Auxiliary Units Named after Their Commanders: Four New Cases from Egypt

Author(s): Michael P. Speidel

Source: Aegyptus, Anno 62, No. 1/2 (gennaio-dicembre 1982), pp. 165-172
Published by: Vita e Pensiero Pubblicazioni dellUniversit Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
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AuxiliaryUnits Named
afterTheir Commanders:
Four New Gases from Egypt
The recently
publishedLatin ViennapapyrusP.Vindob.L 135,
a debtcertificate
ofala Paullinito a soldierofcohors
by a horseman
written
A.D.
interestand
A [
27, is of considerable
] Habeti,
has alreadybeenthe subjectof severalexcellentcommentaries
(1).
of the earlyRomanauxiliary
forthe nomenclature
Its importance
needsto be further
stressed,though. The text reads:
regiments
1

L.CaeciliusSecunduseques ala Paullini

turmaDicaci C. Pompeiomiliticohor(te)
Betitisalut(em).Fateor
Ae. . .[.] Habeti(centuria)
me tibei deberedr(achmas)Aug(ustas)et Pt(olemaicas)
ducentas

quas tibi solvamstipendioproxumo

et eorumusurasin mensessingulos
in dr(achmas)C a(sses) III sineulla controversia.
Extraalias dr(achmas)
Aug(ustas)et Pt(olemaicas)CCCC
ob pigneet insira cassideminargentatala

P.VinSchuldschein:
(1) H. Habraueb-R. Seider, Ein neuerlateinischer
dob.L 135. ZPE 36, 1979,pp. 109-120.J. Shelton, A Noteon P.Vindob.
L 135, ZPE 38, 1980,p. 202. J. F. Gilliam, Noteson a New Latin Text:
P.Vindob.L 135, ZPE 41, 1981,pp. 277-280.I am gratefulto Dr. H. Harforshowingme the originaland discussingit withme in Spring
rauer/Wien
1981 whenI was teachingat the UniversittWien.

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166

10

15

MICHAEL P. SPEIDEL

et vaginam pugigne inargentatimi

onis argenteumsubiectoeboreo.
Actum Alexandr(eae)ad Aegypt(um)IIX K(alendas)
Septe(mbres)
C . S[allus]tioCrispoL.Lentulo Scipione co(n)s(ulibus)
. . .[
]. . . illis sripsiquod litteras
].[

SsxovSo inizz^ npoyzypx^ii(2.H.) [Aouxto] Koc[i]>t[t]Xto

[vo eXocov) Tipx(siTou).
(stou) tS Tiepiou Kodcrocpo
SjeacyTouTca(YopLvov)
.
The two regimentsare mentionedby these names here forthe
firsttime. On accountof theirnomenclature
theybelongto a group
of onlyfouralae and apparentlyone cohortdescribedon inscriptions
by the name of theircommandersin the genitiveform,all of which
belongto the reignsof Augustusor Tiberius(2). The considerable
increaseof our documentationfor such names of units suggestsas
a workinghypothesisthat all alae and cohortscould be referred
to
decidedto abolish
in thisway untilat a certaintimethe government
such names in orderto avoid the inconvenience
of havingto rename
a unit each time its commanderchanged.
Certainly,manyunitshad permanentnames fromthe beginning.
Thus cohortes
Ligurumare mentionedin Sallust'sBellumIugurthinum
fromAugustus'and the earlyyears of Tiand
(38; 77),
inscriptions
berius' reignmentionsuch units as a cohorsI Corsorum,a cohors
Ubiorumpeditumet equitum,a cohorsAug(usta)/, and a cohorsII
AncientSociety9,
(2) E. Birley, Alae NamedafterTheirCommanders,
1978,pp. 257-273.M. Speidel, The EasternDesertGarrisonsUnderAugustus
RomsII, Kln, 1977,pp. 511-515.
and Tiberius.Studienzu denMilitrgrenzen
See also the excellentremarkby Gilliam, I.e. 278,n. 5 about a commander's
named in BGU 696. The commanderof our ala is probablyto
predecessor
withone P.VergiliusPaullinusCIL V, 7567 = Dessau, 6747 = H.
be identified
militarium
Devijver, Prosopographia
equestrium
quae fueruntab Augustoad
Gallienum,3 vols., Leuwen, 1976-1980,V 67. The commanderof the cohort
as of the
may be read as A(uli) Clue(ntii)Habiti and possiblybe identified
in
of
66
B.C.:
the
same
A.
Habitus
defended
Cicero
Cluentius
family,
by
family
in the thirdcenturyA.D.: RIB
it seems,producedanotherequestrianofficer
1545 & Devijver,I.e. C 210 and F 95. For the abbreviation
Clue(ntii)cp. Dessau 8653, a.

