SCORTCHED LAND - A roman military advisor at the court of Palmyra - AAR 260 AD

[OskarEriksson]

PART I
PORT OF CLASSIS, RAVENNA, early 1013 ab urbe condita (260 AD)

From the journey diary of Gaius Hosidius Histoniensis,SubPrefectus Classis in Ravenna

Mare nostrum turned again into a cove of pirates in last years.... By some decades nomadic tribes from Scythia, called Gutonz or Gutniskar, aside with others called Herulij started to raid the Danubian limes continuosly, in the last two decades a civil war broke out in the Bosphoran kingdom, the only surviving hellenistic client kingdom of Rome, and one of the contenders called these barbarians with the promise to settle them in the kingdom's borders, and to "lease" them the bosphoran commercial fleet, complete of oarsmen, to go further south and raid "virgin" provinces (mesia and pannonia was exhausted afte 20 years of raids and after the disastrous battle of abrittus when emperor decius and his son erennius etruscus, was both killed..... a disaster indeed...).

The Boranii, one of these tribes started to raid the fortress of Pytius some years ago, not a roman city but there was a roman garrison, Rome protect her allieds and her commercial interests there, (there is even someone in past who tough a plan to create a common roman parthian defense system at the caspian gates to stop nomadic tribes but the plan encountered the oppositon of many on both sides), but the roman garrison commander Successianus stopped them.

The bosphoran merchant fleet usually land these raiders at night a few miles off, they attack the cities, taking the garrisons by suprise and spreading panick among them, loot, take roman citizens and locals away as captives, and embark again to sold them in the bosphoran markets.....

Fortunately the usurper was defeated and the legitimate philo roman dinasty returned on the throne but...the damage was done by now. The scythian raiders had a fleet at their disposal to raid the whole pontic sea, to pass the hellespont (since emperor Valerian retreated much of the classis pontica for his campaign against Shapur) and to raid provinces virtually untouched by an invader by centuries.... a disgrace for the state!


In last 3 years i was detatched in the bosphoran kingdom commanding a couple of auxiliary cohorts, operating aside the bosphoran army to counter Gothic, Herulij, and Boranii raids, mainly with hit and run actions (they was too many), surrounding and annihilating small detatchment they sent to loot the countryside...

But last month i received a letter from emperor Gallienus... His noble father Caesar Augustus Valerian was utterly defeated and captured by the persians in Edessa, Oshroene, few weeks before, with all his staff, the pretorian prefect Successianus (that one of Pytius) and many others, included soldiers, entourage, few succeeded to escape....
This is a disaster of monumental proportions, the eastern provinces are virtually undefended with only the surviving rests of the eastern legions that stand between Roman authority in Syria, Palestina, Asia minor, Arabia, and the claims of Shapur that want to take back all the provinces controlled once by the empire of Cyrus and Darius..... In last years Shapur and his father before him, Ardashir, founders of the new sassanian dinasty (much more centralised and nationalistic than the previous parthian kingdom) conducted an aggressive expansion politic against the roman east, destroying the fortress of Dura Europos few years ago and enslaving the surviving garrison, sacking Antioch two times! Taking his population in Mesopotamia for Gundeshapur, a new city, penetrating deep into anatolia until pamphylia and cappadocia and sacking almost 40 cities and towns!

The situation is desperate there, the persians are unthrustful enemies, capable of cruel tricks, and traps, one thing is to read on the books of how Tissafernes captured the ten thousand officers with an ambush during a meeting, or to read how Cassius Longinus three centuries ago retreated succesfully after the defeat of Carrahe with his portion of men, defending succesfully Antioch and Carrahe against the parthian onslaught, another is to find yourself in an identical situation with the eastern enemy almost achieving the decisive blow.

