Raetorum auxiliary cohorts
Encyclopedia
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
provinces
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
: Tres Alpes
Tres Alpes
Tres Alpes , was the collective term used by the Romans to denote three small provinces of the Roman empire situated in the western Alps mountain range, namely Alpes Graiae ; Alpes Cottiae and Alpes Maritimae. The region was annexed by the Romans in 16 - 14 BC and the three provinces organised by...
, Raetia
Raetia
Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria...
and Noricum
Noricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
. All these regions were inhabited by predominantly Celtic-speaking tribes. They were annexed, or at least occupied, by the emperor Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
' forces during the period 25-14 BC. The term "Alpine" is used geographically in this context and does not necessarily imply that the regiments in question were specialised in mountain warfare
Mountain warfare
Mountain warfare refers to warfare in the mountains or similarly rough terrain. This type of warfare is also called Alpine warfare, named after the Alps mountains...
. However, in the Julio-Claudian period (ante AD 68), when the regiments were still largely composed of Alpine recuits, it is likely that they were especially adept at mountain operations.
As would be expected from mountain people, the Alpine provinces supplied predominantly infantry. Only one Alpine cavalry ala
Ala (Roman military)
An Ala was the term used during the mid- Roman Republic to denote a military formation composed of conscripts from the socii, Rome's Italian military allies. A normal consular army during this period consisted of 2 legions, composed of Roman citizens only, and 2 allied alae...
is recorded. About 26 Alpine regiments were raised in the Julio-Claudian period, the great majority under Augustus or his successor Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
(i.e. before AD 37). Of these, 6 regiments disappeared, either destroyed in action or disbanded, by AD 68. A further 2 regiments were raised by Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
(ruled 69-96). These and the 20 surviving Julio-Claudian units are recorded at least until the mid 2nd century, but by that time only around a quarter were still based in the Alpine provinces or in neighbouring Germania Superior
Germania Superior
Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...
(Upper Rhine area). The rest were scattered all over the empire and would probably have long since lost their ethnic Alpine identity through local recruitment.
The Alpine peoples
Ethno-linguistic affiliation
There is some debate about the linguistic affiliation of the many known Alpine tribes. The names of most can plausibly be derived from Celtic stem-words implying a predominant Celtic element. Non-Celtic elements also existed, however. The RaetiRaeti
The Raeti was the collective "ethnic" name used by the ancient Romans to denote a number of Alpine tribes, whose language and culture may have derived, at least in part, from the Etruscans. From not later than ca...
are described as Etruscans by the classical authors, and probably spoke Raetian, a non Indo-European tongue apparently related to Etruscan
Etruscan language
The Etruscan language was spoken and written by the Etruscan civilization, in what is present-day Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna...
(and written in the Etruscan alphabet). The Ligures
Ligures
The Ligures were an ancient people who gave their name to Liguria, a region of north-western Italy.-Classical sources:...
, including the Taurini
Taurini
The Taurini were an ancient Celto-Ligurian Alpine people, who occupied the upper valley of the river Po, in the centre of modern Piedmont.In 218 BC, they were attacked by Hannibal since his allies were the Insubres. The Taurini and the Insubres had a long-standing feud. Their chief town was...
, probably were speakers of an Italic language originally, as Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
, the earliest extant writer on Roman history (c. 130 BC), draws a clear distinction between "Celts" (i.e. Gauls) and Ligures. The Breuni and Genauni, two of the tribes on Pliny's list, are classified as Illyrian by Strabo.
There is substantial evidence, however, that the non-Celtic elements had been largely assimilated by Celtic influences by the time of Augustus.
In the western Alps, the Ligures probably spoke an Italic/Celtic hybrid by that time. For example, Strabo describes one tribe in Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
(SE Gaul) as "Celtoligures". The Lepontii
Lepontii
The Lepontii were an ancient people occupying portions of Rhaetia in the Alps during the time of the Roman conquest of that territory. The Lepontii have been variously described as a Celtic, Ligurian, Raetian, and Germanic tribe...
are one of the tribes classified as Raetian by Strabo. Their original language was therefore probably Raetian. But from the available inscriptions, the Lepontic language
Lepontic language
Lepontic is an extinct Alpine language that was spoken in parts of Rhaetia and Cisalpine Gaul between 550 and 100 BC. It was a Celtic language, although its exact classification within Celtic has been the object of debate...
is believed to be Celtic, with some residual non Indo-European elements - a parallel to Celtiberian
Celtiberian language
Celtiberian is an extinct Indo-European language of the Celtic branch spoken by the Celtiberians in an area of the Iberian Peninsula lyingbetween the headwaters of the Duero, Tajo, Júcar and Turia rivers and the Ebro river...
in Spain. The Raeti themselves appear to have undergone assimilation, as Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
states that their language (Raetian) had become much corrupted. Celtisation is also implied by the establishment of joint Raetorum et Vindelicorum regiments alongside the Celtic-speaking Vindelici, and by the union of the territories of both peoples to form the Raetia et Vindelicia province. This assimilation was probably the result of the great migrations of Gallic tribes across the Alps which according to Livy, started in c. 600 BC, continued until c. 400 BC and ended in the occupation and Celtisation of much of the Po Valley
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...
and of the Alpine regions through which the migrants passed.
The same process of Celtisation appears to have taken place in the eastern Alps. Before the immigration of the Celts (from c. 400 BC onwards), this region was dominated by Venetic
Adriatic Veneti
The Veneti were an ancient people who inhabited north-eastern Italy, in an area corresponding to the modern-day region of the Veneto....
and Illyrian tribes such as the Carni
Carni
The Carni were a tribe of the Eastern Alps in classical antiquity, settling in the mountains separating Noricum and Venetia....
and Istri, respectively. But little trace of the non-Celtic tribes has remained in the placenames, personal names and inscriptions of Noricum. The Veneti are convincingly attested only in the Gail River
Gail River
Gail is the name of a river in the Southern Limestone Alps of southern Austria, a right tributary of the Drava River.Originating in the Tyrolean municipality of Obertilliach, it flows from west to east, reaching Carinthia in Lesachtal, running through the Gail Valley parallel to the borders with...
valley (Carinthia
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
, Austria) in the south of the region, while Illyrian evidence is very scarce. In contrast, over 800 secure Celtic attestations are known. The evidence suggests that, as in the western Alps, the non-Celtic elements were either displaced or assimilated, while their native languages had virtually disappeared by the time of the Roman conquest.
