Cohors Apula

The Cohors Apula [civium Romanorum] ( German,  the cohort from Apulia [the Roman citizens] ) was a Roman auxiliary unit . It is documented by inscriptions, Arrian's work Ἔκταξις κατὰ Ἀλάνοον and the Notitia dignitatum . In the Notitia dignitatum it is referred to as Cohors Apuleia civium Romanorum .

Name components

• Cohors : The cohort was an infantry unit of the auxiliary troops in the Roman army .

• Apula or Apuleia : from Apulia . The soldiers of the cohort were recruited in Puglia when the unit was set up.

• civium Romanorum : the Roman citizen. The addition occurs in the Notitia dignitatum .

Since there are no references to the additions to the name milliaria (1000 men) and equitata (partially mounted), it can be assumed that it is a Cohors quingenaria peditata , a pure infantry cohort. The nominal strength of the unit was 480 men, consisting of 6 Centuries with 80 men each.

history

The cohort was founded in the 1st century BC. BC in Apulia from Roman citizens. It was then relocated to the east of the Roman Empire at an unspecified time, where it was no later than 4 BC. Is proven in Alexandria Troas in the province of Asia . It is possible that the unit was also in Side in the province of Lycia et Pamphylia in the 1st century AD .

At an unspecified point in time, the cohort was relocated to the province of Cappadocia , where it was part of the armed forces (see Roman forces in Cappadocia ) that Arrian mobilized for his campaign against the Alans (Ἔκταξις κατὰ Ἀλάνοον) around 135. Arrian mentions in his report a unit under the command of a Secundinus , which he calls οἱ Ἀπλανοὶ.

The unit is mentioned for the last time in the Notitia dignitatum with the name Cohors Apuleia civium Romanorum for the location Ysiporto. She was part of the troops under the command of the Dux Armeniae .

Locations

Cohort locations may have been:

Alexandria Troas : an inscription was found here. Side : An inscription was found here.

Ysiporto: The unit is listed in the Notitia dignitatum for this location.

Members of the cohort

The following members of the cohort are known.

Commanders

Gaius Fabricius Tuscus , a prefect

Secundinus: he is named by Arrian as the commander of the cohort.

Others

• Lucius Salvius ( AE 1966, 478 )

See also

List of Roman auxiliary units List of military units in the Notitia dignitatum

Roman forces in Cappadocia

literature

• John Spaul : Cohors² The evidence for and a short history of the auxiliary infantry units of the Imperial Roman Army , British Archaeological Reports 2000, BAR International Series (Book 841), ISBN 978-1-84171-046-4

Remarks

1. ↑ According to Julian Bennett (2016), the soldiers of the unit had been granted Roman citizenship at an unspecified point in time. Since the soldiers of the cohort were recruited from Roman citizens when the unit was set up, this title must have been awarded at a time when hardly any more Roman citizens served in the cohort, possibly during Trajan's Parthian War around 114 or the Parthian War of Lucius Verus ( 161–166), but in any case before 212, when the Constitutio Antoniniana came into force.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Julian Bennett (2007) points out that the grave inscription of Lucius Salvius does not reveal whether he was an active soldier or a veteran at the time. In the event that he died as an active soldier, it would be likely that the unit was in Side at the time.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Julian Bennett : The Auxiliary Garrison of Asia Province , ANATOLICA XLII, 2016, pp. 151–169, here pp. 156–158 ( PDF ).
2. ↑ Ségolène Demougin: Prosopographie des Chevaliers Romains Julio-Claudiens (43 av. J.–C. - 70 ap. J.–C.) , Collection de l'École Francaise de Rome 153, 1992, ISSN  0223-5099 , ISBN 2 -7283-0248-7 , p. 190 ( online ).
3. ↑ ^{a b} Julian Bennett: The Roman Army in Lycia and Pamphylia , ADALYA X, 2007, pp. 131–151 here pp. 137–139 ( PDF ).
4. ^ ^{A b c} Michael Alexander Speidel : The Development of the Roman Forces in Northeastern Anatolia. New evidence for the history of the exercitus Cappadocicus. , Special print from: MA Speidel, Heer und Herrschaft im Römischen Reich der Hohen Kaiserzeit, Stuttgart 2009, pp. 595–631, here pp. 602, 611 ( online ).
5. ↑ ^{a b} Jörg Scheuerbrandt : Exercitus. Tasks, organization and command structure of Roman armies during the imperial era. Dissertation, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau 2003/2004, pp. 62, 67 ( PDF ).
6. ^ Notitia dignitatum in partibus Orientis XXXVIII ( online ).
7. ↑ Inscription from Alexandria Troas ( AE 1973, 501 )
8. ↑ Inscription from Side ( AE 1966, 478 )
9. ↑ John Spaul , Cohors², pp 19-21