Gallienus dismissed me, Hosidius from Histonium by the classis ravennas, the fleet, and ordered to embark soon as possible on a merchant ship without escort that will sail from the port of Tyrus, to reach the city of Damascus and then Palmyra, and have a diplomatic meeting with his Prince Septimius Odenathus, and taste his intentions for future.... (the capture of valerian triggered a serie of revolts and usurpation all over the empire, in gaul general posthumus killed the young son of Gallienus and proclaimed himself emperor, hispania and britannia sided for him, in the balkans another usurper rose up in Sirmium, in greece there are revolts too, In Syria Valerian treasurer, Macrianus backed the the king maker Ballista declared himself and his sons emperors, taking with them the only 2 legions and the few pretorian cohort remained in the army of the east, the situation is desperate and Gallienus want to taste if we could thrust Odenathus.....).



Province of Syria Libanensis, Iunius, 1013 AUC
Once arrived in Tyrus we discovered the whole region was under the control of Ballista and the Macrianii, so the skipper ordered to hide every insignia, land, and say that we are merchants from Dalmatia.
We passed without problems giving some gift to the harbour guards, and our caravan arrived in Damascus walking, without horses or camels, after a week (we had to avoid bandits and zelots who haunt this regions).

Once arrived the local urban cohort commander sent me to the Basilica near the palace of the praetor, where three men in full military clothing, tunica manicata and bracae was waiting for us, with the insignia of their small unit, a cohors equitata of palmyrene auxiliaries, they was the centurion, the optio, and the vexillifer, and was an official meeting.

The centurion was a greek from Tarentum, in Italy but was serving in the eastern legions from the time of Severus Alexander, he was an evocatus, a veteran, that still in service also after his time expired, he was named Demeter, the second guy, the optio was from Noricum, arrived here at the time of Gordian the third, and was named Keltillos, both of them were veterans of the limes orientalis, the third guy was a Palmyrene youngster, named Antiochus, probably his greek name, here many have one, or maybe he was one of the greek settlers living here by 600 years pratically.


They illustrated me the strategical situation in front of a giant Tabula, representing the various provinces and the position of the persian and the macrianii armies
Actually we hold Bostra, Damascus, and Palmyra ofc, having enemies on all fronts, persians, rebels, and arabian tribes allieds of the persians and hoping to got some booty by the mortally wounded roman provinces....

Prince Odenathus is determined to smash the revolt, and kick off Shapur and his damned Harem on the other bank of the Euphraates, (rumors say he have a personal quarrel with him), when i Hosidius heard that, i was happy, since i feared to be arrested by a treacherous allied, and passed to Shapur to be interrogated well... Glad to hear at least Rome still to have allieds and loyal officers in the east.

Demeter and the other roman officers (few really, the majority are palmyrene, identical in all to the persians) infiltrated yet a spy in Tyrus, since they plan to besiege the city to take back Phoenicia, Judaea, and Coele Syria, aside with Oshroene.

Odenathus put up a pretty good intelligence network from Egypt to Oshroene and down until the court of Axum that could represent a useful allied against the arabic tribes allieds with Shapur...

They are negotiating also with the "parthian" families of Hatra, Oshroene, Commagene and Armenia, they are been overthrown and lost all to the house of sassan, and trough at the sassanian court there is ever a strong parthian party representing often the grand vizir, these smaller kingdoms families that lost their indipendence at the time of the severian dinasty and of the rise of ardashir of sassan, are looking for an opportunity to revenge so we hope to have new troops soon.

For the moment there is the palmyrene army, almost totally formidable cataphracts and horse archers, with very few infantry, and a few surviving roman cavalry units, mosly legionary cavalry, some units of dromedarii, and a few auxiliary alae, aside with the palmyran royal guard and some arab client.

[OskarEriksson]

Part II
During the strategic meeting we had in the praetorium office in Damascus, It resulted clear one point: in all the frontiers, times are changed. Once we officers of the Limes had to deal with small scale invasions, of groups of tribes with small armies in the north while in the east the parthians often were on defensive mood, while they sent agents to prepare anti Roman revolts in judea, Syria, egypt, etc etc but nothing more than local rebels so the small detatchments of the legions garrisoned at the frontier was enough, and behind them nothing.