Overall, it is likely that Gaulish
Gaulish language
The Gaulish language is an extinct Celtic language that was spoken by the Gauls, a people who inhabited the region known as Gaul from the Iron Age through the Roman period...
Celtic was the lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
of the Alps until replaced by Latin during the centuries of Roman rule: Livy states that Hannibal's guides for his crossing of the western Alps in 218 BC, who were Gallic Boii
Boii
The Boii were one of the most prominent ancient Celtic tribes of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul , Pannonia , in and around Bohemia, and Transalpine Gaul...
from the lower Po valley, could understand the "wild men of the mountains" through which they passed even when the latter spoke among themselves. In addition, the ancient authors often refer to the people of the eastern Alps as Galli transalpini.
Material culture
Although the Alpine tribes are described as "wild" or "savage" by the classical authors, their material culture was sophisticated, as it was predominantly of the La Tene variety, which is characterised by advanced metal-working techniques and of elaborate metal artwork. Indeed the eponymous La Tene site is in the Alpine region, on Lake NeuchatelLake Neuchâtel
Lake Neuchâtel is a lake in Romandy, Switzerland . The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by the cantons of Vaud, of Fribourg, and of Bern....
, Switzerland. La Tene gradually replaced the pre-existing Halstatt culture in the eastern Alps in broadly the same period as that region was infiltrated by the Celts (c. 400-200 BC). Some scholars thus regard La Tene as a specifically Celtic culture, although most recent experts reject the linking of material culture to ethnic groups. In any event, by the time of the Roman conquest, the entire Alpine region was predominantly La Tene, including patterns of settlement (mainly hillforts) and funerary rites (mostly cremation).
One especially important feature of Alpine culture was chalybs Noricus
Noric steel
Noric steel was a famously high quality steel from Noricum during the time of the Roman Empire.The proverbial hardness of Noric steel is expressed by Ovid: "...durior [...] ferro quod noricus excoquit ignis..." and it was largely used for the weapons of the Roman military.The iron ore was...
("Noric steel"), celebrated in Roman times, from the region of Noricum
Noricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
(Austria). The strength of iron is determined by its carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
content (the higher the content, the stronger the metal). The wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
produced in the Greco-Roman world generally contained only minimal traces of carbon and was too soft for tools and weapons. It thus needed to be carburised to at least 1.5% carbon content. The main Roman method of achieving this was to repeatedly reheat the wrought iron to a temperature of over 800 C (i.e. to "white heat") and hammer it in a charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
fire, causing the iron to absorb carbon from the charcoal. This technique had been developed empirically, as there is no evidence that ancient iron producers understood the chemistry involved. The rudimentary methods of carburisation used rendered the quality of the iron ore critical to the production of good steel. The ore needed to be rich in manganese
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals...
(an element which remains essential in modern steelmaking processes), but also to contain very little, or preferably zero phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
, whose presence would compromise the steel's hardness. The ore mined in Carinthia
Noricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
(S. Noricum) fulfills both criteria to an unusual degree. The Taurisci
Taurisci
The Taurisci were a federation of Celtic tribes who dwelt in today's northern Slovenia before the coming of the Romans According to Pliny the Elder, they are the same people known as the Norici...
Celtic people of Noricum empirically discovered that their ore made superior steel around 500 BC and established a major steel-making industry around it. At Magdalensberg
Magdalensberg
Magdalensberg is a municipality in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in Carinthia in Austria.The municipality comprises 40 villages and hamlets: Christofberg, Deinsdorf, Dürnfeld, Eibelhof, Eixendorf, Farchern, Freudenberg, Gammersdorf, Geiersdorf, Göriach, Gottesbichl, Großgörtschach, Gundersdorf,...
, a major production and trading centre was established, where a large number of specialised blacksmiths crafted a range of metal products, especially weapons. The finished products were mostly exported southwards, to Aquileia
Aquileia
Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...
, a Roman colony founded in 180 BC.
Introduction
When he assumed sole control of the Roman empire in 30 BC, the emperor Augustus was faced with a pressing strategic anomaly. Although Rome had subjugated all Gaul up to the Rhine and much of Illyricum, the Alpine region which separated these possessions from Italy and from each other remained outside Roman control and in the hands of independent mountain tribes. These were warlike and troublesome, alternately attacking and robbing transient Roman troops and supply convoys or exacting exorbitant tolls from them for the privilege of using the key Alpine mountain passes e.g. the SalassiSalassi
The Salassi were an Alpine tribe whose lands lay on the Italian side of the Little St Bernard Pass across the Graian Alps to Lyons, and the Great St Bernard Pass over the Pennine Alps...
, who reportedly ambushed Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
on one occasion by hurling rocks on his army, charged Messalla
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus was a Roman general, author and patron of literature and art.-Family:He was the son of politician Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger Although, some dispute his parentage and claim another descendant of Marcus Valerius Corvus to be his father.Messalla Corvinus is...
extortionate fees for supplies and forced the escaping murderer of Caesar Decimus Brutus
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus
Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was a Roman politician and general of the 1st century BC and one of the leading instigators of Julius Caesar's assassination...
to pay a toll of one denarius
Denarius
In the Roman currency system, the denarius was a small silver coin first minted in 211 BC. It was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased until its replacement by the antoninianus...
per man to allow his army to cross the Great St Bernard Pass in 43 BC. That Rome's overland communications with its transalpine territories should be thus held to ransom was no longer tolerable, especially as Augustus was intent on advancing the Roman sphere of control as far as the Danube river.
A secondary strategic aim of annexing the Alpine regions was to seize control of their substantial mineral wealth which included gold and the prized iron ore of Noricum.
In 7 BC, Augustus erected the Tropaeum Alpium
Trophy of Augustus
The Tropaeum Alpium , was built by the Romans for the emperor Augustus to celebrate his definitive victory over the ancient tribes which populated the Alps...
("Victory Monument of the Alps") at La Turbie
La Turbie
La Turbie is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.-History:...
