Editing Bastarnae (section)

== Relations with Rome ==

=== Roman Republican era (to 30 BC) ===

==== Allies of Philip of Macedon (179–8 BC) ====
[[File:Philip V of Macedon BM.jpg|thumb|right|Silver [[tetradrachm]] of Philip V of Macedon]]

The Bastarnae first appear in the historical record in 179 BC, when they crossed the Danube in a massive force. They did so at the invitation of their long-time ally, King [[Philip V of Macedon]], a direct descendant of [[Antigonus I Monophthalmus|Antigonus]], one of the [[Diadochi]], the generals of [[Alexander the Great]] who had shared his empire after his death in 323 BC. The Macedonian king had suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Romans in the [[Second Macedonian War]] (200–197 BC), which had reduced him from a powerful [[Hellenistic]] monarch to the status of a petty client-king with a much-reduced territory and a tiny army.{{refn|group=Note|name=cnoteb|The terms imposed on Philip V of Macedon in 196 BC were: (i) loss of all possessions outside [[Macedon]]ia proper (Philip had previously ruled extensive territories in Greece, Thrace and Asia Minor); (ii) standing army limited to 5,000 men and no elephants; (iii) navy limited to 5 warships plus royal galley; (iv) reparation payment of 1,000 [[talent (measurement)|talents]] (c. 26 tonnes) of silver, equivalent then to c. 4 tonnes of gold. (In antiquity, silver was far more valuable than today: the gold/silver value ratio was c. 1:7, compared to c. 1:100 today); (v) prohibited from waging war outside his borders without the Roman Senate's permission<ref>Livy XXXIII.30</ref>}} After nearly 20 years of slavish adherence to the Roman Senate's dictats, Philip had been goaded by the incessant and devastating raiding of the [[Dardani]], a warlike Illyrian<ref>A Mocsy. Pannonia and Upper Moesia</ref> tribe on his northern border, which his treaty-limited army was too small to counter effectively. Counting on the Bastarnae, with whom he had forged friendly relations, he plotted a strategy to deal with the Dardani and then to regain his lost territories in Greece and his political independence. First, he would [[Dardanian-Bastarnae war|unleash the Bastarnae against the Dardani]]. After the latter had been crushed, Philip planned to settle Bastarnae families in Dardania (southern [[Kosovo]]/[[Skopje]] region) to ensure that the region was permanently subdued. In a second phase, Philip aimed to launch the Bastarnae on an invasion of Italy via the Adriatic coast. Although he was aware that the Bastarnae were likely to be defeated, Philip hoped that the Romans would be distracted long enough to allow him to reoccupy his former possessions in Greece.<ref name="Livy XL.57"/>

However, Philip, now 60 years of age, died before the Bastarnae could arrive. The Bastarnae host was still ''en route'' through Thrace, where it became embroiled in hostilities with the locals, who had not provided them with sufficient food at affordable prices as they marched through. Probably in the vicinity of [[Plovdiv|Philippopolis]] (modern Plovdiv, Bulgaria), the Bastarnae broke out of their marching columns and pillaged the land far and wide. The terrified local Thracians took refuge with their families and animal herds on the slopes of ''Mons Donuca'' ([[Musala|Mount Musala]]), the highest mountain in Thrace. A large force of Bastarnae chased them up the mountain, but were driven back and scattered by a massive hailstorm. Then the Thracians ambushed them, turning their descent into a panic-stricken rout. Back at their [[wagon fort]] in the plain, around half of the demoralised Bastarnae decided to return home, leaving c. 30,000 to press on to Macedonia.<ref name="Livy XL.58"/>

