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This soldier was active from c.65-107AD. Can anyone tell me the dates of his military appointments up to and including his command of the Ala Singularum c. 77 AD? He held a number of later appointments under Domitian and Trajan but began his career leading the Cohors Gallorum, Breucorum and Vacaniorum. He seems to have served in the Batavian revolt but I do not know with which unit, and it was as leader of the Ala Singularum that he was decorated by Vespasian for his bravery in the Bructeri war 77-78 AD. In between his appointment as a cohors commander and then leader of an ala he was a tribune in Legio VI Victrix.
regards
Keith
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06-18-2016, 10:23 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-18-2016, 10:38 AM by Nathan Ross.)
Working out the dates for equestrian careers is a bit of a guessing game, mainly as we don't know how long each grade in the equestrian tres militiae was held for, or even if there was a set term. Three years is often suggested, I think, but on little evidence, and neither do we know if the holders of these posts returned to civilian life between periods of military service.
The dona appear at the end of Italus's list of military posts - this is quite usual - and so don't necessarily refer to the last post listed. The only firm date we have for him is the governorship of Egypt in c103, but it's likely that his unusual procuratorship of Asia 'mandatu principis vice defuncti proconsulis' was in AD87-88, after the execution of the senatorial governor Cerialis by Domitian.
He was previously procurator of the Hellespont, and this post would have followed directly from the third grade of the militiae, putting his service as cavalry prefect some time in the early-mid 80s.
Quite possibly, then, he won his dona for earlier service as legion tribune or cohort prefect. Valerie Maxfield, in 'Military Decorations of the Roman Army', suggests that his awards are appropriate for the first grade, and that Italus probably won them during the Bructeri war of AD77 as prefect of Varcianorum Equitata. Although it could equally have been one of the other cohort commands, I suppose...
So if we assume approx three years in each position (which is a big assumption!) with some longer posts at the end, we get something like this:
praef(ecto) coh(ortis) V Gallor(um) equit(atae) c.71
praef(ecto) coh(ortis) I Breucor(um) equit(atae) c(ivium) R(omanorum) c.74
praefecto coh(ortis) II Varc(ianorum) eq(uitatae) c.77 (won dona for the Bructeri war)
trib(uno) milit(um) leg(ionis) VI Vict(ricis) c.80
praefecto eq(uitum) alae I sing(ularium) c(ivium) R(omanorum) c.83
proc(uratori) provinc(iae) Hellespont(i) - c.86
proc(uratori) provinciae Asiae - c.87-88
procurat(ori) / provinciarum Luguduniensis et Aquitanicae item Lactorae - c90
praefecto annonae - c95
praefecto Aegypti - c100
If you give him four years in each post then his career could stretch back to c.AD65.
What's the reference to Italus serving in the Batavian revolt? If he did, it was surely during one of his first two posts.
Nathan Ross