02-12-2019, 01:20 PM
(02-12-2019, 11:37 AM)Legate Wrote: Was this Italian cohort an auxiliary unit?... Are they many examples of this?
As Mark says, there were quite a few volunteer 'citizen cohorts', and a few named Italica too. Both names and honorific titles refer to their original enlistment, though - after a couple of decades based in, say, Syria most, or all, of the men in the cohort would have been Syrians, not Italians or citizens, and it would have been the same as any other auxiliary unit. The 'Italic Cohort' is mentioned in the Bible in relation to the Apostolic period of the AD50s, and possibly entered Judea around AD44 or so.
The five cohorts (apparently) based in Judea after the initial Roman annexation were probably derived from Herod's Samarian troops (perhaps renamed Cohortes I-V Sebastenorum once under Roman control?), and quite possibly kept their 'eastern' equipment and general appearance as well; they certainly seem to have been considered different to regular Roman auxiliary units right through until the mid 1st century, and were not absorbed into the army of Syria until the Jewish revolt in the 60s.
Nathan Ross
