Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b95js Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-06T01:50:51.298Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Lost Along the Way: A Centurion Domo Britannia in Bostra*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2016

Laurens E. Tacoma
Affiliation:
Institute of History, Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University l.e.tacoma@hum.leidenuniv.nl
Tatiana Ivleva
Affiliation:
School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University Tatiana.Ivleva@ncl.ac.uk
David J. Breeze
Affiliation:
Edinburgh davidbreeze@hotmail.co.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses a not well-known funerary monument commemorating a centurion of British descent. IGLS 13.1.9188 records the centurion, T. Quintius Petrullus, ‘from Britain’, of the Third Cyrenaican Legion, who died aged 30 at Bostra in Arabia. This was a young age for a centurion and the article suggests that he had entered the army by a direct commission rather than risen through the ranks. Accordingly, he is likely to have belonged to a high-status family. The Bostra appointment was probably his first. The appointment is put into context alongside other similar equestrian career paths and the Jewish War during the reign of Hadrian is proposed as a possible occasion for the posting. In addition, the article examines this Briton alongside other Britons abroad.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies 

In the recent upsurge of epigraphic and archaeological studies of patterns of mobility in the Roman world, it is becoming increasingly clear that most mobility occurred within relatively restricted areas.Footnote 1 Every regional study produces roughly the same pattern.Footnote 2 People could and did move over relatively long distances, but normally they remained within a restricted area consisting of their own and neighbouring provinces.

At the same time, these studies also highlight exceptions, sometimes of people crossing the Empire from one end to the other.Footnote 3 These occur most notably among the army, the imperial elite and personnel of the Roman administration, but traders and slaves also travelled considerable distances.Footnote 4 In Roman Britain the most famous case is surely that of Barates of Palmyra.Footnote 5 Such cases are extremely interesting and are, not without reason, discussed over and over again. But they also almost immediately raise questions of typicality. Exactly how unusual was Barates in his move from Palmyra to Britain?

A pendant of sorts to Barates is in fact available. It concerns movement in the opposite direction, from Britain to the Near East. In 1982 Maurice Sartre published a short and fragmentary inscription from Bostra, in modern southern Syria.Footnote 6 The text was slightly emended in 2013 by H. Solin and now reads as follows ( fig. 1):

T(ito) Quiṇtio │ P̣ẹtrullo │ (centurioni) leg(ionis) III Cyr(enaicae) │ dom(o) Britạṇ(nia) │ vixit anni(s) XX̣X │ et QVI [— — —] │ FIL [— — —].

For Titus Quintius Petrullus, centurion of legio III Cyrenaica, from Britain, who lived 30 years and …

The text should be dated somewhere in the second or third centuries. It commemorates a centurion of legio III Cyrenaica called Titus Quintius Petrullus, who died 30 years old. The missing part may have continued with his length of service (et qui militavit …) or it may have commemorated a second person, perhaps a son (et Quintio … filio).Footnote 7 The epitaph must date from after a.d. 106, when Bostra became the main centre of the newly created Roman province of Arabia. Although there has been significant discussion, it seems that legio III Cyrenaica was stationed there right from the start, being transferred from Egypt.Footnote 8

FIG. 1. (a) Tombstone of Petrullus found in Bostra; exact findspot is unknown; conserved at the entrance of the great corridor of the citadel. Dimensions: 0.46 by 0.59 m, 0.47 m deep. (Photo: M. Sartre, from IGLS 13.1.9188; retouching by Joep van Rijn); (b) Drawing of the tombstone of Petrullus. (Drawing by Roger Tomlin from a photograph)

Although the text is short, it contains three elements which are worthy of comment: P̣ẹtrullo, dom(o) Britạṇ(nia) and vixit anni(s) XX̣X. To start with the second: despite the underdots the reading Britạṇ( ) can be regarded as reasonably certain, also in view of the fact that there are no plausible alternatives.Footnote 9 Britan( ) might be expanded as Britan(nia), the province, or perhaps as Britan(nus), an ethnic name.Footnote 10 It may be objected that domo is normally followed by a city, not a wider region, that a reference to Britan(nia) or Britan(nus) is normally preceded by natio and that the exact combination domo Britan( ) is unattested elsewhere.Footnote 11 But there are other cases in which domo does occur together with a region or a tribe rather than a city; in fact, such cases are on closer inspection not infrequent at all. They can be found everywhere in the Empire, including other areas in the Near East.Footnote 12 Although certainty cannot be obtained, it seems unlikely that Petrullus hailed from a colony in Britain as it might be expected that such a prestigious origo would be cited.

The cognomen Petrullus is rare.Footnote 13 The name occurs on a number of brick stamps found in Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Belgica. Of further relevance are two inscriptions from Dijon and from Luxemburg.Footnote 14 The other names which occur alongside it have a distinctive Celtic flavour and the name Petrullus in all likelihood should be placed in the same linguistic context.Footnote 15 There are apart from the Bostrian inscription no other Petrulli known with Roman citizenship.

This inscription seems thus far not to have been noticed by scholars who have studied the occurrence of Britons abroad.Footnote 16 Petrullus is to date the second centurion of British descent we know of (discussed below), apart from the three questionable cases of Titus Flavius Virilis,Footnote 17 Flavius BrittoFootnote 18 and Aurelius Nectoreca.Footnote 19

The epigraphic record is rather modest when it comes to the identification of persons of British descent who lived and died overseas: a total of 40 have been identified epigraphically, out of which only 27 explicitly mention their origin; others were identified on the basis of onomastic and prosopographic analysis.Footnote 20 These numbers are extremely low in comparison to other ethnic groups who migrated such as Dacians (150 cases) or Germans (174 cases).Footnote 21 This may suggest that there were not many Britons moving and settling abroad in the Roman Empire, though it has been argued that native Britons had low epigraphic consciousness and were therefore under represented.Footnote 22 Such low numbers — or low epigraphic consciousness — are, of course, not representative of the real level of mobility: there is other indirect evidence testifying to movements of Britons abroad. The epigraphic record contains information on 13 British auxiliary units, most of which were composed of the natives of the province at the time of the units' formation.Footnote 23 For a ‘Briton’ in such a British auxiliary unit, it would have been unnecessary specifically to name his origin, whereas if he had served in another ethnic unit he would most likely have wanted to emphasise his ethnic background.Footnote 24

The geographic spread of inscriptions directly identifying individuals of British descent is not confined to a particular province. They are distributed across the whole of the western part of the Roman Empire, basically from North Africa to Lower and Upper Germany, from Gaul to the Roman frontiers on the Danube ( fig. 2). Furthermore, units raised in Britain were dispatched to various provinces, including Dacia and Mauretania Caesariensis, as well as being temporarily deployed in the Near East.Footnote 25 The occurrence of a British Petrullus in Arabia is thus not extraordinary, albeit it raises some questions.