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AUXILIARY UNITS NAMED AFTER THEIR COMMANDERS

167

lessevidence,but E. Birley
Classica(3). For alae thereis considerably
directedattentionto the famousinscription
forC. FabriciusTuscus
fromAlexandriaTroas: he was praef(ectus)cohort(is)Apulae under
Augustusand praef(ectus)equit(um)alae praet(oriae)under Germanicus(4). Hence even alae could have permanenttitles and, no
doubt, many did fromthe start(5).
The new evidencefromour papyrus,raisingthe numberof Egyptianunitsnamedaftertheircommanders
to threeor more(6) suggests
if
a
units
had
title
thateven
permanent theycouldstill,forconvenienbe called by the name of theircurrentcommance or forflattery,
der (7). Convenient
locallyand in theshortrun,suchnamesmusthave
createdconfusionin Rome in the officeof the Emperors'secretary
ab epistuliswho made the appointments
forequestrianofficers.
Consequently,it was decided to end the practice of calling auxiliary
(8). Our papyby the namesof theircurrentcommanders
regiments
that
decisionby its
rus now gives us a firmterminus
for
post quern
date of August 25, A.D. 27 (9).

(3) CIL XIV, 2954; CII X, 4862; CII III, 6687.

(4) AE 1973,501. For cohorsApula see also M. Speidel, CitizenCohorts
in theRomanImperialArmy.New Data on theCohorts
Apula, Campana,and
III Campestris,
TAPA 106, 1976,pp. 339-348.
(5) Not too much weightneeds be attachedto the observation(Birley,
I.e. 262) thatin earlyinscriptions
whichrecordthecareersofofficers
thename
of the ala is oftenlacking,forthe namesof the legionsare also occasionally
lacking(e.g. CII X, 5583) yet the legionshad permanenttitles. Wherethe
legionis named but not the ala it could be that the legionwas considered
moreimportantor betterknown.
(6) To theevidenceofourpapyrusadd thatofthecohortsin Egypt:Speidel (1977). The phenomenon
is stillsomewhatdoubtedby Devijver, I.e. F
103, but cfr.Gllliam, I.e. and Birley, I.e.
(7) Similarly,legionarycenturiaecould be named afterthe centurion's
namein the genitiveformor,alternatively,
withits permanent
titleafterthe
'
'
pattern centurianoni hastatiprioris (CIL III, 8047 = IDR II, 328) etc,
cfr.A. Passerini, Legioin E. De Rttggiero,DizionarioEpigraphico,
vol. 4,
1949-1950,pp. 549-629,esp. p. 565.
(8) Birley, I.e. 272.
(9) P. A. Holder, Studiesin theAuxiliaoftheRomanArmyfromAugustus
to Trajan, Oxford,1980,21,attemptsto give a terminus
postquernby other
do not convince:ala Gallorum
et ThraecumAntiana
means,but his arguments
is explaineddifferently
Auxiby W. Wagner, Die Dislokationderrmischen
AE 1926, 82 more likely
Berlin,1938, 4If; the inscription
liarformationen,

