cohors quarta gallorum

[Mick Saunders]

hi folks. just joined.

am looking for information on the gallic cohort. i live in rotherham and the first fort in this area was built by these guys as part of the campaign in support of cartimandua. i know they then moved on and were at vindolanda in the third century.
any information would be appreciated

mick saunders

[mcbishop]

am looking for information on the gallic cohort. i live in rotherham and the first fort in this area was built by these guys as part of the campaign in support of cartimandua. i know they then moved on and were at vindolanda in the third century.
any information would be appreciated

Roman-britain.org is a mine of information (with sources), albeit cloaked in a bowel-churning mix of colours (to preserve your sanity you can go View->Page Style->No style in Firefox to get back to a nice comforting black on white...) and this should give you a start. There were tilestamps from CIVG just up the road at Castleford, but that just means they had a tilery and they weren't necessarily the garrison there.

Mike Bishop

[Mick Saunders]

Many thanks. Very helpful.

[Et tu brute]

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but this website may be of use. www.quintagallorum.co.uk

[Robert Vermaat]

Coh IV Gallorum Probiana was at Vindolanda/Chesterholm.
There was Coh IV Gallorum equitata quingenaria at Banna?/Castlesteads.

[Mick Saunders]

Am I right in assuming that the presence of stamped tiles on a site does not necessarily mean that a unit was stationed there? If so then what does constitute evidence? Is it perhaps tombstones or alters?Inscriptions?

On a third century alter at Vindolanda there is a bird ? a crane on the side. Is this a symbol of the cohort or is there another more general significance?

[mcbishop]

Am I right in assuming that the presence of stamped tiles on a site does not necessarily mean that a unit was stationed there? If so then what does constitute evidence? Is it perhaps tombstones or alters?Inscriptions?

Tilestamps mean zilch. The only tilestamps at Corbridge are from legio VI Victrix (although one idiot - go on, guess! - did suggest there was a tilestamp of IX Hispana; he has now proved himself completely wrong and is publishing a correction to the earlier nonsense), despite there being elements of all three British legions there. What mattered was the accessibility of tileries, and the Sixth had one near York that could supply the needs of the base at Corbridge. Similarly CIVG must have had one and supplied those who needed the product. Tombstones and altars are not bad as evidence of garrison but could just be set up by itinerant soldiers on their way somewhere else (or even construction parties), as indeed could the sort of monumental inscriptions that list emperors' names ad nauseam. In the end, the only test is the number and variety of inscriptions. If you're getting tombstones, altars, building inscriptions and tilestamps, then you might be on safe ground to tentatively suggest... etc etc ;-)

On a third century alter at Vindolanda there is a bird ? a crane on the side. Is this a symbol of the cohort or is there another more general significance?

It's one of those components of Roman iconography that carries a message, rather than a unit symbol, and it's in this context that you find things like skillets (possibly marking a dedicatory libation) or an axe (dedicated 'under the axe'... so it wasn't quite finished in time ;-). The following comes from here:

Heron: is associated with morning, and is the first bird to salute the dawn. A heron also tied in with regeneration of life. A heron provides for its young like a stork. It is associated with longevity, silent memory, overcoming danger, indiscretion, dual nature: because of it amphibious nature, and melancholy.

The heron is sacred to the Muses and is related to priesthood. Herons are seen as a favorable of men. When heron’s leave the marsh and fly above the clouds they announce the coming of a storm.

I like the grocer's 'S' near the end. Hope that helps.

Mike Bishop

[Mick Saunders]

eExcellent. Many thanks. And for the speed of your reply.

[Jon Eaton]

An excellent article for this sort of research is "Non Legionary Units in Britain: Part One The Units" by M.G. Jarrett in Britannia 25 (1994) pp 35-77.

On p 60, Jarrett examines this unit and notes the presence of these troops at Castlesteads, Castlehill and at Chesterholm/Vindolanda in the 3rd century.