‘Vi barbarorum absumptam’

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the military history of Roman Germany during the third century AD. It begins with an overview of the Severan dynasty, with particular emphasis on civil wars and their impact on the army and the civilian population. It then considers the conscription of a new auxiliary unit, cohors I Septimia Belgarum, during the reign of Septimius Severus, before turning to the period between AD 235 and AD 260, which was characterized by the presence of arms and Roman military objects in the civilian settlements of the hinterland of the Upper German–Raetian limes. It also discusses the period from AD 260 to the end of the third century AD, when the Upper German limes gained military importance during the Gallic Empire, and the military situation along the Rhine.