Ethnic group, 200 BCE - 300 CE, east of the Carpathians
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Map showing Roman Dacia and surrounding peoples in 125 AD
The Bastarnae (Latin variants: Bastarni or Basternae; Ancient Greek: Βαστάρναι or Βαστέρναι), sometimes called the Peuci or Peucini (Ancient Greek: Πευκῖνοι),[1] were an ancient people who between 200 BC and 300 AD inhabited areas north of the Roman frontier on the Lower Danube. The Bastarnae lived in the region between the Carpathian Mountains and the river Dnieper, to the north and east of ancient Dacia. The Peucini were a subtribe who occupied the region north of the Danube Delta. Their name was sometimes used for the Bastarnae as a whole.[2]
The earliest Graeco-Roman historians to refer to the Bastarnae imply that they spoke Celtic languages. In contrast, later historical sources imply that they spoke Germanic languages, and could be considered Germanic peoples. Like other peoples who lived in the same geographical region, Graeco-Roman writers also referred to the Bastarnae as a "Scythian" people, but this was probably a reference to their general way of life, rather than a linguistic category.
Although largely sedentary, some elements may have adopted a semi-nomadic lifestyle. So far, no archaeological sites have been conclusively attributed to the Bastarnae. The archaeological horizons most often associated by scholars with the Bastarnae are the Zarubintsy and Poienesti-Lukashevka cultures.
The Bastarnae first came into conflict with the Romans during the first century BC when, in alliance with Dacians and Sarmatians, they unsuccessfully resisted Roman expansion into Moesia and Pannonia. Later, they appear to have maintained friendly relations with the Roman Empire during the first two centuries AD. This changed c. 180, when the Bastarnae are recorded as participants in an invasion of Roman territory, once again in alliance with Sarmatian and Dacian elements. In the mid-3rd century, the Bastarnae were part of a Gothic-led grand coalition of lower Danube tribes that repeatedly invaded the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire.
Many Bastarnae were resettled within the Roman Empire in the late third century.
The map of Bastarnae and its neighbours
^Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), William Smith, LLD, Ed, Peucini
^Iris von Bredow, "Peucini, Peuci", in Brill's New Pauly.
The Bastarnae (Latin variants: Bastarni or Basternae; Ancient Greek: Βαστάρναι or Βαστέρναι), sometimes called the Peuci or Peucini (Ancient Greek: Πευκῖνοι)...
annexed the kingdom in 28 BC while on campaign against the Dacians and Bastarnae. The region was subsequently incorporated into the province of Moesia...
was fought between the Bastarnae peoples of Scythia Minor and the Roman Consul (63 B.C.) Gaius Antonius Hybrida. The Bastarnae emerged victorious from...
Danube namely (from west to east) the Triballi, Moesi, Getae and the Bastarnae who had recently subjugated the Triballi, and with their capital at Oescus...
intercepts and routs the Bastarnae host near the Ciabrus river (Tsibritsa, Bulgaria), personally killing its leader in combat. Those Bastarnae who escape across...
instead crossed into the territory of the Getae. A portion of the powerful Bastarnae tribe (probably a mixed Germanic-Celtic society) settled on the island...
identified as the Bastarnae, who are believed to have been a Germanic people with Celtic influences. It is thus believed that both the Bastarnae and Sciri had...
Many of the surviving Carpi and Bastarnae are resettled in the Roman Empire, where they are split up. The Bastarnae are not attested after this time...
the middle of the 5th century and the end of the 3rd century BC. The Bastarnae—a warlike Germanic tribe—settled in the regions to the east of the Carpathian...
whether a people were Germanic or not, expressing his uncertainty about the Bastarnae, who he says looked like Sarmatians but spoke like the Germani, about...
during the first half of the 2nd century BC. He successfully opposed the Bastarnae, blocking their invasion into Transylvania. The Roman historian Trogus...
naming years. Caesar Galerius begins a major war against the Carpi and Bastarnae and wins the first of several victories. September: Emperor Diocletian...
alliance with the Bastarnae and invited them to settle in Polog, the region of Dardania closest to Macedonia. A joint campaign of the Bastarnae and Macedonians...
specifically by tribes such as the Costoboci, Carpi, Britogali, Tyragetae, and Bastarnae. In the 6th century BC, Greek settlers established the colony of Tyras...
basins. It has been sometimes associated with the Bastarnae. The original homeland of the Bastarnae remains uncertain. Babeş and Shchukin argue in favour...
Proto-Iranian *arna- "offspring") Atmoni / Atmoli Peucini / Peucini Bastarnae (a branch of the Bastarnae that lived in the region north of the Danube Delta) (Peucmi...
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