FIG. 2. Places on the Continent where Britons settled down or died according to the epigraphic record. (© Tatiana Ivleva)

The admittedly poor evidence for recruitment patterns of legio III in Bostra does not prepare us for the appearance of a Briton, though it also does not preclude such a possibility.Footnote 26 There are only eight military inscriptions from Bostra in which the place or region of origin of an individual is explicitly stated.Footnote 27 Apart from Britain, these are Parthicopolis (possibly the city of that name in the Strymon Valley), an otherwise unknown vicus Doecis in Pannonia, Thrace, Carthage, Celeia in Noricum and, within Italy, Mantua and Forum Sempronii.Footnote 28 The origins that are mentioned can be reconciled with the onomastic profile of legio III which occurs in a list of names preserved on a Latin papyrus dating from the years shortly before its transfer to Arabia.Footnote 29 There is neither in the papyrus nor in the other inscriptions anything that points to wider recruitment of military personnel from north-western Europe, though as just stated the evidence is relatively meagre and does not rule out the presence of people from this area. Nevertheless, in the present state of the evidence, our Petrullus remains something of an outsider.

This raises the question how Petrullus ended up as a centurion in Bostra. In view of the fact that we are dealing with a single individual, no certainty is possible, and only tentative suggestions can be offered. The Celtic cognomen and the high social status suggested by his centurionate imply a background among a family of a local elite. As one would expect a change to fully Latin cognomina in subsequent generations, it also seems likely that Petrullus had acquired the Roman citizenship himself rather than his predecessors, though again such an inference must remain hypothetical. We may note that only one British member of the equestrian order is known, a man buried at Colchester with the fragmentary name of Macri… who died at the age of 20.Footnote 30

Petrullus was relatively young when he died, a legionary centurion aged 30 years, and that is of significance in seeking to reconstruct his possible career. There were two methods of entry to the legionary centurionate, from the ranks and by direct commission. A soldier would normally have served at least 13 years in the ranks before being promoted to centurion,Footnote 31 though earlier promotions are recorded. In the second half of the second century, Petronius Fortunatus held the posts of librarius, tesserarius, optio and signifer within four years before being promoted to centurion by the vote of his fellow soldiers.Footnote 32 Legionary optiones and signiferi with six and eight years' service are known and were presumably promoted to centurion shortly afterwards.Footnote 33 Taking 13 years' service as the ‘normal’ point at which soldiers could expect to be promoted to centurion and acknowledging that most men joined the legion between the ages of 18 and 21, a soldier will usually have been at least 32 when promoted to centurion.Footnote 34

A man who sought a direct commission had normally previously served his municipality as a senior magistrate before joining the army at about 30.Footnote 35 Dobson acknowledged that there was not much evidence for the age, but offered evidence in support of his assertion, including a centurion commissioned at 29 and another at 30.Footnote 36 We may also note another centurion, presumably directly commissioned, at the age of 18, though the latter's exceptionally young age almost certainly rules out a previous municipal career.Footnote 37 Alföldy noted that the equestrian officers in the province of Germania Inferior after a.d. 70 had generally no previous municipal posts and were therefore presumably younger men.Footnote 38

Which is the most likely way in which Petrullus became a centurion? It is possible that he rose through the ranks of a legion, but a centurionate by the age of 30 by this path would have been unusual. The examples of directly commissioned centurions about the age of Petrullus offer better parallels. If this is accepted, it is likely that he was a member of a local elite.

How might Petrullus have arrived in Bostra? There is a particular event which may have led to the movement of a centurion from Britain to Arabia. In a.d. 133, or possibly 134, Sex. Julius Severus, governor of Britain, was sent to lead the Roman forces against the Jewish rebellions. There is no firm evidence that he was accompanied by troops from Britain (A.R. Birley does not name any), but about this time M. Censorius Cornelianus, prefect of the First Cohort of Spaniards based at Maryport, moved to a centurionate in legio X Fretensis, and the appointment of Severus to his command would make a suitable occasion for the transfer of Cornelianus and, therefore, also Petrullus.Footnote 39 Such an appointment was in the gift of the governor, though the emperor's subsequent approval was also required.Footnote 40

A transfer across the Empire for a directly commissioned centurion might be thought to be unusual, but there are other examples. The clearest parallel to Petrullus is C. Octavius Honoratus, a citizen of Thuburnica in North Africa, who entered the centurionate by direct commission and was sent to serve in II Augusta in Britain.Footnote 41 There are also examples of centurions who travelled across the Empire to take up new appointments. They include P. Aelius Romanus who moved from centurion in I Italica in Moesia, his birthplace, to XX Valeria Victrix in Britain, and then to VII Claudia and finally III Augusta in North Africa in the second century.Footnote 42 Eric Birley drew attention to M. Liburnius Fronto, centurion of II Augusta, who dedicated an inscription on Hadrian's Wall under Antoninus Pius; his nomen is often found among Galatian legionaries serving in Egypt, though A.R. Birley has noted that ‘Liburnii are found mainly in northern Italy’, while Roger Tomlin has pointed out to us (pers. comm.) that the name is quite frequently found in Italy and North Africa and may be Etruscan in origin.Footnote 43 And there is Petronius Fortunatus, already noted, who served as centurion in no less than 13 legions during the course of a career lasting 46 years; his travels included Syria, Lower Germany, Upper Pannonia, Britain, Numidia, Arabia and Cappadocia. There need be no surprise in Petrullus travelling from one end of the Empire to the other to take up a centurionate in a legion.

