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The Legions of the Euphrates Frontier

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

R. Knox M'Elderry
Affiliation:
Queen's College, Galway.

Extract

In a recently-published work of much learning and great interest, La Frontière de l'Euphrate de Pompée à la Conquète Arabe (Paris, Fontemoing, 1907), M. Victor Chapot has dealt at some length with the history of the eastern legions. But neither he, nor, so far as I can find, any other writer, has attempted to fix their camps with full regard to chronology, and many points have been left uncertain. Although there is little direct evidence—less than for any other part of the Roman Empire—it may be possible to construct with reasonable probability a more exact military map of the eastern frontier.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1909

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References

page 44 note 1 Suet. Nero 18; CIL iii 6741–2–3 with notes—the new reading ‘Arsamosata ’ in Dio Cassius (see infra) 3 Bulletin de la Classe des Letlres de I'Acad. Royak agrees; CIL iii 306 (cf. p. 975) now better read by Cumont (cf. n. 3 infra), proves that Armenia Minor was provincial at least by 76 A.D.

page 44 note 2 Suet. Vesp. 8; Tac. H. ii 81.

page 44 note 3 Bulletin de la Classe des Letlres de I'Acad. Royak de Belgique, 1905 pp. 197 ff.

page 45 note 1 Jahreshefte des Oslerr. Archdol. Instituts x 1907

page 45 note 2 Josephus B.J. vii 18.

page 45 note 3 Korrespondenzblatt d. Watdeutsche Zeitschrift xi, 1892, 115; followed by Gsell (doubtfully) Domitien157, and by Cagnat in Daremberg et Saglio s.v. Legio; but without discussion.

page 45 note 4 Tac. H. ii 80, ‘ut Germanicas legiones in Suriam pp. 299 ff. ad militiam opulentam quietamque transferred' Cf. 2Josephus B.J. vii 18. iii 46 for Vespasian's policy.

page 45 note 5 Jos. Ant. xix 365.

page 45 note 6 C/Z. iii 7397.

page 45 note 7 E.g. Chapot op. cit. p. 74 n. 5; J. A. R. Munro, Journ. of Hell. Studies xxi 1901 p. 61 n. 3.

page 46 note 1 Jos. B.J. vii 117; see my note in Class. Quarterly ii p. 111.

page 46 note 2 Plin. N.H. vi 8; Marquardt, L'Organisation de rEmpire Rom. ii p. 294 n. 7.

page 46 note 3 CIG 3548; Dittenberger Orienlis Gr. Inscrr.Seledae 486 n.

page 46 note 4 Philo, Leg. ad Gaium p. 547 M.

page 46 note 5 Lucan viii 222–3, x 454

page 47 note 1 Tac. H. ii 82; Plin. N.H. vi 30, 31 ‘ tantis iterum angustiis infestatur Asia’ (‘iterum’ refers to a geo-graphical misconception of the shape of Asia Minor;the Gulf of Issus was made to run too far north.

page 47 note 2 Statius, Silvae iv 4, 61.

page 47 note 3 Inscript. Graecae ad Res Romanas PertinentesIGR) iii 133 = Dessau 8795.

page 47 note 4 Strabo xi 8. 3–4 p. 779.

page 47 note 5 CIL iii 306, cf. n. 1 supra.

page 47 note 6 ForSatalaing eneraisee Yorke in Geog. Jour.viii p. 459; Hogarth in Athenaeum 1894 ii p. 73 andA Wandering Scholar p. 136; Munro in. H. S.21 (1901) p. 61.

page 47 note 7 Josephus Ant. xvii 286 ff. Tac. Ann. iv. 5; cf., (IGR) iii 133 = Dessau 8795. generally, Cagnat s.v. Legio in Daremberg et Saglio.

page 47 note 8 Tac. Ann. ii. 79; ii 57; Jos. B.J. vii 18.

page 48 note 1 JJos. B.J. vii 17. Philo, Leg. ad Gaium p. 576 M, says (petronium Gaius) But this is the general description of the whole syrian army and cannot be pressed to prove that a legion lay on the river so early as 40 A.D.

page 48 note 2 Jos. B.J. v 43–4.

page 48 note 3 Plin. N.H. v 86; Dio Cassius 40, 17; 49, 9;Tac. Ann. xii 12, xv 9 with Furneaux' note; Lucan viii 235–7; Statius Silvae iii 2, 136; Regling in Klio i p. 453. Cf. Mommsen, Provs, ii p. 93, p. 118

page 48 note 4 Domaszewski in Rhein. Museum 1893 p. 343 n. 2.Ritterling (apud Steiner in Bonn. Jahrb. 114, 1906 pp. 51 ff.) agrees in reading ‘uic(e) leg(ati)’ against Dessau who has ‘leg. IIII [Scyth]ic, leg. Aug.’ Vesp which could hardly be right.

page 49 note 1 Jos. B.J. vi 237. May this Firmus be identifiedwith Avillius Firmus, legatus pro praetore of Lycia later under Vespasian (IGR iii 521, 725)? Our inscrip-tion need not be later than 745; and Firmus′ Eastern experience makes this further appointment probable.

page 49 note 2 IGR iii 174–5. Ephemeris Epigr. v 696 with Mommsen's n. = Dessau 1055.

page 49 note 3 Jos. B.J. vii 58.

page 49 note 4 Ib. ii 500, cf. vii 18. Mommsen, Prms. ii p. 119

page 49 note 5 IGR iii 1023; Procopius B.P. i 17, 22.

page 50 note 1 CIL iii 14396 e. Cumont in Bull, de I'Acad.roy. de Belgique Aug. 1907-this article I have not been able to see.

page 50 note 2 Euseb. H.E. i 13, ii 1; cf. the ‘Doctrine of Addai’ tr. from the Syriac, a late document in its present form. Also Schiirer in Hastings' B.D. v

page 50 note 3 Philo, Leg. ad Gaium pp. 576–8 M. Jos. Ant.

page 50 note 4 Theophylact v 7, 7.

page 51 note 1 Dio Cassius 68, 19, 2.

page 51 note 2 Gutschmid, Gesch. Irans. p. 141; Boissevain′s Dio iii p. 207; Cumont, Bull, de la Cl. des Leltres Gutschmid, Gesch. Irans. p. 141; Boissevain′s de VAc. Roy. de Belgique 1905 p. 219.

page 53 note 1 Plut. Ant. 42.

page 53 note 2 Jos. B.J. vii 97; CIL vi 1348 = Dessau 1003.

page 53 note 3 Plin. Ep. i IO with Merrill's n. Cf. Prosopographia

page 53 note 4 As may be inferred from Tac. H. iii 2.