Marcus Aurelius' Rain Miracle and the Marcomannic Wars (Mnemosyne, History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity, Supplements, 308)

321 Pages·2009·1.96 MB·English

by  Peter Kovacs

Marcus Aurelius’ Rain Miracle and
the Marcomannic Wars
Mnemosyne
Supplements
History and Archaeology
of Classical Antiquity
Edited by
Susan E. Alcock, Brown University
Thomas Harrison, Liverpool
Willem M. Jongman, Groningen
H. S. Versnel, Leiden
VOLUME 308
Marcus Aurelius’ Rain Miracle
and the Marcomannic Wars
By
Péter Kovács
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2009
On the cover: Rain God (photo by the author).
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kovács, Péter, 1969–
Marcus Aurelius’ rain miracle and the Marcomannic wars / by Péter Kovács.
p. cm. — (Mnemosyne, Bibliotheca Classica Batava. Supplementum ; 308. History
and archaeology of classical antiquity)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-90-04-16639-4 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome, 121–180. 2. Religion—Rome—History—
Marcus Aurelius, 161–180. 3. Marcomannic War, 167–180—Relgious aspects.
4. Rome—History—Marcus Aurelius, 161–180. 5. Miracles. I. Title.
DG297.K68 2009
937’.07—dc22
2008038934
ISSN 0169-8958
ISBN 978 90 04 16639 4
Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishers,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
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printed in the netherlands
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ..................................................................... vii
List of Abbreviations .................................................................. ix
List of Illustrations ...................................................................... xiii
Introduction ................................................................................ xvii
Chapter One The rain miracle ............................................... 1
Chapter Two Research history of the rain miracle ................ 3
Chapter Three Sources for the rain miracle .......................... 23
Chapter Four The rain miracle in medieval Latin and
Byzantine sources .................................................................... 95
Chapter Five Coins and the rain miracle ............................... 107
Chapter Six The forged letter attributed to Marcus
Aurelius ................................................................................... 113
Chapter Seven Julian Theurgistes and the rain miracle ........ 123
Chapter Eight The lightning and rain miracles ..................... 137
Chapter Nine The Column of Marcus Aurelius .................... 155
Chapter Ten The scenes on the Column of Marcus
Aurelius ................................................................................... 169
Chapter Eleven Marcomannic-Quadian assault on Italy ....... 181
Chapter Twelve Pannonia and the Marcomannic wars ......... 201
The names of the ‘Marcomannic’ wars ................................ 201
The history of the fi rst Marcomannic war
(A.D. 166–167/175) ............................................................ 203
vi contents
The history of the second Marcomannic war
(A.D. 178–180) .................................................................... 242
The rule of Commodus and the end of the war
(A.D. 180–182) .................................................................... 250
Chapter Thirteen The dating of the scenes on the Column
of Marcus Aurelius ................................................................. 265
Bibliography ................................................................................ 277
Index of Names .......................................................................... 289
Index of Sources ......................................................................... 295
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The English text was revised by Judith Rassom, PhD. I am indebted
to her for the precise work. I wish to thank Prof. Géza Alföldy and
Prof. Zsigmond Ritoók for reading my manuscript and for their useful
critical comments. I also wish to thank Prof. Miklós Maróth and Prof.
László Török for their help. My work was supported by the Bolyai János
Research Grant of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2002–2005,
2006–2008).1
1 The Hungarian version of my work was published in 2005: P. Kovács, Marcus
Aurelius esZcsodája és a markomann háborúk. Pécs 2005.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACD Acta Classica Universitatis Debreceniensis
Acta Antiqua Acta Antiqua Academicae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Acta ArchHung Acta Archaeologica Hungarica
Acta SS. Acta Sanctorum
AÉp L’Année Épigraphique
AIIN Annali dell’Istituto di Numismatica
AIJ V. Hoffi ler – B. Saria, Antike Inschriften aus Jugos-
lawien I. Noricum und Pannonia Superior. Zagreb
1938
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt
ArchRozl Archeologické Rozhledy
ArchIug Archaeologia Iugoslavica
BAR British Archaeological Reports
BHAC Bonner Historia Augusta Colloquium
BJb Bonner Jahrbücher
BMC Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum
BudRég Budapest Régiségei
BullArchAlg Bulletin d’Archeologie Algerienne
BZ Byzantinische Zeitschrift
CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
Chron. Min. I Chronica Minora I. Monumenta Germaniae Histo-
rica. Auctores Antquissimi IX. Ed. Th. Mommsen
Berlin 1892
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
CommArchHung Communicationes Archaeologicae Hungariae
CQ Classical Quarterly
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
CSHB Corpus Scriptorum Historicorum Byzantinorum
CW The Classical World
DissPann Dissertationes Pannonicae
DizEp Dizionario Epigrafi co di antichità romane
FolArch Folia Archaeologica
G.C.S. Die griechsichen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten
Jahrhunderte