Philip's son and successor [[Perseus of Macedon|Perseus]], while protesting his loyalty to Rome, deployed his Bastarnae guests in winter quarters in a valley in Dardania, presumably as a prelude to a campaign against the Dardani the following summer. However, in the depths of winter their camp was attacked by the Dardani. The Bastarnae easily beat off the attackers, chased them back to their chief town and besieged them, but they were surprised in the rear by a second force of Dardani, which had approached their camp stealthily by mountain paths, and proceeded to storm and ransack it. Having lost their entire baggage and supplies, the Bastarnae were obliged to withdraw from Dardania and to return home. Most perished as they crossed the frozen Danube on foot, only for the ice to give way.<ref>Livy XLI.19</ref> Despite the failure of Philip's Bastarnae strategy, the suspicion aroused by these events in the Roman Senate, which had been warned by the Dardani of the Bastarnae invasion, ensured the demise of Macedonia as an independent state.<ref>Livy XLI.23 and XLII.12-4</ref> Rome declared war on Perseus in 171 BC and after the Macedonian army was crushed at the [[Battle of Pydna]] (168 BC), Macedonia was split up into four Roman puppet-cantons (167 BC).<ref>Livy XLV.19</ref> Twenty-one years later, these were in turn abolished and annexed to the [[Roman Republic]] as the [[Macedonia (Roman province)|province of Macedonia]] (146 BC).

==== Allies of Getan high king Burebista (62 BC) ====
[[File:Scythia Minor map.jpg|thumb|right|Map of [[Scythia Minor (Dobruja)|Scythia Minor]] (Dobruja), showing the Greek coastal cities of Histria, Tomis, Callatis and Dionysopolis (Istria, Constanța, Mangalia and Balchik)]]
[[File:HistriaCoins.jpg|thumb|right|Coin issued by the Greek coastal city of [[Histria (Sinoe)|Histria]] (Sinoe)]]
The Bastarnae first came into direct conflict with Rome as a result of expansion into the lower Danube region by the [[proconsuls]] (governors) of Macedonia in 75–72 BC. [[Gaius Scribonius Curio (consul 76 BC)|Gaius Scribonius Curio]] (proconsul 75–73 BC) campaigned successfully against the Dardani and the [[Moesi]], becoming the first Roman general to reach the Danube with his army.<ref>Smith's Dictionary: ''Curio''</ref> His successor, [[Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus|Marcus Licinius Lucullus]] (brother of the famous [[Lucullus|Lucius Lucullus]]), campaigned against the Thracian [[Bessi]] tribe and the Moesi, ravaging the whole of [[Moesia]], the region between the Haemus ([[Balkan]]) mountain range and the Danube. In 72 BC, his troops occupied the Greek coastal cities of [[Scythia Minor (Dobruja)|Scythia Minor]] (modern [[Dobruja]] region, Romania/Bulgaria),{{refn|group=Note|name=cnotec|The main ones were: [[Histria (Sinoe)]], [[Constanța|Tomis]], [[Callatis]], [[Sozopol|Apollonia]] (Istria, Constanţa, Mangalia, Sozopol)<ref>Strabo VII.6.1</ref>}} which had sided with Rome's [[Hellenistic]] arch-enemy, King [[Mithridates VI]] of [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]], in the [[Third Mithridatic War]] (73–63 BC).<ref>Smith's Dictionary: ''Lucullus''</ref>

