02-15-2007, 01:14 PM
Robert,
I dont deny the army partition of 364 - but the interpretation that Hoffmann draws from that. He goes: in 364 50 elite units of the army were divided between Valentinian and Valens, splitting evry unit in two, naming them seniores and iuniores and giving the first the older, the second the younger brother. Before no seniores existed. All seniores were first in the west.
Then he makes his assumptions out of that: If the Notitia or any other source shows a seniores in the east, then it was transferrred there after 364.
And this last part - is invalid. If its proven that there were seniores before 364 - and even in the east - then how could you claim about - lets say the Lancearii seniores in the Notitia beein in the east, that they must have originated in the west and could not be formed before 364? Hoffmann creates whole army movements out of that.
So - Hoffmann IS a good book, a MUST HAVE for anyone interested in LRE army organisation. BUT - nearly every single interpretation of Hoffmanns own, when and where a seniores/iuniores unit was created/transfered, has to be seen in the light of his assumptions.
What we need - really need - is an exhaustive list of ALL late Roman unit sources.
seniores - iuniores before 364:
Ioviani/Equites Cornuti seniores: 356 at Nakoleia
Schola seniores: inscription of Philippi: Viator filius Liciniani protectoris de scola seniore peditum - dated by Drew-Bear (p. 270) as probably earlier than 364.
Herculiani seniores: Passio sanctorum Bonosi et Maximiliani, under Julian
Lancearii seniores: epitaph at Arles, according to O. Seeck not long after the middle of the 4th century.
I dont deny the army partition of 364 - but the interpretation that Hoffmann draws from that. He goes: in 364 50 elite units of the army were divided between Valentinian and Valens, splitting evry unit in two, naming them seniores and iuniores and giving the first the older, the second the younger brother. Before no seniores existed. All seniores were first in the west.
Then he makes his assumptions out of that: If the Notitia or any other source shows a seniores in the east, then it was transferrred there after 364.
And this last part - is invalid. If its proven that there were seniores before 364 - and even in the east - then how could you claim about - lets say the Lancearii seniores in the Notitia beein in the east, that they must have originated in the west and could not be formed before 364? Hoffmann creates whole army movements out of that.
So - Hoffmann IS a good book, a MUST HAVE for anyone interested in LRE army organisation. BUT - nearly every single interpretation of Hoffmanns own, when and where a seniores/iuniores unit was created/transfered, has to be seen in the light of his assumptions.
What we need - really need - is an exhaustive list of ALL late Roman unit sources.
seniores - iuniores before 364:
Ioviani/Equites Cornuti seniores: 356 at Nakoleia
Schola seniores: inscription of Philippi: Viator filius Liciniani protectoris de scola seniore peditum - dated by Drew-Bear (p. 270) as probably earlier than 364.
Herculiani seniores: Passio sanctorum Bonosi et Maximiliani, under Julian
Lancearii seniores: epitaph at Arles, according to O. Seeck not long after the middle of the 4th century.
Jens Wucherpfennig