Furthermore, Petrullus is not the only Briton serving as a centurion. A primus pilus of legio XXII Primigenia, M. Minicius Marcellinus, indicated his origin as Lincoln on a votive inscription erected in Mainz.Footnote 44 The prefect of the ala I Brittonum with the same names recorded on a diploma of a.d. 123 is likely to have been his son.Footnote 45 Legio XXII Primigenia is known from two second-century building inscriptions erected in Britain, both probably recording detachments at a time that the legion was based in Mainz, and a tombstone of a centurion possibly dating to the early third century.Footnote 46 Marcellinus may have entered one of these detachments, while they were in Britain, but it is just as likely that he was posted directly to the legion in Mainz.

Another interesting case is that of M. Iunius Capito, also from Lincoln, who served as a soldier in X Gemina, deployed at Vienna on the Danube.Footnote 47 Sent with the legion's detachment to Mauretania Caesariensis in the late second century, he died in North Africa after ten years' service. Nothing is known about his entry to the unit, whether, for example, he was transferred from a legion stationed in Britain or elsewhere, which had been his first place of service, or he was directly enlisted to serve in an overseas unit. If the latter was the case, it offers an interesting parallel to Petrullus, disregarding the different career paths.

That Britons were accepted to serve in the overseas legions can be supported by two further votive inscriptions, erected in Xanten, Germany, by two soldiers of XXX Ulpia Victrix, among other evidence.Footnote 48 These and other legionaries of British descent sent to serve abroad were most likely offspring of the legionaries coming from the Continent and settling in the coloniae, as suggested by A.R. Birley.Footnote 49 This explains why these British-born of likely Continental fathers and local British mothers were allowed to join the legionary forces and why they may have had various privileges, such as a quick rise up the career ladder. It is easy to imagine that Petrullus was one of them, if we accept the arguments for his elite status and privileged position in local society.

Finally, the retention of a Celtic cognomen by a high-placed officer and the use of domo Britannia raise wider questions of self-representation and ethnic identity. Despite the factual appearance of the statements of origin on the inscriptions, in recent years the malleability of ethnicity has been emphasised.Footnote 50 Such malleability occurs in many periods, even in highly formalised contexts. The identification of the origin of a ‘foreigner’ was also an issue in the English census in the nineteenth century. While the origin of English people in the English census is detailed down to the hamlet, village or town, a person born in another part of the United Kingdom such as Scotland or Ireland is normally only assigned to the country. The 1881 UK census relating to London, for example, records Eliza Breeze as born in ‘Middlesex, Bayswater’, but her mother, also Eliza, merely in ‘Ireland’ rather than ‘Ireland, Belfast’, the town of her birth.

Such malleability applies also to the seemingly straightforward military epitaphs like that of Petrullus. Part of the explanation for the use of a formula like domo Britannia is no doubt to be sought in the practicalities of the military administration, for the naming patterns of the epitaphs are very similar to the ones used in official military documents like diplomata. If a soldier was enrolled in a unit while he was already abroad, the native province might have been recorded on the diploma as his home. If, on the other hand, he had enrolled in a unit stationed or raised in his own province, his tribe or town might have been specified.Footnote 51 Considerable variations in local administrative practices have to be reckoned with, of course, but this ‘unofficial’ rule in the record of origin on the diplomata seems to have been valid in many areas, possibly as well in recording origin on the epitaphs.Footnote 52 Although it remains an open question to what extent ethnic identities in this case were ascribed by the army administrators or assumed by the individual soldiers, it is clear that they were subject to construction. For instance, the Romans continuously cultivated tribal associations in the Batavians from Germania Inferior, placing an emphasis on their militaristic nature.Footnote 53 The constant manipulation of the group's military vocations bound up with the group's own ethnic identity resulted in the formation of a special community, called ‘ethnic soldiers’ by van Driel-Murray.Footnote 54 The Dacians are another similar case in point. After the Dacian Wars, ‘the Roman army reinvented rather than destroyed Dacian ethnic identity and provided the environment for the formation of a new Dacian military identity’ by recruiting locals to serve in various auxiliary units called Dacorum.Footnote 55

Soldiers from Britannia ‘were’ thus not ‘Britons’ by nature; being a Briton was not an ontological and immutable fact, especially when there were ‘no such social groups as “Britons”, the peoples were an assortment of tribes’.Footnote 56 In fact, epigraphic evidence suggests that in their home region the primary loyalty was with their home community rather than with a wider region.Footnote 57 When they moved elsewhere, such points of reference lost their relevance (both to recruitment officers and to fellow soldiers). In that sense, soldiers from Britannia became Britons when they crossed the Channel.

Footnotes

*

This article finds its origin in a simple query of Tacoma to Ivleva in the course of research for Tacoma and Tybout (forthcoming) about the reading of IGLS 13.1.9188. Ivleva in her turn discussed the inscription with Breeze. The three decided to join forces and to report their developing arguments into the present study. We would like to thank A.R. Birley, L.J.F. Keppie and R.S.O. Tomlin for their suggestions and comments. All mistakes and errors in the interpretation remain our own. The following abbreviations are used: AE

L'Année Épigraphique (1888–)

CAG

Carte archéologique de la Gaule

CIL

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (1863–)

Hild.

F. Hild, Supplementum epigraphicum zu CIL III: das pannonische Niederösterreich, Burgenland und Wien 1902–1968 (1968)

IAL

C.M. Ternes, ‘Les inscriptions antiques du Luxembourg’, Hémecht 17 (1965), 267–481

IGLS

Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie (1929–)

ILS

H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (1892–1916)

IK

Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien (1972–)

IKöln

B. und H. Galsterer, Die römischen Steininschriften aus Köln (2010)

ILBulg

B. Gerov, Inscriptiones Latinae in Bulgaria repertae (1989)

ILJug

Inscriptiones Latinae quae in Iugoslavia … repertae et editae sunt (1963–86)

PME

H. Devijver, Prosopographia Militiarum Equestrium quae fuerunt ab Augusto ad Gallienum (1977–93)

P.Mich

C.C. Edgar, A.E.R. Boak, J.G. Winter et al., Papyri in the University of Michigan Collection (1931–)

RHP

B. Lörincz, Die römischen Hilfstruppen in Pannonien während der Prinzipatzeit (2001)

RIB

The Roman Inscriptions of Britain

RMD

M.M. Roxan, Roman Military Diplomas (1978–)

Tyche

Tyche. Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte, Papyrologie und Epigraphik (1986–)

1 Among a great many publications in recent decades, see, for example, Clay Reference Clay and Gilmor2007; Eckardt Reference Eckardt2010b; Handley Reference Handley2011; Kakoschke Reference Kakoschke2004; Noy Reference Noy2001; Reference Noy2010; Oltean Reference Oltean and Hanson2009; Swift Reference Swift2010.