The presence of Roman forces in the Danube Delta was seen as a major threat by all the neighbouring transdanubian peoples: the Peucini Bastarnae, the Sarmatians and, most importantly, by [[Burebista]] (ruled 82–44 BC), king of the [[Getae]]. The Getae occupied the region today called [[Wallachia]] as well as Scythia Minor and were either a [[Dacian language|Dacian]]- or [[Thracian language|Thracian]]- speaking people.{{refn|group=Note|name=cnoted|There is controversy about whether the [[Getae]] were Dacian or Thracian speakers and whether those two languages were similar. Strabo claims that the Getae were [[Thracians]].<ref>Strabo VII.3.2</ref> He adds that the [[Dacians]] spoke the same language as the Getae.<ref>Strabo VII.3.13</ref> This gave rise to the hypothesis that Thracian and Dacian were essentially the same language (the [[Daco-Thracian]] theory). But the modern linguist [[Vladimir I. Georgiev|Vladimir Georgiev]] disputes that Dacian and Thracian were closely related for various reasons, especially that Dacian and Moesian town names commonly end with the suffix -DAVA, while towns in [[Thrace]] proper generally end in -PARA. According to Georgiev, the language spoken by the Getae should be classified as "Daco-Moesian" and regarded as quite distinct from Thracian.<ref>Vladimir Georgiev (Gheorghiev), ''Raporturile dintre limbile dacă, tracă şi frigiană'', "Studii Clasice" Journal, II, 1960, 39–58.</ref> Support for the Daco-Moesian theory can be found in Dio, who confirms that the Moesians and Getae on the south bank of the Danube were Dacians.<ref>Dio LI.22.6–7</ref> But the scant evidence available for these two extinct languages does not permit any firm conclusions. For the dividing-line between the two placename forms, see the following map (lower map, scroll down): [http://members.tripod.com/~Groznijat/thrac/thrac_map.html members.tripod.com]}} Burebista had unified the Getae tribes into a single kingdom, for which the Greek cities were vital trade outlets. In addition, he had established his hegemony over neighbouring Sarmatian and Bastarnae tribes. At its peak, the Getae kingdom reportedly was able to muster 200,000 warriors. Burebista led his transdanubian coalition in a struggle against Roman encroachment, conducting many raids against Roman allies in [[Moesia]] and Thrace, penetrating as far as Macedonia and [[Illyria]].<ref>Strabo VII.3.11–12</ref>

The coalition's main chance came in 62 BC, when the Greek cities rebelled against Roman rule. In 61 BC, the notoriously oppressive and militarily incompetent proconsul of Macedonia, [[Gaius Antonius Hybrida|Gaius Antonius]], nicknamed ''Hybrida'' ("The Monster"), an uncle of the famous [[Mark Antony]], led an army against the Greek cities. As his army approached [[Histria (Sinoe)|Histria]], Antonius detached his entire mounted force from the marching column and led it away on a lengthy excursion, leaving his infantry without cavalry cover, a tactic he had already used with disastrous results against the Dardani.<ref>Dio XXXVIII.10.2</ref> Dio implies that he did so out of cowardice, in order to avoid the imminent clash with the opposition, but it is more likely that he was pursuing a large enemy cavalry force, probably [[Sarmatians]]. A Bastarnae host, which had crossed the Danube to assist the Histrians, promptly attacked, surrounded and massacred the Roman infantry, capturing several of their ''[[vexillum|vexilla]]'' (military standards).<ref>Dio XXXVIII.10.3 and LI.26.5</ref> This battle resulted in the collapse of the Roman position on the lower Danube. Burebista apparently annexed the Greek cities (55–48 BC).<ref>Crişan (1978) 118</ref> At the same time, the subjugated "allied" tribes of Moesia and Thrace evidently repudiated their treaties with Rome, as they had to be reconquered by [[Augustus]] in 29–8 BC (see below).

In 44 BC, Roman [[dictator perpetuus|dictator-for-life]] [[Julius Caesar]] planned to lead a major campaign to crush Burebista and his allies once and for all, but he was assassinated before it could start.<ref>Strabo VII.3.5</ref> However, the campaign was made redundant by Burebista's overthrow and death in the same year, after which his Getae empire fragmented into four, later five, independent petty kingdoms. These were militarily far weaker, as Strabo assessed their combined military potential at just 40,000 armed men, and were often involved in internecine warfare.<ref>Strabo VII.3.11</ref><ref>Dio LI.26.1</ref> The [[Geto-Dacians]] did not again become a threat to Roman hegemony in the lower Danube until the rise of [[Decebalus|Decebal]] 130 years later (86 AD).

=== Roman Principate (30 BC – 284 AD) ===

==== Augustan era (30 BC – 14 AD) ====
[[File:Statue-Augustus.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of [[Augustus]] in the garb of Roman ''[[imperator]]'' (military supreme commander). By the end of his sole rule (14 AD), Augustus had expanded the empire to the [[Danube]], which was to remain its central/eastern European border for its entire history (except for the occupation of [[Dacia]] 105–275).]]

