The Cohors II Asturum et Callaecorum [equitata] was a Roman auxiliary unit. It is known from military diplomats and brickwork.
The Roman Empire was the post-Roman Republic period of the ancient Roman civilization. An Iron Age civilization, it had a government headed by emperors and large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and West Asia. From the constitutional reforms of Augustus to the military anarchy of the third century, the Empire was a principate ruled from the city of Rome. The Roman Empire was then divided between a Western Roman Empire, based in Milan and later Ravenna, and an Eastern Roman Empire, based in Nicomedia and later Constantinople, and it was ruled by multiple emperors.
Asturias, officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous community in north-west Spain. It is coextensive with the province of Asturias, and contains some of the territory that was part of the larger Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages. Divided into eight comarcas (counties), the autonomous community of Asturias is bordered by Cantabria to the east, by Castile and León to the south, by Galicia to the west, and by the Bay of Biscay to the north.
Galicia is an autonomous community of Spain and historic nationality under Spanish law. Located in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, it comprises the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra, being bordered by Portugal to the south, the Spanish autonomous communities of Castile and León and Asturias to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Cantabrian Sea to the north. It had a population of 2,718,525 in 2016 and has a total area of 29,574 km2 (11,419 sq mi). Galicia has over 1,660 km (1,030 mi) of coastline, including its offshore islands and islets, among them Cíes Islands, Ons, Sálvora, Cortegada, and—the largest and most populated—A Illa de Arousa.
There are no references to the milliaria (1000 men), so it is assumed that the unit was a Cohors equitata. The target strength of the cohort was 600 men (480 man infantry and 120 riders) consisting of 6 centuria infantry with 80 men and 4 turmae cavalry each with 30 riders.
Infantry is the branch of an army that engages in military combat on foot, distinguished from cavalry, artillery, and tank forces. Also known as foot soldiers, infantry traditionally relies on moving by foot between combats as well, but may also use mounts, military vehicles, or other transport. Infantry make up a large portion of all armed forces in most nations, and typically bear the largest brunt in warfare, as measured by casualties, deprivation, or physical and psychological stress.
Centuria is a Latin term denoting military units consisting of (originally) 100 men. The size of the century changed over time and from the first century B.C.E. throughout most of the empire the standard size of a centuria was 80 men.
Cavalry or horsemen are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the most mobile of the combat arms. An individual soldier in the cavalry is known by a number of designations such as cavalryman, horseman, dragoon, or trooper. The designation of cavalry was not usually given to any military forces that used other animals, such as camels, mules or elephants. Infantry who moved on horseback, but dismounted to fight on foot, were known in the 17th and early 18th centuries as dragoons, a class of mounted infantry which later evolved into cavalry proper while retaining their historic title.
The first record of the unit was in the province of Pannonia in a military diploma dating back to AD 80. In the diploma, the cohort is listed as part of the troops stationed in Pannonia. [2] [3] [4]
Pannonia was a 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. Pannonia was located over the territory of the present-day western Hungary, eastern Austria, northern Croatia, north-western Serbia, northern Slovenia, western Slovakia and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Locations of the cohort in Pannonia and Pannonia inferior may have been:
Batina is a port village on the right bank of the Danube in Baranja, Croatia. Its elevation is 105 m. Administratively, it is located in the Draž municipality within the Osijek-Baranja County.
The following members of the cohort are known: [3]
The Auxilia constituted the standing non-citizen corps of the Imperial Roman army during the Principate era (30 BC–284 AD), alongside the citizen legions. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of infantry as the legions and, in addition, provided almost all of the Roman army's cavalry and more specialised troops. The auxilia thus represented three-fifths of Rome's regular land forces at that time. Like their legionary counterparts, auxiliary recruits were mostly volunteers, not conscripts.
Cohors secunda Gallorum veterana equitata was a mixed infantry and cavalry regiment of the Auxilia corps of the Imperial Roman army. It was stationed, in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, in a fort near Hadrian's Wall in Britain.
Cohors quarta Gallorum equitata was a Roman auxiliary cohort containing both infantry and cavalry contingents. It was probably raised in Gallia Lugdunensis at the time of the founder-emperor Augustus. It is first attested in Moesia in 75 AD and was still in Moesia Inferior in 105. It therefore probably took part in the emperor Trajan's Dacian Wars (99-106). After a brief stay in Thracia, it was transferred to Britannia not later than 122. Its last datable attestation is in 276-82, still at Vindolanda. But the Notitia Dignitatum, a late Roman official document, records a cohors IV Gallorum at Vindolanda under the dux Britanniarum, the commander of limitanei along Hadrian's Wall. The Western section of the Notitia was drawn up in the 420's but the British units must date to before 410, when the island was evacuated by the Roman army.