2 For Hispania see Haley Reference Haley1991; Gaul – Wierschowski Reference Wierschowski1995; Reference Wierschowski2001; Lusitania – Stanley Reference Stanley1990; Raetia – Dietz and Weber Reference Dietz and Weber1982; Germania Superior and Inferior – Kakoschke Reference Kakoschke2002.

3 cf., for example, evidence on the presence of a woman of possibly North African descent in Roman York: Leach et al. Reference Leach, Lewis, Chenery, Müldner and Eckardt2009 and Reference Leach, Eckardt, Chenery, Müldner and Lewis2010; cf. also Swan Reference Swan1992; Thompson Reference Thompson1972.

5 RIB 1065; 1171. On the occurrence of other migrants in Roman Britain, see works of Birley, E. Reference Birley1988d; Chenery et al. Reference Chenery, Müldner and Eckardt2011; Cool Reference Cool2010; Eckardt Reference Eckardt and Fulford2012; Eckardt and Müldner forthcoming; Rowland Reference Rowland1976; Wilmott Reference Wilmott2001.

6 IGLS 13.1.9188 (with photo), with short addendum in IGLS 13.2.9188. For the provenance, see ed.pr.: ‘Conversé à l'entrée du grand couloir de la citadelle; provenance exacte inconnue’. See Solin Reference Solin2013, 281, cf. 275–6, for the new reading Quintio rather than Quintus, which exposes Petrullo (rather than Petrullus) as a falscher Name and implies that the case-ending of the name of the deceased should be altered from nominative to dative.

7 Following Sartre in the ed.pr. The alternatives do not affect the interpretation offered in this article.

8 Kennedy Reference Kennedy1980, with previous literature on the complex reshuffling of legions in the region. According to Kennedy's reconstruction, legio III Cyrenaica was temporarily back in Egypt in a.d. 119–23, and legio VI Ferrata temporarily took over its tasks.

9 In line 4 the reading DOMBRIT is certain. There is room for two additional letters, of which the first seems to be an A (traces of the lower part survive); what follows cannot be ascertained on the basis of the relatively dark photograph. In line 3 a flaw in the surface (in the form of a crescent-shaped depression) seems to have prevented the stone-cutter from beginning on the left margin. In line 5, the reading of the second X in XX̣X is somewhat more problematic and cannot be confirmed on the basis of the photo. A possible alternative might be VIXIT ANN( ) LXX, but there is neither horizontal bar of the L visible, nor is there enough space to accommodate it. Furthermore, as there is no room to accommodate more letters after XX̣X, and any other figure instead of the second X can only lower the already low age further, we are convinced that Sartre's reading is correct.

10 We owe the latter suggestion to Roger Tomlin. In what follows we use the former; the exact expansion does not affect our argument. Apart from one Christian inscription on a lid of a sarcophagus dated to the late fourth to fifth century a.d., the ethnic name BRITAN(NUS) is not attested elsewhere. AE 1939, 53 = AE 2004, 881 (Arelate): Hic conditus iacet nomine Tolosanus Britannus natione proconsulis dolor. More on BRITAN(NUS) as an ethnic name, see Matthews Reference Matthews and Leslie1999.

11 cf. for instance the following inscriptions recording individuals with origo natione Britto: CIL VI, 3301 (Rome); CIL VI, 32861 (Rome); CIL VI, 3279; Il.Jug–2, 679 (Solin, Croatia); CIL XIII, 1981 (Lyon, France). For discussion on the meaning of natione Britto, see Ivleva Reference Ivleva, Alroth and Scheffer2014 and forthcoming.

12 From the Near East come RHP 115 (Apamea) for domo T(h)racia; AE 1958, 240 (Hatra) for dom(o) [Nu]midia. Elsewhere e.g. IKöln 26 (Germania Inferior) domo Dalmatia; CIL XIII, 2311,5b (Lugdunensis) d(omo) Sur(ia) (twice); CIL III, 3271 (Pannonia Inferior) domo Hispano; CIL III, 3324 (Pannonia Inferior) d(omo) Africa; CIL III, 3680 (Pannonia Inferior) domo Africa; AE 1993, 132 (Pannonia Inferior) domo T(h)racia; Tyche 2013, 10 (Pannonia Superior) do(mo) Iud(a)ei; Tyche 2013, 6 (Pannonia Superior) domo Iudaeus; CIL III, 4379 (Pannonia Superior) do(mo) Af(rica); CIL III, 4459 (Pannonia Superior) domo Ger(mania) sup(eriore); Hild. 162 (Pannonia Superior) domo Maurit(ania); CIL III, 7503 (Moesia Inferior) domo Bithyna; ILBulg 309 (Moesia Inferior) domo [C]app(adocia); CIL III, 7728 (Dacia) do(mo) Macedonia; Speidel Reference Speidel1994, 732 (Rome) domo Thracia; Speidel Reference Speidel1994, 680 (Apulia and Calabria) domo Thraciae; AE 2010, 1620 (Galatia) dom(o) Pann(onia); IK 55, 1128 (Cappadocia) domo Hispani[a]. Cf. CIL III, 6085 (Asia) domo Liguriae. For a civilian example CIL III, 3583 (Pannonia Inferior) domo Africa.

13 Lőrincz (Reference Lőrincz2000, 136) and Mócsy (Reference Mócsy1983, 220) list three instances in Belgica.

14 CIL XIII, 5557 (Divio, mod. Dijon): Monimentu[m] Roxtani Petrulli. IAL 103 (Luxemburg-Fetschenhof, Belgica): Suarica(e) coniugi Masc(u)lus et Petrullus fili(i) v(ivi) f(aciendum) c(uraverunt). While the lettering of the former inscription is very crude, that of the latter is remarkably careful.