Now, After the Great invasion occurred at the time of the Great Antonine, M. AUR. When quadi, marcomanni, longobardi and other tribes touched the Italian soil After centuries sacking opitergium and besieging aquileia, and After the rise of the sassassanid in the East, we have to deal with big confederation of tribes and with big Persian armies that conduct a movement warfare penetrating for hundred of not thousand of Miles in Roman territory! (The goths and the frankish pirates are and example! Emperor Gallienus prepared a law that forbid, in the navali yards to teach how to sail to the peregrini, to the barbarians, so what happened with the bosporan fleet Will not occur again), but our system Is ever the same of 2 centuries ago, modified, adapted, but ever the same basically, so the cities are well garrisoned maybe, the big cities, because the smaller towns are ever prey of the barbarians, but we ever lack a manouvring Mass, a strategic reserve to counter the invasion Deep in our territory
When they succeed to penetrate the chain of fortifications (this too must be reinforced and changed to more stable and and less provisory structures Building forte, castles, and new structures).
Emperor Gallienus created to this purpose a cavalry comitatus of 10.000 men composed of legionary cavalry, moorish auxiliaries and dalmatian auxiliaries, based in Mediolanum in northern Italy to counter more easily the invasions of the peninsulare, and It work fine for that Sector of front.
We could create a similar corp here in the East....prince odenathus Is campaigning against the persians in oshroene, when he Will be back i Will meet him. We LL see...

[Slaytaninc]

Odenathus is our guy, he will right the ship of state and restore the Empire to its status as the greatest power in the known world.

[OskarEriksson]

we hope to not end like Valerian's high command to built dams in gundershapur, but rather to defend the province succesfully like Cassius Longinus in 53 bc, or to sack ctesiphon like Severus 50 years before.

[OskarEriksson]

FIRST BLOOD

While an army besiege Tyrus, and another besiege the garrison of Jerusalem (a group of local auxiliary units), another intercepted north of lebanon near the ruins of ancient Ugarit the legio III isaura, and a few praetorian cohorts (the bastards who supported Ballista and the Macrianii to the throne, the army is becoming a parasite class that live for his own interests and not for those of the state and the people, the emperor can't be everywhere, and when he give attention to a section of the limes, it don't give attention to the others, so they feel forgotten, because they can't take certain operative decisions without the emperor when the barbarian raid, so they raise to the purple a claimant, and the circle of the usurpation and civil war make his course.....), using the usual hit and run tactics we learned on the danubian frontier against the quadi, sarmatii, and other steppe tribes, we engaged in hit and run tactics, attracting their units away from the main army with simulated retreats, missiles, and massacring them when alone and surrounded but the terrain was not very favourable and the many trees stopped our arrows, we succeeded in destroy only the 50% of their forces, while loosing more than 10% of ours, high losses, then we retreated, out of ammo. General tried even to break their lines with a massive cataphract charge but the legionary infantry, used to fight the persians on this front resisted, so the cavalry was retreated.

Nothing bad....they will be attacked by another column of the palmyrene army arrived to destroy the survivors and to kill that son of a of Flavius Macrianus, the treasurer of valerian army and one of the usurper of the Macrianii family...One out. The next is Ballista. The king Maker.

[OskarEriksson]

ANNOUNCEMENT:
THE AAR IS NOT DEAD, i'm simply busy at the university now with the exams session, i will restart to play my palmyrene campaign next month, in autumn, probably late october early november we will see! So wait lads! (i have two campaigns and two AAR opened, and saved, one here and one on INSULARIS DRACO, INVASIO BARBARORUM 2 CONQUESTUS BRITANNIAE UPGRADE, with the last roman exclaves in Gallia, in mid-late V century, so i will finish first off this campaigns of the third century with palmyra, also because is shorter, only a few years, maybe 50-100 turns until Odenathus is assassinated, i don't wanna cooperate with Zenobia so probably i will start later a next campaign with Aurelianus, or during the Tetrarchy either with Carinus or Carausius, i don't like the tetrarchs :X But for sure i will finish first that, before pass to INSULARIS DRACO IN MEDIEVAL 2 AAR's section, so don't be negative, i will return here soon the campaigns are saved! both! The other AAR is named "scortched land, the last roman warlords in the wild north" in the m2tw aar section if you want to read it!).

GOOD BYE AND SEE YOU IN AUTUMN GUYS!