Perhaps these words, written by Amin Maalouf in his book On Identity, will help to remind us of the complexities involved in determining identity, whether it be of those in antiquity or those in the present. It is a reminder that in our efforts to ascertain identity those same principles, concerns and deliberations that exist today are as valid as when attempting to determine the same for the past. How we make these decisions, what myriad factors come into play are no less significant for conclusions about the past than they are about the present. Whether an ethnic identity can be determined for a people called ‘Ituraean’ remains inconclusive, and for lack of clear evidence remains fraught with difficulties. Conclusions drawn mainly on the basis of epigraphic evidence can be misleading, offering no precise information for origins or ethnic identity. Some of the soldiers named in military diplomata may well have identified themselves as Ituraean, but the visible record before us provides only a name, rank and military history and says nothing about the individual soldier's ethnic origin. There is some certainty in assuming that a people known as Ituraean were recruited initially into the ranks of the Roman auxiliary forces whose units bore their tribal name, but this is all that is known.