15 Solin Reference Solin2013, 275–6. For Roxtanus of CIL XIII, 5557, see AE 1905, 216 (Intaranum, Lugdunensis, mod. Entrains-sur-Nohain): Quintae Roxtanorigi[s] uxori Mansuetus R[ox]tanoricis [f(ilius)] donavit (note that virtually the same text appears as CIL XIII, 11269 from the same place: Quintae Roxtanorig(is) Coti fili(ae) uxori Mansuetus R(ox)tanorigis donavit). For the name Suarica of IAL 103 see CIL XIII, 05532 (Divio, mod. Dijon): D(is) M(anibus) Mandubili Dousonni fil(ii) et Suarica(e) ux(ori)s, for which see the commentary of Kakoschke Reference Kakoschke2002, no. 3.16. Masculus, by contrast, is a very common name which can be found almost anywhere in the Empire. From the same area as the other mentioned texts comes CAG 21.2, p. 249 (Divio, mod. Dijon): D(is) [M(anibus)] Blanda et Mascul[us] Dribanci et Marce[lla(?)].

16 The text was mentioned briefly by Tomlin (Tomlin and Hassall Reference Tomlin and Hassall2007, 357–8, note 35). Petrullus is absent from Birley, A.R. 1979, 101–6, Dessau Reference Dessau1912; Ivleva Reference Ivleva, Mladenovič and Russel2011, Reference Ivleva2012 and forthcoming. Cf. also Dobson and Mann Reference Dobson and Mann1973, 204: ‘Most notable is the absence in the record of British centurions'. Petrullus is also absent from Devijver's PME. The inscription does, however, appear in the list of geographical references in the Trismegistos database for Britannia, see http://www.trismegistos.org/geo/georef_list.php?tm=3232 (consulted October 2015). It is also recorded in Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss/Slaby under no EDCS-11301195.

17 CIL VIII, 2877 (Lambaesis): D. M. T. Fl. Virilis | leg. II Aug. | leg. XX V. V. | leg. VI Vic. | leg. XX V. V. | leg. III Aug. | leg. III Parth. Sever. VIIII hast. poster. vixit annis LXX stip. XXXXV Lollia Bodicca coniux et Flavi Victor et Victorinus fili. heredes ex HS |CC n. faciendum curaver. Virilis held six posts as a centurion in five different legions. Of these, three were legions stationed in Britain, e.g. legiones II Augusta, VI Victrix and XX Valeria Victrix. The origin of Virilis is considered to be British on the basis of his service as a centurion in all of the legions that were stationed in Britain. Cf. also Dessau Reference Dessau1912, 23; Malone Reference Malone2006, 117.

18 CIL VI, 3594 (Rome): D. M. Fl. Brittoni | leg. XIIII Gem. Catonia Baudia coniux et liberi eius b. m. fecer. Apart from Flavius Britto's rather telling name and the name of his wife, Catonia Baudia, Baudia being reminiscent of the name Boudicca, nothing points to a conclusive argument for him being of British ancestry.

19 Nectoreca is mentioned on two inscriptions dated to c. a.d. 192 found in Volubilis: AE 1920, 48 = AE 1998, 1596 = AE 2004, 1892 = AE 2006, 1822: Pro salute et incolumitate Imp. Caesaris L. Aeli Aurel. Commodi Pii Invicti Felicis Herculis Romani imperioque eius Aur. Nectoreca | vex. Britt. Volubili agentium sua pecunia Invicto posuit et d. d.; AE 1920, 47 = AE 1998, 1596 = AE 2004, 1893 = AE 2006, 1821: I. D. M. Aur. Nectoreca | vex. Brit. Volubili agentium l. l. m. He served as a centurion of a vexillatio Brittonum. His cognomen, Nectoreca, is a combination of two Celtic elements, nect*- and rec*-. The element nect*- appears only in two names known to the present day: both the people who had names with this element were of British descent: Nectovelius was a Brigantian by origin (RIB 2142) and Catunectus was a Trinovantian (AE 2003, 1218). Nectoreca may thus have been a British-born centurion put in charge of the British detachment in Mauretania Tingitana.

20 Ivleva forthcoming.

23 Cheesman Reference Cheesman1914, 170–1; Dobson and Mann Reference Dobson and Mann1973, 199–200 = Mann Reference Mann1996, 46–8; Spaul Reference Spaul1994, 70–2 and Reference Spaul2000, 189–204.

24 Birley, A.R. Reference Birley1979, 104; Oltean Reference Oltean and Hanson2009, 91.

25 Detachments of ala I Britannica and cohors III Augusta Nerviana Pacensis Brittonum are known to have taken part in the Parthian War of Trajan (a.d. 114–17). For ala see AE 1908, 23 (Nicopolis Armeniae), CIL III, 6748 (Amaseia); for cohort see Eck and Pangerl Reference Eck and Pangerl2008, 367. A detachment of the cohors I Hispanorum based at Maryport may have been dispatched to serve in the army seeking to put down the Jewish Rebellion of a.d. 132/5 (Breeze Reference Breeze and Wilson1997, 73–4, 77), for which see below.

26 One further item which may offer corroboration of sorts is a lead seal found in Gloucester mentioning LEG III CYR. It was published by Roger Tomlin (Tomlin and Hassall Reference Tomlin and Hassall2007, 357, no. 17). The seal is unique in that it mentions another legion (Leg. VI Victrix) on the other side; it may have been brought by someone who was transferred from Leg. III to Leg. VI sometime after Leg. VI was moved to Britain by Hadrian.

