CAVALRY
Ala IV Hispanorvm Campagonvm Eqvestrvs
Ala IV Hispanorvm Campagonvm Eqvestrvs was an auxiliary unit of cavalry of Roman imperial army of the type quinquagenaria of cavalry. It was recruited in Hispania, and its name, Hispanorvm, indicates that it was recruited from all the Roman provinces of the Peninsula, unlike other orders of recruitment directed to specific towns.
Although it is not known which province this unit was originally sent to, it seems quite probable that it was destined for the Limes of the low Danube, in one of the two Moesiae regions.
Hispanorvm cavalry regiments were also known to have served in North Africa, to have fought against the Dacians and against the Kingdom of Palmyra, and this unit was mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum as being stationed in Egypt at the time.
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Ala II Pannoniorvm:
This military unit had an important role in the province of Dacia. The ala II Pannoniorvm was a cavalry auxiliary unit, having the size of a quingenaria. Sometimes it bears also the name 'veterana'. One cannot tell precisely when and why this epitheton was added, but it seems that it was mostly ignored. Several times the ala is called Gallorvm et Pannoniorvm too, in different moments and apparently without a rule. No explanation was offered. The early history of the unit is rather unknown. It was founded sometime in the first half of the 1st century A. D., in Pannonia. Mostly consisting of Pannonian provincials, it received gradually more and more Roman citizens as well. In the second half of the century, the unit acted in Syria; later one can meet it at the Danube, in Upper Moesia. This movement was somehow connected to the Dacian war of Domitian.
However, a Greek fragmentary inscription from Madytus (Thracia) brings a different argument; the anonymous praefectus alae mentioned in the text participated in the Dacian war and even received a decoration, before being promoted as commandant of this ala in Syria. Therefore, the transfer of the ala II Pannoniorvm in Upper Moesia must have taken place sometime after 88 AD. The ala II Pannoniorvm also appears in the military diplomas of the province from, 100 and 101 AD.
This ala played an important role in the conquest of Dacia. Its participation in the war between 101-102 A. D. is sure, even if no details are available. As main evidence one can use the promotion to the status of duplarius of the brave vexillarius Ti. Claudius Maximus. During the second Dacian war, a squadron of this unit, led by the further recorded Maximus, chased the Dacian king Decebalus until he committed suicide, and then brought his head to the emperor. The whole ala received a special distinction for bravery as well.
Later, the ala (or some its vexillations) participated in the Parthian war of Trajan. After the closing of peace it must have returned to Dacia, at Gherla. Doubtless it took part in the war against the Sarmatian Iazyges, under the general command of Q. Marcius Turbo; it is enlisted among the military units, which operated releasements of veterans in 119 AD.
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Ala I Sarmatarvm
Cassius Dio (Historiarum Romanorum quae Supersunt LXXI.xvi.2) records that 5,500 Sarmatian cavalry were posted to Britain under the terms of the treaty of AD175. These men would very likely have been split into eleven Cavalry Alae of quingenaria strength (i.e. 500 troopers), or may have been used to provide a cavalry contingent for around twenty-odd under-strength infantry units, thus forming cohors equitatae, or indeed, any combination. It is very unlikely that any were formed into a large cavalry ala milliaria, as these are very rare, there being generally only a single example in any one province, and the only one recorded in Britain was housed in the Stanwix fort on Hadrian's Wall, the Ala Petriana. These cavalry troopers must have been housed in forts scattered throughout northern Britain and Wales; some of which were apparently formed into the Ala Sarmatarum and stationed at the Ribchester fort. The unit is attested only on two undated inscriptions.
As the ala became depleted - through retirement mostly - its numbers were not replenished it seems, and its status changed to that of a numerus 'company' by 222-35, and thence to a lowly cuneus 'wedge' by the end of the fourth century. The tile stamped BSAR found at Catterick, may have connections with this unit in one of its several incarnations. During its entire lifetime the unit was stationed at Ribchester in Britain, and uniquely allowed to change its military classification.
