Battle of Thermopylae (254)

Battle of Thermopylae (254)
	Part of the Crisis of the Third Century; Gothic War (248-253); and Roman–Germanic Wars
Date	254 AD
Location	Thermopylae, Achaea, Roman Empire (present-day Thermopylae, Greece)
Result	Roman victory
Belligerents
Roman Empire	Goths
Commanders and leaders
Marianus; Philostratus; Dexippus	Unknown
Strength
Militia	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Battle of Thermopylae in 254^[1]^[2] was a successful defense of the pass of Thermopylae by local Greek militia under Marianus, the Roman proconsul of Achaea, during an invasion of the Balkans by the Goths.^[3]

Background

In 254 the Goths invaded and plundered Thrace and Macedonia.^[1]^[4]^[5] In 1979, Herwig Wolfram regarded 254 as the date, while Mallan and Davenport in 2015 suggested 262.^[6]^[1] Goltz and Hartmann estimated 254 as the date.^[2] David Potter in 2016 rejected Mallan and Davenport's estimate and dated it to either 253 or 259.^[4] The Goths attempted to storm Thessalonica with close order formations and assault columns.^[5] The Thessalonians mobilized to defend their city and beat off the attacks.^[5] The Goths abandoned the siege and moved off to invade Greece south of Thermopylae, seeking to loot the gold and silver wealth of Greek temples.^[5]

Prelude

The Greeks learned of the Goths' approach and the Roman proconsul Marianus, the Athenian Philostratus, and the Boeotian Dexippus mobilized a militia to block the pass of Thermopylae.^[5] The militia were armed with bronze or iron-tipped wooden pikes, small spears, axes, and assorted weapons.^[5] They set to work fortifying the pass.^[5]^[1]^[4] Marianus gave a pre-battle speech to them, emphasizing the defense of the pass by previous generations of Greeks and Romans.^[5]

Battle

The Graeco-Roman forces successfully blocked the Goths' way at Thermopylae and the Goths returned home, albeit with considerable loot.^[7]

Aftermath

A fragment of text attributed to the contemporary historian Dexippus, discovered in Vienna in 2010, provides detail on the weapons, leadership, and geography of the engagement.^[8] The fragment cuts off before the battle's outcome.^[5] Dexippus was used as a source by the Byzantine chronicler George Syncellus, who mentioned the blocking of the pass and the Goths' return home with plunder.^[7]

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Wolfram 1990, p. 48.
^ ^a ^b Goltz & Hartmann 2008, pp. 233–234.
^ Mallan & Davenport 2015, p. 221.
^ ^a ^b ^c Potter 2016, p. 253.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Mallan & Davenport 2015, p. 206.
^ Mallan & Davenport 2015, p. 215.
^ ^a ^b Mallan & Davenport 2015, p. 217.
^ Mallan & Davenport 2015, p. 207.

Bibliography

Goltz, Andreas; Hartmann, Udo (2008). "Valerian und Gallienus". In Johne, Klaus-Peter (ed.). Die Zeit der Soldatenkaiser. Krise und Transformation des Römischen Reiches im 3. Jahrhundert n. Chr. (235–284) (in German). Berlin: Akademie Verlag. ISBN 978-3-05-004529-0.
Mallan, Christopher; Davenport, Caillan (November 2015). "Dexippus and the Gothic Invasions: Interpreting the New Vienna Fragment". Journal of Roman Studies. 105: 203–226. doi:10.1017/s0075435815000970. S2CID 163234044.
Potter, David (2016). "War as Theater, from Tacitus to Dexippus". In Riess, Werner; Fagan, Garrett G. (eds.). The Topography of Violence in the Greco-Roman World. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472119820.
Wolfram, Herwig (1990) [1979]. Geschichte der Goten. Entwurf einer historischen Ethnographie [History of the Goths]. Translated by Dunlap, Thomas J. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520069831.