Cohors prima Alpinorum peditata was a Roman auxiliary infantry regiment. It was probably raised as one of 4-6 Alpini regiments recruited after the final annexation of the western Alpine regions by emperor Augustus in 15 BC. Alpini was a generic name covering several Celtic-speaking mountain tribes inhabiting the Alps between Italy and Gaul, which were organised as the Tres Alpes provinces. It was originally stationed either on the Rhine or in Illyricum.
Cohors prima Alpinorum equitata was a Roman auxiliary mixed infantry and cavalry regiment. Alpini was a generic name denoting several Celtic-speaking mountain tribes inhabiting the Alps between Italy and Gaul, which were organised as the Tres Alpes provinces. The regiment was probably raised as one of 4-6 Alpini units recruited after the final annexation of the western Alpine regions by emperor Augustus in 15 BC.
Cohors secunda Alpinorum equitata was a Roman auxiliary (non-citizen) mixed infantry and cavalry regiment. Alpini was a generic name denoting several Celtic-speaking mountain tribes inhabiting the Alps between Italy and Gaul, which were organised as the Tres Alpes provinces.
Cohors tertia Alpinorum equitata was a Roman auxiliary mixed infantry and cavalry regiment. Alpini was a generic name denoting several Celtic-speaking mountain tribes inhabiting the Alps between Italy and Gaul, which were organised as the Tres Alpes provinces.
Cohors prima Raetorum equitata was a Roman auxiliary mixed infantry and cavalry regiment. It is named after the Raeti nation, which dominated the eponymous province Raetia, which comprised much of modern Switzerland and Germany south of the river Danube. The Raeti originally spoke a non Indo-European language closely related to Etruscan. However, by the time their territory was annexed by Rome under founder-emperor Augustus, they had become largely Celtic-speaking through contact with neighbouring peoples such as the Vindelici. Finally, during the centuries of Roman rule, they became Latin speakers: their distinctive provincial patois survives today in the form of the Rhaeto-Romance languages.
Cohors tertia Delmatarum equitata civium Romanorum pia fidelis, was a Roman auxiliary cohort mixed infantry and cavalry unit.
Cohors quarta Delmatarum was a Roman auxiliary infantry regiment raised in the 1st century AD and continuing to serve into the 2nd century.
Cohors sexta Delmatarum equitata was a Roman auxiliary mixed infantry and cavalry regiment.
Cohors septima Delmatarum equitata was a Roman auxiliary mixed infantry and cavalry regiment. It is named after the Dalmatae, an Illyrian-speaking tribe that inhabited the Adriatic coastal mountain range of the eponymous Dalmatia. The ancient geographer Strabo describes these mountains as extremely rugged, and the Dalmatae as backward and warlike. He claims that they did not use money long after their neighbours adopted it and that they "made war on the Romans for a long time". He also criticises the Dalmatae, a nation of pastoralists, for turning fertile plains into sheep pasture. Indeed, the name of the tribe itself is believed to mean "shepherds", derived from the Illyrian word delme ("sheep"). The final time this people fought against Rome was in the Illyrian revolt of 6-9 AD. The revolt was started by Dalmatae auxiliary forces and soon spread all over Dalmatia and Pannonia. The resulting war was described by the Roman writer Suetonius as the most difficult faced by Rome since the Punic Wars two centuries earlier. But after the war, the Dalmatae became a loyal and important source of recruits for the Roman army.
Cohors prima Delmatarum milliaria equitata was a Roman auxiliary mixed infantry and cavalry regiment. It was named after, and originally recruited from, the Dalmatae, an Illyrian-speaking people that inhabited the Adriatic coastal mountain range of the eponymous Dalmatia.
This article concerns the Roman auxiliary regiments of the Principate period originally recruited in the western Alpine regions of the empire. The cohortes Alpinorum came from Tres Alpes, the three small Roman provinces of the western Alps, Alpes Maritimae, Alpes Cottiae and Alpes Graiae. The cohortes Ligurum were originally raised from the Ligures people of Alpes Maritimae and Liguria regio of NW Italia.
Cohors [prima] Batavorum milliaria civium Romanorum pia fidelis was a Roman auxiliary cohort of infantry.
Cohors prima Ulpia Dacorum was an infantry regiment of the Auxilia corps of the Imperial Roman army. It was founded by the Roman emperor Trajan, probably in preparation for his planned war against Parthia (113-6). The regiment's honorific title Ulpia refers to the emperor's gens, or clan-name.
Cohors prima Flavia Canathenorum [sagittaria] [milliaria] was a Roman auxiliary cohort of infantry.
The Cohors I Asturum et Callaecorum was a Roman auxilia unit.
Cohors tertia Ulpia Petraeorum [sagittaria] [milliaria] [equitata] was a Roman auxiliary cohort of infantry and cavalry.
Cohors prima Ulpia Galatarum was a Roman auxiliary cohort of infantry.