Sarmatians in Britannia

[Artorius1960]

I read recently that ca. 175 AD, Rome sent 5,500 Sarmatians to Britannia. These were part of a group of 8,000 Sarmatian warriors who were "enslaved" as a result of Marcus Aurelius' Marcomannic War.

Does anyone have more information about them? I know that this was the idea behind the story in the movie King Arthur (yes, I hear your groans), but is there more to it?

They were apparently part of the Roman army in Britannia in the 2nd c. Were they settled as laeti? If so, might they have survived into the third c. and beyond?

John Morris, in The Age of Arthur, hints that is it unclear from the Notitia Dignitatum whether there were Sarmatian laeti in Britannia in the 4th c. Apparently there were some in Gallia at this time.

[Robert Vermaat]

http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic. ... sarmatians

[Arthes]

Greetings,
I wondered what laeti were......
:?
Skill and manner, also translated as blood and keen senses; the two qualities in human beings, bloodline, or in modern terms genetic heredity, and personality with the appearance and sound it presents, which are the gifts of Lodur (fire, vitality), the third member of the creative trinity which endowed humanity with its human and divine potential. The other two creative agents were Odin (air, spirit), and Honer (water, intelligence). The early humans were by them endowed with the properties of these three aspects of divine nature. :?
I obviously have that wrong..... :oops: there again....maybe not.... :wink:
[size=150:5oi365da]SARMATIANS[/size].....[size=200:5oi365da] [/size]
The Ala Primae Sarmatarum, 1st Wing of Sarmatian auxiliary cavalry were originally posted at Bremetenacum during or just after 175 AD
http://www.roman-britain.org/military/alaisar.htm
later becoming Numerus Equitum Sarmatarum - The Company of Sarmatian Horsemen
The Notitia Dignitatum lists Cuneus Sarmatarum, Bremetenraco as being under the command of the Dux Britannia 'upon the line of the Wall' This is the Cuneus Sarmatarum auxiliary cavalrymen from Bremetenacum Veteranorum (Ribchester) - The Formation of Sarmatians, in the late 4/5th century and it is thought by some that this Cuneii could have been there as late as the 6th century..(the later Arthur's knights)
Of course, as Ribchester was a Veterans settlement, it is entirely likely that many of the later Ala were comprised of the descendants of the original Sarmatians...
Linda Malcor author of 'From Scythia to Camelot' has ongoing research into both Lucius Artorius Castus and the Sarmatians based in England...
The heavy cavalry used in England during the post Roman and Heroic periods....and still in use at the time of the Norman conquest almost certainly derives from that of the Sarmatian Ala ... even down to the 'dragon' banner or Draco bought by the Sarmatians....
regards
Arthes
















Lodur, Lodurr, Lodurr (Icelandic, Scandinavian) In the Norse Edda, one of the creative divine trinity who endowed nascent humanity with their own properties, thus creating a thinking kingdom of beings out of the ashtree and the alder. Lodurr's gifts were la and laeti (skill and manner, also translated as blood and keen senses), while his brother deities Odin and Honer gave them respectively spirit and discernment.