(Alpes-Maritimes, France) to commemorate his conquest of the Alps. The inscription on the monument, transcribed by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, listed 45 Alpinae gentes devictae ("conquered Alpine tribes"), including the Raeti and Vindelici. However, the names of tribes in the eastern Alps are not included, leading to the suggestion that the subjugation of the latter was achieved with much less bloodshed.
Western Alps: Alpini and Ligures
The Alpinorum and Ligurum cohorts were originally raised from the many small tribes that inhabited the western Alps, i.e. the later provinces of Alpes Graiae, Alpes CottiaeAlpes Cottiae
Alpes Cottiae was a province of the Roman Empire, one of three small provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy. Its name survives in the modern Cottian Alps. In antiquity, the province's most important duty was the safeguarding of communications over the Alpine passes...
Alpes Maritimae
Alpes Maritimae
Alpes Maritimae was a province of the Roman Empire, one of three small provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy...
and the western part of Raetia
Raetia
Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria...
. Alpini appears to be a generic term for natives of the northwestern Alps i.e. the western part of Raetia and the Alpes Graiae (those of the eastern Alps appear to be called Montani). Ligures in its broad sense included all the Liguria
Liguria
Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...
n peoples of NW Italy, SE Gaul and the western Alps, including inhabitants of the eponymous region of Liguria
Liguria
Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...
, which Augustus designated the IX regio (administrative district) of Italia. The latter, however, were by this time Roman citizens, and would have been recruited into the legions. The Ligurum cohorts, therefore, would have been recruited from the Alpine Ligures, who were peregrini (non-citizens) i.e. the inhabitants of the Alpes Cottiae and Alpes Maritimae.
Prominent among the Alpini were the Salassi
Salassi
The Salassi were an Alpine tribe whose lands lay on the Italian side of the Little St Bernard Pass across the Graian Alps to Lyons, and the Great St Bernard Pass over the Pennine Alps...
, warlike mountaineers who controlled the valley of the Duria Bautica river (Dora Baltea
Dora Baltea
Dora Baltea or Doire Baltée , is a river in northern Italy. It is a left-hand tributary of the Po River, and is about 160 km long...
river, Val d'Aosta, Italy) and the saltus Poeninus (Great St Bernard Pass - 2,473m). As the shortest route from Italy to Germania Superior
Germania Superior
Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...
province in the Upper Rhine region, this pass became strategically vital to the Romans after Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
' s conquest of Gaul was completed in 51 BC. After centuries of raiding the Po Valley and decades of exacting tolls and exorbitant prices for supplies from transient Roman troops and travelers, interspersed with brigandage, the Salassi were finally subjugated in 25 BC by Augustus' general Aulus Terentius Varro Murena
Aulus Terentius Varro Murena
Aulus Terentius Varro Murena was a Roman general and politician of the 1st Century BC.- Biography :Murena was the natural born son of Aulus Terentius Varro, and adopted brother to Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena...
. The latter deported and sold into temporary slavery 44,000 Salassi, probably most of the tribe. Their territory became the core of the Alpes Graiae province, set up by 7 BC, with a new Roman colony, Augusta Praetoria Salassorum (Aosta
Aosta
Aosta is the principal city of the bilingual Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, at the confluence of the Buthier and the Dora Baltea, and at the junction of the Great and Little St. Bernard routes...
, Italy) as its capital. It was governed by a procurator
Procurator (Roman)
A procurator was the title of various officials of the Roman Empire, posts mostly filled by equites . A procurator Augusti was the governor of the smaller imperial provinces...
of equestrian rank.
The Taurini controlled the main Roman route from Italy to Gaul through the western Alps, the Val di Susa to the Col de Montgenèvre
Col de Montgenèvre
The Col de Montgenèvre is a high mountain pass in the Cottian Alps, between France and Italy.The pass takes its name from the village Montgenèvre , which lies in the vicinity...
(1,850m). The latter was accessible for a longer period in the year than the other western passes, due to its relatively low altitude. This was the most likely route followed by the Carthaginian
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
general Hannibal when he led his army across the Alps in 218 BC. This area formed the Alpes Cottiae province, named after the local king Cottius
Cottius
Marcus Julius Cottius was king of the Ligurian tribes inhabiting the mountainous region now known as the Cottian Alps early in the 1st century BC He was the son and successor of King Donnus, who had previously opposed but later made peace with Julius Caesar...
, who initially resisted Augustus' imperialism but eventually submitted and became the emperor's ally and personal friend. His territory, together with that of the other Alpine tribes, was annexed to the Roman empire in 15 BC - although Cottius, and his son after him, were accorded the unusual privilege of continuing to govern the region, with the title of praefectus i.e. Roman governor. In 8 BC, Cottius showed his gratitude for this reprieve from dynastic oblivion by erecting a triumphal arch to Augustus in his capital, Segusio (Susa, Piedmont, Italy), which still stands. After the death of Cottius' son, the emperor Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
(ruled 54-68) appointed a regular equestrian procurator to govern the province.
The subjugation of the coastal Ligures and the annexation of the Alpes Maritimae took place in 14 BC, closely following the occupation of the central Alps in 15 BC (see below).
Central Alps: Raeti and Vindelici
The Raetorum and Vindelicorum cohorts were originally composed of RaetiRaeti
The Raeti was the collective "ethnic" name used by the ancient Romans to denote a number of Alpine tribes, whose language and culture may have derived, at least in part, from the Etruscans. From not later than ca...
, a collective name given to a group of central Alpine tribes, which occupied southern Switzerland and the Tyrol
County of Tyrol
The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...
and of their neighbours to the North, the Vindelici. The Raeti, according to Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, were Etruscans driven into the Alps from the Po Valley
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...
by invading Gauls
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
. Prior to Roman annexation, their territory comprised central and SW Switzerland and North and South Tyrol
South Tyrol
South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...
. According to Livy, their original Etruscan culture had been lost as a result of living in the harsh Alpine environment (as opposed to the plains of the Po). During the centuries of Roman rule, the Raeti became Latin speakers, as evidenced by the survival of Romansh, a modern neo-Latin language
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
, in a small part of the Raeti's ancestral homeland (most of which is today German-speaking).
The Vindelici occupied the northern part of Raetia (i.e. Germany south of the river Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
) and whose chief town was Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg, Ger). The Vindelici were a probably a Celtic-speaking people as their name and those of affiliated tribes have convincing Celtic derivations. They were described by the Roman geographer Strabo
Strabo
Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
as a fierce people that frequently raided their neighbours and routinely put all male captives to death.
