12-29-2015, 03:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-29-2015, 08:16 PM by Nathan Ross.)
(12-29-2015, 03:20 AM)Alanus Wrote: If we consider that an ala of Iaz would have been referred to as such rather than as "Sarmatians," then we have no idea which Sarmatian ala the deceased belonged to.
Roman writers consistently refer to Iazyges as 'Sarmatians', whatever they might have called themselves. But they were never that scrupulous about tribal names: Domitian's 'Suebic-Sarmatian' war of AD92 was probably fought against a coalition of Quadi and Iazyges...
There are plenty of Alae Sarmatorum (an Ala VII Sarmatorum in Egypt is, I think, the highest-numbered), together with numeri and equites, but no 'Alae Iazygorum' (or whatever), so the Roman army just referred to all these peoples, whatever their origin, as Sarmatae. Which is where the confusion comes in, I suppose!
Nathan Ross