Beneficiaries

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The beneficiarier (also beneficiarier ; lat. Beneficiarius from lat. Beneficium , dt. "Benefit, benevolence") were principales (non-commissioned officers) in the Roman Empire who performed police-like tasks. They either served in a legion as secretaries in the governor's staff , or were assigned to stations in the provinces .

The beneficiaries were soldiers assigned by the respective governor from their home units who performed police functions on the trunk roads of the Reich . In order to be able to carry out their special tasks, they were exempted from the simple service ( Munera ) of a normal soldier. They belonged to the batch of principales , which included the frumentarians and speculatores among others . With occasionally assigned simple soldiers and auxiliary staff, they were deployed in so-called beneficiary stations ( stationes , street stations ). These were located at border crossings, road crossings, river crossings and other neuralgic points in the provinces. In a centurie , cohort or legion, the beneficiaries took on secretary and clerk functions for the legates and tribunes .

At the external, but also at important internal borders of the empire, the beneficiaries controlled the movement of goods as a supervisory authority over those actually responsible. Furthermore, they collected information from the population, from traders and from informants, which they passed on to the governor if relevant. In order to ensure their independence from local supervisory authorities, they were transferred every six months. Usually the beneficiary donated a consecration stone to the state gods and local deities when he was relieved of a station. On the basis of the stone finds, their service premises could be archaeologically proven at numerous stationing locations.

Beneficiaries received one and a half times the pay of a legionnaire. Their typical hallmark was a special lance that they carried with them and by which they could be recognized from a distance as beneficiaries. This so-called Signumlance was the traditional symbol of power and sovereignty of the Roman Empire. The bearer of the lance was therefore on the direct order of his governor (legate) and exercised his office. His duties included the correction and chastisement of disobedient individuals. Punishment for minor offenses was less about fines and more about corporal punishment and exposure in front of the population. The institution of the beneficiary can be traced back to the Vespasian times.

  • Lance tip of a beneficiary, original find in the Römermuseum Osterburken

  • Clothing of a beneficiary (reconstruction, German Customs Museum Hamburg)

  • Figurine of a beneficiary in the German Customs Museum in Hamburg

  • Grave inscription for Verinus, beneficiarier of Usienus Secundus, governor of Noricum (158 AD), Museum Lauriacum , Enns / Upper Austria.

  • The beneficiary station on the arterial road south of the Obernburg fort, excavated by 2007

  • One of the beneficiary dedicatory inscriptions from the Obernburg fort

See also

Web links

literature

  • Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Beneficiarii. Colloquium on a Roman army . From December 3rd to 5th, 1990 in Osterburken. Lectures. Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): The Roman consecrated district of Osterburken (= research and reports on prehistory and early history in Baden-Württemberg. Vol. 49). Volume 2. Theiss, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-8062-1140-X .
  • Joachim Ott: The Beneficiarier. Investigations into their position within the hierarchy of the Roman army and their function (= Historia. Einzelschriften. H. 92). Steiner, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-515-06660-8 (also: Frankfurt am Main, Univ., Diss., 1993).
  • Jocelyne Nelis-Clément: Les beneficiarii. Militaires et administrateurs au service de l'Empire (Ier saC - VIe spC) (= Ausonius publications. Études 5). Boccard et al., Paris et al. 2000, ISBN 2-910023-21-4 (also: Friborg, Univ., Diss., 1990).
  • Michael Alexander Speidel : Pay and economic situation of the Roman soldiers. In: Géza Alföldy , Brian Dobson, Werner Eck (eds.): Emperor, Army and Society in the Roman Empire. Commemorative publication for Eric Birley (= Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies. Vol. 31). Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07654-9 , pp. 65-96.
  • Gabriele Wesch-Klein : Social aspects of the Roman army in the imperial era (= Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies. Vol. 28). Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-07300-0 (also: Heidelberg, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1995).