ethnic diversity in the roman army

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

Timotheus.....Caesar meant MAORI!!



LOL

M.VIB.M.

[Na Saighdiuir]

There was the story of the decimated 'Theban' legion of Saint Mauritius?

The legion was reputedly raised from the region of Thebai in Upper (Southern) Egypt and for a while in the middle ages certainly Mauritius was usually depicted as coloured (the name translated as 'The Moor').

Eucherius, C5th Bishop of Lyons reported they were brought to Gaul to put down Burgundian rebels in the 280's, but when ordered to sacrifice and take an oath to put down Christianity in the area, their staunchly Coptic Christian commanders Mauritius, Exuperius and Candidus refused and the men remained loyal to them in the face of decimation by Maximian (an old fashioned punishment by then) and he finally had the rest executed as well.


I don't think it is generally regarded as a very accurate story, because of the lack of supporting contemporary detail, but the area around Thebes is the heartland of Coptic Christianity and the 'Desert Fathers' and my own guess is that a smaller unit (numerus?) might have been solid enough to persist in the face of decimation, triggering a wholesale massacre and obliteration from the records.

Yes thats the story if i remember!!I suppose there are grounds for doubt but one never knows!!