Cohors XXXIII Voluntariorum

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The Cohors XXXIII [Voluntariorum] civium Romanorum ( German  33rd cohort [of the volunteers] of the Roman citizens ) was possibly a Roman auxiliary unit . It is based on an uncertain reading of a bilingual Greek - Latin inscription , so its existence is not certain.

Sources

In the Asia Minor city ​​of Amasra , the ancient Amastris, the funerary inscription of a soldier named [–––] onacianus Severus was found on the front of an ancient tomb (the first part of the name is not preserved on the stone). It is dated to the 2nd century AD. There are only three copies of the text; the stone itself was lost in the 19th century. The inscription consisted of a Latin and a Greek part, but both had the same content. According to this, [–––] onacianus Severus was a tribune of a cohort of the Roman auxiliary troops , then a tribune in a legion - probably the Legio III Gallica - and finally prefect of the Ala Veterana Gallica . He had his tomb built during his lifetime.

The second line of the Latin text, in which the post was listed as a tribune of an auxiliary cohort, is cited differently in the three copies: By Eugène Boré as “[–––] oihos XXXIII Car [–––]”, by D. de Saint-Martin as "[–––] ohor XXX [.] II CR" and by a certain Bsheschkian as "O • HOV • XXX •" (all three reproduced here according to the Leiden bracket system ). The Greek text is much worse preserved than the Latin one and therefore does not contribute to the reconstruction of the text. Johannes Franz and, following him, Theodor Mommsen reconstructed the Latin line in question as "[trib (unus) c] ohor (tis) XXXII c (ivium) R (omanorum)" (translated: "Tribune of the 32nd cohort of Roman citizens"). This cohort, the Cohors XXXII Voluntariorum , is already known from other evidence and was stationed in the province of Germania superior in the 2nd century AD . The fact that Boré, as the only researcher who believed he could read this passage on the stone in full, noted the order number of the cohort as 33, should therefore be explained as a mistake by the French researcher.

Conrad Cichorius doubted the reconstruction of Franz and Mommsen. In his opinion, the three known copies of the text strongly indicated that the stone actually had "XXXIII" written on it. He therefore assumes that there was a 33rd cohort of Roman citizens, of whom no other evidence has been known. This is by no means unlikely - many Roman auxiliaries are actually only known from very few sources. Christian Marek follows this reading in his edition of the inscription.

Hubert Devijver , who presented extensive prosopographical studies on the history of knightly officers in the Roman army, initially undertook the reconstruction by Franz and Mommsen and counted [–––] onacianus Severus to the Cohors XXXII Voluntariorum. Later, however, he joined Cichorius and assumed - albeit with a question mark - that a Cohors XXXIII Voluntariorum existed. In the other prosopographical and military-historical research too, the views diverge: While Hans-Georg Pflaum and John Spaul see a reference to the already known Cohors XXXII Voluntariorum in the inscription from Amastris, Marcel Le Glay and implicitly Arthur Stein assume that a previously unknown Cohors XXXIII Voluntariorum is attested there, while Emil Ritterling does not want to commit himself on this question. The reading by Cichorius has also entered the Clauss-Slaby epigraphic database and the Heidelberg epigraphic database .

Name components

On the inscription from Amastris only the nickname "c (ivium) R (omanorum)" ("[cohort] of Roman citizens") is recorded. In analogy to other auxiliary troops, however, the nickname “Voluntariorum” (“[cohort] of volunteers”) can also be assumed. It was therefore a troop whose soldiers had been recruited from Roman citizens when the unit was established. A total of up to 44 (or 48) cohorts of Roman citizens may have been formed, but only 18 of them are definitely documented (not including the Cohors XXXIII Voluntariorum).

As long as there is no evidence of the additions milliaria (1000 men) and equitata (partially mounted), such auxiliary groups can be assumed to be a Cohors (quingenaria) peditata , a pure infantry cohort. The nominal strength of the unit was therefore probably 480 men, consisting of six centuries with 80 men each.