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168

MICHAELP. SPEIDEL

The increasednumberof auxiliaryregimentsin Egypt named

forit has
aftertheircommanders
in the genitiveformis significant,
been assertedthat such units do not correspondto later regularly
namedunits,i.e. the EgyptiancohorsNigricouldnotbe the Egyptian
and that instead one would have to look to
cohorsI Thebaeorum,
units with adjectival commanders'names (like the SyriancohorsI
(10). Now that we know at least
Lepidiana) as theircontinuators
name in the genitivebut
threeEgyptianunitswiththe commanders
with
the
one
(ala Apriana)
adjectivalformas a possiblecontionly
less likely.Moreover,thereare
becomes
even
that
assertion
nuator,
parallelsof Danubian units,also droppingcommanders'names for
regulartitles,e.g. ala Capitonianabecoming ala I Claudia Gallorum(11).
C. L. Cheesman,in his stillbasic workon the auxilia oftheRoman
imperialarmy,had venturedan explanationwhy there are fewer
cohortsnamedaftertheircommandersthen thereare alae: Caesar's
corpsof Gallic cavalryhad outstandingrecordsof achievementand
in thisrespect(12).
thuswereexemptedfromAugustus'reorganization
it
is
rather
the
are
otherway round:
If ourabove observations correct,
forthe cohortswas alreadyestablishedbeforeAuthe nomenclature
the
gustus(especially ethnicnames) and henceneededless attention,
whilethe cavalry,originallyorganizedin turmae,and only since the
civil wars of Caesar and Augustusorganizedin alae (13), was still
and made moreuse of the eventuallyimgropingfornomenclature
practicalnames of the commanders.

see Devijver I.e., Incerti65; finally,if the

refersto an ala Antiochensium,
ala Inname denotesa distinguished
commander,
genitiveof a commander's
diana may have adoptedthat namewell afterA.D. 21.
considersala Augusta
I.e.; moreconvincingly,
(10) Holdeb, I.e.; GiLiiiAM,
and cohorsScutata.
Militrdiplomeaus Nordbulgarien,
(11) B. Gerov, Zwei neugefundene
Klio 37, 1959,pp. 196-216,esp. p. 203. M. Speidel, Ala I Claudia Gallorum
Daicoviciu,Cluj, 1974,pp. 375-379.
Capitoniana,in: MemoriamConstantini
et ThraSee also Birley, I.e. on ala Pansiana becomingperhapsala Gallorum
cum.
(12) G. L. Cheesman,The Auxilia of theRomanImperialArmy,Oxford,
1914,25.
(13) Cheesman,I.e. 23 f.,M. Speidel, A SpanishCavalryDecurinin the
Time of Caesarand Augustus, ArchivoEspaol de Arqueologa, 53, 1980,
pp. 211-213.

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AUXILIARY UNITS NAMED AFTER THEIR COMMANDERS

169

A thirdcase of a unit named afterits commanderis foundin

the papyrusP.Berl. inv. 25050 recentlypublishedthus: (14)

10

Mar]tialisuet(eranus)[
]0mnium[
].i Apsarode[
]re eius M Ua[l]er[
C]oh-II Claudiana[
M-Iulius.[
prjoc-fecip]roc Aug(usti)Larti-[
]erogauitmanda[
]s suas omnes[
]-get et auferre[
]id. . s - dissolueret[
[
]endere
]...[.]..[

The editor suggestedthat cohorsII Claudiana was a hitherto

unknowncohortcarryingthe (variable)surnameClaudiana in honor
ofemperorClaudiusII (A.D. 268-270).However,cohorsII Claudiana
is known as a unit of the Cappadocian army in the mid-second
century(15), and that this unit is indeedmeantin the papyrusbecomesclearfromline 3 wherethe unexplainedlettersApsarode[.. . .
, Apsarusbeingthe main Capsurelymustread Apsaro de[gent
the
Black
Sea
near
modernBatumi whereacpadocian fortresson
cordingto Arrian'sPeriplusof theBlack Sea (c. 6) five cohortswere
stationedthat recentlyhave been identifiedas auxiliary,not legionarycohorts(16). Possiblyline 3 of the papyrusreads even 'numer'i

