Agri decumates

Agri decumates or decumates agri (literally probably tithe land ), German Dekumatland is, in Tacitus ( Germania 29, 3) the name given to an area beyond (ie east or north ) of the Rhine and Danube, which according to him originally by Celts ( was Gauls ) inhabited, but soon also settled by Germanic Suevi and belonged to the Roman Empire.

Tacitus wrote in the year 98: "Not among the peoples of Germania I want to count the people who edit the agri decumates, even though they have moved across the Rhine and Danube. The most adventurous Gauls, who has emboldened the plight have the floor, the possession of which was disputed occupied; since then created the limes and the border guards have been moved further forward, they form an outpost of our Empire and part of the province. "

History

Towards the end of the 1st century AD, the Romans had the area beyond the Rhine and Danube, which they had previously been controlled indirectly, occupied by Emperor Vespasian around 72 AD with troops. They secured it since Domitian ( 85 AD) through a series of fortifications, which were last fed around 150 AD under Antoninus Pius ( Upper Germanic - Rhaetian Limes ). The Dekumatland belonged since Domitian to the newly established province of Germania superior. Under Roman protect the country flourished; it benefited from the presence of the affluent border troops, which had to be supplied. This seems just as Tacitus reported to have lured many early immigrants, particularly from Gaul into the country. It was only during the imperial crisis of the third century it was considerably devastated by incursions of the Alemanni and went 260-280 definitively lost ( at least after the death of Probus ) to the Alemanni and was cleared by Roman troops (see the limit case). Towards the end of the 3rd century, it was from the Roman point of view to Alamannia, although the empire never formally renounced his claim to the Dekumatland and you until well into the 4th century campaigns took there and the local princes forced into submission (eg. Julian ).

Location

The Dekumatland took at least the southwest of the present-day state of Baden- Württemberg. Whether the north of the Neckar located right of the Rhine Rome and the north of the Danube parts of Raetia to the agri decumates included, is unclear; Although Tacitus ' brief note seems more likely to speak against it, but he gives only the ratios of the late 1st century. The - if known - only Roman town in Dekumatland whose inhabitants possessed Roman citizenship before 212 was the municipium Arae Flaviae ( Rottweil ), had found the emperor Vespasian.

Population

In the territory of the former Dekumatlandes about 60 village settlements ( vici ) and over 1300 villae rusticae have been demonstrated to date. This Roman farms harbored an average of about 50 people; However, it is estimated that more than a quarter of the former farms is known. Moreover, since even the inhabitants of the vici and civitates must be added, values ​​modern research, the population at least 250,000 people. Since there were added stationed here the Roman soldiers, the Dekumatland can be regarded as an unusually densely populated and agriculturally intensively used area.

Origin of the name

The origin of the name agri decumates, the only Tacitus mentions is controversial. It is often translated as " tithe country," and it is conceivable that it was a Roman Emperor tributary country that had to give one tenth of its products. However, some scholars believe this explanation etymologically impossible. Alternatively, the name of a now unknown place called Decuma or Decumum could be due; the research discussed other possibilities.