Copyright by Susan Grace Crane 2019 The Report Committee for Susan Grace Crane Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Report: Communities of War: Military Families of Roman Dacia APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Andrew M. Riggsby, Supervisor Adam T. Rabinowitz Communities of War: Military Families of Roman Dacia by Susan Grace Crane Report Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2019 Dedication I would like to dedicate my work to Virginia Crane, whose grace and perspective are my constant encouragement. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Andrew M. Riggsby and Dr. Adam T. Rabinowitz for their invaluable guidance and support. Thanks also go to my parents for their endless advice, and to my siblings, Judy, Adele, and Harry, for their love and enthusiasm. v Abstract Communities of War: Military Families of Roman Dacia Susan Grace Crane, MA The University of Texas at Austin, 2019 Supervisor: Andrew M. Riggsby This paper examines the cultural information of epigraphic choices within military communities of Roman Dacia and engages with the private behaviors of members of the military and their families in the ancient world. A case study on votive inscriptions dedicated by members of the military supports this paper’s primary interest in dedicants of military epitaphs. Actions taken by soldiers, veterans, and their families present in votive inscriptions and epitaphs alike as individual and collective decisions intentionally made to communicate private behavior to the audience. At the same time, they situate themselves in the broader epigraphic trends of the Roman Empire, albeit in unique ways. While both inscription types demonstrate individual reaction to societal norms, the epitaphs studied contain a notable absence in single-woman dedicants and an associated prevalence of situating both the deceased and the dedicants in identifiable social roles. The concern for societal status and selF-identification emphasizes the significance of public expression of private behavior, as well as issues of legality and community response in the aftermath of death. Votive inscriptions and military epitaphs alike feature a prioritization of military vi identity among military communities in Roman Dacia at the expense of individualized choices regarding the self that are publicly communicated. vii Table of Contents List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xi I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 II: THE CONQUEST OF DACIA ............................................................................................ 4 Mapping Dacia ........................................................................................................... 5 Identifying the Dacians in Literature ......................................................................... 6 The Colonization of Dacia ......................................................................................... 7 III: PROVINCIAL REALITIES ........................................................................................... 11 IV: MONUMENTAL VICTORY .......................................................................................... 14 Adamclisi ................................................................................................................. 14 V: EPIGRAPHY IN ROMAN DACIA ................................................................................... 17 Votive Offerings: A Case Study of Băile Herculane, jud. Caraș-Severin ............... 19 Dedications to Asclepius and Hygieia ................................................ 20 Dedications to Hercules Invictus ........................................................ 21 Dedications to Hercules: Localized Behavior ..................................... 22 Discussion ........................................................................................... 23 Funerary Epitaphs: Case Studies of Mehadia, Pojejena, and Tibiscum Caraș- Severin .............................................................................................................. 25 Methodology ....................................................................................... 27 Mehadia, jud. Caraș-Severin ............................................................... 28 Wives of Mehadia ......................................................................... 29 Wives and Heirs of Mehadia ......................................................... 30 viii Tibiscum, jud. Caraș-Severin .............................................................. 32 Problems Identifying Wives at Tibiscum ..................................... 33 Heirs and Familial Dedicants of Tibiscum ................................... 34 Unknown Dedicants of Military Epitaphs .................................... 37 Pojejena, jud. Caraș-Severin ............................................................... 37 Other Towns of Caraș-Severin ............................................................ 39 Discussion ........................................................................................... 39 VI: CONCLUSION….. ........................................................................................................ 44 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................. 45 ix List of Tables Table 1: Votive Dedications at Băile Herculane ........................................................ 24 Table 2: Sites in Caraș-Severin with Military Epitaphs ............................................. 40 x List of Figures Figure 1: Defensive System of Roman Dacia ............................................................... 4 Figure 2: Regional Map of Modern Romania and Moldova ......................................... 7 Figure 3: Map of Thermal Springs of Roman Dacia ................................................... 19 Figure 4: Map of Sites Discussed in Caraș-Severin .................................................... 27 xi I. Introduction The Roman conquest and occupation of Dacia is unique in its brevity and intensity of militarization. These qualities, particularly when structured along lines of nationalism and nation building, remain a popular focus in scholarship and have popularized the identification of Roman troop placement in Dacia. The region is indeed rich in its capacity to inform research on cultural and political formation in the provinces at the height of Roman imperialism as it contains an abundance of material and epigraphic culture within the boundaries of Trajan’s Dacia and its subsequent iterations until Gallienus and Aurelian. Dacia’s position on the Danube as a buffer zone remained militarized throughout its brief existence as a province, which, combined with its wealth of natural resources, invited waves of migration that changed the social landscape of the province. The military in Roman Dacia continues to be of great interest because it is peopled by Romans and non-Romans, provincial and otherwise, who bring with them religious and social practices that complicate any simple reading of Roman imperialism in the province. The focus on the military engages most readily with the placement of various units in forts and in settlements throughout Roman Dacia, and it is in this same scholarly trend that a consideration of military families arises. In order to understand more closely the behaviors of occupying military forces and their interactions with the land and people around them, this paper examines the actions taken by soldiers, veterans, and their families, because they illuminate the lived reality of Roman Dacia’s military community. In particular, epigraphy provides a multivalent perspective on private behaviors enacted by individuals and families that taken part in, or react against, larger traditions of Roman inscriptional practices. It becomes increasingly evident that, even within the expression of personal nuances, there remains a preferred method of putting forth information about the self on a public platform like votive dedications and epitaphs. Attention paid to the discrepancies in dedicatory practices, particularly those not traditionally considered when discussing Roman military life, reveals nuances in individual and community behavior that, in their complexities and simplicities, demonstrate a reality of living in an ever-changing provincial world. This paper examines two case studies, one focused on the private behavior of soldiers and veterans, and the other interested in military families and familial obligations. The first looks to Băile Herculane, thermal springs associated with Hercules, and considers individual religious practices of members of the military. The second concerns itself with those who dedicate funerary epitaphs and focuses on sites in the county of Caraș-Severin, same region as Băile Herculane, as juxtaposed exempla of behavior in military communities. Together, the two case studies provide a view of military life outside of the military, albeit with a constant mindfulness of military status in each. The votive altars of Băile