AEA_24 The Roman Era and the Great Migrations in Central Europe

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2009
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Eliška Kazdová, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Zdeněk Měřínský, CSc.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Dobešová
Timetable
Wed 10:00–11:35 C43
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The lecture is focused at the archaeological and historical characteristic of the first six centuries of the Christian era. A greater space is allocated for the Roman era proper, which features different worlds of civilization in the broader area around the course of the Middle Danube: Roman –provincial with a frontier zone including its forefield, and barbarian with the so-called third zone. The instruction is completed by a brief characteristic of social and cultural changes occurring in Central Europe towards the end of the 4th century AD and in the Migration era to follow.
Syllabus
  • 1. Temporal, territorial and contentual definition of the topic. Basic characteristic of the Roman era in Central Europe. Methodological approaches to the study of the Roman era. An overview of main written sources; epigraphic sources: the stele of Boldog, the petroglyph in Trenčín in context with the find from Zana, Africa (Diana Veteranorum); inscriptions/stamps on bricks and small items made of durable material. 2. Main historical events of the Roman era with a focus on the delimitated territory (the Marbod Empire; the Roman campaign against Marbod; generally on the battle of the Teutobury forest; punitive campaigns of the Romans; the Kingdom of Vannius). North Pannonian limes and a part of the Noricum boundary with examples of military and civilian complexes (Carnuntum, Vindobona, Gerulata, Brigetio, Iža-Leányvár, Lauriacum, Albing). 3. Roman buildings, their dating and functions in the foreland of the Pannonian limes: Slovakia (Bratislava-Děvín, Bratislava-Dúbravka, Stupava etc.), South Moravia, northern part of Lower Austria. Issues of short-term (field, marching) military camps – selected examples. 4. The development of opinions on the division of the Roman era in Central Europe and an overview of archaeological systems of periodization. Relative and absolute chronology. Basic spectrum and significance of the Roman “imports”. Organization, development and intensity of trade (examples of selected commodities). Diplomatic gifts (e.g. metal or glass vessels); seized items. 5. Characteristic of early and late Roman periods from the viewpoint of burial rite and settlement conditions: the Plaňany group of the Grossromstedt culture; the Marbod Empire and classical fibulae with eyelets horizon. The phenomenon of richly equipped princely graves in the late Roman era. Examples of grave complexes of the Lübsow group (Řepov, Zohor, Vysoká pri Morave). Knowledge on the stratification of the Germanic society in the 1st to 2nd centuries AD. Comparison with the Roman-provincial rite of the Pannonian borderland. Basic characteristic of habitats and settlement features. 6. Archaeological picture of the transitory period between the Early and Late Roman era (B2/C1 st.). Changes in settlement structure and finds make up illustrated on the sites in the area of Nové Mlýny water reservoirs. A multiple find of items in Blučina. Examples on newly established cremated burial grounds. Issues of dating and interpretation of the regal tomb of Mušov. 7. Early Roman period (C1-C2 st.) from the viewpoint of burial rite (e.g. Velké Hostěrádky, Kostelec na Hané, Očkov). Princely graves of the Leuna-Hassleben group (e.g. Stráže-Krakovany, Ostrovany, Cejkov) – stratification and contacts of the Germanic society of the Early Roman period. Examples of habitat buildings; above-ground structures; construction of sunken huts and other settlement features. 8. The standard of Germanic agriculture and livestock farming (based on written records, scientific and osteological analyses). Overview of production industries: archaeological proofs of metallurgy (arrays of furnaces), iron founding and potter's trade (pottery kilns). Workshops for bone processing (spectrum of bone items). 9. Late Roman period (C st.) and the outset of the Migration period (D1 st.). Issues of the Zlechov settlement and other sites of a transitory character. North Carpathian group. Outline of major written sources to the Migration period with a focus on Central Europe. Archaeological periodizations of the Migr. per. 10. Historical framework of the 1st half of the 5th cent. up to 454 (a brief history of the Huns, the Scirii, the Gepids and the Vandals). Characteristic of burial rite and the individual categories of material culture – inventory of an equestrian nomadic society. 11. Historic framework of the 2nd half of the 5th cent. (a brief history of the Rugians – localization of the Rogaland; origins and motions of the Heruli; the development of the Kingdom of the Gepids). Burial rite and grave equipment (the magnate tomb in Cézava near Blučina). Late pre-Langobard settlement (the burial ground in Strachotín). The origins of the Langobards and the localization of their movement at the end of the 5th cent. 12. Brief history of the Langobards, their cemeteries in the Rogaland and north of the middle course of the Danube. The issue of grave “robbing”. Characteristic of inventory. Unique settlement features. The Langobards in Pannonia, their contacts with the Gepids. Main Langobard cemeteries in Pannonia. Causes of Langobard departure to Northern Italy.
Literature
  • SAKAŘ, Vladimír and Jan BOUZEK. Římské provincie a limes Romanus ve střední a západní Evropě. Vyd. 1. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 1990, 149 s. ISBN 80-7066-161-5. info
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
Requirements for the examination: General attainments; knowledge of the instructed life and customs and the methodology of study of the period; individual work with assigned specialist literature.
Language of instruction
Czech
Follow-Up Courses
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Information on completion of the course: Informace ke způsobu ukončení viz sylabus.
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 1999, Autumn 2001, Autumn 2003, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2011, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Spring 2018, Spring 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2009, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2009/AEA_24