Miles Legionis - 1st Italica - Marcommanic Wars

The Marcommanic Wars were a series of conflicts that spanned from 166 to 180 AD. During the reign of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, several Germanic tribes, especially the Marcomanni and the Quadi, along with the Sarmatians, started pushing the northeastern frontier of the empire along the Danube in an attempt to establish themselves inside Roman territory.

The Roman Empire was debilitated by a serious plague and the previous emperor to Marcus Aurelius, Antoninus Pius had not pursued to expand the imperial conquests. These factors emboldened the invading Germanic tribes to try their luck, as they were being pushed themselves by the first movements of the Goths migrations to the south-east of their ancestral lands in the mouths of the Vistula.

After some initial success when they invaded the Pannonia province, Roman forces started reorganizing themselves and keeping the invaders at bay. A pivotal moment for the conflict was the Marcommani invasion of Italy and the siege of Aquilea, a key fortified city that had been crucial for organizing the war effort.

The invaders were eventually routed away and the Marcommani, along with the rest of the disruptive tribes were subjugated or pacified through several punitive expeditions, even if there were some resurgence of violence before the conflict could be considered finished. The Romans realized that the weakest point in their defenses was the northeastern frontier and the whole war became a prelude to the great migrations that some centuries later would collapse the Western Roman Empire.

Our miniature carries the typical equipment of a Roman legionnaire of the period, based on the sculpted relief on the Marcus Aurelius Column, erected to commemorate his victory over the Marcomanni, the Quadi, and the Sarmatians.