Both the Raeti and Vindelici were subdued by Augustus' stepsons and senior military commanders Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
and Drusus in a single campaign in 15 BC. The region was garrisoned, on its western edge, by at least one Roman legion in canton Aargau until c. 100 AD (at Vindonissa
Vindonissa
Vindonissa was a Roman legion camp at modern Windisch, Switzerland. It was probably established in 15 AD. In an expansion around 30, thermal baths were added....
from c. AD 15). In addition, auxiliary forces and leves armaturae ("light troops", probably a local militia) were stationed there. But these forces were mainly for security against external threats, not internal unrest. Strabo reports that the Alpine tribes as a whole adapted easily to Roman rule and did not rebel after the initial conquest. The Raeti and Vindelici were obliged to pay taxes to Rome. But it was not, apparently, organised as a full Roman province initially, but as a military canton under an equestrian officer. The latter, presumably reporting to the governor of Germania Superior, is attested in 2 inscriptions as "prefect (or procurator) of the Raeti, Vindelici and the Poenine Valley". It was apparently not before emperor Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
(ruled 41-54), that the district became a full province with the official name of Raetia et Vindelicia (shortened to simply Raetia in the later 1st century), while the Poenine Valley (Canton Valais, Switz.) was separated to join the Alpes Graiae. Raetia was governed by an equestrian procurator.
Eastern Alps: Norici and Montani
Noricorum units were named after the Norici, which was either the name of a single tribe that became generalised to denote all the tribes in the eastern (JulianJulian Alps
The Julian Alps are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretches from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav. They are named after Julius Caesar, who founded the municipium of Cividale del Friuli at the foot of the mountains...
) Alps or, according to Pliny the Elder, an alternative name for the most prominent of these tribes, the Taurisci
Taurisci
The Taurisci were a federation of Celtic tribes who dwelt in today's northern Slovenia before the coming of the Romans According to Pliny the Elder, they are the same people known as the Norici...
, a Celtic-speaking tribe (not to be confused with the Taurini on the other side of the Alps). Strabo reports that the Norici, in common with the Vindelici, frequently raided their neighbours and killed all their male-born captives.
From 200 BC onwards, it appears that the tribes of Noricum were gradually united in a native kingdom, known to the Romans as the regnum Noricum, with its capital at an uncertain location called Noreia. The kingdom was in reality a loose confederation whose main purpose was military defence. The Norici are first mentioned by the ancient writer Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
(c. 130 BC). In 186 BC occurred the Norici's first recorded interaction with Rome. A group of Galli transalpini (believed to be Norici) appeared in Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul
Cisalpine Gaul, in Latin: Gallia Cisalpina or Citerior, also called Gallia Togata, was a Roman province until 41 BC when it was merged into Roman Italy.It bore the name Gallia, because the great body of its inhabitants, after the expulsion of the Etruscans, consisted of Gauls or Celts...
(northern Italy). The intruders set about building an oppidum (hillfort) near the site of the future Roman colony of Aquileia
Aquileia
Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...
(NE Italy), in the territory of the Veneti, who were Roman allies. The Romans, who by this time considered Cisalpine Gaul their own sphere of influence, immediately despatched envoys to protest. When this diplomacy did not have the desired effect, the Romans despatched two armies to the region. The Norici backed down, surrendering to the Romans without a fight. They were obliged to hand over their weapons and to return home. Their oppidum was razed to the ground.
For the 200 years between this stand-off and the time of Augustus, relations between Rome and the regnum Noricum were peaceful and marked by increasing cooperation in security and trade. The Romans saw the regnum as a useful buffer-state covering Italy's northeastern flank and a critical source of raw minerals and, above all, of Noric steel. The Norici saw the Romans as potential protectors in the event of major invasion by the powerful Germanic peoples across the Danube. Although there was no formal treaty of military alliance, the Norici could count on Roman military support, as demonstrated in 113 BC, when a vast host of Teutones invaded Noricum. In response to a desperate appeal by the Norici, the Roman consul Gnaeus Papirius Carbo
Gnaeus Papirius Carbo (consul 113 BC)
Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, son of Gaius Papirius Carbo, was consul in 113 BC, together with Gaius Caecilius Metellus Caprarius.He was according to Cicero the father of Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, who was thrice consul, whereas this latter is called by Velleius Paterculus a brother of Gaius Papirius Carbo...
rushed an army to the Alps and attacked the Germans near Noreia
Battle of Noreia
The Battle of Noreia in 112 BC, was the opening action of the Cimbrian War fought between the Roman Republic and the migrating Proto-Germanic tribes, the Cimbri and the Teutons . It ended in defeat, and near disaster, for the Romans.- Prelude :...
(although, in the event, he was heavily defeated). After finally crushing the Teutones in 101 BC, the Romans established a major trading colony within the leading Noric oppidum on the Magdalensberg
Magdalensberg
Magdalensberg is a municipality in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in Carinthia in Austria.The municipality comprises 40 villages and hamlets: Christofberg, Deinsdorf, Dürnfeld, Eibelhof, Eixendorf, Farchern, Freudenberg, Gammersdorf, Geiersdorf, Göriach, Gottesbichl, Großgörtschach, Gundersdorf,...
(Carinthia, Austria), which may have been the site of Noreia. At the same time, the royal house and nobility of the regnum grew wealthy on the proceeds of the same exports. The increasing wealth and Romanisation of the regnum is demonstrated by the launch of its own coinage around 60 BC.
The long record of friendly relations between Rome and the regnum was broken in 16 BC, when the Norici invaded the Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
n peninsula, by then Roman territory. The reasons for this foray are unclear. The Norici may have been alarmed by, and/or taking advantage of, the imminent Roman operations against their Raetian neighbours. They were driven out of Istria by the proconsul
Proconsul
A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...
of Illyricum
Illyricum (Roman province)
The Roman province of Illyricum or Illyris Romana or Illyris Barbara or Illyria Barbara replaced most of the region of Illyria. It stretched from the Drilon river in modern north Albania to Istria in the west and to the Sava river in the north. Salona functioned as its capital...
