Standing by the Standards
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STANDING BY THE STANDARDS: MILITARY RANK AND SOCIAL STATUS IN THE ROMAN WEST FROM AUGUSTUS TO DIOCLETIAN Charles Henry Manklow Pembroke College Faculty of Classics University of Cambridge This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy October 2020 i DECLARATION This thesis is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted or is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my thesis has already been submitted, or is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. ii iii ABSTRACT Standing by the standards Military rank and social status in the Roman west from Augustus to Diocletian This thesis broadly conceived is about the relationship between military and civil society in the time of the Roman Principate. It is about making sense of the tensions experienced by the soldiers and veterans of the Roman army between their lives as milites and as cives. This thesis weaves soldiers and veterans back into the wider social fabric of the Roman world – the social environments from which they commenced their military service, and into which they would settle upon their discharge. The problem is approached from three distinct angles, primarily through the lens of the centurionate: 1) variation in the legal privileges and restrictions upon the social lives of military personnel according to their rank; 2) the tensions and benefits resulting from the social heterogeneity of those accorded the same military rank; 3) the importance, or perceived importance, of the military factor in the status and reception of the soldier or veteran within their hometowns. The first and second case-studies are approached by contrasting the representation of the social position of centurions in a variety of documents: literary and legal, epigraphical and papyrological. The third case-study utilises a combination of statistical and prosopographical approaches to epigraphy to build up a general picture of soldier and veteran participation in local elite life. These case-studies restore agency to soldiers and veterans by contrasting their self-representation with the ways in which they are represented by others: by the equestrians and senators who commanded them; by the literary and senatorial elites who wrote about them; by the towns they called home and whose local offices they held. This thesis argues that soldiers and veterans were actively engaged with, and responding to, the construction and deconstruction of their identities by various external groups, ultimately positioning themselves as the crucial link between army, town and emperor. iv v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A recruit from Egypt to the Roman fleet at Misenum wrote a letter home to his family (BGU 423). He noted his receipt of travel expenses; thanked Serapis for being saved from danger at sea; sent best wishes to his friends; and offered gratitude to his family for his education. I cannot compare my toils at Cambridge to the dangers of a sea voyage, but at the end of my own journey in service to the Roman army I too must indicate my gratitude in kind. The last four years would have been an impossibility without the financial support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Pembroke College, which together provided a generous grant that covered the majority of my PhD and kindly offered further funds for academic opportunities within the UK and abroad. The Classics Faculty of Cambridge too demonstrated remarkable munificence in funding a term of my fourth year in addition to contributing to conference expenses. In John Patterson I found the most wonderful supervisor, who indulged my tendency to jump down academic rabbit holes and then stay to explore the warren, always rescuing me when necessary with the important question: “So what?” With each reading of the constituent parts of this thesis he had helpful observations and made connections that I had missed. It is with some embarrassment that I reflect upon the number of errors of all kinds he has had to catch in my work over the years; all that remain are my own responsibility. Other members of the faculty have been of great help in offering suggestions having read or listened to earlier versions of some of the material within this thesis, notably Christopher Kelly and Rebecca Flemming. Stimulating conversation and friendship were found in the Classics PhD cohort of 2016, who all made a sometimes arduous process enjoyable: Hanneke Reijnierse- Salisbury, Michael Loy, Ludovico Pontiggia, Robert Machado, Lea Niccolai, Ricarda Meisl, Chiara Monaco, Natalia Elvira, Tatiana Bur, Teresa Ro and Tulsi Parikh. There are other friends whose company has at various points during my PhD made a bad day better, and I hope no offence is given if I cannot cite them all, but special mention must go to Ellen Heyde and Pinky Lee. In September 2019 I took advantage of 6 months intermission to live and study in Tokyo, arranged through Pembroke College and with financial assistance from the Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust through my alma mater, the Lancaster Royal Grammar School. I gained a much needed academic break, passable Japanese, and new friends. I returned to the UK in the midst of a global pandemic, and am fortunate to have been looked after with such kindness by my parents and brothers while waiting for the libraries at Cambridge to re-open. Finally, it is with sadness that one of the people to whom I am most indebted was unable to see the completion of my PhD, and so I dedicate this to my Granny, Barbara Scarborough. vi vii Contents INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1 Opening Salvo: studying soldiers and status ....................................................................................... 4 Soldiers and Civic Society I: Dio and the Sicilian mutiny .............................................................. 4 Soldiers and Civic Society II: The court of Commodus ................................................................. 8 The Marching Order ......................................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 1: Where Eagles Dare ........................................................................................... 15 The army of the Principate: hierarchy and command-structure ........................................................ 17 Senators and equestrians ............................................................................................................... 19 The primipilate and the “primipilaris” .......................................................................................... 21 The centurionate ............................................................................................................................ 22 Below the centurionate.................................................................................................................. 26 The centurionate of the third century ................................................................................................ 28 The stipendium and the status of the centurion ................................................................................. 30 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 32 CHAPTER 2: A Very Long Engagement ................................................................................ 33 Centurions and the marriage question ............................................................................................... 35 The literary evidence ..................................................................................................................... 37 The papyri ..................................................................................................................................... 44 Archaeological evidence ............................................................................................................... 45 Funerary epigraphy ....................................................................................................................... 46 Military diplomas .......................................................................................................................... 51 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 57 Conclusion: acme of bliss ................................................................................................................. 57 Addendum: caligae on the ground .................................................................................................... 60 If the caliga fits ............................................................................................................................. 60 Status and perspective