01-24-2011, 03:26 PM
This may be old news to some of you, but I’ve never heard of it.
So what was going on here? Were these soldiers sent as military observers / trainers (to use modern parlance) into a friendly state? Or was this an actual Roman military enclave or forward base of some sort, perhaps similar to the forts in the Crimea?
Quote:Soldiers were probably regularly sent to various destinations beyond the Euphrates, to help create a system of defence in depth. Legionaries in AD 75 helped the king of Iberia to strengthen his fortifications at Harmozinca (20), and a centurion of legio XII Fulminata, presumably accompanied by soldiers from the legion, is known to have been stationed at a strategic fortress overlooking the Caspian Sea. (21)
(20) ILS 8795 with Bosworth, Antichthon (1976), 72-3 and Halfmann, Epigr. Anat. 8 (1986), 49.
(21) AE (1951), 263; Bosworth, loc. cit. The precise site is indicated on the sketch map published by R. Heidenreich, ZPE 52 (1983), 213-14.
Mitchell, Anatolia: Land, Men and Gods in Asia Minor, Vol I The Celts and the Impact of Roman Rule
So what was going on here? Were these soldiers sent as military observers / trainers (to use modern parlance) into a friendly state? Or was this an actual Roman military enclave or forward base of some sort, perhaps similar to the forts in the Crimea?
David J. Cord
www.davidcord.com
www.davidcord.com
