The Costoboci (, or Κιστοβῶκοι ) were a Dacian tribe located, during the Roman imperial era, between the Carpathian Mountains and the river Dniester. During the Marcomannic Wars the Costoboci invaded the Roman empire in AD 170 or 171, pillaging its Balkan provinces as far as Central Greece, until they were driven out by the Romans. Shortly afterwards, the Costoboci's territory was invaded and occupied by Vandal Hasdingi and the Costoboci disappeared from surviving historical sources, except for a mention by the late Roman Ammianus Marcellinus, writing around AD 400.

Name etymology

The name of the tribe is attested in a variety of spellings in and in. According to Ion I. Russu, this is a Thracian compound name meaning "the shining ones". The first element is the perfect passive participle Cos-to-, derived from the Proto-Indo-European root kʷek̂-, kʷōk̂- "to seem, see, show", and the second element is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root bhā-, bhō- "to shine", extended by the suffix -k-. Ivan Duridanov considered it a Dacian name with unclear etymology. Some scholars argue that "Costoboci" has a Celtic etymology. N.B. Georgiev considers all etymologies based on Indo-European root-words (so-called Wurzeletymologien) to be "devoid of scientific value": the root-words themselves are reconstructions, are necessarily incomplete and can have multiple descendants in several IE languages. In this case, the name Costoboci could mean "the shining ones" in languages other than Thracian (e.g. in Iranic or Celtic languages) or it could have a different root(s) than the ones surmised by Russu. For example, as pronounced ‘Costoboci‘ reads as “people that stab bones” in Serbian (or Croatian) language.

Territory

Mainstream modern scholarship locates this tribe to the north or north-east of Roman Dacia. Some scholars considered that the earliest known mention of this tribe is in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder, published c. AD 77, as a Sarmatian tribe named the Cotobacchi living in the lower Don valley. Other scholars have challenged this identification and have recognised the "Cotobacchi" as a distinct tribe. Ammianus Marcellinus, writing c. 400, locates the Costoboci between the Dniester and Danube rivers, probably to the north-east of the former Roman province of Dacia. In his Geographia (published between 135 and 143 AD), the Greek geographer Ptolemy seems to indicate that the Costoboci inhabited north-western or north-eastern Dacia. In addition, some scholars identify the people called Transmontanoi (literally: "people beyond the mountains") by Ptolemy, located to the north of the Carpathians, as Dacian Costoboci.

Material culture

Some scholars associate the Costoboci with the Lipiţa culture. However, Roger Batty, reluctant to correlate material culture with group identity, argues that Lipiţa culture belonged either to a subgroup of the Costoboci or to some population they ruled over. This culture developed on the northern side of the Carpathians in the Upper Dniester and Prut basins in the Late La Tène period. The bearers of this culture had a sedentary lifestyle and practiced agriculture, cattle-breeding, iron-working and pottery. The settlements were not fortified and contained sunken floored buildings, surface buildings, storage pits, hearths, ovens and kilns. There are numerous pottery finds of various types, both wheel and hand-made, with similarities in shape and decoration to the pottery of the pre-Roman Dacia. The pottery finds of the northern Lipiţa sites in the upper Zolota Lypa basin are similar to that of the Zarubintsy culture.The cemeteries were found close to settlements. The predominant funeral rite was cremation, with urns containing ashes buried in plain graves, but several inhumation graves were also excavated.

Onomastics

A Latin-language funerary inscription found in Rome, believed to date from the 2nd century AD, was dedicated to Zia or Ziais the Dacian, the daughter of Tiatus and the wife of Pieporus, a king of the Costoboci. The monument was set up by Natoporus and Drigisa, Zia's grandsons. The inscription was first published by the Italian scholar Mariangelus Accursius in the 16th century, but it is now lost.

Inscription

D(is) M(anibus) ZIAI TIATI FIL(iae) DACAE. UXORI PIEPORI. REGIS COISSTOBOCENSIS NATOPORUS ET DRIGISA AVIAE CARISS(imae) B(ene) M(erenti) FECER(unt)

Translation

"To the Spirits of the Dead. (Dedicated) to ZIA(IS) the Dacian, Daughter of TIATUS, Wife of PIEPORUS, Costobocan king. NATOPORUS and DRIGISA made (this memorial) for their most dear, well-deserving grandmother."