Once he had established himself as sole ruler of the Roman state in 30 BC, Caesar's grand-nephew and adopted son [[Augustus]] inaugurated a strategy of advancing the empire's south-eastern European border to the line of the Danube from the [[Alps]], the [[Dinaric Alps]] and Macedonia. The primary objective was to increase strategic depth between the border and Italy and also to provide a major fluvial supply route between the Roman armies in the region.<ref>''Res Gestae'' 30</ref>

On the lower Danube, which was given priority over the upper Danube, this required the annexation of Moesia. The Romans' target was thus the tribes which inhabited Moesia, namely (from west to east) the [[Triballi]], Moesi and those Getae who dwelt south of the Danube. The Bastarnae were also a target because they had recently subjugated the Triballi, whose territory lay on the southern bank of the Danube between the tributary rivers ''[[Utus]]'' (Vit) and ''[[Ciabrus]]'' (Tsibritsa), with their chief town at [[Oescus]] (Gigen, Bulgaria).<ref>Ptolemy</ref> In addition, Augustus wanted to avenge the defeat of [[Gaius Antonius Hybrida|Gaius Antonius]] at Histria 32 years before and to recover the lost military standards. These were held in a powerful fortress called [[Genucla]] (Isaccea, near modern Tulcea, Romania, in the Danube Delta region), controlled by [[Zyraxes]], the local Getan king.<ref name="Dio LI.26.5">Dio LI.26.5</ref> The man selected for the task was [[Marcus Licinius Crassus (consul 30 BC)|Marcus Licinius Crassus]], grandson of [[Marcus Licinius Crassus|Crassus]] the [[triumvir]] and an experienced general at 33 years of age, who was appointed proconsul of Macedonia in 29 BC.<ref>Dio LI.23.2</ref>

The Bastarnae provided the ''casus belli'' by crossing the Haemus and attacking the [[Dentheletae]], a Thracian tribe who were Roman allies. Crassus marched to the Dentheletae's assistance, but the Bastarnae host hastily withdrew over the Haemus at his approach. Crassus followed them closely into Moesia but they would not be drawn into battle, withdrawing beyond the Tsibritsa.<ref>Dio LI.23.5</ref> Crassus now turned his attention to the Moesi, his prime target. After a successful campaign which resulted in the submission of a substantial section of the Moesi, Crassus again sought out the Bastarnae. Discovering their location from some peace envoys they had sent to him, he lured them into battle near the Tsibritsa by a stratagem. Hiding his main body of troops in a wood, he stationed as bait a smaller vanguard in open ground before the wood. As expected, the Bastarnae attacked the vanguard in force, only to find themselves entangled in the full-scale pitched battle with the Romans that they had tried to avoid. The Bastarnae tried to retreat into the forest but were hampered by the wagon train carrying their women and children, as these could not move through the trees. Trapped into fighting to save their families, the Bastarnae were routed. Crassus personally killed their king, Deldo, in combat, a feat which qualified him for Rome's highest military honour, ''[[spolia opima]]'', but Augustus refused to award it on a technicality.{{refn|group=Note|name=cnotef|Crassus' feat, as Roman commander, of killing the enemy leader in combat arguably entitled him to the highest honour a Roman soldier could gain: the ''[[spolia opima]]'' (literally: "bountiful spoils", but this term may be a corruption of ''spolia optima'', "supreme spoils"), the right to hang the armour stripped from the enemy leader in the temple of [[Feretrius|Jupiter Feretrius]] in Rome, in emulation of the Founder of Rome [[Romulus]], a privilege granted only twice previously. But Crassus was denied the honour by Augustus on the technicality that he was not commander-in-chief of Roman forces at the time, a position claimed by Augustus himself.<ref name="Dio LI.24.4" /> Augustus also forbade Crassus to accept the honorary title of ''imperator'' ("supreme commander") from his troops, traditional for victorious generals. Instead, Augustus claimed the title for himself (for the seventh time).<ref>Dio LI.25.2</ref><ref>CIL VI.873</ref> Finally, although Dio states that Crassus was voted a [[Roman triumph|Triumph]] in Rome by the Senate, there is no evidence in inscriptions of that year (27 BC) that it was actually celebrated. After his return to Rome, Crassus disappears from the record altogether, both epigraphic and literary. This is highly unusual in a relatively well-documented period for a person of such distinction who was still only about 33 years old.{{original research inline|date=October 2011}} His tomb has not been found in the excavated Crassus family mausoleum in Rome. This official "air-brushing from history" may imply punitive [[Exile|internal exile]] to a remote location, similar to that inflicted on the contemporary poet, [[Ovid]], who in AD 8, for an unknown offence, was ordered by Augustus to spend the rest of his life in Tomis (Constanţa) on the Black Sea. [[Ronald Syme]] points out the similarity of Crassus' removal from the official record with that of [[Cornelius Gallus]], the contemporary disgraced governor of Egypt, who was recalled by Augustus for assuming inappropriate honours.<ref>Syme (1986) 271-2</ref>}} Thousands of fleeing Bastarnae perished, many asphyxiated in nearby woods by encircling fires set by the Romans, others drowned trying to swim across the Danube. Nevertheless, a substantial force dug themselves into a powerful hillfort. Crassus laid siege to fort, but had to enlist the assistance of [[Rholes]], a Getan petty king, to dislodge them, for which service Rholes was granted the title of ''socius et amicus populi Romani'' ("ally and friend of the Roman people").<ref>Dio LI.24</ref>

