Studies in the Legionary Centurionate
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Studies in the Legionary Centurionate by James Robert Summerly Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 1990 Abstract The thesis consists of seven chapters and a second volume of legionary lists covering all the legions from the Latin speaking areas of the empire, except for III Augusta and VII Gemina. Each of the first five chapters contains a discussion of all the known multiple centurionate careers within the period covered by the chapter, and is followed by a detailed examination of these careers. The Foreword gives an outline of the historiographical material on legionary centurions and lists the questions which concern the first five chapters. Chapter one deals with the careers of legionary centurions during the Julio-Claudian period. Chapter two is concerned with Flavian careers together with a group of careers which are earlier than the second century, but are not closely dateable. Chapter three analyses the careers of centurions in the period c96-c140. Chapter four discusses the careers of centurions in the period c140-c194. Chapter five looks at careers of centurions in the period c194 onwards. The chapter also contains a group of careers which are post c100. Chapter six is an analysis of the role of centurions as revealed in the works of Tacitus. Chapter seven examines the relationship between the equestrian military career and the legionary centurion ate. Volume II contains an explanation of the epigraphic dating conventions used in the thesis, followed by twenty-four legionary lists. Each list contains a chronologically ordered discussion of every centurion attested on stone. This is followed by two spread-sheets; the first containing all the centurions of the legion in chronological order; the second listing the names in alphabetical order. 1. I riAk 1941 Acknowledgements There are many people who deserve thanks for this piece of work. It was Brian Dobson who first suggested the centurionate as a subject. In his eleven years as my supervisor he has been an invaluable source of help, encouragement and restraint. I hope he is not too disappointed with the result. Within the field of the Roman Army I would also like to thank Margaret Roxan for her encouragement, her kindness and the tireless pursuit of diabolical advocacy, also John Mann and Mark Hassan for their faith that the work might finally be produced. Babette Evans first sparked my interest in the Roman Army and Roman Britain and has continued as an important source of advice and support. Many friends who have no connection with the Roman Army save through this thesis need thanks. Colin and Gill Godbold have supported the work from the beginning. More recently Mark Steed provided the invaluable introduction to the word- processor which transformed the last two years. Finally Mike and Debbie Spens worked tirelessly on a complex and difficult set of texts, I am particularly grateful to them. My thanks also go to the University of Durham, who have waited a long time. Radley College November 1990 Contents Abstract i Acknowledgements ii Contents iii Foreword 1 Chapter One 4 Chapter Two 35 Chapter Three 58 Chapter Four 136 Chapter Five 199 Summary of Conclusions 225 Chapter Six 229 Chapter Seven 245 Figures and Diagrams Chapter One Figure 1 - List of single centurionates 10-11 Diagram to show transfers 15 Chapter Two Figure 2 - List to show West - East transfers 36 Group Lists 37-38 Diagram to show transfers 40 Legions and Provinces: Claudius - Trajan 42 Chapter Three Figure 3 - Table showing comparative origins of centurions c96-c140 64 Diagram to show transfers 66-68 Alphabetical and Numerical List c96-c140 69 Chapter Four Diagram to show transfers 140-142 Alphabetical and Numerical List c140-194 143 Chapter Five Diagram to show transfers 201-203 Alphabetical and Numerical List c194+ 204 Alphabetical and Numerical List second and third centuries 204 Foreword The Careers of Legionary Centurions A number of aspects of the careers of legionary centurions have been discussed by scholars since the publication of Domaszewski's original survey in Die Rangordnung des rOmischen Heeres. 1 Eric Birley, building on his paper concerning the origins of legionary centurions, 2 considered a group of multiple-centurion ate careers in 1963.3 B. Dobson and D.J. Breeze examined the contribution to the careers of centurions made by the praetorian guard, the urban cohorts and the Vigiles. 4 B. Dobson, as well as writing on a number of aspects of the centurionate 5 has analysed the careers of those centurions who reached the prirnipilate. 6 D.J. Breeze examined the careers of soldiers up to the rank of centurion.7 Other scholars have published works which shed light on certain problems within the sphere of careers in the centurionate. Prominent amongst these was Wegeleben's production of a generally accepted explanation of promotion within the centurionate. 