, Publius Silius Nerva, to whom they submitted. Lack of inscription evidence for the Roman province of Noricum
Noricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...
before Claudius has led to dispute about when Noricum was annexed. Some scholars hold that annexation immediately followed the Roman occupation in 16 BC. Others suggest that the regnum Noricum was allowed to remain in existence for c. 60 years as a Roman client-state, as was the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace
Odrysian kingdom
The Odrysian kingdom was a union of Thracian tribes that endured between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. It consisted largely of present-day Bulgaria, spreading to parts of Northern Dobruja, parts of Northern Greece and modern-day European Turkey...
, until both were annexed under Claudius. But even if the latter is true, there is a consensus that Roman troops were stationed in the regnum from 16 BC. After its organisation as a province, it was governed by an equestrian procurator.
The name of Montanorum cohorts derives from Montani (literally, "mountain people"), apparently a generic term for tribes inhabiting the eastern Alps, both from eastern Raetia and Noricum.
The Alpine regiments
Two series of Alpinorum regiments were raised ante AD 37, 3 cohorts in the first, 4 in the second. 2 Ligurum cohorts were raised by Augustus and survived as amalgamated units after AD 70. 8 Raetorum cohorts existed by AD 54. A further 2 cohorts were raised after the civil war of 68-9. 4 Vindelicorum cohorts were operational by AD 68. 1 ala and 1 cohort of Norici were probably raised by ClaudiusClaudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
(41-54). 2 Montanorum cohorts were levied by Augustus.
The following conclusions may be drawn from the Tables of Alpine regiments, below:
- As mountain people, the Alpine tribes supplied predominantly infantry: all the regiments in this article are cohortes save for a single cavalry regiment, the ala Noricorum.
- In total, some 20 regiments were raised from the Alpine provinces in the early Julio-Claudian era (i.e. ante 37). Of these, 6 were either destroyed in action or disbanded ante 68.
- A further 6 units were raised under Claudius (41-54) and a couple under Vespasian (69-79).
- Some 22 regiments with Alpine names survived into the early 2nd century, two of them amalgamated with other units and two renamed. Of these, 6 were still stationed in the Alpine provinces (Raetia or Noricum) or in the neighbouring Germania Superior. The rest were stationed in far-flung parts of the empire (including CappadociaCappadociaCappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
, MauretaniaMauretaniaMauretania is a part of the historical Ancient Libyan land in North Africa. It corresponds to present day Morocco and a part of western Algeria...
and BritanniaBritanniaBritannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the...
), and would, by this time, probably have lost their ethnic identity through local recruitment. - At least 14 regiments survived into the early 3rd century although the evidence for that period is so limited that the possibility cannot be excluded that several more regiments also survived to that time.
- The names of 4 Alpine regiments appear in the Notitia DignitatumNotitia DignitatumThe Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial...
, a Roman government manual which includes all the military commands of the late Roman armyLate Roman armyThe Late Roman army is the term used to denote the military forces of the Roman Empire from the accession of Emperor Diocletian in 284 until the Empire's definitive division into Eastern and Western halves in 395. A few decades afterwards, the Western army disintegrated as the Western empire...
, dating to around AD 400. 2 of these, the cohortes I and VI Raetorum, were based in their original home province of Raetia. The other two were based in the East.
| Cohors I Alpinorum peditata | Augustus/Tiberius (ante 37) |
80 | c210 | Pannonia Superior 80-167; Dacia Superior 179; Pannonia c210 |
PS: Poetovio/Carnuntum Carnuntum Carnuntum was a Roman army camp on the Danube in the Noricum province and after the 1st century the capital of the Upper Pannonia province... (to 107); Lussonium (107-67); Mursa (167-79) |
|
| Cohors I Alpinorum equitata | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
60 | c215 | Illyricum Illyricum (Roman province) The Roman province of Illyricum or Illyris Romana or Illyris Barbara or Illyria Barbara replaced most of the region of Illyria. It stretched from the Drilon river in modern north Albania to Istria in the west and to the Sava river in the north. Salona functioned as its capital... 60; Pannonia Inferior 80-143; Dacia Superior 144; Pann Inf 148-c215 |
PI:Carnuntum Carnuntum Carnuntum was a Roman army camp on the Danube in the Noricum province and after the 1st century the capital of the Upper Pannonia province... ; Szazholombatta; DCS: Apulum Alba Iulia Alba Iulia is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,747, located on the Mureş River. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania... (144); PS: Mursa (c215) |
There were 2 cohorts of this name & no., acc. to Holder |
| Cohors II Alpina | Augustus/Tiberius | Germania Superior Germania Superior Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany... ante 68 |
Single inscription pre-68. May have changed name to II ALPINORUM EQ | |||
| Cohors II Alpinorum equitata | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
60 | 223-35 | Illyricum 60; Pannonia Superior 84-223 | PS: Mursa; Baratsföldpuszta; Dunaubogdány (185, 223) |
|
| Cohors III Alpinorum equitata | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
75 | 216-21 | Dalmatia Dalmatia Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south.... 75-216; [Not. Dig. Arabia 395] |
D: Humac Humac Humac is an uninhabited hamlet on Hvar, Croatia. It is connected by the D116 highway. Located 350 m above sea level, 10 km from Jelsa, is a very old village where man has been living for centuries. There are many simple houses made of stone in its surroundings called trim, built without... ; Burnum Burnum Burnum or Burnum Municipium, an archaeological site, was a Roman Legion camp and town. It is located 2.5 km north of Kistanje, in inland Dalmatia, Croatia... ; Salona Salona Salona was an ancient Illyrian Delmati city in the first millennium BC. The Greeks had set up an emporion there. After the conquest by the Romans, Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia... ; Muć MUC The abbreviation MUC can stand for* The IATA airport code for Munich Airport* Mazharul Uloom College Ambur * Mindanao Undercurrent * Le Mans Union Club 72 * Minzu University of China* Montreal Urban Community... PS: Baratsföldpuszta. |
|
| XXX | ||||||
| Cohors I Ligurum et Hispanorum | Augustus (ante 14) |
1st c. | 134 | Alpes Maritimae Alpes Maritimae Alpes Maritimae was a province of the Roman Empire, one of three small provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy... 1st c; Germania Superior Germania Superior Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany... 116-34 |
AM: Cimiez Cimiez Cimiez is a neighborhood in Nice, southern France. The area contains the Musée Matisse and the ruins of Cemenelum, capital of the Ancient Roman province Alpes Maritimae on the Ligurian coast... (1st c.); GS: Niedenberg (early 2nd c.) |
Was I LIGURUM until merged with a Spanish unit after AD 70. |
| Cohors II gemina Ligurum et Corsorum | Augustus (ante 14) |
88 | 153 | Sardinia Sardinia Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],... 88-96; Syria Syria Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.... 153 |
