Budapest Régiségei 23. (1973)

TANULMÁNYOK - Nagy Tibor: Ulcisia castra 39-57

TIBOR NAGY ULCISIA CASTRA (PROBLEMS OF THE HISTORY OF GARRISONS IN THE 2ND-3RD CENTURIES) 1. OLD AND NEW PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS North of the Aquincum legionary camp the next auxiliary camp, Ulcisia castra lay at a distance of Villi m.p. according to the It. Ant. 266, 10, but at VIII m.p. according to the milestones (C III 3738,3740 etc.). The different data of'the Itinerarium Antonini and of the milestones are due to the fact that the former measured the distance of the two camps on the longer, inner road, whereas the latter took the shorter limesroad proceeding along the Danube. Of the 3rd century garrison history of Ulcisia castra we did not know more as far but that under the rule of Severus Alexander the unit named cohors I (milliaria) nova Severiana Surorum sagittariorum and in the time of Philippus Arabs a detachment of the legio II adiutrix were garrisoned in the camp. Earlier two other troops were also regarded as the 3rd century garrisons of Ulcisia castra, namely the units called cohors I Apamenorum sagittariorum and ala I Eturaeorum Severiana.

1"

5 The name of the first unit was gained by the elucidation of the abbreviation CAPS, visible on a Szentendre tombstone (C III 13386), which was corrected later in the sense of caps (arius), sanitary non-commissioned officer.

25 The abbreviated name of the unit on the inscription of Aur. Mucianus recorded in C III 15171 was equally misread: instead of m(i)l(e)s a(lae) p(rimae) E(turaeorum) Seve[r]ian(a)e the correct version is m(iles) l(egionis) s(ecundae) a(diutricis) p(iae) f(idelis) Seve\r\ian(a)e^

1 Accordingly one of the detachments of the legion set foot in the camp of Ulcisia castra as early as in the time of Severus Alexander. The connected question, however, which was the date when the unit of the legion was stationed in Ulcisia castra, did not find a scientific treatment as yet. Turning to this problem, we have to discard the years of the Persian war (231-233), since the Aquincum legion was present in this war in full numbers.

9 Nor can we reckon with the year 230, since then the Syrian cohors stayed in its station without doubt.

10 The year 229 does not come into consideration, as the Syrian cohors made repairs on the portion of the road next to its campsite at that time.

11 We shall explain in the second part of this paper that we are justified in reckoning with the presence of the Syrian cohors also in the earlier years of Severus Alexander. Thus only the years of the Germanian campaign remain (234-235); In 233 the Aquincum legion has already returned to its station without any doubt.

13 Consequently we may add the legio II adiutrix to those troops from Illyricum which demanded their immediate return to their stations from the Emperor as soon as they got the news of the moves of the Danubian Germans.

14 The Roman army command could not expect too much from these troops in the following campaign in Germania. Actually we see that the army command endeavoured to secure an adequate participation of the then almost indispensable soldiers of Illyricum in the war fought against the Germans of the Rhine region in a different way. Herodianus clearly tells us that in the time between the Persian and the Germanian wars there was a large-size enlisting, mainly in Pannónia. The recruits, however, were not divided between the units garrisoned here but kept together; the army corps of the recruits was sent to the Rhine region under the leadership of C. lui. Verus Maximinus, a man of great military experience and authority.

15 We are not sure, whether the Danubian region gave a full legion to the western front, besides the corps of Illyrican recruits,

16 but we may suppose the participation of some vexillationes of the legions. Nor did the Aquincum legion send more than a detachment to the campaign in Germania, otherwise we could not find a primus pilus of the legion staff with his subordinate in Aquincum at the beginning of 235.

17 Severus Alexander tried to counterbalance the moderate participation of the legions from Illyricum by the employment of Moorish lancer and Eastern archer units in masses.

18 Nor was the imperial bodyguard supplied by the praetorians (mainly derived from Illyricum) in this campaign, but by the équités Mauri et Osroeni.

19 The very numerous Oriental archers {xo^oxmv âoiêfidç TIOÀVÇ) concentrated in the border zone of Germania may have embraced the Syri sagittarii of Szentendre, So far the archaeological material of the latter is missing from the time of Severus Alexander's Persian and Germanian wars in the territory of Ulcisia castra. But the milestones erected in 236 on the limes-road before the praetoria- front of this camp's

22 may be enlisted into the material of the cohors, having returned from the campaign. Consequently the Syrian cohors may have been substituted by a detachment of the legio II adiutrix during its absence on the Rhine in Ulcisia castra. Not only the tombstone of Aur. Mucianus from 234/5 may be classified into the inscribed material of this legionary unit, but also the inscription of a contemporary, unknown [a]rmorum [custos] which 53