Cohors VIII Fida

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The Cohors VIII Fida (equitata) ("8th partially mounted cohort, the loyalty") was a Roman auxiliary force that served in forts in the Roman province of Africa proconsularis , later Tripolitania , during the time of the high principate and until late antiquity . The unit belonged to the border guards and later, as a security force of the Talalati section command, had the task of monitoring the mountain range of Djebel Demmer on the ridges of the Dahar mountain range with its military posts and barriers .

History of unity

Location Fort Secedi

A first indication of the existence of the unit, provide two Ostraca from today in Libya situated castle Gholaia which are dated to the period 253-259 n. Chr.. One of the documents was issued on April 24th, receipt was acknowledged on April 27th. The second document has only survived in fragments. In the first document, the commander of the Cohors VIII Fida, a Decurio named Pomponius Silvanus, sends a messenger rider to Gholaia to inquire about orders for his unit. The location of the Cohors VIII Fida at that time was the - not yet localized - Fort Secedi.

Location Talalati Fort

Site plan of the Ras el Ain Tlalet fort with the surrounding buildings

As building inscriptions from the year 263 AD prove, the unit can be located after its time in Secedi in the newly founded fort of Ras el Aïn Tlalet (Talalati) .

This fortification was located around 600 kilometers to the northwest of the cohort's previous location. The time frame of the laying is strongly limited by the mention of the mentioned ostraca at the latest in the years 258/259 AD and on the building inscriptions from the year 263 AD. The reason for this measure is evidently the archaeologically verifiable abandonment of the military border installations in the area around Gholaia, which were advanced far to the south, and fell during this period. This task probably also affected the Gheriat el-Garbia fort with the associated outpost. Severe defeats at other border sections of the empire, including the final Limesfall in the Germanic provinces, internal Roman conflicts, the lack of soldiers and strategic considerations will have prompted Emperor Gallienus (260-268) at the height of the imperial crisis to set the tripolitan border at least in the area around Gholaia relocate.

During late antiquity, the Notitia Dignitatum Occidentalis, which is part of a late Roman codex, which received its current text form until around 425 or a little later, proves a Praepositus limitis Talalatensis for the military greater Talalati area . The Limes Tripolitanus was divided into individual border commands before the middle of the 3rd century. The supreme command for these individual border protection sections, which can be shown to have been established since the middle of the 3rd century, was probably initially still in the hands of local troop leaders, the Praepositi limitis , who had their staff positions in the larger forts at the rear. At the end of the 3rd century or around 300 AD, the border guards were centralized and placed under the authority of the governor of the newly created province of Tripolitania. Even before AD 400, the office of Dux provinciae Tripolitanae was established , a high officer in the Western Roman army who acted as commander-in-chief of the Tripolitan border guards. The individual border protection sections were now subject to the orders of local commanders. These retained the title Praepositi limitis , but now had to take care of much smaller border sections. In the case of Talalati, the Praepositus limitis Talalatensis was responsible for security at the Talalatensis border section. The exact geographical delimitation of this section command has not yet been scientifically clarified.

Two more inscription stones document extensive repair work on the fort's defensive facilities almost a hundred years later, around AD 355/360.

[…] VAGANI […] SIO […] S […] DINE L […]
[dd (ominorum) nn (ostrorum)] Constanti Pii Felicis ac triumphatoris s [emper Aug (usti)]
[et Iul] iani fortissimi ac floren [t] issimi Caes [aris]
[castell] um (?) funditus evers [u] m [par] tim ex su [o sumptu]
[partim ex…] VM […] RESCONII [i] nlaesis N […]
[provin] cialibus [… T (itus) A] rchon [tius Nilus…]

Translation: “… our Lord Constantine, the pious, happy and eternal triumphant Augustus and Julian, the bravest and most brilliant Caesar. The completely destroyed fort was partly at its own expense partly from ... intact / undamaged ... provincial residents ... Titus Archontius Nilus. "

