Maratocupreni
In the 4th century, Maratocupreni was the name given to the inhabitants of a village near the Syrian Apamea , who were notorious for their assassinations and robberies. The only source is the Res Gestae of the late antique historian Ammianus Marcellinus , who describes the Maratocupreni as residents of a village of the same name that is not localized. The name is derived from marata , Aramaic for "caves", and kapra for "village", thus for example "cave villagers". In his church history, Theodoret mentions a village called Marato near Apamea.
Ammianus describes them as particularly dangerous, as they would have always struck unexpectedly and in unpredictable places. In the example he cited of their robbery in 369, a group of Maratocupreni had presented themselves as rationalis of the province with their entourage. The rationalis was tax collector and especially responsible for seizures. Disguised in this way, the bandits entered the city and stormed the house of one of the city's distinguished men. The servants, completely confused, would hardly have defended themselves, since there was uncertainty as to whether it was not a legitimate attack. The legal and customary procedure of a rationalis with his troops at that time seems to have been indistinguishable from the attack by a band of robbers. The house was completely looted, but the robbers, obstructed by their bag branches, did not escape from the imperial troops pursuing them. They were killed down to the last man, as were their children, so that they would not succeed their fathers, and their houses were destroyed.
swell
- Ammianus Marcellinus Res gestae 28: 2, 11-14
literature
- Jan den Boeft, Jan Willem Drijvers, Daniël den Hengst, Hans Teitler: Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXVIII . Brill, Leiden 2011, pp. 139-146
- Ernst Honigmann : Maratocupreni. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XIV, 2, Stuttgart 1930, column 1435 f.
- Irfan Shahîd: Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fourth Century. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC 2006, pp. 172-175