05-12-2015, 10:37 AM
They were created in an age when "The whatever" often referred to "The Emperor's whatever", as is the case of domus, which, in certain contexts, meant "The Emperor's Household". That "The Stable" from which the Equites Stablesiani derive their name was "The Emperor's Stable" seems reasonable.
I read somewhere, memory fails here, that one theory for their creation was from stripping the legions of their integral cavalry element and then greatly recruiting the resulting cadre up in numbers. If this was the case then the legions would cease to be responsible for supporting these cavalrymen. Presumably the provision of pay, food, fodder, arms and remounts would then fall on the central administration - perhaps mediated by the emperor's equine establishment - perhaps referred to as "The Stable". Such cavalrymen would not necessarily have to be elite, but merely be administered directly by the imperial fisc.
Merely a little kite-flying
I read somewhere, memory fails here, that one theory for their creation was from stripping the legions of their integral cavalry element and then greatly recruiting the resulting cadre up in numbers. If this was the case then the legions would cease to be responsible for supporting these cavalrymen. Presumably the provision of pay, food, fodder, arms and remounts would then fall on the central administration - perhaps mediated by the emperor's equine establishment - perhaps referred to as "The Stable". Such cavalrymen would not necessarily have to be elite, but merely be administered directly by the imperial fisc.
Merely a little kite-flying
Martin
Fac me cocleario vomere!
Fac me cocleario vomere!
