WHAT HAPPENS NEXT ? – On Ethnic Engineering in the Ancient World

UD: May 2019

 

 

The strategy of Ethnic Engineering – the mass deportation of certain ethnic groups as part of a wider political or military plan – was common in the Ancient World, reaching its peak in the Roman Imperial period.

The first major example in southeastern Europe is recorded at the end of the 4th c. BC, when it was implemented by the Macedonian leader Kassander in an attempt to halt the southwards advance of the Celtic tribes in the Balkans. As part of this strategy, 20,000 of the Illyrian Autariatae tribe, who had fled into Macedonia in the face of the Celtic advance, were resettled in the Orbelos area (on the modern Greek/Bulgarian border) as military settlers in order to establish a buffer zone protecting Macedonia’s northern border from Celtic expansion (Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca historica XX. 19.1). A similar strategy was the establishment of the city of Seuthopolis/Sevtopolis on the southern slopes of the Haemus (Balkan) mountains (in today’s south-central Bulgaria), also at the end of the 4th c. BC, where the Thracian Odryssae tribe were installed by the Macedonians in an apparent attempt to defend the strategic Shipka pass.

Bronze head of the Thraco-Macedonian king, Sevt/Seuthes III, discovered at the Golyama Kosmatka Tumulus near Seuthopolis, Bulgaria

https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/behind-the-golden-mask-seuthopolis-and-the-valley-of-the-thracian-kings/

 

A variation of the same policy was implemented by the Macedonian King Philip V in 179 BC. In order to neutralize the Dardanii tribes, traditional Macedonian enemies, Philip struck a deal with the Celtic Scordisci and the Bastarnae, whereby the latter would be resettled in Dardania, thus eliminating the Dardanii threat, and ensuring Bastarnae help for Macedonia’s planned war with Rome (Livy 40:57, 41:19).

 

 

Philip V Didrachm

 

The policy of Ethnic Engineering on the Balkans during this period produced mixed results, and rather than solving the problem, it often simply postponed or relocated it. The ethnic buffer zone created to protect Macedonia’s northern border by Kassander later proved counterproductive when the Illyrians actually joined the Celtic tribes in their attack on Macedonia.

Remains of the Macedonian city at Pistiros, near Vetren (Pazardjik reg.), Bulgaria. The city was completely destroyed during the “barbarian” invasion of 280/279 BC

https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2015/02/14/the-celtic-conquest-of-thrace-280279-bc/

 

The Sevtopolis experiment failed miserably when, in the face of the Celtic advance, the Thracians simply abandoned the city and fled. Philip’s partially successful attempt to resettle the Bastarnae in Dardania produced no long term benefits for Macedonia, and following his death the Bastarnae refused to fight for Philip’s son, Perseus, in his war with Rome.

 

Probably the most tragic experiment in ‘Ethnic Engineering’ in the Hellenistic sphere was undertaken by Attalus I Soter, King of Pergamon, who lured the Celtic Aegosages tribe from Thrace into Asia-Minor in 218 BC with promises of rich land to settle (Poly. Hist. V 78.1). Having crossed into Asia, the Aegosages refused to become involved in the king’s conflict with Seleucus III, and Attalus rapidly abandoned them. Having become an inconvenience, the tribe were subsequently hunted down by the region’s leaders, and finally massacred at Abydas by the Bithynian King Prusias (Poly. Hist. 111 6-7):

‘Prusias, therefore, led an army against them, and after destroying all the men in a pitched battle, put to death all the women and children in their camp, and allowed his soldiers who had taken part in the battle to plunder the baggage’.

Prusias I Cholus, King of Bithynia (AR Tetradrachm)

 

 

“These are degenerates, a mongrel race …”.

The Roman commander Gnaeus Manlius Vulso to his troops during the Galatian campaign

(Livy 38:17)

 

                        Human remains from the Celtic Settlement at Gordium (Galatia)

 

 

Another variant of this policy was implemented by Gnaeus Manlius Vulso in Galatia in 189 BC, when the Roman general unleashed a campaign of systematic genocide on the local Celtic tribes. This pogrom resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of men, women and children, culminating in the massacres at mount Olympus and Ancyra.

Most examples of ‘Ethnic Engineering’, in its various forms, date from the Roman Imperial period. In 26 AD a plan was formulated by Rome for the mass deportation of the troublesome Celtic Artacoi tribe in the Haemus (Balkan) mountains. However, fierce resistance to Rome’s deportation policy meant that, after a bitter struggle in 26 AD, the empire abandoned its attempt to relocate the tribe (Tacitus Ann. iv).

In the later Roman period the policy had the long term effect of further complicating the ethnic mix on the Balkans. Under the Emperor Probus (276-82) 100,000 of the (Celto-Scythian) Bastarnae were settled in Thrace (Historia Augusta Probus 18), and shortly afterwards Emperor Diocletian (284-305) carried out another ‘massive’ transfer of the Bastarnae population to the south of the Danube (Eutropius IX.25). Thus, the Bastarnae presence in Thrace, already well established since the 2^nd c. BC, was reinforced by the ethnic engineering policies of both Probus and Diocletian. Despite the fact that historians in the region have completely ignored the Bastarnae, such statistics are estimated to represent the majority, if not all, of the Peucini Bastarnae, and leaves no doubt that by the Late Roman period a substantial proportion of the population of the central and eastern Balkans were of Bastarnae origin.