Was II LIGURUM until merged with a Corsica Corsica Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia.... n unit after AD 70. |
| Cohors Raetorum | Augustus (ante 14) | Germania Superior Germania Superior Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany... ante 68 |
Single undatable inscription. Probably destroyed in action or disbanded ante 68. | |||
| Cohors Raetorum et Vindelicorum | Augustus (ante 14) |
Germania Superior Germania Superior Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany... ante 68 |
Single undatable inscription. Probably destroyed in action or disbanded ante 68. | |||
| Cohors I Raetorum | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
107 | 166 | Raetia Raetia Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria... 107-66 [Not. Dig.: I Herculia Raetorum, Raetia c. 420] |
R: Schierenhof | Distinct unit ac. to Holder. Same unit as I RAETORUM EQ. CR. ac. to Spaul. |
| Cohors I Raetorum equitata | Vespasian (69-79) |
75 | Gordian III Gordian III Gordian III , was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238. Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and younger sister of Emperor Gordian II. Very little is known on his early life before his acclamation... (238-44) |
Moesia Moesia Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient... 75; Cappadocia Cappadocia Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine... 135-8; Asia 148-240 |
C: Eumenia | Distinct unit ac. to Holder. Same unit as I RAETORUM EQ. CR. ac. to Spaul. |
| Cohors I Raetorum eq. c.R. | Vespasian (69-79) |
98 | 138-61 (Antoninus Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne... ) |
Germania Inferior Germania Inferior Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, parts of Belgium, and North Rhine-Westphalia left of the Rhine.... 98-138 |
GI: Remagen Remagen Remagen is a town in Germany in Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one hour drive from Cologne , just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the River Rhine. There is a ferry across the Rhine from Remagen every 10–15 minutes in the summer... |
|
| Cohors II Raetorum | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
107 | 166 | Raetia Raetia Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria... 107-66 |
R: Straubing Straubing Straubing is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held.... |
|
| Cohors II Raetorum c.R. | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
82 | 222-35 (Alex. Severus Alexander Severus Severus Alexander was Roman Emperor from 222 to 235. Alexander was the last emperor of the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his cousin Elagabalus upon the latter's assassination in 222, and was ultimately assassinated himself, marking the epoch event for the Crisis of the Third Century — nearly fifty... ) |
Germania Superior Germania Superior Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany... 82-222 |
GS: ante 100:Mogontiacum, Worms Worms, Germany Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only... post 100:Friedburg, Butzbach Butzbach Butzbach is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany. It is located approx. 16 km south of Gießen and 35 km north of Frankfurt am Main.... Saalburg Saalburg The Saalburg is a Roman fort located on the Taunus ridge northwest of Bad Homburg, Hesse, Germany. It is a Cohort Fort belonging to the Limes Germanicus, the Roman linear border fortification of the German provinces. The Saalburg, located just off the main road roughly halfway between Bad Homburg... (210-35) |
Was II RAETORUM ET VINDELICORUM until renamed after c. 100. |
| Cohors IV Raetorum equitata | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
94 | 180 | Moesia Sup 94-100; Cappadocia Cappadocia Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine... 130-8 Mauretania Mauretania Mauretania is a part of the historical Ancient Libyan land in North Africa. It corresponds to present day Morocco and a part of western Algeria... 180; [Not. Dig. Armenia 395] |
MAUR C:Timgad Timgad Timgad , called Thamugas or Tamugadi in old Berber) was a Roman colonial town in the Aures mountain- numidia Algeria founded by the Emperor Trajan around 100 AD. The full name of the town was Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi... 180 |
|
| Cohors V Raetorum | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
122 | 122 | Moesia Moesia Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient... ? ante 122; Britannia Britannia Britannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the... 122 |
||
| Cohors VI Raetorum | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
98 | 166-9 | Germania Inferior Germania Inferior Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, parts of Belgium, and North Rhine-Westphalia left of the Rhine.... 98-127; Britannia Britannia Britannia is an ancient term for Great Britain, and also a female personification of the island. The name is Latin, and derives from the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Great Britain. However, by the... 166 [Not. Dig.: VI Valeria Raetorum, Raetia c. 420] |
BRIT: Great Chesters (166) | |
| Cohors VII Raetorum equitata | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
38 | 212-22 | Raetia Raetia Raetia was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It was bounded on the west by the country of the Helvetii, on the east by Noricum, on the north by Vindelicia, on the west by Cisalpine Gaul and on south by Venetia et Histria... 38; Germania Sup Germania Superior Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany... 74-212 |
R: Vindonissa Vindonissa Vindonissa was a Roman legion camp at modern Windisch, Switzerland. It was probably established in 15 AD. In an expansion around 30, thermal baths were added.... 38; GS: Confluentes Koblenz Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the... ; Königsfelden Königsfelden Abbey Königsfelden Abbey is a former Franciscan monastery and former Clarisse convent in the municipality of Windisch in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It was founded in 1308 by the Habsburgs and during the Reformation in 1528 it was secularized. The complex was then the residence of the bailiffs... ; Niederberg (212-22) |
|
| Cohors VIII Raetorum equitata c.R. | Augustus/Tib (ante 37) |
80 | 179 | Pannonia Pannonia Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia.... 80-102; Moesia Sup 103-7; Dacia Superior 109-79 |
DCS: Inlaceni? | |
| XXX | ||||||
| Cohors I Vindelicorum equitata milliaria c.R. | Julio-Claudian (ante 68) |
100 | 208-12 | Germania Inferior Germania Inferior Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, parts of Belgium, and North Rhine-Westphalia left of the Rhine.... ante 100; Moesia Superior 100-9; Dacia Superior 110-208 |
GI: Colonia Agrippina MS: Varadia Varadia Vărădia is a commune in Caraş-Severin County, in the west of Romania. It is composed of two villages, Mercina and Vărădia.It is located near the border with Serbia, on the Caraş River.... . DCS: Tibiscum Tibiscum Tibiscum was a Dacian town mentioned by Ptolemy, later a Roman castra and municipium. The ruins of the ancient settlement are located in Jupa, Caraş-Severin County, Romania.- See also :* Dacian davae... (c211) Veczel (c211) |
|
| Cohors IV Vindelicorum | Julio-Claudian (ante 68) |
74 | 3rd c. | Germania Superior Germania Superior Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany... 74-116; Maur. Tingitana 124; Germ. Superior 134-3rd c. |
GS: Heddernheim (2nd c.); Grosskrotzenburg (3rd c.) |
NOTE TO TABLE 2: The following cohorts can be inferred from the numeration, but are unattested: III RAETORUM, II and III VINDELICORUM. All were evidently disbanded or destroyed in action in the early 1st century.
