The 370s decade ran from January 1, 370, to December 31, 379.

Events

370

By place

Roman Empire
  • Germanic Invasions: The German peoples surround the north borders of the Roman Empire, while the Huns are destroying everything in their path--villages, cities, even empires.
  • A law of Valentinian I and Valens bans marriages between Romans and barbarians under penalty of death.
  • An edict issued by Valentinian I and Valens bans the importation of wine and olive oil from areas controlled by the barbarians.[1]
Europe
Asia

By topic

Religion

371

By place

Roman Empire
Persia
Asia

By topic

Art and Science
Religion

372

By place

Roman Empire
Europe
China

By topic

Art and Science
  • The national academy of Chinese learning, called Taehak, is established in the kingdom of Goguryeo (Korea).
Religion

373

By place

Roman Empire
Europe
Persia
  • King Shapur II declares war as a result of Valens' support of Armenia. Emperor Valens makes Antioch his military base for the campaign against Persia.

By topic

Religion

374

By place

Roman Empire
Mesoamerica

By topic

Religion

375

By place

Roman Empire
India
Asia

By topic

Education
Religion

376

By place

Roman Empire
  • Gothic War: Emperor Valens permits the Visigothic chieftain Fritigern and his people to cross the Danube from Thrace (later Romania), and settle on Roman soil in Lower Moesia, on the condition that they provide soldiers to the legions. The Visigoths embark by troops on boats and rafts, and canoes made from hollowed tree trunks. The river is swollen by frequent rains; a large number try to swim and are drowned in their struggle against the force of the stream.
  • The Greuthungi, led by Alatheus and Saphrax, displaced by the predations of the Huns and Alans, request asylum within the Roman Empire. They are refused. The Roman frontier forces stretched to the breaking point, they slip across the Danube and unite with Fritigern. With their situation critical and desperately short of food, discontent is rising amongst the Goths.
  • The Romans fail to disarm the Visigoths, bungle administration of the refugees, and mistreat them, taking some of their children as slaves. The Goths break out of their containment area along the Danube and strike south towards the low-lying fertile region near Marcianople (Bulgaria). Although defying the local Roman officials, they are not in open revolt.
  • Lupicinus, count (Comes) of Thrace, tries to bring the Visigoths back under control. He invites Fritigern and the Gothic leaders to a banquet, letting them believe that in addition to food and drink, they can discuss provisions for their people. During the feast, Lupicinus tries to assassinate the Gothic delegation. Fritigern escapes and the Goths begin looting and burning the farms and Roman villas near Marcianople.
  • Lupicinus attacks the Visigoths 9 miles outside Marcianople with hastily gathered local troops. His force (5,000 men) is annihilated and the Goths equip themselves with Roman armour and weapons. Fritigern marches south towards Adrianople (Turkey).
  • Fearing they will join Fritigern, Roman troops of Gothic origin stationed in Adrianople are ordered by Valens to move east. The soldiers request a two-day delay to prepare and ask for food and money for the journey. However, the chief magistrate of Adrianople refuses and the Goths break out in open rebellion. They inflict heavy casualties among the citizens. Arming themselves with Roman equipment, they join forces with Fritigern.
  • Winter Fritigern attempts an unsuccessful siege of Adrianople. His troops try to storm the city walls, but abandon the attacks and break into small bands, better able to forage and feed themselves. Roman prisoners switch sides and give the Goths a valuable source of local intelligence.
China

377


By place

Roman Empire
  • Gothic War: Famine in Lower Moesia (occupied by the Goths) takes a fearsome toll. Fritigern and his followers appeal for help, but the governors Lupicinus and Maximus regard them as second-class citizens. Little help is forthcoming, and thousands starve to death. The pressure on the Roman frontier is still severe, with the Taifali and other hostile bands of Goths on the Danube. In addition, groups of Huns and Alans have also moved up to the river.
  • Emperor Valens requests his nephew Gratian to send Roman troops against the Goths. He responds by sending the ageing General Frigeridus with elite reinforcements that Ammianus calls ‘Pannonian and Transalpine auxiliaries (Pannonicis et Transalpinis auxiliis).’ Gratian also sends Richomeres, his Frankish commander of household troops (comes domesticorum), at the head of a number of troops drawn from the Gallic field army.
  • Battle of the Willows: The Romans abandon the guerrilla strategy and are attacked by the Goths. The battle is indecisive but both sides suffer heavy casualties. The only Roman army available to face the Goths is no longer a fighting force. Richomeres withdraws his troops south of Marcianople (Bulgaria).[7]
  • Valens sends Saturninus to the Balkan Mountains to block the passes. These efforts are possibly supported by units of limitanei (light infantry) withdrawn from areas under Goth control. Split into small bands and unable to join the Tervingi in sufficient strength to overcome the Roman cordon, the Goths grow increasingly desperate.
  • The Goths (possibly Greuthungi) make an alliance with some of the Huns and Alans along the Danube, and entice them across the river. With the balance of power now shifted Saturninus concentrates his forces to avoid his outposts being overrun. This opens the passes, allowing the Goths, Huns and Alans to break out into the lowlands of southern Thrace.
  • Autumn Bands of predatory "barbarians" spread throughout the province in search of food, supplies and booty. Most Roman troops are bottled up in the towns. Some elite units remain in the field and skirmish with the Goths. One such action takes place outside the town of Dibaltum. The Scutarii heavy cavalry is destroyed in a mad charge against the Goths.
  • The Goths, now seeking a military victory to force the Empire to make terms, aim to dislodge the army of Frigeridus from Beroea. He withdraws over the Succi (Ihtiman) Pass back to Illyrium, and reports to Gratian that an expedition by the main imperial armies is required to repulse the Goths in Thrace.
  • Valens concludes a peace with the Persian Empire and leaves enough troops to defend the eastern frontier. The Saracens under Queen Mavia revolt and devastate a swath of territory stretching from Phoenicia and Palestine as far as the Sinai (Egypt). Valens successfully brings the uprising under control.
Persia

