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Cornuti - or not?
#46
I'm afraid they don't have the Osijek piece in the Late Roman Helmet database I use. I wish I could be of more help.

What type was it, that may help. Was it Intercisa-Type or Berkasovo-Type?
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#47
Quote:Was it Intercisa-Type or Berkasovo-Type?

I have no idea, I'm afraid! The quote above is the only information I have about it.
Nathan Ross
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#48
The Cornuti are a Constantinian Legion, created by Constantine the Great during his reform of the Roman army after the Reforms of Diocletianus. As a new Auxillia Palatina Legion they may have been recruited either from Gallic non-roman citizens, or germanic peoples living in Gaul. Their name has nothing to do with horned helmets ( that was an artistic license that went to far as he didn't most probable ever meet them but heard rumors about them) or he modern cornuti ( men who's wife betray them openly), but most certainly named after the Gallic God Cernunnos the Horn One.

A better description of the deity "Cernunnos was the Horn One, because he worn antlers of the stag on his head. He was often called the "Lord of the Wild Things".He was clearly a god of nature, and probably of fertility of animals and agriculture. Cernunnos was also god of grains and fruits.Cernunnos was equated with another god with stag-like antlers on his head, Belatucadnos, a British god of war. The Romans associated Cernunnos with their god Mercury (Hermes), though Julius Caesar associated him with Dis Pater, cthlonic god of the underworld. The early Christians associated Cernunnos as the Devil or Anti-Christ, because of pagan ritual.The worship of Cernunnos can be found in the France, Alps, Italy, and in Britain. The most famous depiction of Cerrunnos can be found on the Gundestrup Cauldron (c. 1st century BC)."

Cheers
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#49
Quote:The Cornuti are a Constantinian Legion

Not a legion but a unit of auxilia, probably organised as a numerus, e.g. numero cornutorum seniorum ddominis nnostris Honorio Augusto et Theodosio consulibus (CIL 06, 32963, Rome)

If we discount their supposed appearance on the Arch of Constantine, the first reference to the Cornuti (or any other auxilia palatina unit) is Ammianus 15.5.30, relating to events of AD355. So they could have been raised at any point between the late third and mid fourth centuries - but army reforms probably dating to the last ten or fifteen years of Constantine's rule seem most likely.



Quote:As a new Auxillia Palatina Legion they may have been recruited either from Gallic non-roman citizens, or germanic peoples living in Gaul.

Although, as I pointed out above, the only named cornutus recorded in epigraphy was actually a Dacian...



Quote:most certainly named after the Gallic God Cernunnos the Horn One.

An intriguing suggestion - but why the 'certainty'? There seems no more evidence for this than for J.C Rolfe's idea that their name was 'derived from Cornutum in Illyricum.'
Nathan Ross
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#50
On the Osijek helmet:

A total of 11 fragments of at least 6 Intercisa style helmets are in the collection of the Muzej Slavonije Osijek. One has the motif of two beast heads confronting each other which can be seen on so many late Roman shield devices in raised relief. They have been published in Radman-Livaja (ed.), Nalazi rimske vojne opreme u Hrvatskoj = Finds of the Roman military equipment in Croatia. Zagreb, 2010. ISBN 978-953-6789-51-1. The publication includes photos and the museum inventory number but no other information except that they are unpublished.

I cannot post a picture here but you can always PM me your email address.
Regards,


Jens Horstkotte
Munich, Germany
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#51
Just saw the images, very interesting indeed.
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#52
I Like to refer to the late Roman units of the Comitatensis, Auxilla Palatina and Palatina units as Legions, even if they where 1000 man strong and 500 for the Auxilla. They where still Rome's Legions after all.

As for the name of the Cornuti, I came to that conclusion on the supposed idea that the unit may have been raised in Gaul, and we can't be certain about any thing in history.

Cheers
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#53
Quote:I Like to refer to the late Roman units of the Comitatensis, Auxilla Palatina and Palatina units as Legions, even if they where 1000 man strong and 500 for the Auxilla. They where still Rome's Legions after all.

As for the name of the Cornuti, I came to that conclusion on the supposed idea that the unit may have been raised in Gaul, and we can't be certain about any thing in history.

Cheers

Whilst usually there was a very real difference in how the Romans viewed the Legions and the Auxilia, there is one passage in Ammianus where he calls two well known Auxilia units 'legiones'-

'Then the legions of the Jovii and the Victores came to the aid of their struggling companions and slew two elephants, along with a considerable number of the enemy. On our left wing some valiant warriors fell, Julianus, Macrobius and Maximus, tribunes of the legions which then held first place in our army.'
'Dein legiones Ioviorum atque Victorum laborantibus suis ferentes auxilium, elephantos duo straverunt cum hostium plebe non parva, et in laevo proelio viri periere fortissimi, Iulianus et Macrobius et Maximus legionum tribuni, quae tunc primas exercitus obtinebant.'
Adrian Coombs-Hoar
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#54
Quote:I Like to refer to the late Roman units of the Comitatensis, Auxilla Palatina and Palatina units as Legions, even if they where 1000 man strong and 500 for the Auxilla. They where still Rome's Legions after all.
While you would be mostly correct, it's not 100% accurate. The comitatenses units also included equites and vexillationes, which aren't to be designated as 'legiones' no matter what size they were. Also, the 'auxilia palatina' were not legions, and calling them so would only confuse the issue.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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