Numerus Exploratorum Batavorum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fragment of the bronze list of soldiers from Cologne or Bonn, the indication "N (umerus) B (atavorum?)" Can be found in the third from last line and can be added to the entry in the last line due to a further fragment ( link to the illustration )

The Numerus Exploratorum Batavorum ( German  numerus of the scouts of the Batavians ) was a Roman auxiliary unit . It is documented by inscriptions.

The nominal strength of the unit was probably more than the 150 to 200 men of an ordinary number. It should have been a unit in which both riders and foot soldiers served.

Name components

  • Exploratorum : the scout or scout.
  • Batavorum : the Bataver . The soldiers of the Numerus were recruited from the Batavian people in the Roman province of Gallia Belgica when the unit was established .
  • Antoninianorum : the Antoninian. The addition appears in an inscription.

history

An irregular group of Batavian scouts was probably temporarily deployed in the province of Mauretania Caesariensis in the first half of the 2nd century AD . This is indicated at least by a tombstone that was found in this province and that was erected for an explorer Batavorum . In the course of the 2nd century, the Numerus Exploratorum Batavorum could have emerged from this group .

The numerus was stationed in the province of Germania inferior in the 3rd century . It is documented for the first time by an inscription that was found at the Matilo fort and which is dated to 205 AD. Another inscription attests to the unity in 239 in the same province.

Two bronze tablets with inscriptions on both sides, which were probably found in Cologne or Bonn and have almost identical text on their four sides , probably date from the 3rd century . These are the names of various soldiers who appear to have donated an offering. Among them are probably also two or three soldiers of the Numerus Batavorum, namely a Valerius Felicissimus, a Refidius Victorinus and possibly a Marinius [---] (in which, however, the troop information is not preserved on any of the four pages). In this context, the corresponding abbreviation "NB" should probably be resolved as "Numerus Batavorum", even if an addition as "Numerus Brittonum" would be conceivable and the soldiers would then belong to one of the so-called Numbers.

It is possible that the unit (or a vexillation of the same) took part in campaigns outside the actual stationing province at the end of the 2nd or the beginning of the 3rd century. This is at least indicated by tombstones that were found near Anazarbos in the province of Cilicia .

A reference to the Numerus Batavorum , which is proven in northern Italy at the end of the 4th century, can only be assumed, but not proven.

Locations

Locations of the Numerus in Germania inferior were possibly:

Members of the number

The following members of the number are known:

  • Iulius Adventus ( CIL 8, 21668 )
  • Marinius [---]
  • Refidius Victorinus
  • Valerius Felicissimus

See also

Web links

Commons : Numerus Exploratorum Batavorum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Marcus Reuter : Studies on the numbers of the Roman Army in the Middle Imperial Era , Dissertation, In: Reports of the Roman-Germanic Commission 80, 1999, pp. 359-569.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The inscription is reproduced in Marcus Reuter with ... expl (oratorum) Bat (avorum) Antonin (i) anoru (m) cur (ante) ... , in the epigraphic database Clauss-Slaby, however, with ... expl (oratorum) Bat (avorum ) cur (ante) ...
  2. ↑ Marcus Reuter suspects that the inscription was created in the first half of the 2nd century AD at the latest.
  3. ↑ According to Marcus Reuter, it is not certain that the two units listed in the inscriptions ( AE 1991, 1553 ) or ( AE 1990, 990 ) Numerus Bata (v) onum and Numerus Equitum Batavorum are identical with the Numerus Exploratorum Batavorum .
  4. ↑ a b John Spaul assigns Bithus and Silvanus to Ala I Batavorum , while Marcus Reuter assigns them to the Numerus Exploratorum Batavorum .
  5. ↑ a b c It is not certain that the unit cited in the inscription ( CIL XIII, 8053 ) is the Numerus Exploratorum Batavorum (see above under " History ").

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Marcus Reuter , Studies, pp. 432–436.
  2. ↑ a b c inscription ( CIL 13, 8825 )
  3. ↑ Inscription ( CIL 8, 21668 )
  4. ^ Inscription ( AE 1990, 728 )
  5. ↑ CIL XIII, 8053 . See Géza Alföldy : The auxiliary troops of the Roman province Germania Inferior (= epigraphic studies. Volume 6). Rheinland-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1968, pp. 220-223; Marcus Reuter: Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix. Their history, their soldiers, their monuments (= Xanten reports. Volume 23). Philipp von Zabern, Darmstadt / Mainz 2012, ISBN 978-3-8053-4586-6 , pp. 119–121.