By topic

Art and Science

378

By place

Roman Empire
  • Spring Emperor Valens returns to Constantinople and mobilises an army (40,000 men). He appoints Sebastianus, newly arrived from Italy, as magister militum to reorganize the Roman armies in Thrace.
  • February The Lentienses (part of the Alemanni) cross the frozen Rhine and raid the countryside. They are driven back by Roman auxilia palatina (Celtae and Petulantes), who defend the western frontier.
  • May Battle of Argentovaria: Emperor Gratian is forced to recall the army he has sent East. The Lentienses are defeated by Mallobaudes near Colmar (France). Gratian gains the title Alemannicus Maximus.
  • Gothic War: Valens sends Sebastian with a body of picked troops (2,000 men) to Thrace and renews the guerrilla war against the Goths. He chases down small groups of Gothic raiders around Adrianople.
  • Fritigern concentrates his army at Cabyle (Bulgaria). The Goths are mainly centred in the river valleys south of the Balkan Mountains, around the towns of Beroea, Cabyle and Dibaltum.
  • July Frigeridus, Roman general, fortifies the Succi (Ihtiman) Pass to prevent the "barbarians" from breaking out to the north-west (Pannonia).
  • Gratian sets out from Lauriacum (Austria) with a body of light armed troops. His force is small enough to travel by boat down the Danube. He halts for four days at Sirmium (Serbia) suffering from fever.
  • August Gratian continues down the Danube to the "Camp of Mars" (frontier fortress near modern Niš), where he loses several men in an ambush by a band of Alans.
  • Fritigern strikes south from Cabyle, following the Tundzha River towards Adrianople, and tries to get behind the supply lines to Constantinople.
  • Roman reconnaissance detects the Goths. Valens, already west of Adrianople, turns back and establishes a fortified camp outside the city.
  • The Goths, with their wagons and families vulnerable to attack, withdraw back to the north. Roman scouts fail to detect the Greuthungi cavalry foraging further up the Tundzha valley.
  • Fritigern sends a Christian priest to the Roman camp with an offer of terms and a letter for Valens. The peace overtures are rejected.
  • August 9 Battle of Adrianople: A large Roman army is defeated by the Thervingi. Valens is killed along with two-thirds of his army.
  • The Goths attack Adrianople; they attempt to scale the city walls with ladders but are repelled by the defenders, who drop lumps of masonry.
  • The Goths, supported by the Huns, move on to Constantinople. Their progress is checked by the Saracens, recruited from Arab tribes who control the eastern fringes of the empire.
  • October The Greuthungi, faced with food shortages, split off and move west into Pannonia. Followed by their families, they raid villages and farmland.
Mesoamerica

By topic

Architecture
Religion

379

By place

Roman Empire
Europe
Persia
China
Mesoamerica

By topic

Religion

Significant people

Births

370

371

372

373

374

375

376

377

378

379

Deaths

370

371

372

373

374

375

376

Saint Bademus

377

378

379

References

  1. Imperatores Valentinianus, Valens, Gratianus . Ad barbaricum transferendi vini et olei et liquaminis nullam quisquam habeat facultatem ne gustus quidem causa aut usus commerciorum. * VALENTIN. VALENS ET GRAT. AAA. AD THEODOTUM MAG. MIL.
  2. 1 2 "List of Rulers of Korea". metmuseum.org. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  3. Cameron, Averil; Garnsey, Peter (1998). The late Empire, A.D. 337–425 (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-521-30200-5.
  4. Martin, Simon; Grube, Nikolai (2008). Chronicle of the Maya kings and queens: deciphering the dynasties of the ancient Maya (2nd ed.). Thames & Hudson. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-500-28726-2.
  5. Guiley, Rosemary (2001). The encyclopedia of saints. Infobase Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-8160-4134-3.
  6. 1 2 "List of Rulers of Korea". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  7. Gnam, Carl (2015-10-05). "The Gothic Wars Battle of Adrianople". Warfare History Network. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  8. "Annals of the Four Masters". www.ucc.ie.
  9. "Alaric - leader of Visigoths". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  10. Hyŏngnyŏn, Chŏng; Buzo, Adrian; Prince, Tony (1993). Kyunyŏ-jŏn: the life, times and songs of a tenth century Korean monk. Wild Peony. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-646-14772-7.
  11. McIlwraith, C. Wayne; Rollin, Bernard E. (2011). Equine Welfare. John Wiley & Sons. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4051-8763-3.
  12. Binns, John (April 2011). Hans D. Betz; Don S. Browning; Bernd Janowski [in German]; Eberhard Jüngel (eds.). Euthymius the Great. BRILL. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  13. Van Dam, Raymond (2003). Families and friends in late Roman Cappadocia. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-0-8122-3712-2.
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