vexillationibus Ponticis apud Scythia(m) et Tauriam. A tile stamp found in the small fort of Ai-Todor (Charax) on the Crimean coast gives an indication of building activities by this detachment. The stamp reads that the tiles used there were produced on the orders of a centurion of Legio I Italica (CIL III 14215-4: <i>per L(ucium) A… C… (centurionem) leg. I It(alicae) prae(positum) vex(illationum) Moes(iae) inf(erioris)</i>(by order of Lucius A…C… centurion of Legio I Italica, commander of the vexillatio of Moesia Inferior). A tombstone of a soldier of I Italica, probably dating to the end of the 2^nd or the start of the 3^rd century CE, represents the legion among the legions staying in the Chersonesos as well.

      3. Memorials showing participation of the legion in specific wars outside of its province are rare. We may of course assume that the legion took part in the Dacian wars under Domitian, just as in the Trajan’s campaigns in Dacia. In the latter case, this is borne out by the inscription of the centurion Ti.Claudius Vitalis (CIL VI 3584) the “promotus ex leg(ione) V Mac(edonica) in leg(ionem) I Ital. donis d(onatus) torquibus armill. phaler. Cornona vall(ari) bello Dacico” (promoted from Legio V Macedonica to Legio I Italica, earned torques, armillae, phalerae and a Corona Vallaris in the Dacian war). This can only concern the first Dacian war, as the same man was again decorated in another “bello Dacico” when he already served in I Minervia. The tribune C.Nummius Verus (CIL XI 3100) of I Italica can only have been decorated by Trajan for his services in one of the Dacian Wars as well. Even more so since a man with the same name was IIvir of the Colonia Apulensis at least two generations later (CIL III 7739). The inscription of a soldier of I Italica in Potaissa (CIL III 889) can in my opinion not be dated to Trajan’s reign. Inscriptions also point to participation of at least a vexillation of I Italica in the eastern wars of Trajan, as they show detachments sent out of the province (L.Paconius Proculus CIL VI 32933). The inscription from Bettir (CIL III 13586 = 14155-2, see also column 1291) that has often been understood as proof for the engagement of vexillations of the legions from Moesia Inferior in the Jewish wars in Hadrian’s reign (for instance Beuchel 82f.), is doubtful. This question can only be answered once it becomes clear that the inscription actually concerns vexillations of several legions instead of only a career of one centurion in several legions.

      Though not improbable, the tile stamps found in Africa (CIL VIII 10474, 13 and p.911) do not prove that I Italica sent a vexillation to combat the Mauric revolt during Antoninus Pius’ reign. The interpretation of the former can hardly be “LEG I ITA”, while the origin of the one in the museum of St.Germain is very much in doubt; see also the sober conclusion of Cagnat, <i>L’armée rom. d’Afrique</i> 108f., vol. 2, 119). The in itself obvious part in the defense of the lower Danube provinces in Marcus Aurelius’ reign,