Vexillatio Equitum, Equites, Numerus Equitum

[Nathan Ross]

They say the proof of this fact are these two inscriptions:

I'd always assumed that the theory rested on the note in Cedrenus that Gallienus first created the hippeon tagmata - which seems to refer to the 'new style' equites units that certainly seem to have appeared by the end of the third century.

The two North African inscriptions are very interesting, but perhaps relate to a particular sort of anti-bandit force in the province in the mid third century. The careers of the officers commanding the uexillationis equitum Maurorum are certainly unusual!


However...

The vexillatio equitum already existed:

Indeed they did. We see vexillations assembled for the Dacian war, and there was the one we looked at before which apparently comprised auxiliaries, or the mounted troops of cohortes equitata, dated the reign of Hadrian.

Surely the question we ought to ask is when this common word for a detachment came to be used instead for a single unit of cavalry. Most likely it seems to have been a gradual thing, rather in the way that numerus changed in meaning over the centuries, from an irregular unit to a generic term for all units.

The modern theory states that there is no difference between the vexillatio equitum, numereus equitum and equites, and that the expression vexillatio equitum replaced the expression equites. Here is a list of inscriptions clearly stating equites not vexillatio equitum units:

I don't know of that theory! As far as I know, units called equites could also be described as vexillationes or numeri equitum; the one term did not supplant or erase the others.

The ND lists numerous units with the title Equites under the heading vexillationes. I suspect this is part of the flexibility of military nomenclature in the later empire!

These two inscriptions from the tetrarchy are quite illustrative, I think:

CIL 03, 00405 (Asia): ...Val(erius) Iuventinus exarcus / qui militavit annos XX in vexilla/tion(e) eqq(uitum) Dal(matarum) comit(atensium) Ancial/itana...

CIL 03, 5565 (Noricum, AD310): ...Val(eri) Sam/barrae p(rae)p(ositi) eqq(uitum) Dalm(atarum) Aq/u(a)esianis comit(atensium)...

These are not the same unit, but the titling indicates that they're the same type of unit, I think: The Equites Dalmatae Comitatensis Ancialitana could also be referred to as the Vexillatione Eq(q)uitum Dalmaturum Comitatensium Ancialitana. In other inscriptions we have the numero equitum VIII Dalmatarum, the vexillatione Dalmatorum V, and the equitum IX Dalmatarum - these too, I think, all refer to the same types of units, with the titles written in different ways.

I think we looked recently at a cavalry unit from Egypt that distinguished itself with the comitatensis title in the same way - presumably to set it apart from any provincial alae in the area!

There's also this one, from Viminacum:

AE 1903, 00297: Eq(uites) Dal(matae) Ar() s(ub) c(ura) Verac(i) p(rae)p(ositi) f(ecit) Mucianu(s) - I can't find a pic of the stone, but I would guess the Ar() possibly relates to a place name like the Ancialitata and Aquaensianis in the ones above.

(see also AE 1904, 00093: Eqq(uites) D(almatae) Aur(eo) & AE 1990, 822: pro salute dd(ominorum) nn(ostrorum) / AAuugg(ustorum) et Caess(arum) / eqq(uites) Dalmat(a)e / s(ub) c(ura) Luciani pr(a)ep(ositi) )

And what are we to make of AE 1999, 1612, from Jordan: trib(uno) m(ilitum) vex(illationis) dd(ominis) nn(ostris) Valentinia[no] / et Valente II co(n)s(ulibus) / per vex(illationem) VIIII Dalmatam devotissimam? Clearly, I think, this is also a cavalry unit - otherwise known as Equites VIIII Dalmatae!

The modern theorists state this inscription as proof that in 285 AD vexillations denotes cavalry.

The ruling of Diocletian distinguishes men serving in 'legions or vexillations' from men serving in cohorts, in terms of veteran privileges. It could be that the reference is to men in detachments of legions, but it seems more likely that, as we see in Brigetio tablet as well, the combination is intended to indicate infantry or cavalry of the field army as opposed to the frontier forces of the old-style auxilia.

It is complicated, and there seems to be no definite cut-off point at which vexillatio became purely a term for a cavalry unit - we see legion detachments still referred to by this name in Egypt in AD320, I think. But it does seem to have been a growing trend from the later 3rd century onwards, which had become official by the later 4th century at the earliest.