Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 25. – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1995)

Rei Cretariae Romanae Fautorum Acta XXXIV - Swan, V. G.: Legio VI Victrix in the early third Century: The ceramic Evidence. p. 199–203.

head-vases, once dated to the late-third or fourth century, but in the light of Bailey's (1972/73) chronological reassessment of related Knidian head-pots, the York products could well be contemporary with the local African-type cooking-wares. An early third-century date is also suggested by the female hair styles which show a marked ressemblance to the late coiffures of Julia Domna. On the only male head-pot, the facial features, curly forelocks and long wavy side whiskers are reminiscent of the coin-portraits of young Caracalla in 209. Why should African potters be working for the army at this period? It seems unlikely that any civilians or slaves would have influenced military production so strongly; the potters must surely have been soldiers in the legion. Recruitment-procedures at this period, however, make it unlikely that Africans would have joined the Sixth Legion direct; they must have been drafted in from another legionary detachment brought to Britain in time of crisis. North Africa had a surplus of potential legionary recruits, and in the second century, vexillations from Legio III Augusta at Lambaesis were often dispatched to wars in distant provinces; such detachments were not always returned to their parent legion. In contrast, the slow growth of citizenship in Britain, which lacked old veteran colonies, probably caused shortfalls in citizens for its legions. A fragmentary inscription from Vaga in Africa Proconsularis records a vexillation, presumably of Legio III Augusta, 'in expeditione Britann[ica]'; it is undated, but may relate to Severus' British expedition. Five Africans are definitely known to have served in the British legions; all were from towns within the traditional recruitment areas of the III Augusta. A soldier from Hippo Regius in the Sixth Legion died at Birdoswald, on Hadrian's Wall, in the late second or early third century. A native of Maudauros in Algeria, who retired to his home town after a long and illustrious career in Britannia, died aged 85; his memorial dates to the first half of the third century. Three ordinary soldiers, one in XX Valeria Victrix and two in Legio VI retired to their native Numidia, one probably soon after 211. To travel so far to a homeland, after retirement, was costly and unusual; such men may thus not have been in Britain very long before their discharge. The case for African soldiers at York is further strengthened by other evidence. Up to 12 skeletons in the Trentholme Drive cemetary had negroid characteristics. The use of vaulting tubes, associated with the fortress baths, may have been introduced from North Africa. From the colonia, comes a late-second or early third-century dedication, set up by a gubernátor, perhaps a river pilot, who was a soldier in the Sixth Legion. It reads : - "to the African, Italian and Gallic Mother Goddesses". This man must have been hedging his bets, because some of his contemporaries in the legion came from all these provinces. The mention of Gaulish legionaries in York is significant; their presence at this period may be reflected in another distinctive type of pottery with no local antecedants, which first appears in York at the same time as the African-type vessels and was probably made on the same kiln sites. It comprises a group of grey ware jars with triangular flat-topped rims and a marked groove or concavity just inside the lip (Fig. 2, nos. 19-20). Such cooking-pots seem to have been made by a craftsman closely familiar with the pottery of Gallia Narbonensis, and in particular that of south-western Provence and the Languedoc. In that area, some of the workshops turning out jars with this profile (eg, the 'céramique brune orangé biteroise' industry), also made imprecise imitations of North African casseroles, platters and lids (Pellecuer Pomaredes 1991). It is possible, therefore, that a small proportion of fhe York casseroles and platters, particularly those which have only general rather than precise parallels in North Africa (Fig. I, nos. 7 and 9-11), could have been made by the same craftsmen as these jars. Were these Narbonensian potters also soldiers? In southwestern Provence, at Nîmes and Aries are three tombstones of men who served in the British legions, two in the Twentieth at Chester and one in Legio II Augusta at Caerleon. Gallia Narbonensis had no resident legion at this date, and Professor Mann has suggested that such men may have been levied in the civil war, and that after the battle of Lugudunum in 197 they were among those drafted into the returning British legions to make up strength; alternatively they may have been brought over by Severus in 208 for his British expedition. This occasion above all seems the most apt explanation for the presence of African soldier potters in York and would best fit in with the iconography of the head-pots. Severus' own connections with North Africa and York are well-known. It was in York that he established his headquarters for the campaigns of 208-11. Apart from legionary reinforcements, he must have brought a vaste entourage with him, including Julia Domna, Caracalla, and the comités augustorum, at least one of whom was a North African. Any consular senator would certainly have had a large part of his household with him, and the presence of one or two of such influential people would have been enough to create the need for large-scale new cookingarrangements. The African-type pottery made in York does not appear to have become a traded ware, but very small quantities of probable York products can be distinguished on a few other military sites in the province, particularly in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall and its hinterland. It seems probable that the casseroles, platters and lids constituted basic items of kit issue for the troops of African or mediterranean origin and their distribution may therefore reflect the activities of these men in the Sixth Legion. On sites with early third-century inscriptions of Legio VI, 200