The following year (28 BC), Crassus marched on Genucla. Zyraxes escaped with his treasure and fled over the Danube into Scythia to seek aid from the Bastarnae.<ref>Dio LI.26.6</ref> Before he was able to bring reinforcements, Genucla fell to a combined land and fluvial assault by the Romans.<ref name="Dio LI.26.5"/> The strategic result of Crassus' campaigns was the permanent annexation of Moesia by Rome.

About a decade later, in 10 BC,{{sfn|Almassy|2006|p=253}} the Bastarnae again clashed with Rome during Augustus' conquest of [[Pannonia]] (the ''bellum Pannonicum'' 14–9 BC). Inscription AE (1905) 14 records a campaign on the [[Hungarian Plain]] by the Augustan-era general [[Marcus Vinicius (consul 19 BC)|Marcus Vinucius]]: <blockquote>Marcus Vinucius...[patronymic], Consul [in 19 BC]...[various official titles], governor of Illyricum, the first [Roman general] to advance across the river Danube, defeated in battle and routed an army of Dacians and Basternae, and subjugated the [[Cotini]], Osi,...[missing tribal name] and [[Anartes|Anartii]] to the power of the emperor Augustus and of the people of Rome.</blockquote> Most likely, the Bastarnae, in alliance with Dacians, were attempting to assist the hard-pressed Illyrian/Celtic tribes of Pannonia in their resistance to Rome.

==== First and second centuries ====
[[File:AdamclisiMetope37.jpg|thumb|right|200px|War scene of the [[Tropaeum Traiani]] (c. 109 AD): a [[Roman legionary]] fighting with a [[Dacians|Dacian]] warrior, while a Germanic warrior (Bastarnae?), who has a [[suebian knot]], is wounded on the ground.]]

