Later Roman-Barbarian Contacts in Central Europe: Numismatic Evidence

Relations between two worlds - Roman and Barbarian - constitute a problem which has attracted the attention of several generations of scholars. Already in the late eighteen hundreds a distinct field of study began to emerge - primarily the domain of interest for archaeologists, historians and numismatists. The question of contacts between the Empire and peoples inhabiting lands outside the 'limes' was examined both from the point of view of Roman influence on Barbarians and vice versa, as well as in a broader context, as an illustration of contacts between societies at different levels of development of civilization.
In the present work we set out to explore certain manifestations of the relations between these two worlds during a specific period when the relationships in question began to assume a completely novel shape in comparison to that of the bygone 'Golden Age' of the Empire, when the initiative was in Roman hands. The Antoninę period witnessed an active policy towards Barbaricum, coupled with intensive economic exploitation of the area. However, during the period of crisis in the 3rd century AD the form of contacts underwent such considerable transformation as to invalidate, in our opinion, all attempts to project the picture of former far-reaching commercial links into the period under discussion. Around AD 250 a crucial change in the balance of power between the Empire and Barbaricum took place with the initiative passing into the hands of Barbarians, Germanic tribes in particular, the result being a prevalence of non-economic contacts.