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Ala I Astvrvm
With the end of the Asturian Cantabrian Wars there was movement to integrate these peoples into the Roman armies. Early in the Principality, in the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the auxiliaries of the legions were recruited from Asturias, Cantabria, Galician, Bracaraugustanos, Lusitano, Lugo and to a lesser degree, Arevaci, Celtiberia and Basque. All the units in question had their origin and formation in the first century AD. Ala I Hispanorvm Astvrvm possibly moved to Britain during the reign of Domitian, although the first certain reference is the year 98 during the reign of Trajan. It had its headquarters in the current Bernwell from possibly the year 175 and securely from the year 205 until the end of the Roman occupation of Britain as part of the garrison of Hadrian's Wall, and is mentioned as part of Britain's army in the years 122, 124, 126, 158, 175, 200, 205 and 400.
Ala II Astvrvm was possibly stationed in Pannonia and had a camp in Bremetenacum, the current Ribchester in Lancashire, during the second century. Ala III Astvrvm civivm romanorvm is documented in the year 109 with headquarters in Thamusida, the current Sidi Ali ben Ahmed in Morocco.
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Ala Primae Batavorum Equitata:
Dio Cassius Comments upon Hadrian and the rigorous training that he insisted his troops be tutored in:
"So excellently, indeed, had his soldiery been trained that the cavalry of the Batavians, as they were called, swam the Ister with their arms. Seeing all this, the barbarians stood in terror of the Romans, they employed Hadrian as an arbitrator of their differences". (Dio Cassius Liber LXIX 9.6)
The implication is that the Batavians possessed a unique skill. However, there is a gravestone of a certain Soranus, a trooper in a Batavian milliary cohort. Soranus' epitaph records that in AD118 he, before the Emperor Hadrian, swam the Danube and performed the following feats..
Ille ego Pannoniis quondam notissimus oris\ninter mille viros fortis primusq(ue) Batavos\nHadriano potui qui iudice vasta profundi\naequora Danuvii cunctis transnare sub armis\nemissumq(ue) arcu dum pendet in aere telum\nac redit ex alia fixi fregique sagitta\nquem neque Romanus potuit nec barbarus unquam\nnon iaculo miles non arcu vincere Parthus\nhic situs hic memori saxo mea facta sacravi\nviderit an ne aliquis post me mea facta sequ[a]tur\nexemplo mihi sum primus qui talia gessi
"The man who, once very well known to the ranks in Pannonia, brave and foremost among one thousand Batavians, was able, with Hadrian as judge, to swim the wide waters of the deep Danube in full battle kit. From my bow I fired an arrow, and while it quivered still in the air and was falling back, with a second arrow I hit and broke it. No Roman or foreigner has ever managed to better this feat, no soldier with a javelin, no Parthian with a bow. Here I lie, here I have immortalised my deeds on an ever-mindful stone which will see if anyone after me will rival my deeds. I set a precedent for myself in being the first to achieve such feats".
The Batavians were a notable addition to the forces of the Roman army from the reign of Caesar, until the reign of Romulus Augustulus. They played an important role in the successes of, and supplementation to, the Legions of the Roman army. Our Batavian unit honours these men and perpetuates their fine tradition.
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Ala I Gallorum et Pannoniorum Catafractata
The cataphract was widely adopted by the Seleucid Empire, the Hellenistic successors of Alexander the Great's kingdom who reigned over conquered Persia and Asia minor after his death in 323 BC. The Parthians, who finally wrested control over Persia from the Seleucids Kingdom, were also noted for their reliance upon cataphracts as well as horse archers in battle.
The Romans came to know cataphracts during their frequent wars in the Hellenistic East. During their early encounters, cataphracts remained ineffective against the Roman foot-soldier, being decisively defeated in the Battle of Magnesia (189 BC) and in the battle of Lucullus with Tigran the Great near Tigranocerta in 69 BC. In 38 BC, the able Roman general Publius Ventidius, by making extensively use of slingers whose long range weapons proved very effective, defeated the uphill-storming Parthian armoured cavalry, forcing the Parthians to retreat from all Roman territories occupied since Carrhae.
