T HE L OWER D ANUBE
IN
Mihail Zahariade
Pl. I
Mihail Zahariade
Pl. II
Pl. III
Mihail Zahariade
Mihail Zahariade
Mihail Zahariade
The fact that the two legions had their headquarters in the places indicated by the Antonine
Itinerary would be also a sign that the Diocletianic establishment of the new legions was made
concomitantly by pairs. The switch of the headquarters, as shown in Notitia Dignitatum might
have been done at a later date, with the occasion
of Diocletians travels along the Danube in 297,
or maybe even later, related to the participation
of some detachments of the two legions in the
military events in the Empire. The headquarters
swap was an occasion of an intense issue of
stamped building material (bricks and tiles)
(IGLR 241), an event that also happened in the
case of the legions V Iovia and VI Herculia in
Pannonia Secunda (Zahariade 1988, 63).
A Greek written lettera commendaticia
(letter of recommendation) on a brick found at
Halmyris mentions Valerius Valerinus Constans
who recommended a certain Secundus to his
brother in arms (frater). The text is not very
clear, but the regiment indicated in the letter
appears to have been highly possible I Iovia:
legijnh(j) [pre]maj'I[oubaj] (Suceveanu/
Zahariade 2003, 125-126). This is the first known
so far document datable in Tetrarchic period to
demonstrate that the switch of garrisons took
place during that time.
The Tetrarchic period, on the other hand,
seems to have inherited from the Gallienic
reforms a new type of mobile cavalry units,
recorded in inscriptions as vexillationes
equitum. The ala and cohors type of units seem
not to have survived in Scythia after the turbulent 3 rd century. The new particular type of
auxiliary unit bears specific attributes, such as
scutariorum, catafractariorum, and others that
reveal their clear origin in the large-sized lite
groups of imperial body-guards created by
Gallienus (de Blois 1976, 26-31; Hoffmann 1969,
248-250) They functioned in the following period
as significant operational regiments at the
immediate disposal of emperors and were perfect new mobile regiments to fill the losses or
withdrawals from the frontier. The number XII
or eventually XIII of vexillatio catafractariorum from Pirgovo and Histria (IGLR 110) would
suggest the existence of another eleven, or even
twelve such regiments, gradually detached from
the large Gallienic catafractarii force. They
gradually ended by being temporarily set on cer10
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Mihail Zahariade
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