The following inscription was much more damaged:

[… Dil] apsa ad REI […]
[…] OS propugna [cul ...]
[T (itus) Archon] tiu [s] Nilus v (ir) [p (erfectissimus) praeses et comes p (rovinciae) T (ripolitaniae)]
[prov] incialibus o [ptulit]
[ad ex] ercituum u [tilitatem] [p] rocuravi [t]

Translation: "... that had fallen apart, ... defenses ... Titus Archontius Nilus, a accomplished man, governor and military commander of the Province of Tripolitania, offered the provincial residents [and] took care of them for the benefit of the armies."

(Flavius) Titus Archontius Nilus held the civil and military leadership of the province of Tripolitania from 355 to 360 AD as praeses et comes provinciae Tripolitanae .

A final reference to the further history of the fort as the seat of a border guard commander is given by the aforementioned Notitia Dignitatum Occidentalis. The information contained there can, however, date back to the late 4th century, as it can be proven that many of the information in the written record was already out of date or partially inaccurate at the time. The archaeologist David Mattingly assigns the information on Talalati to the late 4th century. Alongside other scholars, the ancient historian Ralf Scharf (1959–2013) assumed that the eastern part of the Notitia Dignitatum referred to here was a coherent document that had a terminus post quem of 399 or possibly closer to 401 AD.

Members of the cohort

The following members of the cohort are known:

  • Pomponius Silvanus, a Decurio
  • Julius Varus, a horseman
  • Julius Januarius, a horseman or troop leader

See also

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 841), ISBN 978-1-84171-046-4 , p. 494.

Remarks

  1. ↑ OBuNjem 00095 ; OBuNjem 00094 :

    Part 1:
    Pomponius Sillvanus dec (urio) Iulio (Va)
    Vario eq (uiti) coh (ortis) VIII Fid (ae) salutem quere [= quaere (?)]
    Ad tessera (s) in locum qui dicitur Secedi

    Part 2:
    Varias misi tes (s) eras Secedi Iuli-
    um Ianuarium Secedi
    VIII Kal (endas) Maias

    Part 3:
    Accepta V Kal (endas) Maias
    per Pano (!) fr (umentarium)

    Translation, part 1: “Pomponius Silvanus, Decurio, greets Julius Varus, rider of Cohors VIII Fida. Ask about commands at the place of action called Secedi. "

    For the translation “in locum” with reference to this letter, see: Fritz Mitthof , Konrad Stauner : Two coffers in the Roman army and the role of the “signiferi”. A new papyrus certificate: P.Hamb. inv. 445 *. In: Tyche. Contributions to ancient history, papyrology and epigraphy 31, 2016, pp. 205–226; here: p. 222.

    Translation variants for part 2: a) “I have sent various orders to Julius Januarius in Secedi in Secedi. April 24th. ”B)“ I have sent various orders to Secedi through Julius Januarius to Secedi. April 24th. "

    The variants follow the considerations of James Noel Adams . Source: James Noel Adams: The Bu Njem Ostraca: a Postscript . In: Dutch Studies 2, 1995, pp. 171-172; here: p. 172.

    Now follows the second fragment with the name of Pomponius Silvanus:

    ---] Pom (ponius S) ilvanus dec (urio)
    [---] S [---] atianu (m?) Eq (uiti) n (umeri)
    [---] B [---] D concessi
    [--- lo] cu (m?) qui dicitur
    [---] absint
    [---] bun

  2. ↑ CIL 08, 22765 :

    Imp (erator) Caes (ar) [[[P (ublius) Lici] nius Gallienus]] Pius Felix Invictus
    Aug (ustus) Germanicus Persicus maximus pontifex
    maximus tr (i) b (unicia) p (otestate) XII co (n) s (ul) V p (ater) p (atriae) proco (n) s (ul) castra coh (ortis)
    VIII fidae opportuno loco a solo instituit
    operantibus fortissimis militibus suis ex limit
    Tripolitano