It appears that in the final years of Augustus' rule, the Bastarnae made their peace with Rome. The ''[[Res Gestae Divi Augusti]]'' ("Acts of the divine Augustus", 14 AD), an inscription commissioned by Augustus to list his achievements, states that he received an embassy from the Bastarnae seeking a treaty of friendship.<ref>Res Gestae Aug. 31</ref> It appears that a treaty was concluded and apparently proved remarkably effective, as no hostilities with the Bastarnae are recorded in surviving ancient sources until c. 175, some 160 years after Augustus' inscription was carved. But surviving evidence for the history of this period is so thin that it cannot be excluded that the Bastarnae clashed with Rome during it.{{refn|group=Note|name=cnoteg|The [[Julio-Claudian]] period and the subsequent [[Year of the Four Emperors|Roman Civil War of 68–9]] (until AD 69) is reasonably well-covered by Tacitus' ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annales]]'' (although substantial parts are missing) and ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Historiae]]''. But the loss of Tacitus' narrative for the entire [[Flavian dynasty|Flavian]] period (69–96) and of [[Ammianus Marcellinus]]'s continuation until 353, as well as of most of [[Dio Cassius]]'s History (up to 229), leaves a massive gap in our knowledge of the political history of the early empire, which is only scantily filled by inferior chronicles such as the ''[[Historia Augusta]]'', inscriptions and other evidence}} The Bastarnae participated in the [[Dacian Wars (disambiguation)|Dacian Wars]]<!--intentional link to DAB page--> of [[Domitian]] (86–88) and [[Trajan]] (101–102 and 105–106), fighting on both wars on the Dacian side<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coarelli |first1=Filippo |title=La colonna Traiana |date=1999 |publisher=Colombo |isbn=8886359349 |page=99 |url=https://www.unilibro.it/libro/coarelli-filippo/la-colonna-traiana/9788886359344 |access-date=19 June 2021}}</ref>

In the late second century, the ''Historia Augusta'' mentions that in the rule of [[Marcus Aurelius]] (161–180), an alliance of lower Danube tribes including the Bastarnae, the Sarmatian Roxolani and the [[Costoboci]] took advantage of the emperor's difficulties on the upper Danube (the [[Marcomannic Wars]]) to invade Roman territory.<ref>Historia Augusta ''Marcus Aurelius'' II.22</ref>

==== Third century ====
During the late second century, the main ethnic change in the northern Black Sea region was the immigration, from the Vistula valley in the North, of the [[Goths]] and accompanying Germanic tribes such as the [[Taifali]] and the [[Hasdingi]], a branch of the [[Vandal]] people. This migration was part of a series of major population movements in the European ''barbaricum'' (the Roman term for regions outside their empire). The Goths appear to have established a loose political hegemony over the existing tribes in the region.

Under the leadership of the Goths, a series of major invasions of the Roman empire were launched by a grand coalition of lower Danubian tribes from c. 238 onwards. The participation of the Bastarnae in these is likely but largely unspecified, due to Zosimus' and other chroniclers' tendency to lump all these tribes under the general term "Scythians" – meaning all the inhabitants of Scythia, rather than the specific [[Iranic languages|Iranic]]-speaking people called the [[Scythians]].<ref>Wolfram (1988) 45</ref> Thus, in 250–251, the Bastarnae were probably involved in the Gothic and Sarmatian invasions which culminated in the Roman defeat at the [[Battle of Abrittus]] and the slaying of Emperor [[Decius]] (251).<ref>Wolfram (1988) 45–46</ref> This disaster was the start of the [[Third Century Crisis]] of the Roman Empire, a period of military and economic chaos. At this critical moment, the Roman army was crippled by the outbreak of a second [[smallpox]] pandemic, the [[plague of Cyprian]] (251–70). The effects are described by Zosimus as even worse than the earlier [[Antonine Plague|Antonine plague]] (166–180), which probably killed 15–30% of the empire's inhabitants.<ref>Zosimus I.16, 21</ref>

Taking advantage of Roman military disarray, a vast number of barbarian peoples overran much of the empire. The Sarmato-Gothic alliance of the lower Danube carried out major invasions of the Balkans region in 252, and in the periods 253–258 and 260–268.<ref>Zosimus I.16, 20, 21</ref> The Peucini Bastarnae are specifically mentioned in the 267/268 invasion, when the coalition built a fleet in the estuary of the river ''Tyras'' ([[Dniester]]). The Peucini Bastarnae would have been critical to this venture since, as coastal and delta dwellers, they would have had seafaring experience that the nomadic Sarmatians and Goths lacked. The barbarians sailed along the Black Sea coast to Tomis in Moesia Inferior, which they tried to take by assault without success. They then attacked the provincial capital [[Marcianopolis]] (Devnya, Bulgaria), also in vain. Sailing on through the [[Bosporus]], the expedition laid siege to [[Thessalonica]] in Macedonia. Driven off by Roman forces, the coalition host moved overland into Thracia, where finally it was crushed by Emperor [[Claudius II]] (r. 268–270) at [[Battle of Naissus|Naissus]] (269).<ref>Zosimus I.22-3</ref>

