aquileia fell victim to the pest. In any case, in the following year the epidemic was surely carried into the Danubian provinces and Barbaricum as well.
Chapter 9, ‘Von der Haupt- zur Nebenrolle – der schleichende Bedeutungsverfall der Markomannen’, treats the third and fourth centuries. The chapter title correctly emphasises the decline in the importance of the Marcomanni from an imperial point of view. However, the prosperity of the Severan period was not due to the rising volume of trade with the barbarians and the decades of peace, which are not sufficiently emphasised, but to the general prosperity of the Danubian provinces. This was due to the confidence of the dynastic rulers in the army of Illyricum (pp. 515–27), and it is hardly a coincidence that Septimius Severus, as governor of Upper Pannonia, became ruler and won the civil war of 193–197 ce with the support of local legions. The decline of the role of the Marcomanni in the third century is explained as a migration towards the Quadi, which triggered an eastward expansion of the Quadi. This, however, did not only reach the Danube Bend, but also the area of the present-day Hungarian Plain much further south, where they became direct neighbours of the Sarmatians.
H. discusses the possible settlement of the Marcomanni in Upper Pannonia (pp. 531–3, 579–80). According to the earlier source, which goes back to the Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte (Epitome de Caes. 33.1; Aur. Vict. 33.6; HA, vita Gall. 21.3; trig. tyr. III.4) (B. Bleckmann et al. [edd.], Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte [2022], fr. 84, 183), the first settlement should have been dated to Gallienus’ reign. The latter fits well into the series of tendentious accusations against Gallienus. On the other hand, a possible Marcomannic invasion around 260 cannot be excluded. However, the event of uncertain date cannot be linked with absolute certainty to the Quad-Sarmatian invasion of 260 ce. Contrary to H.'s opinion, it is also clear that the Marcomanni could hardly have been settled in the area of the not yet existent inner fortress of Keszthely-Fenékpuszta. Paulinus’ biography of St Ambrose (c. 36) also mentions the settlement of the Marcomanni in Pannonia at the end of the fourth century ce. However, there is no mention of the entire population migrating into Pannonia I. Part of these Marcomanni can probably be identified with the gens per Raetias deputata, so that Marcomanni may have settled in Raetia too (Not. Dig. Occ. 35.31), as was supposed by D. van Berchem (‘Les Marcomans au service de l'empire’, Carnuntina 3 [1956], 12–16, not used by H.). However, the Pannonian (and Raetian) Marcomanni may have been settled not yet as foederati, but as laeti, as they were under the command of the duces of Pannonia prima or Raetia. The data of the Notitia Dignitatum, including the elite comitatenses troops called Marcomanni (mentioned in Occ. 5.50–1, 198–9, 6.22, 65, 7.38, 183), do not prove anything else.
In the last chapter H. deals with the latest traces of Marcomanni and Quadi, which he connects to the appearance of the Oberleiserberg-type hill settlements. They, based on the name of their ruler (Hunimund), certainly lived under Hun rule in the first half of the fifth century, and then moved into North Pannonia, following Attila's death in 453 and the battle of Nedao.
Many problems are still unanswered by current research, and many different opinions exist. H. should have taken more account of these different hypotheses. Besides the merits of the work, there are several errors. However, an updated second edition would be a significant help for further research.
