Cohors I Delmatarum milliaria equitata

Cohors I Delmatarum milliaria equitata
	Roman infantry helmet (late 1st century)
Active	AD 14 to at least c. 200
Country	Roman Empire
Type	Roman auxiliary cohort
Role	infantry/cavalry
Size	1,040 men (800 infantry, 240 cavalry)
Garrison/HQ	province of Dalmatia (AD 170)

Last updated April 08, 2019

Cohors prima Delmatarum milliaria equitata ("1st part-mounted double-strength Cohort of Dalmatae") was a Roman auxiliary mixed infantry and cavalry regiment. It was named after, and originally recruited from, the Dalmatae (or Delmatae), an Illyrian-speaking people that inhabited the Adriatic coastal mountain range of the eponymous Dalmatia.

The Dalmatae or Delmatae were an ancient people who inhabited the core of what would then become known as Dalmatia after the Roman conquest at the eastern Adriatic coast, in what is present-day Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, between the rivers Krka, on the northwest, the Neretva on the east, and the river Rama on the northeast. The Delmatae are mostly classed as an Illyrian tribe.

Dalmatia is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria.

Ethnic origin

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.^[1] Indeed, the name of the tribe itself is believed to mean "shepherds", derived from the Illyrian word delme ("sheep").^[2] The final time this people fought against Rome was in the Illyrian revolt of AD 6-9. 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.^[3] But after the war, the Dalmatae became a loyal and important source of recruits for the Roman army.

Strabo Greek geographer, philosopher and historian

Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

Dalmatia was a Roman province. Its name is derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, which lived in the central area of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It encompassed the northern part of present-day Albania, much of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia, thus covering an area significantly larger than the current Croatian region of Dalmatia. Originally this region was called Illyria or Illyricum.

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.

Service record

The Inscription of the Coh(ors) I (milliaria) Del(matarum) in Salona CILIII1979Salona.jpg — The Inscription of the Coh(ors) I (milliaria) Del(matarum) in Salona

According to Holder, a total of 12 cohortes Delmatarum appear to have been raised after the suppression of the Illyrian revolt, in two series, of 7 and 5 respectively. All these units were in existence by the time of emperor Claudius (r. 41-54)^[4] Of these, 9 appear to have survived into the 2nd century.^[5]

Claudius was Roman emperor from AD 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, the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy. Because he was afflicted with a limp and slight deafness due to sickness at a young age, his family ostracized him and excluded him from public office until his consulship, shared with his nephew Caligula in 37.

The regiment was probably founded by the end of the rule of the first Roman emperor, Augustus (AD 14) and was certainly in existence by the end of the rule of Claudius (r. 41-54).^[4] It was probably upgraded to double-strength in or after the 80's, which is when milliary units first appeared. The regiment is attested in 170 from a building inscription found in Salona, Dalmatia, where the unit was constructing a tower. An inscription dated c. 200 attests that the regiment participated in emperor Septimius Severus's Parthian campaign of 197-8. However, virtually all the unit's extant inscriptions have been found in Dalmatia, so it is likely that its long-term station was in this province. This was unusual, as the vast majority of auxiliary units were stationed on or near the empire's borders, whilst Dalmatia was an internal province.^[6]

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.

Salona was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. The name Salona preserves the language of the early inhabitants of this area whom the Romans called Dalmatae, and considered to be part of a larger group called Illyrians. Salona is situated in today's town of Solin, right next to Split, in modern-day Croatia.

Septimius Severus, also known as Severus, was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the cursus honorum—the customary succession of offices—under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of Emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors.

Attested personnel

As their ethnic names imply, auxiliary regiments were originally recruited from specific native peoples of the empire. They remained largely homogenous ethnically during the early Julio-Claudian era (to AD 37), but became more mixed later due to increased recruitment of local inhabitants of the provinces in which a unit was deployed. After AD 70, local recruitment became predominant and most regiments thus lost their original ethnic identity. However, cohors I Delmatarum was one of a minority of units that appear to have been stationed long-term in their original home province and thus probably retained its Dalmatian identity.

The names of 4 tribuni (regimental commanders) are attested.^[6] One dedicated a stone at Aime in Alpine Gaul and so probably originated there (c. 200). 3 centuriones (infantry officers) and 1 decurio (cavalry officer) are attested, of which one was buried in Salona and was therefore probably Illyrian. 1 caligatus (ranker) is attested.

A centurion was a professional officer of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Most centurions commanded groups of centuries of around 100 legionaries, but senior centurions commanded cohorts or took senior staff roles in their legion. Centurions were also found in the Roman navy. In the Byzantine Army, they were also known by the name kentarch. Their symbol of office was the vine staff, with which they disciplined even Roman citizens protected from other forms of beating by the Porcian Laws.

Decurio was an official title in Ancient Rome, used in various connections:

A member of the senatorial order in the Italian towns under the administration of Rome, and later in provincial towns organized on the Italian model. The number of decuriones varied in different towns, but was usually 100. The qualifications for the office were fixed in each town by a special law for that community. Cicero alludes to an age limit, to a property qualification, and to certain conditions of rank. The method of appointment varied in different towns and at different periods. In the early municipal constitution ex-magistrates passed automatically into the senate of their town; but at a later date this order was reversed, and membership of the senate became a qualification for the magistracy. Cicero speaks of the senate in the Sicilian towns as appointed by a vote of the township. But in most towns it was the duty of the chief magistrate to draw up a list (album) of the senators every five years. The decuriones held office for life. They were convened by the magistrate, who presided as in the Roman Senate. Their powers were extensive. In all matters the magistrates were obliged to act according to their direction, and in some towns they heard cases of appeal against judicial sentences passed by the magistrate. By the time of the municipal law of Julius Caesar special privileges were conferred on the decuriones, including the right to appeal to Rome for trial in criminal cases. Under the principate their status underwent a marked decline. The office was no longer coveted, and documents of the 3rd and 4th centuries show that means were devised to compel members of the towns to undertake it. By the time of the jurists it had become hereditary and compulsory. This change was largely due to the heavy financial burdens which the Roman government laid on the municipal senates.
The leader of a decuria, a subdivision of the curia.
An officer in the Roman cavalry, originally commanding a troop of ten men (decuria) during the early republican era. In the late republic and during the empire a decurio commanded a turma of 32 men in the auxiliary cavalry. It is the equivalent of the ancient Greek dekarchos, a cavalry officer.
Decurio was also a name given to certain priests intended, as it should seem, for some particular sacrifices, or other religious ceremonies; or for the sacrifices of private families and houses, as Burkhard Gotthelf Struve (1671-1738) conjectures, who from that source derives their name. Whatever the origin of the name, we have an inscription in Gruter's work, which confirms their function: ANCHIALVS. CVB. AED. Q. TER. IN. AEDE. DECVRIO. ADLECTVS. EX. CONSENSV. DECVRIONVM. FAMILIAE. VOLVNTATE., which describes a decurio in the house of a private person, Q. Terentius.

Citations

↑ Strabo Geographia VII.5
↑ Spaul (2000) 304
↑ Suetonius Augustus
1 2 Holder (1980) 112
↑ Spaul (2000) 302-14
1 2 Spaul (2000) 312

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Cohors I Delmatarum milliaria equitata

Contents

Ethnic origin

Service record

Attested personnel

Citations

Related Research Articles

References

Ancient

Modern

See also