Costoboci
The name of the tribe is attested in a variety of spellings in Latin: Costoboci, Costobocae, Castaboci, Castabocae, Coisstoboci and in Ancient Greek: Κοστωβῶκοι, Κοστουβῶκοι, Κοιστοβῶκοι.
[9][16][17][18] Ammianus Marcellinus, writing c. 400, locates the Costoboci between the Dniester and Danube rivers,[9][19] probably to the north-east of the former Roman province of Dacia.
[28] This culture developed on the northern side of the Carpathians in the Upper Dniester and Prut basins in the Late La Tène period.
[29] A Latin-language funerary inscription found in Rome, believed to date from the 2nd century AD, was dedicated to Zia or Ziais the Dacian, the daughter of Tiatus and the wife of Pieporus, a king of the Costoboci.
[67] The evidence adduced in support of the main ethnic hypotheses may be summarised as follows: According to some scholars, the Costoboci were not a sedentary group at all, but a semi-nomadic steppe horse-based culture of Scytho-Sarmatian character.
[83] During the rule of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Empire fought the Marcomannic Wars, a vast and protracted struggle against Marcomanni, Quadi, and other tribes along the middle Danube.
[94][92] In AD 167 the Roman legion V Macedonica, returning from the Parthian War, moved its headquarters from Troesmis in Moesia Inferior to Potaissa in Dacia Porolissensis,[95][96] to defend the Dacian provinces against the Marcomannic attacks.
[103] Two funerary inscriptions discovered at Tropaeum Traiani in Moesia Inferior commemorate Romans killed during the attacks: Lucius Fufidius Iulianus, a decurion and duumvir of the city and a man named Daizus, son of Comozous.
[102] A tombstone found at Scupi in Moesia Superior was dedicated to Timonius Dassus, a decurion from the Roman auxiliary cohort II Aurelia Dardanorum, who fell in combat against the Costoboci.
[109][91][101][110] In May[101] or June[107] 171, the orator Aelius Aristides delivered a public speech in Smyrna, lamenting the limited damage recently inflicted to the sacred site.
[113][114] Even though much of the invasion force was spent, the local resistance was insufficient and the procurator Lucius Julius Vehilius Gratus Julianus was sent to Greece with a vexillatio to clear out the remnants of the invaders.
A bronze hand dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus by a soldier from a cohort stationed in Dacia was found at Myszków in Western Ukraine.
Sextus Cornelius Clemens, the governor of the province, refused their demands, but he encouraged them to attack the troublesome Costoboci while offering protection for their women and children.
[126][127] Scholars variously suggest that the remnants of this tribe were subdued by the Vandals[73][124] or fled and sought refuge in the neighbouring territories of the Carpi[73][128] or in the Roman province of Dacia.
