Cohors I Aquitanorum veterana

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Cohors I Aquitanorum veterana
Weisenau type helmets, Carnuntum.jpg
Roman infantry helmet (late 1st century)
Active20s BC to at least AD 213
Country Roman Empire
Type Roman auxiliary cohort
Roleinfantry
Size480 men
Garrison/HQ Germania Superior 74-213

Cohors prima Aquitanorum veterana ("1st veteran Cohort of Aquitani") was a Roman auxiliary infantry regiment. It was probably originally raised in Gallia Aquitania in the reign of founder-emperor Augustus after the revolt of the Aquitani was suppressed in 26 BC. [1] Unlike most Gauls, the Aquitani were not Celtic-speaking but spoke Aquitanian, a now extinct non- Indo-European language closely related to Basque.

Gallia Aquitania Roman province

Gallia Aquitania, also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine. It was bordered by the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Narbonensis, and Hispania Tarraconensis.

Augustus First emperor of the Roman Empire

Augustus was a Roman statesman and military leader who was the first emperor of the Roman Empire, reigning from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. His status as the founder of the Roman Principate has consolidated an enduring legacy as one of the most effective and controversial leaders in human history. The reign of Augustus initiated an era of relative peace known as the Pax Romana. The Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries, despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the Empire's frontiers and the year-long civil war known as the "Year of the Four Emperors" over the imperial succession.

Aquitani a people living in what is now southern Aquitaine and southwestern Midi-Pyrenees, France, called Aquitania by the Romans

The Aquitanians were a people living in what is now southern Aquitaine and southwestern Midi-Pyrénées, France, called Gallia Aquitania by the Romans in the region between the Pyrenees, the Atlantic ocean, and the Garonne, present-day southwestern France. Classical authors such as Julius Caesar and Strabo clearly distinguish them from the other peoples of Gaul, and note their similarity to others in the Iberian Peninsula.

Contents

The regiment was initially sent to the Danubian region, where it presumably saw action in the conquest of the Pannonii in 9-6 BC. [1] It first appears in the datable epigraphic record in AD 74, when it was stationed in Germania Superior (Pfalz/Alsace). It remained there until at least the early 3rd century, when it is attested by a votive altar dedicated in 213-6. The following Roman forts have yielded inscriptions attesting the regiment: Arnsburg, Butzbach, Friedburg, Kleestadt, Saalburg and Stockstadt am Main. [2] The latter has the only datable inscription, 213-6.

Germania Superior Roman province

Germania Superior was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon (Vesontio), Strasbourg (Argentoratum), Wiesbaden, and Germania Superior's capital, Mainz (Mogontiacum). It comprised the Middle Rhine, bordering on the Limes Germanicus, and on the Alpine province of Raetia to the south-east. Although it had been occupied militarily since the reign of Augustus, Germania Superior was not made into an official province until c. 85 AD.

Stockstadt am Main Place in Bavaria, Germany

Stockstadt am Main is a market community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia (Unterfranken) in Bavaria, Germany.

The names of several praefecti (regimental commanders) are preserved, of which two have discernible origins: I. Rufus Papirianus Sentius Gemellus from Berytos (Beirut, Lebanon) and L. Caecilius Caecilianus from Thaenae (Sfax, Tunisia), both undatable. A pedes (ranker foot soldier) is recorded from Ancyra (Ankara, Turkey) and a Thracian eques (cavalryman).

Beirut City in Lebanon

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. No recent population census has been conducted, but 2007 estimates ranged from slightly more than 1 million to 2.2 million as part of Greater Beirut. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, Beirut is the country's largest and main seaport.

Ankara Metropolitan municipality in Central Anatolia, Turkey

Ankara, historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. With a population of 4,587,558 in the urban center (2014) and 5,150,072 in its province (2015), it is Turkey's second largest city after Istanbul, having outranked İzmir in the 20th century.

Thracians Indo-European people

The Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting a large area in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family. The study of Thracians and Thracian culture is known as Thracology.

Scholarly controversy

There is scholarly controversy about whether there were one or two infantry cohortes called I Aquitanorum. This is because a regiment of that name is repeatedly attested both in Germania Superior and Britannia.

Britannia national personification of Britain

Britannia has been used in several different senses. The name is a Latinisation of the native Brittonic word for the island, Pretanī, which also produced the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally, in the fourth to the first centuries BC, designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Britain. In Modern Welsh the name remains Prydain. By the 1st century BC, Britannia came to be used for Great Britain specifically. After the Roman conquest in 43 AD, Britannia meant Roman Britain, a province covering the island south of Caledonia. When Roman Britain was divided into four provinces in 197 AD, two were called Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. Britannia is the name given to the female personification of the island, and it is a term still used to refer to the whole island.

Paul Holder sees them as two separate units, one of which carried the title veterana and was permanently based in Germania Sup., the other in Britannia. [3] John Spaul considers it more likely there was a single unit, which alternated between the two provinces, although this was unusual for auxiliary regiments. [4] Holder's view is supported by the fact that none of the British inscriptions carry the title veterana, whereas several of the German ones do. Holder is followed here: this article concerns the unit in Germania Sup. For the unit in Britannia, see cohors I Aquitanorum.

Cohors prima Aquitanorum was a Roman auxiliary infantry regiment. It was probably originally raised in Gallia Aquitania in the reign of founder-emperor Augustus after the revolt of the Aquitani was suppressed in 26 BC. Unlike most Gauls, the Aquitani were not Celtic-speaking but spoke Aquitanian, a now extinct non Indo-European language closely related to Basque.

See also

Citations

  1. 1 2 Holder (1980) 111
  2. Spaul (2000) 141
  3. Holder (2003) 136, 143
  4. Spaul (2000) 143

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