Constantine and the the Sarmatians

Here is a mini collection that is easy enough to put together and it references a specific historical event. The SARMATIA DEVICTA type was issued by Constantine from 5 mints—London, Lyon, Arles, Trier and Sirmium.


Who are these Sarmatians?



The Sarmatians were a nomadic group of Iranian tribes skilled in horseback warfare who existed from about the 5th century BC until the 4th century A.D. They constantly skirmished with the Greeks and then the Romans. Marcus Aurelius issued a coin with DESARM in the exergue (not mine).




and Diocletian also celebrated a victory over the Sarmatians.



Diocletian
A.D. 295
AR Argenteus
19mm 3.3g
DIOCLETIANVS AVG; laureate head right.
VICTORIAE SARMATICAE; four turreted camp-gate, open, with doors thrown back; each turret surmounted by facing eagle.
In ex. SMNΓ
RIC VI Nicomedia 22a



As nomads, they constantly moved and eventually headed westward to Roman territory, a bit north of Sirmium. Constantine gathered his troops and had a great victory over them in the summer of 323. (some say 322) Look at the center for the Sarmatians, I put a green box around their name.




“When Constantine learned that the Sarmatians, who live near Lake Maeotis, had sailed across the Danube and were pillaging his territory, he led his army against them…he killed many, took more prisoners and put the rest to flight.” Zosimus 2:21

Lake Maeotis is the modern Sea of Azov





Though Constantine issue “Sarmatia Defeated” coins, he did not actually defeat all the Sarmatians (as Zosimus even said) and they survived in some form until about the 6-7th century when local Slavic communities absorbed them.


So, the SARMATIA DEVICTA coinage refers to this major victory over the Sarmatians. However,this was also a big reason for the upcoming civil war with Licinius, since the territory fought in was under the control of Licinius. Purely speculative, but chasing the Sarmatians into the territory of Licinius may have been a ploy by Constantine to anger Licinius and goad him into a confrontation; which seemed to work.


"Licinius did not accept the gold coinage on which Constantine emblazoned his victory against the Sarmatians, but melted it down and converted it to other uses, giving no answer to those who faulted him with regard to this than that he did not wish foreign affairs to have a place in domestic business."

Petrus Patricius (circa A.D. 500- 565) The Lost History of Peter the Patrician F 208


and now the SARMATIA coins



Constantine I
A.D. 323-4
19x20mm 3.5g
CONSTANTINVS AVG; laureate head right.
SARMATIA DEVICTA; Victory advancing r., holding trophy, palm branch, spurning captive std. on ground to right.
In ex. PLON crescent
RIC VII London 289; LMCC 10.01.002






Constantine I
A.D. 323-324
19mm 3.7g
CONSTANTINVS AVG; laureate head right.
SARMATIA DEVICTA; Victory advancing r., holding trophy, palm branch, spurning captive std. on ground to r.; C in left field
in ex. PLG crescent
RIC VII Lyons 214




dealer's pic, since I don't have it yet. Note it is the only one that is cuirassed

Constantine I
A.D. 322-323
19mm 3.8g
CONSTAN-TINVS AVG; laureate and cuirassed bust right.
SARMATIA DEVICTA; Victory advancing r., holding trophy, palm branch, spurning captive std. on ground to right.
In ex. P✶AR
RIC VII Arles 258





Constantine I
A.D. 323-324
19mm 3.3g
CONSTANTINVS AVG; laureate head right.
SARMATIA DEVICTA; Victory advancing r., holding trophy, palm branch, spurning captive std. on ground to right.
In ex. PTR crescent
RIC VII Trier 435





before cleaning




Constantine I
A.D. 324-325
18x20mm 3.1g
CONSTAN-TINVS AVG; laureate head right.
SARMATIA DEVICTA; Victory advancing r., holding trophy, palm branch, spurning captive std. on ground to right.
in ex. SIRM
RIC VII Sirmium 48





Post your Sarmatian coinage

 

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Here is a DE SARM of Marcus Aurelius:



Denarius. 20-18 mm. 3.25 grams.
M ANTONINVS AVG GERM SARM
Laureate head right
TRP XXXI IMP VIII COS III PP (TPR 31 dates it to 176/7)
Pile of arms
DE SARM in exergue

ex Argos, list 36, lot 29, November 1985.

 

Nice write-up and coins Victor. From what I have read they excelled in the use of the bow, being able to shoot forward or backward at full speed on horseback. Often they would feign retreat to get the Romans to pursue, only to release a hail of arrows while riding away from their pursuers, causing much damage.

Often, in the manner of Central Asian nomads, they would then wheel around and charge at the enemy, releasing more arrows. When confronting the Avars, the Byzantines faced a foe with similar tactics. The Byzantine response was to equip large numbers of cavalrymen with bows, as is discussed in the Strategikon of Maurice Tiberius.

 

Great write up and coins. I like the coin from London as it seems geographically furthest away from the event it commemorates. Here is one of mine which is more common.

Sirmium RIC VII 48

 

Yes, Sirmium is the most common of these types; which is fitting since it was the nearest mint to the fighting. However, being the most common also means you can find many nice examples for reasonable prices.