| Ala Noricorum | Claudius/Nero (54-68) |
78 | 160-7 | Germania Superior Germania Superior Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany... ante c. 70 AD Germania Inferior Germania Inferior Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, parts of Belgium, and North Rhine-Westphalia left of the Rhine.... 70-160 |
GS: Moguntiacum (to 70 AD) GI: Colonia Agrippina; Burgunatium (Kalkar Kalkar Kalkar is a municipality in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the Rhine, approx. 10 km south-east of Cleves. The most famous building of Kalkar is its church St... ); Burungum (Worringen) (160-7) |
|
| Cohors I Noricorum equitata | Claudius/Nero (54-68) |
c. 40 | post 240-4 | Pannonia Pannonia Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia.... 40-105 Pannonia Inferior 85-244 |
PI: Ocseny; Dunaszekcso (215-40) | Only attested as equitata in early 3rd c. Awarded title of Gordiana by emperor Gordian III Gordian III Gordian III , was Roman Emperor from 238 to 244. Gordian was the son of Antonia Gordiana and an unnamed Roman Senator who died before 238. Antonia Gordiana was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and younger sister of Emperor Gordian II. Very little is known on his early life before his acclamation... (240-4). |
| Cohors I Montanorum | Augustus (ante 14) |
80 | 178-203 | Pannonia Pannonia Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia.... 80-102 Pannonia Inferior 102-78 |
Was the same unit as I MONTANORUM C.R. according to some scholars, but Holder and Spaul agree that the two were separate units. | |
| Cohors I Montanorum c.R. | Augustus (ante 14) |
85 | 197-211? | Pannonia Pannonia Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia.... 85-98; Moesia Superior 98-103; Dacia Dacia In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range... 109-33; Syria Palaestina Syria Palaestina Syria Palæstina was a Roman province between 135CE and 390CE. It had been established by the merge of Roman Syria and Roman Judaea, following the defeat of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 135 CE. In 193 Syria-Coele was split to form a separate provincial locality... 133-59; Moesia Superior 159-early 3rd c. |
MS: Cezava (98); Ravna (98-103); Pristina Pristina Pristina, also spelled Prishtina and Priština is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous municipality and district.... (197-211) |
Probably took part in the Conquest of Dacia (102-5) and in the suppression of the Second Jewish revolt in 132-5 |
| Cohors II Montanorum milliaria | Single undatable inscription. May be one of the I MONTANORUM units after a number change or a merger of both I MONTANORUM units. |
Ethnic origin of regiment
Gallia Belgica
Gallia Belgica was a Roman province located in what is now the southern part of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, northeastern France, and western Germany. The indigenous population of Gallia Belgica, the Belgae, consisted of a mixture of Celtic and Germanic tribes...
, Pannonia
Pannonia
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
and Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
. Finally, after AD 70, recruitment in loco generally becomes predominant. For example, the cohors V Raetorum recorded as stationed in Britain in 122 would probably have contained mainly British recruits by that time, and very few, if any, Raeti. Conversely, the several "British" regiments stationed in Dacia in mid 2nd century would probably have been recruited mainly from the Danubian provinces by that time, although there is some evidence of continued recruitment of Britons. Only those regiments that remained stationed in or near their eponymous province probably retained their original ethnic identity after AD 100 i.e.. only 6 of the 22 Alpine regiments. Against that, there is evidence that at least a few regiments maintained special links with their original home province and recruited preferentially from it into the 2nd century e.g. Batavi units stationed in Britain.
Regiment name
Only regiments for which inscription evidence exists are entered. Regiments whose existence can be inferred from sequence gaps, but are not attested in the epigraphic record, are not included. Cohorts whose name was changed are entered under their latest name (their old name is entered as a quondam).Most regiments carried a number and a name (normally a peregrini tribal name in the genitive plural case) e.g. cohors I Raetorum (lit. "1st cohort of Raeti"). A few regiments had no number. A confusing aspect of auxiliary unit nomenclature is that in some cases, more than one regiment can appear in the record with the same number and name e.g. there are two I Raetorum units attested in the 2nd century. In a few cases there is dispute as to whether it really is two distinct regiments, as opposed to the same regiment moving from one province to another or two detachments of the same regiment in different provinces at the same time. But in most cases, there is no doubt two separate regiments are involved. They can usually be distinguished by whether one is equitata or not, or has a c.R. title or not e.g. I Raetorum and I Raetorum c.R. The explanation for duplicated names is that where more than one series of cohorts was raised from the same original tribe, numbering would start from 1 again, especially if the second series was raised by a different emperor.
There were three basic types of auxiliary regiment. (1) an ala
Ala (Roman military)
An Ala was the term used during the mid- Roman Republic to denote a military formation composed of conscripts from the socii, Rome's Italian military allies. A normal consular army during this period consisted of 2 legions, composed of Roman citizens only, and 2 allied alae...
(literally "wing") was a purely cavalry regiment of 480 horse. (2) a cohors ("cohort") was a purely infantry regiment of 480 foot. (3) a cohors equitata was a cohors with a cavalry contingent attached: 480 infantry plus 120 cavalry for a total of 600 men.
A minority of regiments were denoted milliaria, which meant they were nominally double-strength. In practice, they contained 720 (or 768) men for an ala milliaria, 800 for a cohors milliaria and 1,040 (800 inf/240 cav) for a cohors equitata milliaria. Milliaria units were only introduced sometime after AD 81, either by doubling the strength of existing units or by raising new ones. In addition, some regiments were denoted sagittaria (from sagitta, "arrow") meaning they contained a much higher number of archers than ordinary regiments.
