The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

I n t r o d u c t i o n 9
recorded on building inscri pti on s , rel i gious ded i c a ti on s , or hon ora ry monuments,
together with a useful summary of their entire careers in several different
military units and in several civilian administrative posts.
One of the most famous career inscriptions comes from the province of Numidia
in North Af ri c a , wh ere the town co u n c i ll ors of Diana Vetera n oru m
(modern Zana, Algeria) set up a long text in honor of the distinguished soldier
Marcus Valerius Maximianus, one of the generals promoted by Marcus Aurelius
in the Danube Wars of the ad 180s (Pflaum, 1955). Maximianus was an anomaly
of sorts, being an officer of equestrian status who was elevated to the Senate
and rose to become consul. He lived through a time of great upheaval and frontier
wars, when social mobility was dramatically increased and soldiers of merit
could be promoted, especially if they came to the notice of the emperor. In the
case of Maximianus, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the man of peace who spent
most of his life at war, entrusted him with special independent commands, and
by way of reward for his services he eventually promoted him to the Senate. The
career inscription from Diana Veteranorum documents Maximianus’s many exp
l oits and military tasks. He saw servi ce all over the Roman Empire , in the
Danube provinces of Pannonia, Moesia, and Dacia, in the east in Parthia, in the
provinces of Macedonia and Thrace, and in North Africa. This rise in social status
and succession of posts is not untypical of that of some other officers, but
Ma x i m i a nu s’s movem ents are bet ter and more fully doc u m en ted than most,
since he is known from several other inscriptions besides the famous example
f rom Diana Vetera n orum (CIL III 1122; C I L VIII 2621; 2 6 9 8 = 1 8 2 4 7 ; 2 7 4 9 ;
4234; 4600). He is mentioned on another equally famous example dating to the
Danubian Wars of Marcus Aurelius. The text (CIL III 13439=ILS 9122) is carved
directly into a rock face at Trencin (Czechoslovakia), and can be viewed but not
closely examined from the rear window of a hotel that backs onto the cliff. This
interesting and important inscription reveals that Roman troops were operating
125 kilometers north of the Danube on the river Vag or Waag. Maximianus was
serving as legate of legio II Adiutrix, and was temporarily in command of a legionary
detachment on an expedition beyond the main theater of the war. The
value of evidence such as this cannot be overestimated.
When the Romans built forts and fortresses, or helped to construct civilian
buildings, walls, and gates, they usually declared who the builders were on inscriptions
prominently placed over the gates. The most significant information
for modern dating purposes derives from the custom of noting the full titles of
the emperor, together with the number of his consulships and the number of
ye a rs that he had held tri bunician power. Som etimes the bu i l ders also noted
who were the con suls of the year wh en they worked on the bu i l d i n gs . Si n ce
these dates are fully documented, the building dates are easy to establish.
These corpora te inscri pti ons inform us wh i ch army units were active in
which areas and at what times, sometimes filling the gaps in unit history and in