At the time of Augustus, the Greek geographer Strabo considered cataphracts with horses armour to be typical of Armenian, Albanian, and Midian armies, but, according to Plutarch, they were still held in rather low esteem due to their poor tactical abilities against disciplined infantry as well as against light cavalry. However, the lingering period of exposure to cataphracts at the eastern frontier as well as the growing military pressure of the Sarmatian lance riders on the Danube frontier led to a gradual integration of cataphracts into the Roman army. Thus, although armoured riders were used in the Roman army as early as the 2nd century BC (Polybios, VI, 25, 3), the first recorded deployment and use of cataphracts by the Roman Empire comes in the 2nd Century AD, during the reign of emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD), who created the Ala I Gallorum et Pannoniorum catafractata. A key architect in the process was evidently the Roman emperor Gallienus who created a highly mobile force in response to the multiple threats along the northern and eastern frontier. However, as late as 272 AD, Aurelian's army completely composed of light cavalry defeated Zenobia at the Battle of Immae, proving the continuing importance of mobility on the battle field.
As a result of this lingering period of exposure to cataphracts, by the fourth century the Roman Empire had adopted a number of vexillations of mercenary cataphract cavalry (see the Notitia Dignitatum), such as the Sarmatian Auxiliaries. The Romans deployed both native and mercenary units of cataphracts throughout the Empire, from Asia Minor all the way to Britain, where a contingent of 5,500 Sarmatian cataphracts were posted in the 2nd century by emperor Marcus Aurelius.
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Ala I Thracia Eqvestrvs Victrix Romanorvm
The Roman army possessed many units raised in Thrace, both before and after the creation of the Roman province in A.D. 46. They include both cavalry (alae) and infantry (cohortes), in units of five hundred or (in the case of some cohorts) a thousand strong. Most, if not all, of these units appear to have been formed during the first century A.D... the Roman army was unmethodical in its numbering and naming of units, and every time new Thracian units were raised, they were numbered from cohors (or ala) I upwards... in consequence, there are at least five units which might appear in inscriptions as "ala I Thracum" and at least eleven with the title "cohors I Thracum."
Known units include "ala I Thracum Herculiana" which was attested in Syria in 157, "ala I Augusta Thracum" through "ala III Augusta Thracum" attested in Syria, on the Danube (Pannonia) and in Mauretaina Caesariensis (modern day north Africa, Berber kingdom), "Ala I Thracum Victrix" attested in Pannonia Superior from 133-154, and possibly as late as 163, Ala I Thracum Mauretana, service in Mauretania (probably under Gaius and Claudius); subsequently it is attested in Egypt from 142 or earlier to at least the reign of Severus. Also, "Ala I Thracum veter. sagittariorum", Service in Pannonia and in Mauretania, and "ala I Thracum," attested in Britain in 103 and 124AD.
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Ala Gallorum Atectorigiana
This ala is known to have existed from the time of Augustus or perhaps Caesar, its first record appears in an inscription from Saintes.
Its title is generally believed to have been derived from that of a Gallic notable, Atectorix, whose name was attributed to the Gallic Pictones by A. Holder. Its early history remains uncertain. E. Stein considered it not improbable that it may have been in Germania before its move to Moesia but there is no record of its presence there. A diploma is the earliest indication that the ala was in Moesia inferior although it is attested in a diploma of ca. 152-154 and may also be recorded in diplomas of 145 and 161. Further, there is good epigraphic evidence of its attribution to the province in the later second and early third centuries. A heavily ligatured inscription from Rjahovo (Appiaria), set up by a prefect of the ala to his wife, may imply that its station in the late second or third century was on the Danubian limes west of Transmarisca.
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Ala Gallorum et Thracum Antiana Sagittariorum
Ala Gallorum et Thracum Antiana Sagittariorum was a mounted horse archer unit. It is unclear from the evidence if all sagittarii units contained only archers. Some sagittarii units were equipped in the same way as ordinary alae and cohortes, apart from carrying bows. Also, it would be surprising if ordinary units completely lacked archers, since that would limit their capacity for independent operations. Indeed, some non-sagittarii units are shown employing bows. Most mounted cavalry units employing bows were raised to counter Parthian threats in the east, however there is evidence that they served elsewhere in the Empire. This particular unit was referred to in the 'Notitia Dignitatum' as having served in Syria, Iudaea and Arabia Petraea.
It's generally believed that these units came mostly from Syrian and Thracian origin, but as the name suggests, this unit may well have seen horse archers trained in Gaul as well. Their horses were small and fast, as their purpose was generally to harrass the enemy from a distance...engaging with speed and then swiftly retreating. They would be a poor choice for charges into infantry lines, as they are not equipped or intended for that purpose.
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Roma Surrectum 2 presents: The Roman Auxilia
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