Battle of Mardia

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Battle of Mardia
date End of 316 / beginning of 317
place at Charmanli ( Bulgaria ) or on the Arda
output draw
Parties to the conflict

Constantine's army

Licinius's army

Commander

Constantine I.

Licinius , Valerius Valens

Troop strength
unknown unknown
losses

unknown

unknown

In the Battle of Mardia (also battle on the Ardiensis campus ) the Roman Emperor Constantine fought his rival Licinius in late 316 or early 317 (the chronology is uncertain) .

prehistory

After the death of Galerius in the spring of 311, the system of tetrarchy established by Diocletian finally began to dissolve . After the defeat of Maxentius and the death of Maximinus Daia , the two remaining emperors, Constantine and Licinius, shared control of the empire. Constantine received the west while Licinius ruled the eastern provinces. However, the relationship between the two emperors, who had been related by marriage since the spring of 313, remained tense and escalated in the course of the affair between Constantine's brother-in-law and the designated Caesar Bassianus . A first encounter in the battle of Cibalae ended with a heavy defeat for Licinius, who had to withdraw to Thrace . There he assembled a new force under the command of Valerius Valens , whom he raised to the rank of Augustus . Licinius' offers of negotiation fell on deaf ears with Constantine; Rather, the latter advanced over the Balkan Mountains and set up camp near Philippi or Philippopel .

Course of the battle

The opposing troops met again on the Ardiensis campus near today's town of Charmanli in Bulgaria . The battle, which was very costly for both sides, was only interrupted by the onset of darkness, without having brought a clear decision. During the night Licinius gathered his remaining troops and set off to the northwest in the direction of Beroe (Augusta Traiana) .

consequences

In the peace treaty now concluded with Constantine, Licinius had to renounce the Illyricum and thus lost most of his European territory; only Thrace and Moesia remained under his control. On March 1, 317, Constantine's sons Crispus and Constantine were raised to Caesars , as was Licinius' son of the same name . For Valerius Valens, this agreement meant the death sentence.

swell

literature

  • Michael DiMaio, Jörn Zeuge, Jane Bethune: The Proelium Cibalense et Proelium Campi Ardiensis. The First Civil War of Constantine I and Licinius I. In: The Ancient World 21, 1990, pp. 67-91.
  • Elisabeth Herrmann-Otto : Constantine the Great . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2007.
  • Dietmar Kienast : The bellum Cibalense and the murders of Licinius . In: Michael Wissemann (Ed.): Roma renascens. Contributions to late antiquity and reception history. Festschrift for Ilona Opelt . Frankfurt am Main 1988, ISBN 3-8204-0979-3 , pp. 149-171.
  • Charles M. Odahl: Constantine and the Christian Empire . Routledge, London a. a. 2004, ISBN 0415174856 .
  • Oliver Schmitt: Constantine the Great (275–337) . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 2007.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Another possible site of the battle is the lower Arda valley southwest of Adrianople .