27 See Tacoma and Tybout forthcoming.

28 IGLS 13.9052–3 (with addenda) for Parthicopolis; 9193 for Doecis in Pannonia; 9194 for Thrace; 9203 for Carthage; 9506 for Celeia in Noricum (mod. Celje in Slovenia); 9183 for Mantua in Lombardia; 9187 for Forum Sempronii in Umbria. Although legio III is not explicitly mentioned in all these texts, it seems reasonably certain that they concern it. In view of a new reading discussed by Sartre in his addenda, we have left out IGLS 13.9177 (possibly concerning a soldier). Initially d(is) m(anibus) s(acrum). Chresto sanctissimo M(?) ṇạtọ Corinthias dulcissima uxor benemerenti fecit was read, but marito Corithias (‘husband of Corinthia’) makes better sense. Also left out is IGLS 13.9016 mentioning Thusdritani (from modern El-Djem in Tunisia); these may also be soldiers, but traders seem just as likely. There is more evidence for recruitment of legio III Cyrenaica in texts from outside Bostra, including papyri from the period before and shortly after its transfer from Egypt. For example, IGLS 21.2.34 from Philadelphia (modern Amman) mentions a soldier from nearby Hierapolis. CIL XI, 6055 from Urbino has a primus pilus hailing from Foro Brent(ano) or Brent(anorum), location unknown, but likely in the vicinity of Urbino. If P.Mich. 8.466 (a.d. 107) and 465 (a.d. 108) concern a soldier from legio III Cyrenaica, as seems likely, Karanis in Egypt should be added to the list. Much of this evidence can be found in scattered pages in Forni Reference Forni1953 and Mann Reference Mann1983, but a new study is a desideratum.

29 Kramer Reference Kramer1993, dated by him to a.d. 98–127. If the transfer of the legion took place in a.d. 106, the date of this text can be narrowed down to a.d. 98–106. Although the spelling of the names shows many peculiar and unattested forms, the names are mostly generic ones.

30 RIB 202.

31 Breeze Reference Breeze1974, 273–8 = Breeze and Dobson Reference Breeze and Dobson1993, 39–44.

32 CIL VIII, 217 = 11301 = ILS 2658. See now Birley, A.R. Reference Birley, Lo Cascio, Tacoma and Groen-Valkinga2016 forthcoming.

33 CIL XIII, 6955; 6681; III, 10525; 5976.

34 Forni Reference Forni1953, 135–41.

35 Dobson Reference Dobson1972, 194 = Breeze and Dobson Reference Breeze and Dobson1993, 187, citing Birley, E. Reference Birley and Birley1953 and Alföldy Reference Alföldy1968. This is not the place for elaborate discussion of such moves from the civilian into the military sphere. But it is to be noted that there were usually minimum ages for municipal offices and that such offices were normally held with some space between them. In consequence, also from a civilian perspective a transfer around the age of 30 would be an exceptional occurrence and therefore indicate high status.

36 CIL VIII, 217; 6.3584. Cf. CIL XI, 1836 and VIII, 15872, both iudex selectus.

37 CIL III, 1480 = ILS 2654.

38 Alföldy Reference Alföldy1968, 110–35, in particular 121–2.

39 Birley, A.R. Reference Birley2005, 132; Breeze Reference Breeze and Wilson1997, 73–5. For further discussion of officers moving from west to east, and of the date of Severus' transfer, see Birley, A.R. Reference Birley, Lo Cascio, Tacoma and Groen-Valkinga2016 forthcoming.

40 Birley, E. Reference Birley1988c.

41 CIL VIII, 14698 = ILS 2655; for other possible examples see Birley, E. Reference Birley1988b and Reference Birley1988c.

42 CIL VIII, 2786 = ILS 2659.

43 Birley, E. Reference Birley1988c; Birley, A.R. Reference Birley1979, 75.

44 CIL XIII, 6679: Fortunam Superam Honori Aquilae leg. XXII Pr. P.F. M. Minicius M. fil. Quir. Lindo Mar[cel]li[nus p.] p. leg. ei[us][dem]

45 AE 1973, 459 = RMD I 21: A D IIII Id Aug T Salvio Rufino Minicio Opimiano Cn Sentio Aburiano cos alae Briton c R cui praefuit M Minicius Marcellinus ex gregale Glavo Navati f Sirm et Iubenae Bellagenti fil uxori eius Eravis. Dobson Reference Dobson and Nicolet1970; Russu Reference Russu1974.

46 RIB 1026; 2116a; 2216; 3486.

47 CIL VIII, 21669 = AE 1897, 35 = AE 1941, 113: D. M. M. Iunius Capito Lindo mil leg. X G. st. X Iul. Primus sig. h. f. c.

48 CIL XIII, 8631, 8632. For other British-born legionaries serving abroad see Birley, A.R. Reference Birley1979, 104–5; Dobson and Mann Reference Dobson and Mann1973, 202–4.

49 Birley, A.R. Reference Birley1979, 104.

50 Collins Reference Collins and Fenwick2008; Derks and Roymans Reference Derks and Roymans2009; Eckardt Reference Eckardt2010a; Eckardt and Müldner forthcoming; Hope forthcoming; Ivleva Reference Ivleva, Alroth and Scheffer2014; forthcoming; Mattingly Reference Mattingly2011; Wallace-Hadrill Reference Wallace-Hadrill, Alcock and Osborne2007.

