The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook

88 The Roman Army
outside the fort where it was occupied by veteran soldiers and some
other people engaged in trade, I decided to build, starting from the
double ditch which encircles the wall, another ditch down to the river;
this will enclose the harbour and the homes outside the wall.
Arrian refers to other outposts on the Black sea: 3 (at the river Hyssus); 10. 3
(Sebastopolis); 17. 2 (Dioscurias), which he says marked the limit of Roman
power in this area. Although the major concentrations of troops were generally
in the less civilized parts of the empire, forts and outposts manned by auxiliary
soldiers, guarding roads, communications, coastal trading stations, and taxcollecting
offices, were common in many areas; the army was not always
concentrated in large camps. The fort at the mouth of the river Phasis contained
400 men and must have been a sizable structure, in a region clearly on the
periphery of direct Roman control; here at least is a specific example of the
conversion of a temporary structure into a permanent fort. For veterans, see
chapter 8.
147 ILS 950=EJ 214, inscription, Tibur (Tivoli), north-east of Rome,
1st C.AD
In memory of Torquatus Novellius Atticus, son of Publius, member of
the Board of Ten for judging lawsuits, military tribune of the first legion,
tribune of detachments of four legions, I, V, XX, XXI, quaestor, aedile,
praetor of the centumviral court, supervisor of public areas, officer in
charge of conducting the census and levy and proconsul of the province
of Narbonensis; at the end of his term in this office he died at Forum
Julii in his forty-fourth year.
When legions and auxiliary units were situated in permanent bases, the movement
of large bodies of troops round the empire to deal with an immediate crisis
became more difficult, since it would leave some areas with an inadequate garrison.
Furthermore, the troops might be reluctant to leave an area where they had their
roots and perhaps their families. Therefore, especially from the late first century
onwards, it became common practice to transfer temporarily detachments
(vexillationes) from a legion or several legions or auxiliary units (Saxer 1967).
148 CIL 3. 1980 = ILS 2287, inscription, Salonae (Solin), Dalmatia,
AD 170
To Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, chief priest,
in the twenty-fourth year of his tribunician power, consul for the third
time, the detachments of Legion II Pius and III Concord, two hundred
feet (of wall), under the direction of Publius Aelius Amyntianus,
centurion frumentarius of Legion II Traiana.