XI II:
(14) A. Bruckner and R. Marichal, ChartaeLatinaeAntiquiores,
II, Zrich1979,f. 61, n. 477.
Germany
(15) AE 1977,802.
(16) M. Speidel, The Roman Armyin Asia Minor, New Epigraphical
of the BritishArchaeoand Researches,
Acta of the Conference
Discoveries
Legionarycohorts
logicalInstituteat Ankara,Swansea 1981, forthcoming.
wereassumede.g. by H. T. Rowell, Numerus,RE 17 (1937) 1327-1341,
esp.
col. 1328,ff.22,andby T. B. Mitford,Cappadociaand ArmeniaMinor:HistoricalSettingoftheLimes,ANRW II, 7, 2 (1980) 1169-1228,
esp. p. 1202.

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MICHAEL P. SPEIDEL

170

to the same units

referring
Apsarodecentes]similarto an inscription
Absaro
in
as nwneror.tendentium Ponto,
(17).
in CapThe Berlinpapyrusthus seemsto be a letteroriginating
there.
Its
events
and
about
official
and
military
reporting
padocia
exact date duringthefirstthreecenturiesA.D. cannotbe established,
hence it loses much of its value for paleography(18). CohorsII
Claudiana need not be added to the list of Egyptianarmy units,
even thoughsome Cappadociansoldiersor veteransmay have come
to the countryand thus caused the letterto be sent.
Oour papyrusis the firstinstancewherecohorsII Claudiana is
so named in Latin. Both cohorsI Claudia and cohorsII Claudia
called Claudia, not Claudiana,except
of Cappadocia are consistently
for one Greek dedicationthat mentionsa prefectof our unit as
which has even been read
]8locvy),
Gnuptc[
[7E<xpxov
aizprq ' [xX. Top]Stav^(19). Claudiana, however,as the lectio
is likelyto be the originalname of both cohorts,and the
difficilior
that comes fromour papyrus shows that the aboveconfirmation
mustbe abandoned(20).
mentionedreading[Top]&Kxv7J<g
existed
there
only one cohorsClaudia or Claudiana in
Possibly
the beginningwhich then was split into cohorsI Claudiana and
(17) CIL X, 1202 = Dessau, ILS 2660. For the worddegerein military
papyrisee R. O. Fink, RomanMilitaryRecordson Papyrus(Cleveland,Ohio,
1971) index p. 538.
the palaeographical
(18) Marichal L. C. (p. V) emphasizesparticularly
value of our papyrus.In the same way,his date (and emphasison paleographicalvalue) of ChLA XI, 505 mustbe changed:the manyAurelii in that
documentcertainlydate it afterA. D. 138; the prefectVegetusis not the
but some otherequestrianofficer,
perAegyptiSeptimiusVegetus,
praefectus
were
RIB
831
of
L.
Caecilius
(PME C, 28): equestrianofficers
Vegetus
haps
fromBritainto Egypt,cfr.H. Devijver, The Roman
transferred
frequently
ANRW
in
II, 1 (1974) 452-492,esp. p. 474.
Army Egypt,
(19) IGR IV, 642 withthe parallelAE 1977, 802 (cfr.PME, E, 3), the
ofW. Ramsay,TheSocialBasis of Roman
is thesuggestion
reading|Top]8iavYc
Powerin Asia Minor,Aberdeen,1941,ff.144. For cohorsI Claudia see AE
1934,107 (cfr.PME I, 120)and Not.Dig. Or. 38, 36. The careerCIL IX, 2958
tribuno[coh. . . .Cla]udiae equitat(a)e [in Cappa]docia (cfr. PME, O, 2) could

eventhoughcoh.II Claudiais notyetknown

referto eitherofthetwocohorts,
as equitata.