 

CONSTANTINE I
AE Follis
OBVERSE: CONSTANTINVS AVG, laureate head right
REVERSE: SARMATIA DEVICTA, Victory advancing right, holding trophy on right arm, branch in left hand, spurning captive seated on ground right, head turned back, STR(cresent) in ex
Struck at Trier, workshop S, 323-4 AD
2.8g, 19.4mm
RIC 435

 

There are several towns, villages or just places in the northern half of France called Sermaize, Sermaizes or Sermizelles. These place-names come from Sarmatae, the Sarmatians. These Iranian-related nomadic horsemen North of the Black Sea were the equivalent of cossacks in Antiquity. Like the Tsar of Russia, the Shah of Persia or the Turkish sultan in modern times, the late Roman emperors wanted regiments of cossacks in their army, so they hired groups of Sarmatians and gave them estates in Gaul.

 

I found that one has to be very sceptical about such place name interpretations, especially if there are no contemporary sources or archaeological evidence to back it up. More often than not they turn out to be little more than wishful thinking. The idea that the village of Sermaize was named after Sarmatians was first established in the 1960s (according to French Wikipedia), while the name was first attested only in the 11th century, i.e. some 800 years after any Sarmatians auxiliaries could have settled there. Wikipedia says that there is no archaeological evidence to back up this interpretation.

It is, however, known from historical sources that Alans (related to Sarmatians) briefly settled at or around the city of Orleans.

 

Here are three SARMATIA DEVICTA coins of Constantine I, from the mints of Sirmium, Trier and Lyon

 

I do not have a "Sarmatian" reverse but I have a Marcus Aurelius denarius where the emperor has a relevant title



Marcus Aurelius AD 161-180
AR Denarius
175-176
Obv: M ANTONINVS AVG GERM SARM, head of Marcus Aurelius, laureate, right
Rev: TR P XXX IMP VIII COS III, Mars, helmeted, naked except for cloak flying behind, advancing right, holding transverse spear in right hand and trophy, sloped over left shoulder, in left hand
Ref: RIC 349
Weight: 3.23g

I first read about Sarmatians many years ago on a forum from Moldova.
I was going to describe some modern historical events, but this is not relevant. What I read there, and some people were quite adamant, was that Sarmatians were proto-slavic people using Russian language. And the Moldavian people were formed after the free Dacians from that territory mixed with the Sarmatians.
As opposed to Romanian people, formed after Roman Empire conquered Dacia.

Brainwash + propaganda, but at least they seemed very convinced.

 

In Poland scholars long held the idea that Polish peasants descended from Slavs while Polish noblemen descended from Sarmatians.

 

I would note "Iranian" would mean in this context ethnically. Persians were a much larger ethnic group than just those who happened to live in the Parthian or Sasanid empire. Sogdia was ethnically Iranian, as well as many other areas.

 

I have wondered if the captives portrayed on these coins even looked like Sarmatians...they seem more Germanic to me. Sarmatians are usually depicted as having beards in images from Trajan's Column




and coins issued by Marcus Aurelius seem to show bearded Sarmatian captives; but styles may have changed by the 4th century. Commodus also issued some coins celebrating a victory over Sarmatians, but from the examples I have seen I could not tell if they were bearded or not. My sample size is not very large for these Marcus Aurelius and Commodus coins either. Of course, they could just be an idealized concept of a captive and not have to be an accurate physical representation.

The ALAMANNIA DEVICTA type issued at about the same time has an almost identical reverse to the SARMATIA type including the captives, which makes me think even more that these captives are not styled on any actual living people, but only portray an idea of "barbarianism"

 

It's possible to overthink the identity of steppe peoples mentioned by the Greeks and Romans. Ethnonyms used by Greek and Roman writers were fluid and often say more about the world-view of the writer than about the subject. The modern view, as suggested in the op, is that the Sarmatians were not a people per se but a confederation of various Scythian/ Iranian tribes.

 

Here's my example:

Well said. (And probably a very loose confederation at that.) I have a few coins which have been linked by somebody or other to the "Sarmatians"...


This imitation comes from the area of Ukraine/Moldova, and was probably issued much later than Antoninus Pius. The Roxolani (allegedly a Sarmatian people) are linked by some to these coins.


These Taman peninsula coins weren't issued by the Goths (as commonly maintained) but may have been Sarmatian (in some sense). @Tejas is the expert on these.


Further east, from the Silk Road region of Chach issued in the 2nd to 4th centuries CE, this coin features a tamgha on the reverse that bears some resemblance to Sarmatian tamghas (according to various Russian scholars). Since the Sarmatians certainly moved from east to west, some sort of link isn't impossible.

To understand the relationships among the various Steppe peoples, I highly recommend Ken Harl's Great Courses series The Barbarian Empires of the Steppes. He's also working on book about this topic.

 

I will second this recommendation. It's also available at audible.com, which offers a free trial.

 

There's an interesting novel by Gillian Bradshaw, entitled "Island of Ghosts," about thousands of Sarmatian horsemen sent by Marcus Aurelius to Northern Britain to serve as auxiliaries. (I have no idea whether anything like that actually ever happened.) Culture clashes ensue, of course.

Here's my Diocletian argenteus with a reverse inscription referring to victory over the Sarmatians. Whoever they really were!



I have read that the Alans are the ancestors of the Ossetians.

 

I was wondering if anyone would notice (or even care) that there is a Dacian Draco in this panel from Trajan's Column.

 

Another Arles but not cuirassed

 

Arles is the scarcest to get regardlless of cuirassed bust or laureate head only.

rough idea of availability, from easiest to toughest--

5. Sirmium
4. Trier
3. Lyons
2. London
1. Arles