Late Roman Shield Patterns



Dux Pannoniae secundae ripariensis et Saviae



This page created 27 December 2002, and last modified: 30 December 2014 (Frontpiece pictures added)

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The following units, detachments of units, and prefects and tribunes with their associated units, are listed as being under the command of the Duke of second riverine Pannonia and Savia (i.e. central Serbia; the numbers beside the names refer to Ingo Maier's numbering scheme):

Frontpiece showing towns
Above: Frontpiece from the Bodleian manuscript (O).
The stations depicted are:
Cornacu, Teutiborgio, Burgenas,
Cuccis, Acimici, Secundarum, Novas, Albano,
Teutibarcio, Cornaco, Cuccis, Bonoria, Cusi,
Acimirci, Ricti, Burgentas, Taurano, Ad Hercules.
141.2 Cuneus equitum scutariorum, at Cornacii
141.3 Cuneus equitum Dalmatarum, at Teutiborgio
141.4 Cuneus equitum Constantianorum, at Burgenas
141.5 Cuneus equitum promotorum, at Cuccis
141.6 Cuneus equitum constantium, at Aciminci
141.7 Cuneus equitum Italicianorum, at Secundarum
141.8 Equites Dalmatae, at Novas
141.9 Equites Dalmatae, at Albano
141.10 Equites promoti, at Teutibarcio
141.11 Equites Dalmatae, at Cornaco
141.12 Equites sagittarii, at Cuccis
141.13 Equites Dalmatae, at Bornoriae
141.14 Equites Dalmatae, at Cusi
141.15 Equites sagittarii, at Acimirci
141.16 Equites Dalmatae, at Ricti
141.17 Equites Dalmatae, at Burgentas
141.18 Equites promoti, at Tauruno
141.19 Auxilia Hercul[ensia], at Ad Herculem
141.20 Auxilia Novensia, at Arsaciana or Novas
141.21 Auxilia Augustentia, at Fort Onagrino in the frontier opposite Bononiam
141.22 Auxilia Praesidentia, at Fort Herculis
141.23 Auxilia ascarii, at Tauruno or Marsonia
141.24 Praefectus legionis quintae Ioviae cohortis quintae partis superioris, at Bononiae
141.25 Praefectus sextae Herculeae cohortis quintae partis superioris, at Aureo Monte
141.26 Praefectus legionis quintae Ioviae, at Burgenas
141.27 Praefectus legionis sextae Herculeae, at Teutiborgio
141.28 Praefectus legionis quintae Ioviae sextae Herculeae, at Fort Onagrino
141.29 Praefectus militum Calcariensium, at Sirmi
141.30 Praefectus classis primae Flaviae Augustae, at Sirmi
141.31 Praefectus classis secundae Flaviae, at Graio
141.32 Praefectus classis Histricae, at Mursae
141.33 Tribunus cohortis tertiae Alpinorum Dardanorum (no location given)
141.34 Ala Sirmensis, at Sirmi
141.35 Praefectus classis primae Pannonicae, at Servitii
141.36 Classis Aegetensium siue secundae Pannonicae, now at Sisciae
141.37 Tribunus cohortis tertiae Alpinorum, near Siscia
141.38 Tribunus cohortis primae Ioviae, at Leonatae
141.39 Tribunus cohortis primae Thracum civium Romanorum, at Caput Basensis
Frontpiece showing towns
Above: Frontpiece from the Froben edition (B).
The stations depicted are:
Cornacu, Teutiborgus, Burgenae,
Cuccis, Acimincum, Secundae, Novae, Albano,
Teutiborgus, Cornaco, Cuccis, Bononia, Cusi,
Acimimcum, Rictum, Burgennae, Taurano, Ad Herculem.
These names are much "better" than those found in (O).
This has been taken as evidence of editorial intervention,
but it might just as well be evidence for a superior
textual transmission.

Note that the manuscripts actually give the title of the Duke as the "Dux Pannoniae secundae [ri]pariensis siue Saviae", i.e. the Duke of second [ri]verine Pannonia or Savia.