52 Footnote ibid., 475–6.

56 Mattingly Reference Mattingly2004, 10.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alföldy, G. 1968: Die Hilfstruppen der römischen Provinz Germania inferior, Dusseldorf Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 1979: The People of Roman Britain, London Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 2005: The Roman Government of Britain, Oxford Google Scholar
Birley, A.R. 2016 forthcoming: ‘Viri militares moving from west to east in two crisis years (AD 133 and 162)’, in Lo Cascio, E. and Tacoma, L.E., with Groen-Valkinga, M.J. (eds), The Impact of Mobility and Migration in the Roman Empire, Impact of Empire 12, Leiden Google Scholar
Birley, E. 1953: ‘The equestrian officers of the Roman army’, in Birley, E., Roman Britain and the Roman Army, Kendal, 133–53Google Scholar
Birley, E. 1988a: The Roman Army, Papers 1929–1986, Amsterdam Google Scholar
Birley, E. 1988b: ‘The origins of legionary centurions’, in E. Birley 1988a, 189–205 (= Laureae Aquincenses 2, 47–62)Google Scholar
Birley, E. 1988c: ‘Promotions and transfers in the Roman army II: The centurionate’, in E. Birley 1988a, 206–20 (= Carnuntum Jahrbuch 1963/64, 21–33)Google Scholar
Birley, E. 1988d: ‘Pannonians in Roman Britain’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 73, 151–5Google Scholar
Breeze, D.J. 1974: ‘The organisation of the career structure of the immunes and principales of the Roman army’, Bonner Jahrbuch 174, 245–92Google Scholar
Breeze, D.J. 1997: ‘The regiments stationed at Maryport and their commanders’, in Wilson, R.J.A. (ed.), Roman Maryport and its Setting, Kendal, 6789 Google Scholar
Breeze, D.J., and Dobson, B. 1993: Roman Officers and Frontiers, Stuttgart Google Scholar
Chenery, C., Müldner, G., and Eckardt, H. 2011: ‘Cosmopolitan Catterick? Isotopic evidence for population mobility on Rome's northern frontier’, Journal of Archaeological Science 38, 1525–36Google Scholar
Cheesman, G.L. 1914: The Auxilia of the Roman Imperial Army, Oxford Google Scholar
Clay, C.L. 2007: ‘Before they were Angles, Saxons and Jutes: an epigraphic study of the Germanic social, religious and linguistic relations on Hadrian's Wall’, in Gilmor, L. (ed.), Pagans and Christians – from Antiquity to the Middle Ages: Papers in Honour of Martin Henig Presented on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, Oxford, 4763 Google Scholar
Cool, H.E.M. 2010: ‘Finding the foreigners’, in Eckardt 2010a, 27–44Google Scholar
Collins, R. 2008: ‘Identity in the frontier: theory and multiple community interfacing’, in Fenwick, C., M. Wiggins and D. Wythe (eds), TRAC 2007: Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, London 2007, Oxford, 4553 Google Scholar
Derks, T., and Roymans, N. (eds) 2009: Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition, Amsterdam Google Scholar
Dessau, H. 1912: ‘British centurions’, Journal of Roman Studies 2, 21–4Google Scholar
Dietz, K., and Weber, G. 1982: ‘Fremde in Rätien’, Chiron 12, 409–43Google Scholar
Dobson, B. 1970: ‘The centurionate and social mobility during the Principate’, in Nicolet, C. (ed.), Recherches sur les structures sociales dans l'Antiquité classique, Paris, 99115 Google Scholar
Dobson, B. 1972: ‘Legionary centurion or equestrian officer? A comparison of pay and prospects’, Ancient Society 2, 193207 Google Scholar
Dobson, B., and Mann, J.C. 1973: ‘The Roman army in Britain and Britons in the Roman army’, Britannia 4, 191205 Google Scholar
Driel-Murray, C. van 2003: ‘Ethnic soldiers: the experience of the Lower Rhine tribes’, in Grünewald, T. and Seibel, S. (eds), Kontinuität und Diskontinuität: Germania Inferior am Beginn und am Ende der römischen Herrschaft. Beiträge des deutsch-niederländischen Kolloquiums im Nijmegen 2001, Berlin, 200–17Google Scholar
Eck, W., and Pangerl, A. 2008: ‘Moesia und seine Truppen. Neue Diplome für Moesia und Moesia Superior’, Chiron 38, 317–87Google Scholar
Eckardt, H. (ed.) 2010a: Roman Diasporas: Archaeological Approaches to Mobility and Diversity in the Roman Empire, Portsmouth, RI Google Scholar
Eckardt, H. 2010b: ‘A long way from home: diaspora communities in Roman Britain’, in Eckardt 2010a, 99–130Google Scholar
Eckardt, H. 2012: ‘Foreigners and locals in Calleva’, in Fulford, M. (ed.), Silchester and the Study of Romano-British Urbanism, Portsmouth, RI, 246–56Google Scholar
Eckardt, H., and Müldner, G. forthcoming: ‘Mobility, migration, and diasporas in Roman Britain’, in Millett et al. forthcomingGoogle Scholar
Forni, G. 1953: Il reclutamento delle legioni, Milan and Rome Google Scholar
Haley, E.W. 1991: Migration and Economy in Roman Imperial Spain, Barcelona Google Scholar
Handley, M. 2011: Dying on Foreign Shores: Travel and Mobility in the Late-Antique West, Portsmouth, RI Google Scholar
Hope, V. forthcoming: ‘Inscriptions and identity’, in Millett et al. forthcomingGoogle Scholar
Ivleva, T. 2011: ‘British emigrants in the Roman Empire: complexities and symbols of ethnic identities’, in Mladenovič, D. and Russel, B. (eds), TRAC 2010: Proceedings of the 20th Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, Oxford 2010, Oxford, 132–53Google Scholar
Ivleva, T. 2012: ‘British military units and the identity of British-born recruits in the Roman army, between the first and third centuries AD’, Orbis Terrarum: Internationale Zeitschrift für historische Geographie der alten Welt 10, 5992 Google Scholar
Ivleva, T. 2014: ‘Remembering Britannia: expressions of identities by “Britons”’ on the Continent during the Roman Empire’, in Alroth, B. and Scheffer, C. (eds), Attitudes Towards the Past in Antiquity: Creating Identities, Stockholm, 217–31Google Scholar
Ivleva, T. forthcoming: ‘Britons on the move: mobility of British-born emigrants in the Roman Empire’, in Millett et al. forthcomingGoogle Scholar
Kakoschke, A. 2002: Ortsfremde in den römischen Provinzen Germania inferior und Germania superior: eine Untersuchung zur Mobilität in den germanischen Provinzen anhand der Inschriften des 1. bis 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr., Möhnesee Google Scholar