    Translation: “Emperor Publius Licinius Gallienus , the pious, happy and invincible Augustus, conqueror of the Germanic peoples, greatest victor over the Persians, high priest, holder of tribucinic power for the twelfth time, consul, father of the fatherland, proconsul , built the castle of the Cohors VIII Fida in a favorable location from the ground up with the help of the strongest fortification workers among his soldiers from Limes Tripolitanus. "

    A similar inscription, broken into eight pieces, was found by Bouvet in 1908 on the eastern gate of Ras el-Ain. Source: Pol Trousset : Recherches sur le limes Tripolitanus, du Chott el-Djerid à la frontière tuniso-libyenne. (Etudes d'Antiquites africaines). Éditions du Center national de la recherche scientifique, Paris 1974, ISBN 2-222-01589-8 . Pp. 98-102; here: p. 101.

  3. ↑ a b Michael Mackensen : Crew accommodation and organization of a Severan legionary vexillation in the Tripolitan fort Gholaia / Bu Njem (Libya) . In: Germania 86.1, 2008 (2009), pp. 271-306; here: p. 286.
  4. ↑ Hans Ulrich Nuber : The end of the Upper German-Raetian Limes - a research task. In: Hans Ulrich Nuber u. a. (Ed.): Archeology and history of the first millennium in southwest Germany (= Archeology and History 1), Sigmaringen 1990, pp. 51–68.
  5. ↑ Ralf Scharf: The Dux Mogontiacensis and the Notitia Dignitatum. A study of late antique border defense. (= Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde - supplementary volumes 50), de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-018835-X , pp. 1–7.
  6. ↑ Notitia dignitatum Occidentalis 25:29.
  7. ^ Christian Witschel: On the situation in Roman Africa during the 3rd century . In: Klaus-Peter Johne, Thomas Gerhardt, Udo Hartmann (eds.): Deleto paene imperio Romano. Transformation processes of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century and their reception in modern times . Steiner, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-515-08941-1 , pp. 145-22; here: pp. 184–186.
  8. ↑ CIL 08, 22766 .
  9. ↑ René Rebuffat : Au-delà des camps romains d'Afrique mineure: renseignement, contrôle, pénétration . In: Hildegard Temporini (ed.): Rise and decline of the Roman world, Vol. 10/2, de Gruyter, Berlin 1982, pp. 474-512; here: p. 481.
  10. ↑ René Rebuffat: A propos you "Limes tripolitanus" . In: Revue archéologique 1980, 1 (1980), p. 111; P. 118.
  11. ↑ CIL 08, 22768 .
  12. ↑ René Rebuffat : Propugnacula . In: Latomus 43, 1984, pp. 3-26, here: p. 20.
  13. ↑ On line 1: R. Rebuffat suspects that the untranslated part can be added to "ad rei [ntegr ...]", which would then mean something like "for renewal" or "until renewal". On line 2: Here Rebuffat suggests adding the first two letters to “muros”. Translated, the second line would then mean “walls and defenses” or “walls and / including battlements”.
  14. ^ Gareth Sears : Late Roman African Urbanism. Continuity and transformation in the city. (= BAR International Series 1693), Archaeopress, Oxford 2007, p. 72.
  15. ^ Maurice Euzennat : Quatre années de recherches sur la frontière romaine en Tunisie méridionale . In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , 116-1 (1972), pp. 7-27; here: p. 20.
  16. ^ David Mattingly : Tripolitania. Batsford, London 2005, ISBN 0-203-48101-1 , p. 132.
  17. ↑ Ralf Scharf: The Dux Mogontiacensis and the Notitia Dignitatum. A study of late antique border defense. (= Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde - supplementary volumes 50), de Gruyter, Berlin, New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-018835-X , p. 3
  18. ↑ Notitia Dignitatum Occidentalis , 25.31, 31.18