Budapest Régiségei 23. (1973)
TANULMÁNYOK - Nagy Tibor: Ulcisia castra 39-57
basing our view on the fact that the cohors used exactly the same stamp COH I THRAC before its arrival in Pannónia, in Germania, as later at ÁcsVaspuszta. On the first variety of the Germanian stamps 46 even the horizontal hasta above the I is found, just as on the C I T stamps of Ács-Vaspuszta or on the inscribed fragment of the cohors at Győr. 47 Thus the Upper Pannonian cohors I Thracum is excluded both by its place in army organization and by its known brick stamps from the army units taking part in the building of the Szentendre camp. Considering the chronological situation, we have to discard also the other suggestion that this Upper Pannonian, Thracian cohors would have been the unit occupying Ulcisia castra in the decades prior to Severus Alexander's rule. 48 In the first decades of the 3rd century the cohors I Thracum c. R. was doubtless stationed in the camp Ad Statuas. 49 Then in the time of Caracalla it could not be transferred to Ulcisia castra, since it was garrisoned by the Syrian cohors already. 50 Therefore the Thracian cohors with the serial number 1, making constructions at Aquincum and Ulcisia castra, cannot be looked for but among the cohortes I Thracum belonging to the Lower Pannonian exercitus. From the beginning of the 130s at the latest two Thracian cohortes may be proved in the territory of Pannónia inferior, with the serial number 1:1) the cohors I Thracum Germanica and 2) the cohors I Thracum c. R. p.f. As testified by the new Kömlőd (Lussonium) diplomas, 51 the first named cohors has been transferred to Lower Pannónia from Germania before 131/2. The translation must have happened after 110. Not only because the Tokod diploma does not mention the name of the troop but also since the recently arrived Thracian cohors must have found the formation cohors I Thracum c. R. in Lower Pannónia already, receiving the adjective Germanica as a distinction from the latter. It is also near to certainty that the cohors I Thracum Germanica was not here in 114 yet, as it is not enumerated in the list of troops of the Carnuntum diploma 52 , containing the auxilia stationed north of the Drave. As a matter of fact, the years 117/8 may be suggested as the earliest date of its translation. 53 Possibly in Hadrian's late years but almost certainly under the rule of Antoninus Pius the cohors I Thracum Germanica was stationed south of Intercisa, probably in the camp of Annamatia (Baracspuszta). 54 The brick stamp CHO I T G of the unit known from here 55 has no relationship with the stamps COH P T or COH R T from Aquincum and Szentendre. This is why we cannot suppose at present that the cohors, bound to cross the territory of Ulcisia castra and of Aquincum in the course of its translation, may have rested in the northern part of Pannónia inferior for a while, occupying its station south of Intercisa in the 30s only. If the above statements are accepted, only the other Thracian cohors with the serial number 1 remains, wearing the distinguishing adjectives avium Romanorum pia fidelis, transferred in 110 to Pannónia inferior from Dacia, as it is known. 56 That this troop cannot be identical with the Upper Pannonian cohors I Thracum c. R. 57 , is borne out by two diplomas issued on the same day of the same year, on the 9th October 148 for the Upper Pannonian and, on the other hand, the Lower Pannonian auxiliary army, the Ászár and the Regöly diplomas, beyond any doubt. 58 In the time of Traian the Lower Pannonian cohors I Thracum c. R. was stationed in the sector of the boundary between the Drave and the Save, this is why it is not mentioned by the 114 Carnuntum diploma, referring to the troops stationed north of the Drave. 59 But we lack even such an indirect date for the inference that this cohors was staying in the south-eastern border zone of Pannónia inferior under the rule of Hadrian as well. True, it is generally supposed that this troop had Novi Banovci as its garrison uninterruptedly from 110 on. 60 But the troop lists of the 2nd century diplomas do not allow us to fix the garrison of the cohors at Novi Banovci (Burgenae) but from the years of Antoninus Pius' rule, 61 confirmed by the great number of stamped bricks of the troop noted by literature at the same place. In connection with the latter it is remarkable that among the Novi Banovci stamps those with numerals are frequent, and as regards the abbreviation of the name of the unit bricks stamped COH P T, parallels to the Aquincum and Szentendre stamps are occurring too. 62 This analogy cannot be mere coincidence. The bricks stamped COH P T, earlier ones at Aquincum and Szentendre and somewhat later ones at Novi Banovci, cannot be separated from each other and they may be attributed to the bequest of the same troop, in spite of the large geographical distance of the sites. In the above statements we did not think naturally that the Thracian cohors would have supplied bricks to the northern part of the province from Burgenae. But the campsite of the unit in Hadrian's age entitles us to suppose that in course of the 117/8 expeditio Suebica et Sarmatica, 63 when troops were directed to the northern border zone of Pannónia even from the Rhine region, 64 units were brought up from Southern Pannónia (the border defences of which were somewhat earlier reinforced by a new cohors 65 ) for the campaign against the Suebians and partly the Sarmatians. The danger menacing the Aquincum military district at this time is attested not only by the coin found at Óbuda, Laktanya Street, but also by the strata of destruction noticed in the auxiliary camps and vici situated to the south of Aquincum. 66 It was one of the reinforcements demanded by the then military situation that the troop called cohors I Thracum c. R. was directed to the northern front from Southern Pannónia. After the Suebian-Sarmatian war, evidently following its lessons, authorities effected a further reinforcement of the border zone north of Aquincum. This is the background which makes us understand the 55