 

Bust of Diocletian

(Arkeoloji Müzesi, İstanbul)

On the Bastarnae see:  https://balkancelts.wordpress.com/2016/05/01/celto-scythians-and-celticization-in-ukraine-and-the-north-pontic-region/

 

Once set in motion the ultimate consequences of ethnic engineering were highly unpredictable, and often catastrophic. The disastrous potential of such a policy is best illustrated by the case of the Roman emperor Valens, who facilitated the movement of the Goths and associated tribes into Thrace at the end of the 4^th c. Initially Roman allies, this relationship soon changed radically, largely due to the corruption of the imperial officials  (Jord. xxvi:134), and there followed a sequence of events which would culminate in the ‘barbarians’ turning on the empire (Ammianus xxxi:13), the destruction of the Roman army at Adrianople in 378, and the emperor himself being burned alive...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mac Congail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A BETTER LIFE… – On the Migration and Massacre of the Celtic Aegosages tribe in Asia-Minor (218 BC)

UD: Feb. 2020

 

 

One of the most tragic tales in ancient history is surely that of the Aegosages, a tribe whose dream of a new home drew them into a vortex of treachery, war and ultimately doom.

 

The Aegosages (Αἰγοσάγες) were originally one of the tribes which had settled in today’s eastern Bulgaria at the beginning of the 3^rd c. BC, forming part of the Celtic ‘Tyle’ state in that region. In 218 BC they received an invitation from Attalus I Soter (Σωτὴρ), King of Pergamon, who promised them rich lands to settle in Asia-Minor (Poly. Hist. V 78.1). However, having crossed over from Thrace it soon became clear to the Aegosages that Attalus’ offer was a double edged sword. The King of Pergamon intended to use the Celtic tribe in his ongoing war against Seleucus III, because of ‘their reputation for valor’ (Poly. V 111.1).

 

The Hill of Arkovna (western Varna region), center of the Celtic ‘Tyle’ state in eastern Bulgaria

 

Attalus I, King of Pergamon. (Berlin, Pergamonmuseum).

Bronze Celtic shield coins minted at Apros by the Aegosages tribe prior to their migration into Asia-Minor in 218 BC

(Apros was located either at present-day Kestridge or further west near present-day Kermian, (both in European Turkey) on the route of the later Via Egnatia)

https://www.academia.edu/5420363/THE_TYLE_EXPERIMENT

 

However, there was one major flaw in Attalus’ plan – the Aegosages had come to Asia to live – and not to die for Attalus. Tricked into participating in the King’s campaign of terror against the cities in Aeolis, the Aegosages proved to be less than enthusiastic about a war in which they had no interest. The Celts steadfastly refused to participate in the conflict, and ‘detached themselves from the column on the march and encamped by themselves, and were altogether most insubordinate and self-assertive’ (Pol. V 78 3-5).

Finally, when they were camped by the river Megistus, ‘an eclipse of the moon took place, and the Gauls who had all along been aggrieved by the hardships of the march – since they made the campaign accompanied by their wives and children who followed them in wagons – considering this a bad omen, refused to go any further’ (Poly. V. 77).

 This eclipse of the moon provides us with valuable information in pinpointing the exact date of these events as it occurred precisely on September 1, 218 BC (Taking Bucak, Turkey as an approximation to the ancient Selge, at latitude f 37N28 = +37.47°, longitude l 30E36 = 30.60°. From NASA’s Catalog of Lunar Eclipses, -0299 to -0200 for Sep 1, 218 B.C. (-217): p -0217 Sep 01 16:26 T+ 63 -0.179 2.559 1.533 109m 47m 22.4 22.43 -10.2 Time of Greatest Eclipse t 16:26 = 16.43. Greenwich Sidereal Time at 00.00 UT GSTO 22.4, Right ascension of the Moon ra 22.43, Declination of the Moon d -10.2).

 

When it became clear that the Celts would not fight for him, Attalus quickly abandoned them near the Hellespont, where they had no choice but to scavenge from the surrounding towns. At Illium an army was sent against them by Prusias Cholus (Προυσίας Α’ ὁ Χωλός “the Lame“), King of Bithynia, led by a general called Themistes. Subsequently, the Aegosages were expelled from the area, and cut off from supplies and food in the apparent hope that they would starve to death. Finally they wandered to the Abydas area, hoping to make this area their new home. It was not to be…

 

            Prusias I Cholus, King of Bithynia (AR Tetradrachm)

 

The Aegosages tribe had now become an inconvenience. Cut off from the Thracian Celts, and lacking the military strength of the Celtic tribes who had preceded them into Asia-Minor (see main ‘Galatia’ article), they were easy prey for a Hellenistic army. Finally, at Abydas the Bithynian king decided to resolve the problem ‘once and for all’. The men of the tribe attempted to defend their camp against the Bithynian army, and were slaughtered. The events which followed are described by the Greek historian Polybius (Hist. V 111 6-7) as Prusias’ greatest victory:

‘Prusias, therefore, led an army against them, and after destroying all the men in a pitched battle, put to death all the women and children in their camp, and allowed his soldiers who had taken part in the battle to plunder the baggage’.

 

For the Aegosages tribe the dream had begun over 100 years before, and had taken them thousands of miles through southeastern Europe and Asia-Minor. Drawn into Asia by promises of a new home, their refusal to go to war had sealed their fate, and their journey finally came to an end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mac Congail