Roxolani

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Roxelana.
The Roman empire under Hadrian (ruled 117–138), showing the location of the Roxolani Sarmatians in the Wallachian plain (Romania)

The Roxolani or Rhoxolāni (

Latin: Rhoxolānī) were a Sarmatian people documented between the 2nd century BC and the 4th century AD, first east of the Borysthenes (Dnieper) on the coast of Lake Maeotis (Sea of Azov), and later near the borders of Roman Dacia and Moesia. They are believed to be an offshoot of the Alans.[1][2]

Name

The name Roxolani is generally interpreted as a

Nart sagas.[2]

Historian

Rosomoni mentioned by Jordanes could be also related, and their name interpreted as the 'Ros Men'.[4][5]

Geography

Their first recorded homeland lay between the

Don and Dnieper rivers; they migrated in the 1st century AD toward the Danube, to what is now the Baragan steppes in Romania.[2]

History

1st century BC

Around 100 BC, they invaded the

Mithradates VI.[6]

1st century AD

In the mid-1st century AD, the Roxolani began incursions across the

Roman auxiliaries, who destroyed a raiding force of 9,000 Roxolanian cavalry encumbered by baggage. Tacitus (Hist. Bk1.79) describes the weight of the armour worn by the "princes and most distinguished persons" made "it difficult for such as have been overthrown by the charge of the enemy to regain their feet". The long two-handed kontos lance, the primary melee weapon of the Sarmatians, was unusable in these conditions. The Roxolani avenged themselves in AD 92, when they joined the Dacians in destroying the Roman Legio XXI Rapax
.

2nd century

During

forts along the Danube to contain the Roxolani threat. Later, Marcus Aurelius
also campaigned against the Roxolani along the Danubian frontier.

3rd century

They are known to have attacked the Roman Province of Pannonia in 260; shortly afterwards contingents of Roxolani troops entered Roman military service.

4th century

Like other Sarmatian peoples, the Roxolani were conquered by the Huns in the mid-4th century.

Culture

The

Scythian peoples.[8]

Legacy

Alanic means "radiant light", thus the ethnonym Roxolani could be understood as "bright Alans".[9] He theorized that the name Roxolani a combination of two separate tribal names: the Rus and the Alans.[9] It is not widely accepted. The most common theory about the origin of the word Russian is the Germanic version. The name Rus', like the Proto-Finnic name for Sweden (*Ruotsi), supposed to be descended from an Old Norse term for "the men who row" (rods-).[10][11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Vernadsky 1959, pp. 63–64.
  2. ^ a b c d Alemany 2000, p. 8.
  3. ^ Kooper, Erik (2006). The Medieval Chronicle IV. Rodopi. p. 118.
    ISBN 90-420-2088-1
    .
  4. ^ Vernadsky 1959, p. 68.
  5. ISBN 978-1-317-74224-1
    .
  6. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rhoxolani" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 273.
  7. ^ Strabo's Geographika, Book VII
  8. ^ Strabo's Geographika, Book II, page 441
  9. ^ a b George Vernadsky (1959). The Origins of Russia. Clarendon Press. In the Sarmatian period the Rus' were closely associated with the Alans. Hence the double name Rus- Alan (Roxolani). As has been mentioned,1 ruxs in Alanic means 'radiant light'. The name 'Ruxs-Alan' may be understood in two ways: ... of two clans or two tribes.1 That the Roxolani were actually a combination of these two clans may be seen from the fact that the name Rus (or Ros) was on many occasions used separately from that of the Alans. Besides, the armour of the ...
  10. ISBN 9780521035521. Archived
    from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  11. ^ Stefan Brink, 'Who were the Vikings?', in The Viking World Archived 14 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine, ed. by Stefan Brink and Neil Price (Abingdon: Routledge, 2008), pp. 4–10 (pp. 6–7).

Sources

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Further reading

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