Members of the cohort

Apart from the tombstone of [–––] Onacianus Severus, there are no ancient sources for the Cohors XXXIII Voluntariorum; this tribune is (if the cohort actually existed) its only currently known member.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hubert Devijver: De Aegypto et Exercitu Romano sive Prosopographia Militiarum Equestrium quae from Augusto ad Gallienum seu statione seu origine ad Aegyptum pertinebant (= Studia Hellenistica. Volume 22). Universitaire Stichting van België, Lovanii 1975, p. 94, no.109.
  2. ^ August Boeckh , Johannes Franz : Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum . Volume 3, Georg Reimer, Berlin 1853, p. 117, no. 4152.
  3. ^ Theodor Mommsen (Ed.): Inscriptiones Asiae Provinciarum Europae Graecarum Illyrici Latinae (= Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum . Volume 3.1). Georg Reimer, Berlin 1873, p. 58, no. 320 (with the juxtaposition of all three existing copies of the text).
  4. ↑ a b Conrad Cichorius: Cohors. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 1, Stuttgart 1900, Col. 231-356, here Col. 356.
  5. ^ Christian Marek: City, Era and Territory in Pontus-Bithynia and North Galatia (= Istanbul Research. Volume 39). Ernst Wasmuth, Tübingen 1993, ISBN 3-8030-1760-2 , p. 168, no. 40.
  6. ↑ Hubert Devijver: Prosopographia Militiarum Equestrium quae fuerunt from Augusto ad Gallienum. Volume 2: Litterae LV. Ignoti - Incerti (= Symbolae. Series A, Volume 3). Universitaire Pers Leuven, Leuven 1977, ISBN 90-6186-056-3 , p. 771, no.104.
  7. ↑ Hubert Devijver: Equestrian Officers from the East. In: Philip Freeman, David Kennedy (eds.): The Defense of the Roman and Byzantine East (= BAR International Series. Volume 297). Volume 1, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford 1986, ISBN 0-86054-381-1 , pp. 109-225, here p. 155, no. 9.
  8. ↑ Hans-Georg Pflaum: Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le haut-empire Romain (= Bibliothèque archéologique et historique. Volume 57). Volume 1, Paul Geuthner, Paris 1960, p. 417, note 1, no. 8.
  9. ↑ John Spaul: Cohors². The evidence for and a short history of the auxiliary infantry units of the Imperial Roman Army (= BAR International Series. Volume 841). British Archaeological Reports, Oxford 2000, ISBN 978-1-84171046-4 , pp. 47 f.
  10. ^ Marcel Le Glay: Le commandement des Cohortes Volvntariorvm de l'armée romaine. In: Ancient Society . Volume 3, 1972, pp. 209-221, here p. 215.
  11. ^ Arthur Stein: The imperial officials and troops in Roman Germany under the principle (= contributions to the administrative and military history of Gaul and Germania. Volume 1). LW Seidel & Sohn, Vienna 1932, p. 232, note 514.
  12. ↑ Emil Ritterling: Fasti of Roman Germany under the principle (= contributions to the administrative and military history of Gaul and Germania. Volume 2). LW Seidel & Sohn, Vienna 1932, p. 148.
  13. ^ Entry on the inscription in the Clauss-Slaby epigraphy database , accessed on February 10, 2019.
  14. ^ Entry on the inscription in the Heidelberg Epigraphic Database , accessed on February 10, 2019.
  15. ↑ John Spaul: Cohors². The evidence for and a short history of the auxiliary infantry units of the Imperial Roman Army (= BAR International Series. Volume 841). British Archaeological Reports, Oxford 2000, ISBN 978-1-84171046-4 , pp. 19 f.
  16. ↑ See the breakdown of the known knightly officers: Hubert Devijver: Prosopographia Militiarum Equestrium quae fuerunt from Augusto ad Gallienum. Volume 6: Laterculi Alarum - Cohortium - Legionum (= Symbolae. Series A, Volume 3). Universitaire Pers Leuven, Leuven 2001, ISBN 90-5867-162-3 , p. 132.