Kakoschke, A. 2004: “Germanen” in der Fremde: eine Untersuchung zur Mobilität aus den römischen Provinzen Germania inferior und Germania superior anhand der Inschriften des 1. bis 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr., Möhnesee Google Scholar
Kennedy, D.L. 1980: ‘Legio VI Ferrata. The annexation and early garrison of Arabia’, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 84, 283308 Google Scholar
Kramer, J. 1993: ‘Die Wiener Liste von Soldaten der III und XXII Legion: (P. Vindob. L 2)’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 97, 147–58Google Scholar
Leach, S., Lewis, M., Chenery, C., Müldner, G., and Eckardt, H. 2009: ‘Migration and diversity in Roman Britain: a multidisciplinary approach to the identification of immigrants in Roman York, England’, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 140, 546–61Google Scholar
Leach, S., Eckardt, H., Chenery, C., Müldner, G., and Lewis, M. 2010: ‘A lady of York: migration, ethnicity and identity in Roman Britain’, Antiquity 84, 131–45Google Scholar
Lőrincz, B. 2000: Onomasticon Provinciarum Europae Latinarum, Vienna Google Scholar
Malone, S.J. 2006: Legio XX Valeria Victrix: Prosopography, Archaeology and History, Oxford Google Scholar
Mann, J.C. 1983: Legionary Recruitment and Veteran Settlement during the Principate, London Google Scholar
Mann, J.C. 1985: ‘Epigraphic consciousness’, Journal of Roman Studies 75, 204–6Google Scholar
Mann, J.C. 1996: Britain and the Roman Empire, Aldershot Google Scholar
Mattingly, D. 2004: ‘Being Roman: expressing identity in a provincial setting’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 17, 525 Google Scholar
Mattingly, D. 2011: Imperialism, Power, and Identity: Experiencing the Roman Empire, Princeton Google Scholar
Matthews, K.J. 1999: ‘Britannus/Britto: Roman ethnographies, native identities, labels, and folk devils’, in Leslie, A. (ed.), Theoretical Roman Archaeology and Architecture: The Third Conference Proceedings, Glasgow, 1433 Google Scholar
Millett, M., Revell, L., and Moore, A. (eds) forthcoming: The Oxford Handbook of Roman Britain, Oxford Google Scholar
Mócsy, A. 1983: Nomenclator Provinciarum Europae Latinarum et Galliae Cisalpinae: cum Indice Inverso, Budapest Google Scholar
Noy, D. 2001: Foreigners at Rome: Citizens and Strangers, London Google Scholar
Noy, D. 2010: ‘Epigraphic evidence for immigrants at Rome and in Roman Britain’, in Eckardt 2010a, 13–26Google Scholar
Oltean, I.A. 2009: ‘Dacian ethnic identity and the Roman army’, in Hanson, W.S. (ed.), The Army and Frontiers of Rome: Papers Offered to David J. Breeze on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday and his Retirement from Historic Scotland, Portsmouth, RI, 90103 Google Scholar
Rowland, R.J. 1976: ‘Foreigners in Roman Britain’, Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 28, 443–7Google Scholar
Roymans, N. 2004: Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power: The Batavians in the Early Roman Empire, Amsterdam Google Scholar
Russu, I.I. 1974: ‘Das römische militärdiplom von 123 für Dacia Porolissensis und Pannonia Inferior’, Dacia 18, 155–76Google Scholar
Solin, H. 2013: ‘Analecta epigraphica CCLXXXV–CCXCI’, Arctos 47, 265300 Google Scholar
Spaul, J. 1994: Ala2: The Auxiliary Cavalry Units of the pre-Diocletianic Imperial Roman Army, Andover Google Scholar
Spaul, J. 2000: Cohors2: The Evidence for and a Short History of the Auxiliary Infantry of the Imperial Roman Army, Oxford Google Scholar
Speidel, M.P. 1986: ‘The soldiers’ homes’, in Eck, W. and Wolff, H. (eds), Heer und Intergationspolitik. Die römischen Militärdiplome als historische Quelle, Cologne, 467–81Google Scholar
Speidel, M.P. 1994: Die Denkmäler der Kaiserreiter Equites Singulares Augusti, Cologne Google Scholar
Stanley, F.H. 1990: ‘Geographical mobility in Roman Lusitania: an epigraphical perspective’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 82, 249–69Google Scholar
Swan, V. 1992: ‘Legio VI and its men: African legionaries in Britain’, Journal of Roman Pottery Studies 5, 133 Google Scholar
Swift, E. 2010: ‘Identifying migrant communities: a contextual analysis of grave assemblages from continental Late Roman cemeteries’, Britannia 41, 145 Google Scholar
Tacoma, L.E., and Tybout, R.A. forthcoming: ‘Inscribing Near Eastern mobility in the Hellenistic and Roman period’, in Zerbini, A. and Yoo, J. (eds), Migration, Diaspora and Identity in the Near East from Antiquity to the Middle Ages Google Scholar
Thompson, L.A. 1972: ‘Africans in northern Britain’, Museum Africum I, 2838 Google Scholar
Tomlin, R.S.O., and Hassall, M.W.C. 2007: ‘Roman Britain in 2006. III. Inscriptions’, Britannia 38, 345–65Google Scholar
Wallace-Hadrill, A. 2007: ‘The creation and expression of identity: the Roman world’, in Alcock, S. and Osborne, R. (eds), Classical Archaeology, Oxford, 355–80Google Scholar
Wierschowski, L. 1995: Die regionale Mobilität in Gallien nach den Inschriften des 1. bis 3. Jahrhunderts n.Chr.: quantitative Studien zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte der westlichen Provinzen des römischen Reiches, Stuttgart Google Scholar
Wierschowski, L. 2001: Fremde in Gallien, “Gallier” in der Fremde: die epigraphisch bezeugte Mobilität in, von und nach Gallien vom 1. bis 3. Jh. n. Chr. (Texte, Übersetzungen, Kommentare), Stuttgart Google Scholar
Wilmott, T. 2001: ‘Cohors I Aelia Dacorum: a Dacian unit on Hadrian's Wall’, Acta Musei Napocensis 38(1), 103–23Google Scholar
Woolf, G. 2013: ‘Female mobility in the Roman West’, in Hemelrijk, E. and Woolf, G. (eds), Women and the Roman City in the Latin West, Leiden, 351–68Google Scholar
Figure 0

FIG. 1. (a) Tombstone of Petrullus found in Bostra; exact findspot is unknown; conserved at the entrance of the great corridor of the citadel. Dimensions: 0.46 by 0.59 m, 0.47 m deep. (Photo: M. Sartre, from IGLS 13.1.9188; retouching by Joep van Rijn); (b) Drawing of the tombstone of Petrullus. (Drawing by Roger Tomlin from a photograph)

Figure 1

FIG. 2. Places on the Continent where Britons settled down or died according to the epigraphic record. (© Tatiana Ivleva)