The honorific title civium Romanorum ("of Roman citizens", c.R. for short) was normally awarded by the emperor for valour to an auxiliary regiment as a whole. The award would include the grant of Roman citizenship
Roman citizenship
Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....
to all the regiment's current members, but not to subsequent recruits to the regiment. The regiment, however, would retain the prestigious title in perpetuity. Until 212, only a minority of the empire's inhabitants (inc. all Italians) held full Roman citizenship
Roman citizenship
Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....
. The rest were denoted peregrini
Peregrinus (Roman)
Peregrinus was the term used during the early Roman empire, from 30 BC to 212 AD, to denote a free provincial subject of the Empire who was not a Roman citizen. Peregrini constituted the vast majority of the Empire's inhabitants in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD...
, a second-class status. Since the legions
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
admitted only citizens, peregrini could only enlist in the auxilia. Citizenship carried a number of tax and other privileges and was highly sought-after. It could also be earned by serving the minimum 25-year term in the auxilia. In 212 all inhabitants of the empire were granted full Roman citizenship.
Period founded
This is in most cases conjectural, as most auxiliary regiments were founded in the Julio-Claudian era (ante 68), while the vast majority of datable auxiliary records date from the Flavian era onwards (post 70), and of these most from the 2nd century. However, the foundation period can be inferred from other evidence e.g. numeration sequence e.g. Cohors VII Raetorum is attested in the year 38 AD. From this it can be inferred that all the Raetorum cohorts with a lower number than VII were also in existence by that date, and so were almost certainly founded in the Augustus/Tiberius period.Records
This gives the earliest and latest datable record for each regiment.The literary evidence for auxiliary regiments is almost non-existent. Unlike for the legions
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
, ancient Roman historians only rarely mention the auxilia at all, and never denote a specific unit. Knowledge of the auxilia is therefore dependent on inscriptions found bearing the regiment's name. Many of these are not datable (even roughly) and so are of limited value. The datable epigraphic record is thus very patchy and incomplete.
The epigraphic record includes: (1) inscriptions from Roman military diplomas, which were bronze certificates of Roman citizenship
Roman citizenship
Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....
awarded to peregrini
Peregrinus (Roman)
Peregrinus was the term used during the early Roman empire, from 30 BC to 212 AD, to denote a free provincial subject of the Empire who was not a Roman citizen. Peregrini constituted the vast majority of the Empire's inhabitants in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD...
soldiers who completed the minimum 25 years' service in the auxilia: these are very useful as, if complete, they contain a precise date and the province in which the regiment was serving at the time (as well the name, origin and rank of the recipient). (2) tiles or bricks, used in building work on Roman forts, stamped with the regiment's name. These show the forts where a regiment may have been based, but are rarely datable. (3) votive stone altars or tablets, and tombstones. These can indicate the addressee's origin if they are found in provinces away from the regiment's base. A minority are datable.
A final and unique record is the Notitia Dignitatum
Notitia Dignitatum
The Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial...
, dating to c. 400, which is a Roman government manual detailing all the military commands of the late Roman army
Late Roman army
The Late Roman army is the term used to denote the military forces of the Roman Empire from the accession of Emperor Diocletian in 284 until the Empire's definitive division into Eastern and Western halves in 395. A few decades afterwards, the Western army disintegrated as the Western empire...
. Although the great majority of units listed do not have Principate-era names, some 60 of the latter are survive, mostly limitanei
Limitanei
The limitanei, meaning "the soldiers in frontier districts" The limitanei, meaning "the soldiers in frontier districts" The limitanei, meaning "the soldiers in frontier districts" (from the Latin phrase limes, denoting the military districts of the frontier provinces established in the late third...
(frontier units). In the tables above, a regiment whose name appears in this document is qualified by Not. Dig. in brackets. It should be noted, however, that regiments in 400 AD were very different from those of the Principate. They were probably much smaller (frontier cohorts may have as small as 50-strong) and their armour and weapons may have differed significantly from their forebears'.
Provinces deployed
Auxiliary regiments were mostly stationed in one province long-term, although there could be short-term re-deployments to suit operational requirements. During the early Julio-Claudian era, regiments were often stationed in their native or neighbouring provinces, The Flavian era (69-96) saw a lot of changes in auxiliary deployment in what appears a deliberate policy of deploying regiments away from their original home province. After that, deployments generally became much more settled, with most units remaining in the same province throughout the 2nd and 3rd centuries.The tables display the available evidence for each regiment. The provinces deployed rubric gives the minimum dates that the regiment was based in a province, but it may have been there much longer. The datable epigraphic record is very incomplete. For example, most of the regiments below are believed by inference to have been established before 37 AD, but only one is actually attested at that time, with the rest not attested before 75.
Forts garrisoned
Auxiliary regiments were normally attached, for operational purposes, to a particular legion. The praefectus (commander) of the regiment would report to the legatus legionis (legion commander). Auxiliary regiments were mostly housed in Roman forts in frontier provinces or even beyond the empire's settled borders, to keep watch on barbarian activity. A regiment would usually garrison a fort alone, but sometimes shared with another regiment if it was a larger fort. More rarely, regiments appear to have been housed in the castra legionaria (legionary fortress) of the legion they were attached to. Although inscriptions, especially the regiment's tile- and brick-stamps, can attest which forts the regiment occupied, most are not datable and so it is rarely possible to reconstruct a precise sequence or chronology of forts occupied.Ancient
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(c. 100)
Modern
- Alfoldy, Geza (1974): Noricum
- Cambridge Ancient History (1996): Vol X, The Augustan Empire
- Faliyeyev, Alexander (2007): Dictionary of Continental Celtic Placenames (online)
- Goldsworthy, Adrian (2003): The Complete Roman Army
- Healy, F. (1978): Mining and Metsallurgy in the Greek and Roman Worlds
- Holder, Paul (1980): Studies in the Auxilia of the Roman Army
- Holder, Paul (2003): Auxiliary Deployment in the Reign of Hadrian
- Spaul, John (2000): COHORS 2
See also
- Roman auxiliaries
- List of Roman auxiliary regiments