Cohors IX Maurorum

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The Cohors IX Maurorum [Gordiana] ( German  9th cohort of Moors [the Gordian] ) was a Roman auxiliary unit . It is documented by two inscriptions.

Name components

  • IX : The Roman number stands for the ordinal number the ninth ( Latin nona ). Hence the name of this military unit is pronounced as Cohors nona ...
  • Maurorum : the Moors . The soldiers of the cohort were recruited from the Moors when the unit was established.
  • Gordiana : the Gordian. A title of honor that refers to Gordian III. (238-244) refers. The addition appears in two inscriptions.

Since there is no evidence of the addition of equitata (partly mounted) to the name , it can be assumed that the unit was a pure infantry cohort, either a Cohors quingenaria peditata or a Cohors milliaria peditata . The nominal strength of the unit was either 480 men, consisting of 6 Centuries or 800 men, consisting of 10 Centuries with 80 men each.

history

The cohort was presumably stationed in the provinces of Mesopotamia and Syria . It was probably set up under Septimius Severus (193-211). The only evidence of unity is based on two inscriptions dated 238/244.

Locations

Cohort locations in Mesopotamia may have been:

  • Hatra : two inscriptions were found here.

Members of the cohort

A unit commander, Q (uintus) Petr (onius) Quintianus , a tribunus militum of the Legio I Parthica and tribune of the cohort, is known by two inscriptions.

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 (Book 841), ISBN 978-1-84171-046-4
  • Kai Juntunen: The Origin of Cohors IX Maurorum and the Severan Frontier of Mesopotamia In: Limes XXII. Proceedings of the 22nd International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies (Ruse, Bulgaria, September 2012), Sofia 2015, pp. 419–423 ( online )

Remarks

  1. ↑ According to Herodian , units of Moors were part of the army of Pescennius Niger . Kai Juntunen thinks it is possible that the cohort arose from a number of Moors who had already served under Niger.
  2. ↑ Kai Juntunen assumes that the unit was a Cohors milliaria , as it was commanded by a tribune .
  3. ↑ Kai Juntunen assumes that the unit was set up as the ninth auxiliary unit in the province of Mesopotamia . According to Thomas Tews, the Cohors IX Maurorum was part of a series of cohorts that were dug in different regions; this series probably also included the Cohors XII Palaestinorum and the Cohors XX Palmyrenorum .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d inscriptions with Gordiana ( AE 1958, 239 , AE 1958, 240 ).
  2. ↑ a b Kai Juntunen, The Origin, pp. 419-423.
  3. ↑ Thomas Tews: The legions and auxiliary troops under the Severern In: B. Pferdehirt - M. Scholz (Ed.), Citizenship and Crisis. The Constitutio Antoniniana in 212 AD and its domestic political consequences. Book accompanying the exhibition in the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum September 20, 2012 to January 1, 2013, Mosaiksteine ​​9 (Mainz 2012), 2012, pp. 41–44, here p. 43 ( online ).
  4. ↑ John Spaul , Cohors², pp 465-466, 470th