The Final Test of the Empire
The Significance of the Foedus of 382 in the Transformation of the Identity of the Roman Empire
Copyright (c) 2023 Kelemen Miklós
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
On 9 August 378, the Goths defeated the Roman army near Adrianople, the Eastern Roman Emperor, Valens was also killed there. The severe defeat of the Emperor had revealed the Roman vulnerability to a “barbarian” attack. On 3 October 382, after several months of negotiations, the contract, which assured the status of foederati to the Goths was signed. This “ foedus contract” significantly changed the foundations and methods of military administration and finance: after the foedus contract, the Roman Government recruited even larger number of barbarian auxiliaries. The Battle of Adrianople was of enormous importance also in the context of changes in the Roman identity.
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