(20) It still remainsa possibility,though,that the name Claudiana is

...
derivedfromClaudia as is in Tacitus, Hist. II, 85: Moesiae legionibus
octava erat ac sptima Claudiana.

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AUXILIARY UNITS NAMED AFTER THEIR COMMANDERS

171

cohorsII Claudiana. At any rate, the existenceof a cohorsI Lepidiana showsthat cohortsnamedaftera commandercouldbe numbered. The fact that both cohortswere in Cappadocia suggestsa
a commonorigin,but any suggestion
commonhistoryand therefore
as to who mighthave been the commanderwho gave the original
cohorsClaudii its name must remainspeculation(21).
A fourthcase of a unit named afterits commanderis apparent
froman inscriptionat Dakke in Nubie of whichonly the following
fragmentis preserved(22) :
]TtO aTpaT[L)TY3]c
Sa]eivou xevTupi[oc]

At the leftof the preservedtext some further24 cm of writing

ended withthe letters
are possible,whileat the rightthe inscription
hereindicated. It followsthat the soldierwill have giventhe name
of his centurionat the beginningof a thirdline. The editor apparentlytook the wordsSaeivou xevTupiato mean of the centuria
of Sabinus; yet of the many hundredexamples of indicationsof
centuriaeand turmaethe name of the commanderalwaysfollowsthe
word for the unit, never precedesit: centuriaSabini, never Sabini
centuria(23). Consequently,our inscription,perhaps a proskynenia,
will have read:
]tIO CTTpaT[lii)TY)]

[ampTQ 2oc]6slvou XVfupl[a]

].

Thus at Dakke theremusthave been stationed,at an earlytime,

a detachmentof cohorsSabini, whichis not too surprising,
since at
the same place is knowna detachmentof cohorsFacundi, and the
two cohortsmay actually be the same units under different
com-

(21) If speculationbe allowed,one may perhapslook to Asia Minoritself,

and therepossiblyto Ti. ClaudiusBalbillus(H. G. Pflaum, Les carrires
procuratoriennes
Paris, 1960,p. 34 if.,n. 15).
questres,
(22) W. Ruppel, Der TempelvonDakke,Cairo,1930,p. 34 f. no Gr. 44.
(23) I knowof no exception,but even if thereexisted one, the overwhelmingprobabilityspeaks againstSabini centuria.

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MICHAEL P. SPEIDEL

172

of
mandera
(24). It is even possiblethat Sabinusthe commander
Iunius
who
Sabinus
in an
the cohort,is identicalwiththe famous
hisvictories
fromPhilaementions
againsttheEthiopians
inscription
at Syene(25). If so, we would
Ituraeorum
ofa cohors
as commander
ethnicnamecouldbe referred
witha regular
haveproofthata cohort
to by the nameof its commander.
theidentity
ofthetwoSabinicannotbe provenand
Admittedly,
Sabiniat
but thepresence
ofmenofa cohors
remainsa conjecture,
or Tiberiusseemsassured,and
DakkeduringthereignsofAugustus
ofauxiliarycohorts
sucha cohortis nowto be addedto therosters
havingservedin Egypt.
Michael P. Speidel
University
of Hawaii

(24) W. Ruppel, I.e. p. 43, Gr. 54; cfr.Speidel (1977), above, note 2.
(25) In an articleentitledNubia's RomanGarrison,to be publishedin
ANRW II, 10, 1, I arguethattheunitsstationedat Syeneprovidedthe men
at Dakkesee Ruppel
of Nubia. For cohorsII Ituraeorum
forthe garrisoning
oftheidentity
ofIuniusSabinussee E. Bernand,
4 and 72. For thediscussion
Les inscriptions
de Philae,vol. II, Paris,1969,No. 159,and Devijver
grecques
(above,note 2) vol. II, p. 1010.

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