Disclaimer: Remember, a lot of what comes below is speculation. Hopefully informed speculation, but speculation nonetheless. Comments welcome! (lukeuedasarson "at" gmail.com)


These would all appear to be limitanei units. However, it appears that some of these units might correspond to units listed in the Magister Peditum's infantry roster, but unassigned to any field commands. For example, the Auxilia ascarii, stationed in Tauruno (or Marsonia), might well be the Taurunenses, listed as a pseudocomitatenses unit. The also unassigned pseudocomitatenses unit called the Antianenses was thought by Jones to be the Auxilia Novensia, although they are stationed at "Arsaciana" in the Notitia (according to Seeck given as Arsatiana in the Vatican manuscript, which I have not seen), rather than at Antiana (modern Popovac in Croatia); Arscaciana is otherwise unknown. The Auxilia Augusten[s]ia, stationed not in a town, but in a castello (fort) in barbarian territory called Onagrino, might possibly be the also unassigned Augustei, but as this unit is classified as an auxilia palatina unit in the Magister Peditum's list, if this correspondence is correct, it must have been transferred some time before the others for it to have eventually been promoted. Furthermore, the men under the Tribunus cohortis primae Thracum civium Romanorum, with a relic of a name dating back at least two centuries to the days when units could be awarded with citizenship, might be the Romanenses, a pseudocomitatenses unit in the Magister Equitum's Gallic command. Although many many units were awarded the title civium Romanorum in the first two centuries AD, only others is so-listed in the Notitia are the Cohors Apuleia civium Romanorum and the Cohors scutata civium Romanorum, in the commands of the far-off Dux Armeniae and Dux Thebaidos, respectively.

Legiones V Iovia et VI Herculia are a pair of legions dating back 100-odd years before the compilation of the Notitia, to the Tetrarchy - rare inscriptional evidence (AE 1964, 226) coming from Mursa (modern Osijek in eastern Croatia) and dated to ca. 306 mentions the LEG VI HERC (image here). They do not appear to have contributed any detachments to the field armies mentioned in the Notitia, at least under their own names. Since it would be highly unusual for a legion not to have contributed any detachments at all, some detachments are probably listed somewhere in the Notitia, but under names that give little or no clue as to their origins (the Pannoniciani seniores and Pannoniciani iuniores have naturally been postulated to derive from a Pannonia-based legion, but which is hard to identify).

Perhaps at least as interesting as the units listed above, are those that are not listed. Like some other Danubian provinces, the legions in Pannonia II are split between up-river ("superioris") and down-river ("inferioris") sections; however, unlike those in neighbouring Valeria, the inferioris portions are missing; they may have been destroyed in the late 370s during the Gothic invasion which led to the battle of Adrianople (see Peter Kovacs, The late Roman army in Pannonia (2004), available here).

The following shield patterns may thus be connected to units under the Dux Pannoniae secundae ripariensis et Saviae:

Shields

Those under O come from the Bodleian manuscript in Oxford, those under P from the Paris manuscript, those under M from the first portion of the Munich manuscript, those under W from the second portion of the Munich manuscript, those under B from the Froben edition, and those under Ff from the Frankfurt fragment. None of these is likely to have been a pattern born by the detachments still in Pannonia II and/or Savia, however, as units transferred to a field army from a garrison station seem to have been given new shield patterns. Units whose patterns are presumed to be mislabelled have both the labelled pattern (with the label in quote marks) and the pattern I believe is most likely the correct pattern illustrated (with a question mark beside the supposed label).

Below are the frontpieces from the second half of the Munich manuscript (W), the first half of the Munich manuscript (M), and from the Parisian manuscript (P).

Frontpiece showing towns Frontpiece showing towns Frontpiece showing towns

The pictures from M, like the pictures from B, show the hexagonal style that is believed to have been used for the fort illustrations in the lost Codex Spirensis from which all the extent manuscript copies are ultimately derived. Those of B show clear 16th-century renaissance embellishments to the styling, while those of W are clear of such anachronisms. The M pictures bear very little resemblance to those of W, and display imagery typical of the mid-16th century Germany. The P pictures also bear very little resemblance to those of W, but are very similar in style, if not in details, to those of O. That the details are executed with a little less care in P is evidence that the artists were not one and the same, even if they did belong the same "school" (see Maier, I.G., The Barberinus and Munich codices of the 'Notitia Dignitatum omnium': Latomus 28 1969 pp. 960-1035; available here; at page 1022 in particular). The style of P and O is 15th-century Italian, or Savoyard to be more exact.

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