  Shown within Rome | |
| Location | Caelian Hill |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°53′04″N12°29′39″E / 41.884531°N 12.494212°E Coordinates: 41°53′04″N12°29′39″E / 41.884531°N 12.494212°E |
| Type | Roman Barracks |
| History | |
| Builder | Augustus |
| Founded | 1st Century AD |
The Castra Peregrina ("camp of the strangers") was a castrum (a military barracks) in Rome situated on the Caelian Hill. [1] It was occupied by various military units during the later part of the Roman Empire.
The barracks are situated on the Caelian Hill between the Temple of Claudius and Nero's Macellum Magnum. It is centrally located on a hill known for its housing of wealthy Romans. The fourth-century Regionaries list the Castra Peregrina in regio II. [2]
The remains of the camp were discovered during digging for the foundations of a convent and hospital and partially excavated from 1904 to 1909. [3] It can now be found just south-east of the well preserved church Santo Stefano al Monte Celio.
Within the castra was a shrine (templum) of Jupiter Redux erected in honour of Severus and Mammaea by a centurio frumentarius. [4] A carving of the construction of the barracks was found at Ostia; on a column in the Square of the Corporations. In the initial excavation of the barracks, stone ships were also found; these were made by soldiers thanking the gods for protecting them from shipwrecks (see Fontana della Navicella) and provides further evidence of the spread of the barracks' frumentarii across the provinces.
It has been claimed by some authors, as the name suggests, that the barracks housed a garrison of peregrini , non-citizens and free subjects of the empire. [5] Others, however, dispute this claim and have proposed that the barracks housed roman citizens; if so, the name would not imply the lack of citizenship but rather refer to the fact that they were detached away from the legions for special services in Rome and elsewhere. [6] [7] They consisted of a majority of frumentarii [3] and inscriptions suggest that the Castra Peregrina acted as a central base for the distribution of these men throughout the unarmed provinces (inermes). [8] The frumentarii, who were likely based, and not only housed, at the Castra Peregrina, [9] were initially involved in the provision supply service of Rome, [10] but were later employed as military couriers and members of the secret service. [11]
Richardson suggests that the brickwork demonstrates an Augustan origin with a second century A.D. rebuilding, probably under Severus, [3] and another rebuilding in third century A.D. [12] However the earliest mention of the princeps peregrinorum (camp-commandant) in Rome was during the reign of Trajan. [13] It is also mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus, showing that it was in use as late as the fourth century A.D. [14]
The Praetorian Guard was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort for high-rank political officials and were bodyguards for the senior officers of the Roman legions. In the year 27 BC, after Rome's transition from Republic to Empire, the first emperor of Rome, Augustus, designated the Praetorians as his personal security escort. For three centuries, the guards of the Roman emperor were also known for their palace intrigues, by which influence upon imperial politics the Praetorians could overthrow an emperor, and then proclaim his successor as the new Caesar of Rome. In AD 312, Constantine the Great disbanded the cohortes praetoriae and destroyed their barracks at the Castra Praetoria.
Legio III Italica was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in 165 AD by the emperor Marcus Aurelius for his campaign against the Marcomanni tribe. The cognomen Italica suggests that the legion's original recruits were mainly drawn from Italy. The legion was still active in Raetia and other provinces in the early 5th century.
The Caelian Hill is one of the famous seven hills of Rome.
In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word castrum, plural castra, was a military-related term.
LacusCurtius is a website specializing in ancient Rome, currently hosted on a server at the University of Chicago. It went online on August 26, 1997; in July 2021 it had "3707 webpages, 765 photos, 772 drawings & engravings, 120 plans, 139 maps." The site is the creation of William P. Thayer.
The Hermunduri, Hermanduri, Hermunduli, Hermonduri, or Hermonduli were an ancient Germanic tribe, who occupied an inland area near the source of the Elbe river, around what is now Bohemia from the first to the third century, though they have also been speculatively associate with Thuringia further north. According to an old proposal based on the similarty of the names, the Thuringii may have been the descendants of the Hermunduri. At times, they apparently moved to the Danube frontier with Rome. Claudius Ptolemy mentions neither tribe in his geography but instead the Teuriochaemae, who may also be connected to both.
The Frumentarii were an ancient Roman military organization used as an intelligence agency. They began their history as a courier service and developed into an imperial spying agency. Their organization would also carry out assasinations. The frumentarii were headquarted in the Castra Peregrina and were run by the princeps peregrinorum. They were disbanded under the reign of Diocletian due to their poor reputation amongst the populace.
The speculatores also known as the speculatores augusti or the Exploratores were an ancient Roman reconnaissance agency. They were part of the consularis and were used by the Roman military. The speculatores were headquartered in the Castra Peregrina.
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Castra Praetoria were the ancient barracks (castra) of the Praetorian Guard of Imperial Rome.
Paul Kenneth Baillie Reynolds, CBE (1896–1973) was a British classical scholar and archaeologist who studied specialised Roman troops such as the frumentarii and the vigiles.
The Battle of Utica was fought in 203 BC between armies of Rome and Carthage during the Second Punic War. Through a surprise attack, the Roman commander Scipio Africanus managed to destroy a numerous force of Carthaginians and their Numidian allies not far from the outflow of the Medjerda River in modern Tunisia. Thus he gained a decisive strategic advantage, switched the focus of the war from Italy and Iberia to Carthaginian north Africa, and contributed largely to the final Roman victory.
The equites singulares Augusti were the cavalry arm of the Praetorian Guard during the Principate period of imperial Rome. Based in Rome, they escorted the Roman emperor whenever he left the city on a campaign or on tours of the provinces. The equites singulares Augusti were a highly trained unit dedicated to protecting the emperor. Men who served in the equites singulares Augusti held a Roman public status as equites.
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The Trigarium was an equestrian training ground in the northwest corner of the Campus Martius in ancient Rome. Its name was taken from the triga, a three-horse chariot.
The Arch of Dolabella and Silanus or Arch of Dolabella is an ancient Roman arch. It was built by senatorial decree in 10 AD by the consuls P. Cornelius Dolabella and C. Junius Silanus.
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The castra of ancient Rome represent the complex of camps that housed the various military corps located in the city of Rome.