Montes Serrorum

Montes Serrorum (in Latin; "mountain of the Serri") is a mountain somewhere in the Carpathians mentioned by Roman soldier Ammianus Marcellinus (325–391) regarding events in the Gothic War (367–369).

In 367, the Roman Emperor Valens attacked the Thervingi (a Gothic people) north of the Danube river. However, he was unable to hit them directly, because apparently the bulk of the Goths retreated to the Montes Serrorum. Marcellinus says that Valens could not find anyone to fight with (nullum inveniret quem superare poterat vel terrere) and even implies that all of them fled, horror-struck, to the mountains (omnes formidine perciti... montes petivere Serrorum). It was described as only accessible to "exceedingly" familiar with the surroundings, thus the Roman troops were unable to achieve anything.

The mountain is probably in the southeastern Carpathians.[1] Matei Cazacu (1972) tried to precisely locate it to the Siriul mountain range that divides Transylvania from Wallachia, in the Buzău valley.[1] Wanke (1990) was sceptical to Cazacu's attempt.[1] The toponym has been connected to the Serri tribe mentioned by Pliny the Elder (23–79) in Naturalis Historia, although this seems unlikely.[1] Slovene anthropologist Niko Županič (1876–1961) treated the toponym as evidence of "Serb presence in Dacia", and this view was supported by Ivo Vukcevich (2001), in turn discredited by Florin Curta.[2] Konstantin Jireček (1854–1918) also connected the toponym with Pliny's Serri, who according to him were "Caucasian Serbs".[3]