The auxilia in Roman Britain and the Two Germanies from Augustus to Caracalla: Family, Religion and „Romanization‟ by David Benjamin Cuff A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics University of Toronto © Copyright by David Benjamin Cuff 2010 The auxilia in Roman Britain and the Two Germanies from Augustus to Caracalla: Family, Religion and „Romanization‟ David Benjamin Cuff Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics University of Toronto 2010 Abstract This thesis examines the cultural and social relationships cultivated by ethnically diverse auxiliary soldiers in the western Roman empire. These soldiers were enrolled in the Roman auxilia, military units that drew primarily on the non-Roman subjects of the empire for their recruits in numbers that equaled the legionaries. I argue that auxiliary soldiers could and did maintain large families, and demonstrate, from epigraphic data collected and presented in my dissertation, how foreign ethnic and religious identities were variously integrated into Roman military culture by both individual auxiliaries and the Roman state. The history of the auxilia in Germany from the time of Augustus and in Britain from the time of Claudius is discussed, with extensive reference to epigraphic material provided in appendices to this work. Analysis of military diplomas from across the Roman empire demonstrates a significant phenomenon of auxiliary family creation that helps to contextualize the diploma data from Germania and Britannia. Research on further epigraphic evidence from Germania and Britannia demonstrates a marked diversity in religious dedications by auxiliary soldiers and further evidence for auxiliary families. From a discussion of the history of the concept of „Romanization‟ and other theoretical models that can be applied to the study of the auxilia, the continued usefulness of the evolving concept of „Romanization‟ to our understanding of auxiliary cultural integration is assessed. Auxiliary service is shown to have provided many non-Roman ethnic groups avenues of cultural and legal inclusion that each soldier, surely in his own way, could exploit. ii Acknowledgments I would like to offer my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Prof. Christer Bruun for his expert and patient advice. My research and scholarly development have benefitted enormously from my participation in the Collaborative Program in Ancient History between York University and Toronto (COLPAH). At York my heartfelt thanks also go out especially to Prof. Jonathan Edmondson for agreeing to participate in my dissertation committee. My work was also read by Profs. Hugh Mason, Michel Cottier, and, in her capacity as Graduate Co-ordinator, Victoria Wohl, and I thank them all for their effort. Thanks for encouragement and help in matters academic and otherwise are also due to the Graduate Assisstant, Coral Gavrilovic, and Departmental Assisstant, Ann-Marie Matti. I am grateful for the observations of my external examiner, Prof. William Kerr. The suggestions of all who have read my work have improved it immensely and saved me from innumerable infelicities. It should hardly need to be stated that I bear responsibility for any errors remaining in the text. I have been fortunate to have enjoyed generous financial support for my doctoral research from the Social Sciences and Humanities Resource Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program. From the Department of Classics at Toronto I have also received additional support from the Bickell Fellowship and the Rene Efrain Memorial Scholarship in Roman History. The Norwood Travel Fellowship funded travel to Cologne, Germany in 2008, where I conducted research for this project as a resident scholar at the Universität zu Köln, Institut für Altertumskunde at the kind invitation of Prof. Werner Eck. The love and support of friends and family have sustained me throughout my postgraduate career. My parents have never wavered in their encouragement of my studies here and abroad, and to them this work is chiefly dedicated. Among my graduate colleagues at Toronto I would specifically thank Gabriela Doroftei for her friendship throughout our shared experience as doctoral students striving to become better scholars. Not the least benefit of my decision to come to Toronto has been the fortuitous event of meeting my wife Linda on a very cold Canadian winter‟s night in 2005. Although not an academic, she has been unwavering in her support and encouragement of me throughout my doctoral research. Miluji tě, moje milovaná manželko. iii Table of Contents Introduction (1-22) The origins of the auxilia I Before the auxilia: 1st century BCE socii and the Strabo Decree (1-4) II Resistance and Integration: From Arminius to the Claudian reform and beyond (5-7) III The Augustan auxiliary unit‟s organization (7-12) IV Intercisa: a case study of an auxiliary ethnic unit (12-19) V General Remarks on the present work (19-22) Chapter 1 (23-49) Auxiliary Research and the „Romanization‟ Paradigm 1.I „Romanization‟: history and theoretical debate (24-34) 1.I.i Interdisciplinary approaches and challenges in the 1960‟s (29- 30) 1.I.ii „Resistance‟ as a theoretical answer to „Romanization‟ (30-32) 1.I.iii Postcolonialist approaches from the 1990‟s to the present (32- 34) iv 1.II Roman army studies and the auxilia, late 19th – mid 20th centuries (34-47) 1.II.i Later synthetic treatments of the auxilia by Holder and Saddington (42-44) 1.II.ii Recent scholarship on the auxilia (44-47) 1.III Conclusion (47-49) Chapter 2 (50-103) Military Diplomas as evidence for auxiliary families and „Romanization‟ 2.I Soldiers‟ Privileges (51-56) 2.II Auxiliary diplomas from Britain and the Two Germanies: General Observations (56-58) 2.III Family (58-69) 2.IV “Wives” recorded on diplomas (69-75) 2.IV.ii Observations on auxiliary wives‟ names, as recorded on diplomas (75-77) 2.V Remarks on ethnic endogamy (77-80) 2.VI Remarks on children recorded in military diplomas (80-83) 2.VII Women inside and outside the forts: archaeology and epigraphy (83-85) v 2.VIII Children, exposure and infanticide (86-94) 2.IX Gender Imbalance and „Romanization‟ (94-97) 2.X The change of 140: A shift in imperial policy (97-102) 2.XI Conclusion (102-104) Chapter 3 (105-156) The Two Germanies: Family, Religion and „Romanization‟ 3.I The auxiliary garrison of Germania from Augustus to Caracalla: general observations (106-110) 3.II Family (110-120) 3.III Religion (120-140) 3.III.i Auxiliary religious co-dedications (135-138) 3.III.ii Interpreting peregrine deities in auxiliary contexts (138-140) 3.IV „Romanization‟ (140-154) 3.IV.i Legionary models in the funerary context in post-conquest Germania (141-144) 3.IV.ii The legionary template for „Romanization‟ (144-147) 3.IV.iii “Barbarous camp-speech” (147-157) 3.V Conclusion (154-156) vi Chapter 4 (157-207) Roman Britain: Family, Religion and „Romanization‟ 4.I The auxiliary garrison of Britannia from Claudius to Caracalla: general observations (158-162) 4.II Family (163-172) 4.III Religion (173-197) 4.III.i Coh. I Tungrorum and Apollo Clarius (185-189) 4.III.ii Observations on peregrine and local gods in stone inscriptions (190-193) 4.III.iii The Syrian Goddess (193-195) 4.III.iv Remarks on Auxiliary Religion in Britain (196-197) 4.IV „Romanization‟ (197-206) 4.IV.i The King of the Batavians (198-205) 4.IV.ii Auxiliary ethnic integration in Britain: the cives of Vindolanda (205-206) 4.V Conclusion (206-207) General Conclusion (208-212) Bibliography (213-245) vii List of Tables Introduction: p. 8, p. 14 Chapter 2: p. 56, p. 57, p. 59, p. 70, p. 76, p. 78, p. 89, p. 90, p. 91, p. 92 Chapter 3: p. 110, p. 116, p. 120, p. 122, p. 135, p. 145 Chapter 4: p. 162, p. 167, p. 175, p. 176, p. 178, p. 180, p. 183, p. 186, p. 196 viii List of Figures Fig.1 (p. 50) Fig. 2 (p. 132) Fig. 3 (p. 142) Fig. 4 (p. 150) ix List of Appendices Appendix I (pp. 246-263) Appendix II (pp. 264-273) Appendix III (pp. 274-346) x 1 Introduction I. Before the auxilia: 1st century BCE socii and the Strabo Decree During the Republic, the Romans supplemented their own legionary armies with allied Italian troops and special foreign units.1 These two sources of recruitment – dependent and nominally independent „allied‟ troops – feature in Festus‟ succinct definition of the auxiliary soldier.2 auxiliares dicuntur in bello socii Romanorum exterarum nationum, dicti a graeco au)/chsij. The allies from the Romans‟ foreign tribes are called „auxiliaries‟, so-called from the Greek auxēsis („help‟). Festus‟ definition underscores that the Italian allies of the Republic would not become the true model of the Imperial auxilia.3 A document dating from the Social War, however, does 1 Roman citizenship was extended to non-Romans and freed slaves much more liberally than in the Greek world, but often the Romans gave partial citizenship grants to Italian and, later, provincial municipia. Such grants might include the voting rights (civitas optimo iure), or no voting rights (civitas sine suffragio) or exemption from taxation. This was the case with the ius Italicum, which exempted provincial cities from the tributum soli and tributum capitis. There were also various forms of the Latin cititizenship (ius Latii), which in the second century CE admitted the magistrates of towns granted ius Latii to full Roman citizenship. Cf. OCD³ 334-35 s.v. “citizenship, Roman” and 790-91 s.v. “ius Latii.” 2 Paul. Fest. p. 17. The etymology is false; auxilium was surely formed from the verb augere (to increase). Cf. Walde-Hofmann: 89 s.v. “auxilium,” TLL 1618-30 s.v.