Name analysis

Ethnolinguistic affiliation

The ethnic and linguistic affiliation of the Costoboci is uncertain due to lack of evidence. The mainstream view is that they were a Dacian tribe, among the so-called "Free Dacians" not subjected to Roman rule. However some scholars suggested they were Thracian, Sarmatian, Slavic, Germanic, Celtic, or Dacian with a Celtic superstratum. The evidence adduced in support of the main ethnic hypotheses may be summarised as follows:

Dacian

Thracian

Celtic

Scytho-Sarmatian

According to some scholars, the Costoboci were not a sedentary group at all, but a semi-nomadic steppe horse-based culture of Scytho-Sarmatian character. This hypothesis was originally proposed by the eminent 19th-century German classical scholar Theodor Mommsen.

Conflict with Rome

During the rule of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Empire fought the Marcomannic Wars, a vast and protracted struggle against Marcomanni, Quadi, and other tribes along the middle Danube. The Costoboci also joined the anti-Roman coalition at some stage.

The invasion of 170/1

In AD 167 the Roman legion V Macedonica, returning from the Parthian War, moved its headquarters from Troesmis in Moesia Inferior to Potaissa in Dacia Porolissensis, to defend the Dacian provinces against the Marcomannic attacks. Other auxiliary units from Moesia Inferior participated in the middle Danube campaigns, leaving the lower Danube frontier defenses weakened. Taking the opportunity, in 170 or 171, the Costoboci invaded Roman territory. Meeting little opposition, they swept through and raided the provinces of Moesia Inferior, Moesia Superior, Thracia, Macedonia and Achaea.

Northern Balkans

Crossing the Danube, the Costoboci burnt down a district of Histria which was thus abandoned. Their attacks also affected Callatis and the walls of the city required repairs. Two funerary inscriptions discovered at Tropaeum Traiani in Moesia Inferior commemorate Romans killed during the attacks: Lucius Fufidius Iulianus, a decurion and duumvir of the city and a man named Daizus, son of Comozous. A vexillatio made of detachments of the legions I Italica and V Macedonica was deployed at Tropaeum in this period, perhaps to defend against these attacks. The raiders then moved west reaching Dardania. A tombstone found at Scupi in Moesia Superior was dedicated to Timonius Dassus, a decurion from the Roman auxiliary cohort II Aurelia Dardanorum, who fell in combat against the Costoboci. Their offensive continued southwards, through Macedonia into Achaea.

Greece

In his description of the city of Elateia in central Greece, the contemporaneous travel-writer Pausanias mentioned an incident involving the local resistance against the Costoboci: Thereafter, the barbarians reached Athens where they sacked the famous shrine of the Mysteries at Eleusis. In May or June 171, the orator Aelius Aristides delivered a public speech in Smyrna, lamenting the limited damage recently inflicted to the sacred site. Three local inscriptions praise an Eleusinian priest for saving the ritual's secrets. Even though much of the invasion force was spent, the local resistance was insufficient and the procurator Lucius Julius Vehilius Gratus Julianus was sent to Greece with a vexillatio to clear out the remnants of the invaders. The Costoboci were thus defeated.

Dacia

In the same period the Costoboci may have attacked Dacia. A bronze hand dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus by a soldier from a cohort stationed in Dacia was found at Myszków in Western Ukraine. It has been suggested that this may have been loot from a Costobocan raid. Some scholars suggest that it was during this turbulent period that members of King Pieporus' family were sent to Rome as hostages.

The coming of the Vandals

Soon after AD 170, the Vandal Astingi, under their kings, Raus and Raptus, reached the northern borders of Roman Dacia and offered the Romans their alliance in return for subsidies and land. Sextus Cornelius Clemens, the governor of the province, refused their demands, but he encouraged them to attack the troublesome Costoboci while offering protection for their women and children. The Astingi occupied the territory of the Costoboci but they were soon attacked by another Vandal tribe, the Lacringi. Both Astingi and Lacringi eventually became Roman allies, allowing the Romans to focus on the middle Danube in the Marcomannic wars. Scholars variously suggest that the remnants of this tribe were subdued by the Vandals or fled and sought refuge in the neighbouring territories of the Carpi or in the Roman province of Dacia.

Citations