Claudius II was the first of a sequence of military emperors (the so-called "[[Illyrian emperors]]" from their main ethnic origin) who restored order in the empire in the late third century. These emperors followed a policy of large-scale resettlement within the empire of defeated barbarian tribes, granting them land in return for an obligation of military service much heavier than the usual conscription quota. The policy had the triple benefit, from the Roman point of view, of weakening the hostile tribe, repopulating the plague-ravaged frontier provinces (bringing their abandoned fields back into cultivation) and providing a pool of first-rate recruits for the army. It could also be popular with the barbarian prisoners, who were often delighted by the prospect of a land grant within the empire. In the fourth century, such communities were known as ''[[laeti]]''.<ref>Jones (1964) 620</ref>

The emperor [[Marcus Aurelius Probus|Probus]] (r. 276–282) is recorded as resettling 100,000 Bastarnae in Moesia, in addition to other peoples, including Goths, Gepids and Vandals. The Bastarnae are reported to have honoured their oath of allegiance to the emperor, while the other resettled peoples mutinied while Probus was distracted by usurpation attempts and ravaged the Danubian provinces far and wide.<ref name="Zosimus I.34"/><ref>Historia Augusta ''Probus'' 18</ref> A further massive transfer of Bastarnae was carried out by Emperor [[Diocletian]] (ruled 284–305) after he and his colleague [[Galerius]] defeated a coalition of Bastarnae and [[Carpi (Dacian tribe)|Carpi]] in 299.<ref>Eutropius IX.25</ref>

=== Later Roman empire (305 onwards) ===

The remaining transdanubian Bastarnae disappear into historical obscurity in the late empire. Neither of the main ancient sources for this period, [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] and [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], mention the Bastarnae in their accounts of the fourth century, possibly implying the loss of their separate identity, presumably assimilated by the regional hegemons, the Goths. Such assimilation would have been facilitated if, as is possible, the Bastarnae spoke an [[East Germanic]] language closely related to [[Gothic language|Gothic]]. If the Bastarnae remained an identifiable group, it is highly likely that they participated in the vast Gothic-led migration, driven by [[Hun]]nic pressure, that was admitted into Moesia by Emperor [[Valens]] in 376 and eventually defeated and killed Valens at [[Battle of Adrianople|Adrianople]] in 378. Although Ammianus refers to the migrants collectively as "Goths", he states that, in addition, "Taifali and other tribes" were involved.<ref>Zosimus IV.104-7; 107</ref>

However, after a gap of 150 years, there is a final mention of Bastarnae in the mid-5th century. In 451, the Hunnic leader [[Attila]] invaded Gaul with a large army which was ultimately routed at the [[Battle of Châlons]] by a Roman-led coalition under the general [[Flavius Aetius|Aetius]].<ref>Jordanes 38–40</ref> Attila's host, according to [[Jordanes]], included contingents from the "innumerable tribes that had been brought under his sway".<ref>Jordanes 38</ref> This included the Bastarnae, according to the Gallic nobleman [[Sidonius Apollinaris]].<ref>Sidonius ''Carmina'' 7.341</ref> However, E.A. Thompson argues that Sidonius' mention of Bastarnae at Chalons is probably false: his purpose was to write a [[panegyric]] and not a history, and Sidonius added some spurious names to the list of real participants (e.g. [[Burgundians]], [[Sciri]] and [[Franks]]) for dramatic effect.<ref name="Thompson 1996 149">Thompson (1996) 149</ref>