Article on the L. IX Hispana (Factual????)

[D B Campbell]

This is slightly off-topic and speculative, but could this Aelius Asclepiades have been a military physician?

Never say never. But it's odd that he (or his heir) didn't mention it on the tombstone.

As with everything connected with the Ninth Legion, there's a lot of misinformation floating around on the internet, so I tracked down the only known representation of the inscription, which is now lost. It is not (as I previously thought) a sketch, but is simply the version type-set in Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum Vol. X (no. 1769):
[attachment=599]AeliusAsclepiades.jpg[/attachment]
It reads: D(is) M(anibus) | Aelius Asc|lepiades nati(one) | [C]il(ix) mil(es) leg(ionis) IX | vix(it) ann(os) XXXXII | mil(itavit) ann(os) VIII | Aelia Seleria | b(ene) m(erenti) f(ecit)
"To the spirits of the dead. Aelius Asclepiades, a Cilician by birth, soldier of the Ninth Legion, lived for 42 years, served for 8 years. Aelia Seleria made (this) for (her) well-deserving (?husband/brother/relationship not specified)"

It seems that the man was simply called Aelius Asclepiades. Keppie expected the praenomen Publius for anyone who had been enfranchised by Hadrian. This, like everything else to do with this inscription, is conjecture.

[Nathan Ross]

Ross Cowan, I notice, also discusses Asclepiades and his possible significance in For the Glory of Rome, excerpted here:

Cowan - For the Glory of Rome

He makes the point about the transfers of Misenum sailors during the Bar Kochba revolt too - but also brings up a few possible problems with the inscription itself.

- Nathan