04-24-2013, 12:36 PM
Quote:I think it's just inference that Fuscus took praetorian cohorts with him into Dacia (although not a bad bet even so).Fuscus' involvement in Dacia is frequently misunderstood. As praefectus praetorio, he was the emperor's senior military advisor, as well as being commander of the Guard. We know that the Guard's primary purpose was to accompany the emperor -- especially such a paranoid emperor as Domitian -- so they will have returned to Rome with Domitian after the AD 85 season. Fuscus, however, remained as commander-in-chief in Dacia, where he was killed in AD 87.
Quote:There are a few inscriptions that appear to record military decorations for praetorians. We don't know what they did to earn them - stand around looking smart? - but fighting can't be ruled out, surely?The problem is that, as a Praetorian, you probably could be decorated for standing around (the emperor) looking smart (and fearsome). It was regular practice to decorate all sorts of hangers-on during an imperial expedition, so we can't really say whether the Praetorians who accompanied Domitian to Dacia did any more to receive their decorations than the ones who accompanied Claudius to Britain. We're on fairly safe ground to assume that the latter did absolutely nothing of consequence, other than to share the emperor's air space. By analogy, the Domitianic ones may very well fall into the same category.
Quote:CIL 06, 02725: C. Vedennius Moderatus 'cohortem IX praetoriam in qua militavit annos VIII missus honesta... evocatus annos XXIII donis militaribus donatus bis ab divo Vespasiano et Imperatore Domitiano Augusto Germanico' (served under Vespasian and Domitian)An interesting one, as I cannot imagine (off the top of my head) what he could have done to deserve decorations from Vespasian. Perhaps they date back to AD 69/70.