8 More recently, Maxfield, in the course of her work on dona militaria, examined the careers of centurions who received dona. 9 Mann has produced a new interpretation of the term trecenarius,10 and Zwicky has explained the meaning of the phrase 'ex equite romana'. 11 All of the above works have been consulted during this study of multiple centurionate careers. Major questions needed to be discussed: 1. Can transfers of centurions be linked to warfare and the transfer of whole legions and vexillations as Eric Birley thought?12 2. What proportion of centurions had multiple centurionate careers and what proportion of centurions remained in a single legion until death, retirement or the primipilate supervened? 3. How many centurions were directly commissioned and how many came from the guard in Rome? 1 4. How many centurions with multiple-centurionate careers were directly- commissioned? The primipilares of the Roman Army rarely gave information as to their careers below the rank of centurion. Does the absence of a career below the rank of centurion show a similar reluctance to give information or does it show a large group of directly-commissioned centurions? 5. Who transferred centurions and what part did patronage play in those transfers? 6. Were there any restrictions on the transfers of centurions and is it possible to see any difference between the transfers of the directly commissioned, the guard and the legionary rankers? The first task was to divide the study into firmly dateable groups. This was to see if particular periods produced particular forms of transfer or career. The five isolated groups were examined in terms of each of the major questions outlined above. The five isolated groups are as follows: 1. From 27BC to AD69. 2. From AD69 to 96 (this group was linked to a number of inscriptions which did not allow a precise Flavian dating but which were probably mid first to early second century in date. 3. From c96-c140. 4. From c140-c194. The closing date is marked by the titles P( jl) V(index) given to III Augusta in 194; the P(k) F(idelis) given to )OCX Ulpia Victrix in 197; the F(idelis) given to VII Gernina in 197 and introduction of the three Thrthian legions. 5. After c194. (this group is also linked to a number of inscriptions which could date anywhere from the late first century to the mid third which are included for the sake of completeness.) Chapter One Careers in the Legionary Centurionate 1. Augustus - AD 69 The army of the principate must be seen as a body which developed from the army of the late republic. The most important contribution of Augustus was to give the legions permanence. After a legion became a permanent entity it was inevitable that its hierarchical structure would develop. Permanent organizations demand conventions of advancement. For the centurionate those conventions must have come originally from the republic and they were adapted to suit service in a permanent legion. It would be a surprise if the reforming impulses of the first emperor extended to a group such as the centurionate which retained a respectable connection with republican tradition, and had no direct political importance or political ambitions. Permanent legions meant that a centurion's career did not begin with the creation of a legion and end with the discharge of that legion. The post of primus pilus existed under the republic. Augustus gave the holders of that post the title of pIipisrirr which gave the promise of future employment and the property qualification of the equestrian ordo. In late republican times the centurionate seems to have consisted of three ranks; the primus pilus, the primi ordines, and the centurions of cohortes II to X. The processes by which 54 centurions were under consideration for the five posts in the primi ordines, and those five primi ordines were available for the post of primus pilus are not recoverable from the surviving careers of legionary centurions of the early empire. The advancement theories of Domaszewski must be rejected. 1 The simplest progress of:- 4 1. A centurionate in cohortes II to X. 2. A centurionate in the primi ordines. 3. Primus Pilus. cannot be proven in a single case and must be rejected in two certain cases where only one post as a centurion separates posts before the centurionate and the post of primus pilus. Those two careers, Apicius Tiro and Terentius Rufus (see below), suggest that a man could enter the centurionate into the primi ordines or that centurions from cohorts II to X could be promoted directly toritp_ -rms pilus without any intervening post in the primi ordines. The pre-Claudian careers of centurions contain many features which can be judged unusual in the light of later careers. These careers cannot be judged unusual in their own time.