The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook
The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook
The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook
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<strong>The</strong> army in peacetime 1<strong>31</strong><br />
of cavalry bodyguards of the emperor, whose names have been carved<br />
on the sides, happily and willingly set up this marble statue with its<br />
own base, in the consulship of Emperor Antoninus Augustus for the<br />
second time and Bruttius Praesens for the second time, on 1 March,<br />
under Petronius Mamertinus and Gavius Maximus, praetorian prefects,<br />
and (V)alerius (?) Maximus, tribune, and the centurions and trainers<br />
Flavius Ingenuus, Julius Certus, Ulpius Agrippa, Valerius Bassus; these<br />
soldiers began their military service in the consulship of Vopiscus and<br />
Hasta (AD 114).<br />
<strong>The</strong> names of thirty-nine soldiers are carved on the sides of the base. <strong>The</strong> genius<br />
was the male spirit or inherent power of an individual which ensured the<br />
continuity and development of the family as represented by the paterfamilias.<br />
Reverence was paid to the genius of the emperor as the great protector who<br />
sustained the whole <strong>Roman</strong> state. This worship could be combined with the<br />
genius of various parts of the army, and the proliferation of worship of the<br />
genii of associations of junior officers and military institutions suggests that it<br />
was spontaneous and not organized from the top (Speidel 1978a).<br />
209 CIL 7. 1030=RIB 1262, inscription, Bremenium (High Rochester),<br />
Britain, 3rd C.AD<br />
To the Genius of our lord and of the standards of the first cohort of<br />
Vardulli and the Gordian unit of scouts from Bremenium, Egnatius<br />
Lucilianus, legate of the emperor, (set this up), under the charge of<br />
Cassius Sabinianus, tribune.<br />
Lucilianus was governor of Lower Britain c. AD 238/41.<br />
210 CIL 3. 6577=ILS 2290, inscription, Egypt<br />
To the holy Genius of the legion and of my splendid fellow-soldiers,<br />
Quintus Caecilius Kalendinus, orderly (optio), set this up.<br />
211 ILS 4920=RIB 152, inscription, Aquae Sulis (Bath), Britain, 2nd<br />
(?) C.AD<br />
This holy place which had been destroyed by arrogant action, Gaius<br />
Severius Emeritus, centurion of the region, cleaned up and restored to<br />
the Virtue and Spirit (Numen) of the Emperor.<br />
212 Tertullian (2nd–3rd C.AD), Apologeticus 16. 8<br />
Among the <strong>Roman</strong>s, the entire basis of the religious life of soldiers is to<br />
worship the military standards, swear by the standards, and place the<br />
standards ahead of all other gods.